Reference:

You are wrong. There is no given length for piles. They can be as short as necessary and no they don't have to reach bearing strata. You can pile just to densify the soil.

Rashzubair:


The essence of using Pile is not only/always to reach a bearing strata, some piles are held by friction exerted around it as it goes dipper into the ground, the frictional force will be so strong enough to support the pile just as a bearing strata would.

adanny01: It is not your responsibility or anyone for that matter, other than the Geotechnical/Foundation engineer to carry out the geotechnical investigation, recommend type of foundation and design the foundation. In my opinion, it will likely not be a pile foundation but rather a raft for the type of structure you require. Also note that the test required is geotechnical not geological, geophysical or whatever.

What i will do is to give you the order of professionals you will be meeting. Make sure that 3 and 4 are reputable and registered with NSE, COREN or any other recognized professional bodies.

1. Land Surveyor - he will give you the coordinates of your property boundaries for site plan/layout as well as elevations for site drainage design.
2. Architect - he will produce pictorial designs of the structure
3. Civil/Structural engineer - he will analyze and design structural elements for the stability of the building and determine total looad that will be transmitted to the ground from the building weight and all possible loading due to human activity that the building will be subjected to during its life.
4. Geotechnical/foundation engineer - he will test for the soil bearing capacity and design foundation to bear the loads expected from the superstructure.
5. Quantity surveyor - he will determine all quantities of materials required for the completion of the building project and the current market price for such materials and ultimately arriving at a total expected cost of project.
6. Contractor/Building engineer - he shall be responsible for construction of the building under the supervision of the Foundation and civil engineer.':

Also note that, mechanical and electrical designs may be required before the civil engineer carries out his design in cases where a mechanical or electrical equipment with certain weight and vibration is to be used especially on the superstructure. An example is a central cooling system sometimes pla"ced on roof slabs.

SIR BANYE: I am a civil engineer, in my years of practise, i ve never heard or seen anyone use pile foundation for a single storey building. No matter how bad the soil is, raft is best recommended. I always advice clients building in very swampy area that are not too sure of the soil bearing capacity to the soil replacement. Soil replacement is done by replacing the top soil of your land with solid sharp sand to a depth of about 2m, depending on how poor your soil is. Upon doing soil replacement, a proper compaction must be done. After which you can use a properly reinforced raft of about 1m for your foundation. Soil replacement is the guaranteed way to improve your soil irrespective of how poor it is. This way i can guarantee you of a stable structure free from sinking or foundation tear. You can contact me on udoka.banye@yahoo.com for further advice

ABAKA72: Oga sir, you are wrong in no 2. Architects do not produce pictoral designs but detailed functional housing designs( detail working drawings) upon which every other drawings or work ( structural, electrical, mechanical, QS, contractors etc) depends and that is why he is called the prime consultant and the leader of the building team in any building project. an Architect is not a prime cosultant in projects such as roads, bridges, dams etc those areas are for the engineers. So don't misinform people.

SIR BANYE: I am a civil engineer, in my years of practise, i ve never heard or seen anyone use pile foundation for a single storey building. No matter how bad the soil is, raft is best recommended. I always advice clients building in very swampy area that are not too sure of the soil bearing capacity to the soil replacement. Soil replacement is done by replacing the top soil of your land with solid sharp sand to a depth of about 2m, depending on how poor your soil is. Upon doing soil replacement, a proper compaction must be done. After which you can use a properly reinforced raft of about 1m for your foundation. Soil replacement is the guaranteed way to improve your soil irrespective of how poor it is. This way i can guarantee you of a stable structure free from sinking or foundation tear. You can contact me on udoka.banye@yahoo.com for further advice

kkonsults: Get a soil test done, and also get a sound COREN certified Structural Engineer to do the drawings for you based on the report of the soil test.
NO AMOUNT OF MONEY IS TOO MUCH for a SOUND FOUNDATION so as to enjoy your house.

Pile foundation is always the ultimate foundation solution, even if its a storey building.
A lot of houses in Akoka, Yaba which employed Raft are now TILTING, as well as some areas in Sabo.
Take Professional advice from Senior people here who have Experience in construction.

Goodluck to you,

Kkonsults.

lyvin: What is the difference between
Manual Pilling and Machine Pilling
i was once told that machine plling is expensive so manual pilling is done most times
i suspect manual type is an improvised method which may not be standard enough for the job thus may lead to failure.

Pls throw more light on these if your are knowledgeable in pilling types

opalu:

We all learn every day. However for you †̥☺ say that since you have never done, heard or seen a pile foundation for 1 storey building means it can't be done or not being done means you don't want †̥☺ open up for new ideas.
I have done a comprehensive analysis fo r a particular site comparing the cost of piling †̥☺ that of soil replacement. I discovered that the cost of replacing the soil plus thick raft was higher than piles of 450mm dia which were required. The earth behaves funny and I've seen where replaced soil settled considerable †̥☺ make the building unfit for usage and marked for demolition. I still use the method if it is the best and most economical for that particular site!

