Straw-tastrophe-- prepping for a winter foundation, what not to do.

October 16th, 2021 and November 21st 2021

Here's one one of those posts on what not to do...ie. We are NEVER doing that again! I told David as we were doing it that perhaps it was a bad idea. Straw-tastrophe at its finest.

Our goal was to get a foundation in before it got too cold. We figured we would still probably be okay to pour mid-November but knew we would be cutting it close. Concrete results from a chemical reaction that involves heat and water. When it gets too cold this chemical reaction is slowed and the concrete does not harden like it should. This can result in major structural problems with your foundation. When you are pouring a $60,000.00 foundation the last thing you want is to find out you have major structural problems with it. Ideally the temperature should be above 40 degrees to pour. You can pour with the help of concrete additives and concrete blankets down to a low of about 20 degrees. Below that it's risky. Another problem you run into with a winter-time pour is the ground freezing. It is very important that the ground is not frozen when you lay your forms and pour your concrete. If you pour your foundation on frozen ground then when the movement of the ground occurs during the spring thaw you are very likely to see cracking within your foundation. Laying forms and pouring footings on frozen ground is a big mistake and will likely set you up for issues later.

As we the weather got colder we knew we were going to be cutting it close with the ground freezing. Our plans were still with the structural engineer and we knew we wouldn't be able to bump the pour date up any sooner than mid November. Our site had already been excavated and thus the ground was exposed to the freezing temperatures. At that point we were getting hard frosts at night but everything was thawing during the day. We did a google search on how to prepare an excavation site for cold weather. We found a bunch of posts on laying down straw to keep the ground from freezing. If you put down a layer of straw you can insulate the ground and prevent the ground from freezing. David and I felt it was worth it and went and purchased three 1,000 lb bales of straw from a local farmer. We paid $50.00 a bale and they loaded it on the trailer for us. We then spent a better part of an afternoon spreading 3,000 lbs of straw all over the escavation site. I mentioned to David at that time that maybe putting 3,000 lbs of straw into our excavation site wasn't such a great idea and that we might regret it later. We were both so desperate to do everything we could to be able to pour a winter foundation that we didn't care and did it anyway.

By Mid-November the nights were getting COLD. Temperatures were well below freezing at night and any uncovered ground was freezing solid. During the day things were warming up enough that the ground would thaw out a little but we knew it would be close. We had ordered $1200.00 worth of concrete blankets from a local construction supplier. We new we would need blankets for when we poured the footings and when we poured the stem walls. It was cheaper and easier to buy them than worry about renting them. Our foundation subcontractor recommended putting the concrete blankets down in the hole as extra protection from freezing. Our building permit finally came through on Thursday, November 18th. The foundation crew was scheduled to be there on Monday the 22nd to start on the footings. They felt it would take them 2-3 days to get ready to pour and that we would pour footings on Wednesday the 24th right before Thanksgiving. It snowed on Friday the 19th about 6 inches. At this point we have 6 inches of snow plus 3,000lbs of straw in our escavation site and crews showing up Monday. We waited until Sunday morning hoping the snow would melt, but the temperatures were just too cold and the snow was not going anywhere. We decided at that point there was nothing to be done but to shovel it all out. Looking back we should have just rented a skid steer to haul that stuff out but it was Sunday and crews were showing up Monday morning at 7 am and no rental places were open. So David and I set out to remove thousands of pounds of material from that hole. We got a pitchfork and a snow shovel and went to work and we worked hard. We pitched and shoveled our guts out. We worked from Sunday at noon until well after dark and we didn't stop for breaks. We worked until we were too frozen to pick up our shovels and we hadn't been able to see for a few hours. We went home, went to bed and set our alarms for 4:30 am. We showed back up there at 5 am and started shoveling and pitching some more. We finished up around 7:00 am literally minutes before the foundation crew arrived. I can't tell you how worried we were we wouldn't be ready as we had promised the foundation sub the site would be ready. It's funny looking at these photos we look happy. It definitely doesn't convey how cold, tired, stressed and sore we were.

Looking back, the concrete blankets did an excellent job insulating the ground and keeping it from freezing. We should have just put concrete blankets down on the ground and forgone the straw entirely. If for some reason you do decide to put straw in a hole, I would definitely make a plan to have a skid steer available for removal. David and I spent a long, cold, hard 24 hours learning this lesson.

On the upside the ground did not freeze and the weather did warm up into the 40s for us. The crew did an excellent job and we were able to get those footings in. I can't imagine we could have cut it any closer but a lot of little miracles occurred that allowed that process to happen.