Which concrete to choose for the foundation?

Table of contents

• Who decides which concrete to choose for the foundation?
• The most important parameters of concrete for foundations
  • Compressive strength
  • Concrete consistency class
  • Exposure Class

Concrete is one of the most important construction materials when building foundations. That is why it is so important that it is of high quality, insulates the building well and allows for long-term use of the facility. So which concrete for the foundation should you choose to make it suitable?

Who decides which concrete to choose for the foundation?

Please note that the type of concrete for foundations is determined already at the planning stage of the building. Therefore, the selected type is decided by the constructor, who attaches such information to the design of the house or other building. All details on this subject can be found in the technical description – the parameters of the mixture and the amount of concrete needed for the entire foundations are also available there. It is these records and calculations that are crucial. In addition, it is important to choose the right concrete for the foundations.

The most important parameters of concrete for foundations

When you are considering which concrete to choose for your foundations, first of all, take into account the proportion of cement, aggregate and gravel mixture. After all, they are the ones that determine the final properties of this material. It is important that the resulting material is strong after hardening, and at the same time is not porous. It simply has to comply with certain parameters. In this way, you can be sure that the concrete will meet all the requirements, allow you to expand the building, and at the same time make the residential or public building serve for many years.

Compressive strength

One of the most important characteristics of good concrete for foundations is compressive strength, so it is necessary to determine the expected load for the building at the planning stage. As a standard, for single-family houses, a minimum strength of 20 MPa is assumed. Thanks to this, you no longer have to think about what concrete for the foundations should be, because you have a standard value here.

Note that the compressive strength of concrete is classified by letter-and-number symbols. In fact, you can come across two different designations – the old nomenclature distinguishes between concrete with classes B, and the new ones introduced by the European Union use the letter C. Therefore, for example, for single-family houses, the B20 or C16/20 classification applies.

Concrete consistency class

In the case of the consistency class of concrete, the parameter refers to the mixture used. In this way, it is easy to determine whether the material is to be more liquid or solid. Note that due to weather conditions or the type of building you are building, these values may change. However, a mixture of S3 and S4 consistency is used as a standard – the higher the number, the more liquid the substance is. However, these are the parameters usually met by concrete used for the foundations of single-family houses.

Exposure Class

It happens that the exposure class is not taken into account in single-family house designs. However, it is definitely not worth overlooking this parameter, as it is of great importance for maintaining the durability and high quality of the foundations for many years. In fact, the class of the exhibition can be very different, because it depends primarily on the conditions around the foundations.

Therefore, it is necessary to test the soil, e.g. in terms of corrosive factors and the presence of sulphurous waters. If no negative impacts of the surrounding soil have been detected, you can choose concrete with exposure class XC2. Thanks to this, you will no longer wonder what concrete for the foundation will work best in your case.

As you can see, concrete for the foundation should notbe chosen in the right way, because it has a direct impact on the strength of the house structure.

On our blog you will also read what to build an energy-efficient house from. Welcome!