Foundation wall

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Foundation walls of a Roman villa near Iruña de Oca , Basque Country

The foundation wall is the part of the wall of a building that is located underground, i.e. standing in the ground. It sometimes forms the foundation (foundation wall) or stands on it. The foundation stone is usually located in it . The purpose of this wall is to support the entire building in a stable manner and to protect it from rising damp . It consists of stones or poured concrete . The archaeological term is: stereobate .

construction

Foundations of the keep of Arnsburg

The foundation wall is built in a "foundation trench" (or "foundation trench"), which is matched to the subsoil (e.g. sandy ground, soil). It comes to lie on the natural ground or on an artificially prepared so-called grate . Grids are foundations made from beams or stakes driven in. The grate was covered with clay so that the first layer of stone or the framework rests securely and evenly in all points.

The rising walls of the building above the foundation wall were erected with different materials ( rammed earth , half-timbered , mud brick , quarry stone , brick, etc.) depending on the construction task or region.

Phrase

Especially with old ruins - e.g. B. in Roman villas ( villae rusticae ) or in medieval buildings - one usually only finds the foundation walls. Because they were hidden in the earth, fire, weather or destruction (including by conquerors) could not harm them.

This is where the saying comes from: “Burned to the ground”.

See also

Other wall types are: lining or retaining walls , free or main walls

Web links

Wiktionary: foundation wall  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Author: Carl W. Dempp Overview of the entire building history by Carl W. Dempp, published by Fleischmann, 1835; Original from Bayrische Staatsbibliothek Digitized on Dec. 16, 2008, pp. 20, 21, 87, 89, 92, 94, 97 restricted preview in the Google book search