I Found My RTM What Do I Do Next?
Where am I going to put my RTM?
Land Surveyor
Now that you know what RTM you will be purchasing it is a good time to contact a local land surveyor that will be able to plot your RTM on your building site. They will follow your county rules for setbacks from the property line and also figure out how deep your excavation will need to be . This will be the starting point of your project. The surveyor will create a plot plan which you will submit to your local building department along with your RTM plans for permitting approval. After your permit is issued and you are ready to get your site excavated, the surveyor will come out and do a stake out which will show the excavator where do dig and how deep. Make sure you get your utility services marked out before excavation.
Ready For Excavation
Permit in hand, now you are ready to call your surveyor back to have them stake out your site for excavation. The surveyors will leave 8″ long nails(pins) next to a grade stake which will show you the offset to the corner of your foundation wall. These pins are important for your ICF contractor to layout your foundation after excavation. Once stake-out and utility are marked out you are ready for site excavation. If you site is large enough you maybe able to keep excavated dirt on-site for future backfill, if it isn’t you will have to haul away dirt, this is usually an extra charge by the excavation company as it involves loading and hauling away dirt to a location depending on the distance travelled, your cost may vary. Your excavator will also trench services like water, sewer, and power to your foundation so its important to coordinate this with your mechanical prior to excavation to avoid delays and future rework.
Soil Test
Once the site is excavated you are almost ready for your basement footing. We always suggest having the bearing capacity of your soil tested by a Geotechnical Consultant. They will come out to your site and hand drill some probe hole where your footing will sit and make recommendations to the size, rebar requirement and even concrete specifications for you home. This gives you piece of mind that your home will be adequately supported .
Conclusion
We at YEGICF hope the information provided on this post gives you some of the information needed to continue planning for your new RTM ICF foundation. Feel free to contact us with any further questions. We would be happy to be part of your journey.