Fadelex:
correct, and a builder don't work under d supervision of foundation or civil engineer... the only person empowered to check d work of a builder is an architect and this is to ensure there is conformity with the specifications in d schematic drawing.... and by the time Building Code is passed into law, everybody will definitely know where they stand cuz there seems to be clash of duties presently in d industry

lyvin: What is the difference between
Manual Pilling and Machine Pilling
i was once told that machine plling is expensive so manual pilling is done most times
i suspect manual type is an improvised method which may not be standard enough for the job thus may lead to failure.

Pls throw more light on these if your are knowledgeable in pilling types

segcy.moor:


I wish to know your area of specialization
before Comments

SIR BANYE: I am a civil engineer, in my years of practise, i ve never heard or seen anyone use pile foundation for a single storey building. No matter how bad the soil is, raft is best recommended. I always advice clients building in very swampy area that are not too sure of the soil bearing capacity to the soil replacement. Soil replacement is done by replacing the top soil of your land with solid sharp sand to a depth of about 2m, depending on how poor your soil is. Upon doing soil replacement, a proper compaction must be done. After which you can use a properly reinforced raft of about 1m for your foundation. Soil replacement is the guaranteed way to improve your soil irrespective of how poor it is. This way i can guarantee you of a stable structure free from sinking or foundation tear. You can contact me on udoka.banye@yahoo.com for further advice

Fadelex:
correct, and a builder don't work under d supervision of foundation or civil engineer... the only person empowered to check d work of a builder is an architect and this is to ensure there is conformity with the specifications in d schematic drawing.... and by the time Building Code is passed into law, everybody will definitely know where they stand cuz there seems to be clash of duties presently in d industry

richeyy:

You guys should know that there is a difference between a geologist & a geological/geotechnical engineering, just as there's a difference between a computer scientist & a computer engineer. We're talking about foundation design here; a geologist is a scientist who is knowledgeable about the earth and it's content, he doesn't have the technical wherewithal to design for foundation.

Bwave:
The builder has to be supervised by the civil/structural egnr. to ensure conformance to the structural details including the foundation for all buildings with reinforced concrete structures unless you are talking of unreinforced masonry, what you are advocating has caused the failure of many structures.

ABAKA72: Oga sir, you are wrong in no 2. Architects do not produce pictoral designs but detailed functional housing designs( detail working drawings) upon which every other drawings or work ( structural, electrical, mechanical, QS, contractors etc) depends and that is why he is called the prime consultant and the leader of the building team in any building project. an Architect is not a prime cosultant in projects such as roads, bridges, dams etc those areas are for the engineers. So don't misinform people.

SIR BANYE: I am a civil engineer, in my years of practise, i ve never heard or seen anyone use pile foundation for a single storey building. No matter how bad the soil is, raft is best recommended. I always advice clients building in very swampy area that are not too sure of the soil bearing capacity to the soil replacement. Soil replacement is done by replacing the top soil of your land with solid sharp sand to a depth of about 2m, depending on how poor your soil is. Upon doing soil replacement, a proper compaction must be done. After which you can use a properly reinforced raft of about 1m for your foundation. Soil replacement is the guaranteed way to improve your soil irrespective of how poor it is. This way i can guarantee you of a stable structure free from sinking or foundation tear. You can contact me on udoka.banye@yahoo.com for further advice

Aventures: This tread is getting more interesting and louder, and we are learning. I wish the Mooderator can send this to front page for those that are not in property section and guest to equally learn as well. Back to SIR BANYE with due respect you have spoken well, but what you just describe is what we called cellular raft, i can take you to a couple of place where this is being done and i know you also have places known to you where this has equally being done as well. I bet you it does not really mean that pile is the best solution to foundation. ( though it is generally considered the ultimate). If you can excavate an take your foundation to the strongest soil strata that can provide you adequate soil bearing capacity that can support your foundation very well, that is the best. I give an example here, as a pupil engineer in some years back i was involve in a Catholic church cathedral at Chi Avenue, just beside oke AFA canal, the structures was design by Engr. Jolomi Ometan, as massive as this structures is we did not use pile foundation at all, rather we excavated the entire site area up to about 4m deep at this point we have come across a white silty sand. The engineer insisted that we should get a point and excavate further to ensure the consistency of the sandy and stable layer we met at 4m. After establishing this continuity. we started the foundation bases, to be breif, we have about 4 major bases, and 16 others, at least each of this major bases consumes up to 300 bags of cement, not to talk of others, we have three tiers of beam of about 900 mm tieing all the columns together. what about the de-watering challenge we pump 24 hrs of 6 days in a week.
Why this long story is because i agree with your point and i have 2 points to equally make. 1. The ambiguity of this process is high and cumbersome (like the one i just describe we spent 10 months with 2 stand by excavator and several trucks to cart away the excavated soil), also in some area it may not be practicable, due to logistic, availability of space and others while piling may not really be hindered by some tight logistic. 2. i can assure you this atimes in terms of cost it could be at per or even costlier than piling (many professionals use this pilling of a thing to cheat clients as they made you to believe a vague no of piles and tripple the actual depth all these are usually planned at design stage, but only to execute the actual thing).
The bottom line is let this man get a professional that will give him a sound best of judgement and give verdict base on his experience and put his professional career online for it by certifying the job, that is why i said he should check the status of any professional is going to engage in oreer to ensure that is a person that can be held liable.

