Create the base plate before winter

Hello, we had planned to build the foundation slab for our single-family house this year. And next year, as soon as the weather permits, to start with the masonry. However, a friend of mine said that the foundation slab, if there is no floor above it yet, can lift and sink due to frost and thus become unusable. Is that true? At what percentage can this happen? Or can anything be done to prevent this? Thank you very much for your help.

Heaving / settling only occur if the subsoil is not frost-proofly constructed. It would be terrible if all concrete surfaces had to be built up with houses just so they cannot heave / settle ...

The frost-proof construction must reach down to the frost depth specified in the climate map of Germany. That is between 60 and 120 cm.

By the way, there was recently a thread about concreting in frost danger:

https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/bodenplatte-noch-dieses-jahr-moeglich.8911/

Regards

...A friend of mine said, however...

What training does the friend have? Is he a responsible person, contractually involved in the construction? What legally binding information do you expect from anonymous advisors without any guarantee, warranty, or training?

Kind regards

Hello €uro,

the acquaintance is the construction manager. However, he said that if the construction company that builds the foundation slab assumes the warranty (in writing), it would be possible.

During the offer discussions with various construction companies, I always said that this year we want to do the foundation slab and next spring we want to start building the walls. But no one said that something like this could happen.

We do not have a critical schedule, it would have just been nice to start this year since I still have a lot of remaining vacation. Of course, if everyone says it doesn’t make sense or the risk is too high, we will postpone it until next year.

Earthworks including the base slab take 1 week, but then you have to protect the slab all winter and especially secure the construction site? We could also quickly do the base slab before winter, but we'd rather take the winter months to refine the planning, better compare offers, etc. And the risk of provisioning interest does not threaten either, because the financing will be completed later (in spring).

That's how it is. Now would be the point where it comes down to whether to install the heating before winter or not, you can really save time there, but no more masonry work will be done anyway.

When the house is finished, it no longer matters whether it’s 1 or 3 months earlier... The main thing is the house.

Use the time to plan all sorts of things or to do the selections. When the house construction is underway, it sometimes gets really tight, and you have to make decisions in a hurry.