Building a House on Stilts

Start by telling us where you are located and the building-site conditions.

The location is Livingston, Texas; next to a lake; water table is high; clay soil.

With a design such as this, I would be a little concerned about the structure's ability to resist lateral forces.

Seems to me there ought to be a little cross bracing between the stilts.

This design does not appeal to me but beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

This Whitehaven home won a design award. No wet basements here!

The Vietnam residence to the left has limited eye appeal, yet it too stays dry.

This one is typical of the Caribbean.

This is actually a tropical house as evidenced by the banana and coconut trees.

While the comment about the lateral forces is valid , the mere fact is that no significant lateral forces exist to threaten these houses.

Storms are not enough of a lateral force.

Actually, start with you local building codes!

Why don't you Google "House on Stilts" and check out the numerous files.

Come to the Caribbean.

We build most houses on stilts.

Not for flood damage mitigation but for a whole lot of other reasons : the " ground floor' space offers storage space, parking, hanging of clothes line for clothes drying and possible future conversion to a two storeyed house !!!!

In the old days , we built with timber , mostly.

beams were 8" x 8" timber milled from caribbean trees.

Modern buildings are more from concrete but with cast concrete/reinforced steel pillars and beams or I-beam steel.

They withstand earthquakes, hurricanes and ofcourse floods !!!

Actually, I find boots far more practical for building a house than stilts. I rarely fall off of my boots...

Hello Guest,

why not join?

The only 'stilt house' I have worked on and in, mainly second fix chippying, is a house which had supports which were concreted into the ground. They were 300 mm, 12" square RSJ's. The whole frame of the house was made from them and raised off the ground about a metre. All the utilities were in a couple of pre-cast concrete ducts which had steel 'lids'. The ground and ducts were covered by a six inch, 150 mm layer of pea shingle and with it in shade all the time no weeds would grow. The house exterior was black painted steel and glass, with Teak Veranda's front and back. It was in an 'H' shape, with the spaces at the top and bottom of the 'H' used as large Veranda's. These were the only wood outside and, were made from Teak.

The left leg of the house was a bedroom, the right side a lounge/diner. The centre part was a kitchen and bathroom.

When it was built about 25 years ago on its own secluded spot away from other houses, it was 'cutting edge and, very modern.

To give some idea of scale; the windows at the top and bottom of the left and right leg of the 'H' fill the end completely floor to ceiling. The whole wall was glass. This glass was 12 x 12 feet, ~ 4 metres square. The whole house was 60 feet (~20 metres) square.

You gave only very basic info on your post which kind of left a lot of use guessing as to what you are after and where you are building?

It may seem obvious but apart from asking the local planners and Council, you should also remember, the single most important is both the medium the wood or steel supports are supported in, concrete for instance, and remember that the junction of the base of the actual house (at the top of the supports) has to take all and any weight of the house plus anything you may want in it.

This in mind, in my opinion you cannot 'over Engineer' the base and or frame as it takes all the weight of the entire house etc. Get that original bit right, which includes millimetre accuracy, and from there up things will be a lot easier.

Good luck.............Keep us informed..............

Hi Babybear,

I saw your comments about this particular H-shaped house. Do you have pictures of it? If not, would you be able to take some to share? I have a similar design that I am currently building and would like to compare my original drawings to this house. Thanks.

Clint

Hi,

I do not have any pictures, but check this page I have left the address below. It looks very similar. You will have to do a little more searching if you want anything more, OK?

http://archinspire.com/home-design/h-shaped-house-restoration-braced-steel-trusses-series.htm/glass-walls-plate-open-architecture-simple-house2/

Take care

bb

Thanks for the link. I've seen this residence on another posting, but greatly appreciate your response. Thanks, again. Clint