opalu:

We all learn every day. However for you †̥☺ say that since you have never done, heard or seen a pile foundation for 1 storey building means it can't be done or not being done means you don't want †̥☺ open up for new ideas.
I have done a comprehensive analysis fo r a particular site comparing the cost of piling †̥☺ that of soil replacement. I discovered that the cost of replacing the soil plus thick raft was higher than piles of 450mm dia which were required. The earth behaves funny and I've seen where replaced soil settled considerable †̥☺ make the building unfit for usage and marked for demolition. I still use the method if it is the best and most economical for that particular site!

Fadelex:
correct, and a builder don't work under d supervision of foundation or civil engineer... the only person empowered to check d work of a builder is an architect and this is to ensure there is conformity with the specifications in d schematic drawing.... and by the time Building Code is passed into law, everybody will definitely know where they stand cuz there seems to be clash of duties presently in d industry

Fadelex:
I beg to disagree sir, you only need a structural engineer in a structured building e.g a building where u raised d structural elements only then u do d partitioning at d end,.. but when talkin of normal building, the builder takes charge and d architect (being the head of the building team and d designer of d structure) only comes to check if the schematics are correctly interpreted. structural engineers only deals wit complicated structural elements not like foundation and beams of a storey building

ABAKA72: Yes my brother, let every professional know his place and duty, not this Babble of tongues we have now.

SIR BANYE:

True word you have said, but for a single storey building with flats attached, we are considering 900sqm to 1500sqm tops, its not as expensive as most people make it sound. All that is needed is an excavator or a D7 bulldozer, with a maximum of 20 hours man hours. I was raised and brought up in the niger delta, we build everyday on water, all it takes is a considerable understanding of the soil. I still insist, pile foundation should only be employed when we building multi storey building or a structure of considerable heavy weight. Personally i believe a good engineer should also consider cost effective ways for his client, pile foundation in any way u put it is not cheap. Also consider connecting beams and total number of piles to be used. In extremly swampy areas, i can bet most times u do not meet solid earth structure, so you work with friction piles which upon perenial flooding could settle further. Using soil replacement and elevating ur floor base, you eliminate such risk.

Fadelex:
I beg to disagree sir, you only need a structural engineer in a structured building e.g a building where u raised d structural elements only then u do d partitioning at d end,.. but when talkin of normal building, the builder takes charge and d architect (being the head of the building team and d designer of d structure) only comes to check if the schematics are correctly interpreted. structural engineers only deals wit complicated structural elements not like foundation and beams of a storey building

Bwave:
I don't know what you mean by "normal" building but any building that has a structural drawing must have been designed as a structure and should have a structural engr. to supervise the structural works. FYI, most buildings with more than one floor are designed as a frame but during construction the masonry walls go along with the frame structure.

Cypost: Please I need assistance from engineers in the house. A friend want to build a story building -5 bedroom duplex front and 3 bedroom flats at d back. The dilemma now is he contacted two engineers for quotes, one said he will use PILE Foundation while other said he will do RAFT Foundation.

The dilemma now is, who should he contract given that he want d best required foundation as this is key to a solid building. He also has no fund to waste repeating/correcting mistakes.

Pls he need ur candid advice and suggestions on this issue.

The land is in ogudu-ori oke area of Lagos a swampy area.

Fadelex:
I was talking about a storey building, even 2 storey building, the architect do the structural drawing of such building.... simply because the specifications are simple... as a builder, without being told, I can easily design d structure of 2 storey building without the input of a structural engineer... but that should be done by an architect.... structural engineers are meant for framed structures

Fadelex:
I was talking about a storey building, even 2 storey building, the architect do the structural drawing of such building.... simply because the specifications are simple... as a builder, without being told, I can easily design d structure of 2 storey building without the input of a structural engineer... but that should be done by an architect.... structural engineers are meant for framed structures