Foundation

Before you start a project we advise you to make a building plan. A building plan gives you clarity in what you are going to build, what materials you need, and where you need to make extra preparations to achieve the best result. Every job needs its own personal preparations. From your personal building plan you make a sketch plan. With it you visualize your idea. Come to new insights, and look at our site for the construction drawings and assembly instructions.

Foundation posts are available in European hardwood, but also in Tropical hardwood. Larch Douglas or Oak foundation poles in European hardwood. Larch or Douglas is not very suitable for making a solid durable foundation because of its durability. Use tropical hardwood for your foundation. Hardwood posts are very widely applicable and are available in different sizes. Tropical hardwoods include the wood species Azobe, Angelim, Massaranduba and Bankirai.

SQUARE POST PLANED AND SAWN WHICH GOES INTO A FOUNDATION?

All hardwood posts at hardwooddiscount are available in fine sawn as well as the planed variety. We also sell a hardwood post pre-planed. In fact, we are an online dealer of StarTimber hardwood products. All startimber products are fully planed or pre-planed. Startimber is suitable as a wooden foundation post but too beautiful and therefore a bit more expensive than traditional garden posts.

A foundation should be solid and durable. But because this involves wood which you will no longer see later, as this is often wood which disappears into the ground, we recommend that you use the cheapest good variant of hardwood foundation piles, the hardwood Azobe foundation piles available in 4x4 and 5x5 cm.

For above ground application, this is completely different, after all, garden posts are often visible. Robust garden posts in fine sawn or planed product are more attractive here. It is therefore senseless to use more expensive wood such as planed wood or StarTimber if you are making a shoring or foundation for a decking. Use finely sawn wood with durability class 1. You can read much more about this in the wood specification description.

WHAT FOUNDATION DO YOU MAKE FOR A DECKING?

A solid decking needs a good foundation. After all, you don't want your decking to start sinking after a few months. A decking board is screwed onto a beam; it is best to place a foundation pile under this beam. The foundation piles ensure that the decking as a whole is anchored to the ground. Sometimes the bottom beams are placed on tiles, we do not recommend this. Wood always works a little, so the bottom beam can deform slightly and come loose from the tile. The result is that when you walk or sit on the decking, as it were, the decking will spring. This is not desirable.

It also often happens that the tile sinks into the sand. This means that the bottom rail or beam no longer has a pressure point. Again, the result is that the decking starts to spring.

The only good solution is to attach the bottom rail or beam to the ground. For example, if you are going to install a decking on a concrete surface (a cement screed), you cannot use foundation piles, screw the beams onto the concrete.

A foundation pile is driven into the ground with a hammer or mallet. Preferably every 50 cm length of a bottom beam or batten. Depending on the soil composition, the length is determined. Normally a post of 60 cm, 1 meter or 1.5 meter is used. If you want to know exactly how long a foundation pile should be then you should drive 1 pile into the ground as a test, if you get a lot of resistance from the ground, and the pile almost does not want to go deeper into the ground then you can determine the desired length.

After assembling the foundation piles you can screw the beams to the pile, make sure the piles do not protrude above the beam, because then you will be hindered by this pile when installing the decking boards. Saw off the excess length of the foundation post.

WHAT FOUNDATION DO YOU MAKE FOR A FENCE?

A fence post must be dug deep enough into the ground if the fence is not to blow over and thus be unstable. The rule of thumb for the length of the pole is that it must be about 1/3 of its length in the ground for a stable end result.

So for a fence that is 2 meters high above ground, the post of the fence will need to be dug about 70 to 1 meter into the ground. Thus, a good base and foundation is laid for a lasting result.

WHAT FOUNDATIONS DO YOU MAKE FOR AND CANOPY?

A foundation for a canopy is different from a fence or patio. The poles of the canopy are connected to each other by crossbeams that carry the roof. This connection allows the structure to stand on its own. The foundation of a shelter or shed of wood is based on the fact that it will not subside. The foundation often consists of a hole in the ground about 50 to 1 meter deep, in which cement or concrete is quickly poured. On top of this, the upright of the canopy is placed. You can also choose to place the upright in the concrete, note that you have no possibility to correct the height of the upright.

We recommend you to pour quick concrete in the dug hole. On top of it, place an adjustable ground anchor, and on top of that, put the wooden pole. This way you can still adjust the upright and your shed or roof will always be level.