What are the pros and cons of a poured concrete basement versus a treated wood basement?

Answer 1

Im also a Builder, and a lot of my business is repairing damaged Concrete foundations. The weight of the Concrete foundation, as well as its failure to move during the frost heave cycles allows for cracks and eventually failure. (EVERYONE WITH A CONCRETE FOUNDATION HAS CRACKS IN IT, CONCRETE CRACKS, THATS WHY THERE ARE CONTROL JOINTS EVERY FOUR FEET IN SIDEWALKS IS TO KEEP THE CRACK STRAIGHT) Lateley I have been building only PWF (Permanent Wood Foundations). SIDEBAR:: It is a huge misconception that wood foundations don't perform in wet areas. There original intent was for areas that were too wet for building. The wood foundations work like a boat (which if you remember were also all wood at one time):: There is no question about the engineering of PWF's, only about the longevity. I've heard everything from "the guy at the wood treating facility might forget to mix the chemicals right, so the wood wont last" That's like saying that the concrete driver might get caught in traffic and hose down the crete to make it last longer. WATER DOES NOT ROT WOOD!! I'll repeat WATER DOES NOT ROT WOOD!! a fungus that thrives in wet wood causes rot. However, if every wood cell is masked with copper cells, from the pressure treating process, the fungus wont think twice about eating it.

Of Course everything is based on quality, there are cases where inexperienced contractors build a poorly designed wood foundation (Foundation Grade Lumber with a PWF stamp must be used), but if built properly, wood foundations will last 100's of years. They are warmer, LESS likely to leak then any concrete or block foundation, ready to be finished, and a breeze to remodel, and in the RARE instance that a poorly built PWF Fails, very easy to repair compared to CONCRETE.

Remember that most of the eastern coastal towns are built on wood foundations, not to mention the 200 year old logs that are being harvested from the bottom of lake Michigan.

Most older builders will never give wood foundations a chance. Many of them still wont use O.S.B, or they still put plastic on interiors of walls under the drywall, and disregard several technological advances in the field of construction.

Research for yourself. There are over 500,000 PWF's in the Midwest alone.