Phil L wrote:
[...]
That all depends upon the footings...I once worked on some houses
in
Manchester and the entire street's footings were less than a foot
underground! - four courses of bricks beneath the pavement, and
they
were built up off the sand...they /were/ over a hundred yrs old,
but
surprisingly, there was no subsidence at all.
[...]

Which puts me in mind of something I read in ?_New Scientist_ several
years ago to the effect that, despite what it says in the Bible, sand
is a good thing to build on. I can't remember why; but wonder if it
has anything to do with the trick of pouring half a pint of water
into a pint glass of sand.

Mike.