I need some help figuring cabin piers

[Rubberdown]

Is there a standard, overbuilt, this is what you can do and you wont have issues, sort of thing for laying out piers on a single story purdy simple cabin, or do I need to contact a structural engineer and have them come get soil samples and all that jazz. I am trying to pay cash as I go and I just cringe to think what one of those fellas would charge. That being said I really have no idea what they charge so if I am an idiot just let me know.

[eaglegolfj]

I have been thinking about a big shop myself and talked to a guy that does dirt work foundations and all that. I don't think it matters if you plan to do pier and beam or a slab I think you should have soil samples done. I put in a pad for my trailer house with 60-40 mix sand and clay. I have been living there about 15-16 years, and I have had to have my house leveled about 3-4 times. The land shifts and settles a lot more than you think.

[GatorBait]

Depends on your soul composition. If it is sandy you want to drill deeper. When I was doing this stuff it varies drastically on depth. Also depends on the weight that will be supporting. I think in sandy soul we went 15' with a bell drill. When they hit target depth they bell it out on the bottom to support more weight. So you have a 6" or 4" hole drilled but at the bottom it will bell out to 8 or 10 inches.

[686]

Give us something to go on; what is the size of the cabin? What is the soil generally like? Are you prepared to use an auger drive to drill the piers? Can you get a concrete truck to the site?

[outlaw38]

I drill piers we use a 12" auger and they are belled out to 36" at the bottom. We usally drill between 8-15 ft depending on soil. I charge $110 a hole.

[low_tec]

What county are you building your cabin? Have a small eng company in this area that will do soil samples for you

[Mister Bubba's bulletman]

If it was me I'd get the specs from the city of Houston and go from there.

[project]

Here is how I'm doing mine. Extremely heavy log house going on top of them. Logs are 14" diameter on the small end.