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Author Topic: Micropile foundations  (Read 11530 times)

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Micropile foundations
« Reply #45 on: December 13, 2011, 04:55:50 pm »

We're at !500 ft elevation so the water table doesn't really play into it - the frost explanation makes more sense to me.



You may live above a perched water table.


Many things are possible.  I'm definitely above a perched water tower :)
Tom Schmidlin

Offline Pinski

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Re: Micropile foundations
« Reply #46 on: December 13, 2011, 05:05:16 pm »
I wish we had a basement.  I have no idea why we don't, there's no flood risk.  They just don't seem to be done much in this area.

I don't think there's much of a frost line in the Puget Sound area, more likely because of high water table.
We're at !500 ft elevation so the water table doesn't really play into it - the frost explanation makes more sense to me.

I'm pretty sure they design for a bad winter, not just the average, which is probably why the frost line is 12" for Redmond.  It might be even deeper where I live, we're about 4 miles from Redmond itself (closer to the mountains), and >450 feet higher in elevation.  We've seen 13F here in the 5 years I've lived here.  I have no idea what this translates to in frost depth or if there is an elevation correction, but it's interesting.

I'm not sure what it translates to either but I'm sure it's more of an issue close to 1000' above sea level. It's also interesting how closely the water table tends to follow topography.
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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Micropile foundations
« Reply #47 on: December 13, 2011, 05:25:16 pm »
I'm not sure what it translates to either but I'm sure it's more of an issue close to 1000' above sea level. It's also interesting how closely the water table tends to follow topography.

fixed image.

Anyway, you may be entirely right, but the hill rises 350 ft in less than a mile, and we're very close to the local apex.  It just seems unlikely to me, but I could be wrong.

That said, I read that in the town itself you can hit water 5 feet down in some places. :o
Tom Schmidlin

Offline punatic

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Re: Micropile foundations
« Reply #48 on: December 13, 2011, 06:12:15 pm »

Anyway, you may be entirely right, but the hill rises 350 ft in less than a mile, and we're very close to the local apex.  It just seems unlikely to me, but I could be wrong.

That said, I read that in the town itself you can hit water 5 feet down in some places. :o

Are there any wells close to you?  You can get the depth to water from them.

FWIW - Mauna Kea State Park (at about 6,500 feet, up in the saddle) gets its water from a perpetual spring located at about 10,000 feet up the side of Mauna Kea.  The spring is fed by perched water.

There is perched water at high elevations all over the island.
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