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Any engineers in here?

todpod

todpod

Golden Member
In the future I am planning to build a Earth Sheltered home. Earth will surround it on 3 sides and cover the roof. The walls and roof will be concrete. The question is roughly how thick does the concrete have to be to carry the load, about 3 feet of dirt and gravel. I am just looking to ballpark this I am not building off the advice given here. I just want a general Idea.
 
The required thickness is giong to vary a lot depending on how much of a span you want. In other words, if you want a wide open space, this will require much greater strength (either by thickness or material choices). If you can deal with columns, piliars and load bearing walls, this greatly reduces the required strenght of the ceiling.

That being said, most likely you be limited by what the local goverment's building codes are for roofs, ceilings.
 
Basicly it will be a basement with no house. There isn't going to be any large unsupported spans, 20 feet very max more likely 15 feet.
 
Obviously you are going to have to have pillars and steel girders to support your cement ceiling.
Consider a buildin like a parking garage would be the closest thing.... about 3 feet of overhead concrete should hold your load.
 
Not sure about the exact requirements, but if you build a dome-shaped roof for your basement, it gets much stronger (for an equivalent cross-sectional area). You'd have to reinforce the side walls though.
 
Originally posted by: C6FT7
You're looking for the services of an architect not an engineer.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but you're misinformed. Any structural engineer could help you out on this fairly easy.
 
I am guessing the the house would be around 26'X80' There would be concrete block walls and a masonry fireplace on the interior to help support the roof as well as few steel I-beams. The roof would be poured on steel decking which would remain in place. It is basicly going to be a box.
 
Originally posted by: C6FT7
You're looking for the services of an architect not an engineer.
Click to expand...



I don't think i have what the design, I just need to make sure the roof isn't going to crash down on me. I always figured (and I could be wrong) the architect made it pretty and the engineer kept it from falling over.
 
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