We are about to renovate our 1918 Craftsman for handicap accessibility to 1/2 bath on first floor and need to completely re-orient the kitchen to do so.

There is a very unique family room addition across the back of the house that was built around 1978...brick floor, old barn wood on the walls and used windows from an old demolished greenhouse across the entire back wall floor to ceiling. (There's even an 8' diameter pool built over the old cistern -- but that's another story.) We are looking to do something to the windows to keep out the cold in the winter and the heat in the summer, and thinking of something as simple as window quilts.

The entire house is exposed to code inspection because we are using federal HUD $$. The city building inspector was here for a walk-through yesterday and indicated the family room may not even be on a slab. We will be digging to check this out.

Can someone please tell me how deep a concrete slab and footers should be to comply with codes?

 

The depth of footings is a local requirement and generally depends on the climate.

Your local building official (or his secretery) will have this number on the tip of their tongue because it is asked so often.

The local inspector did not have the X-ray vision necessary to see how deep the footings are, so you will have to dig.

Perhaps the unusual addition construction made him leary of what was really underground.

Give them a call.

Dick