Mike Lyle wrote:
:: 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.
::
You're probably correct - we had to build extensions to each house and went
down over three feet - they were still built on the same sand as the
houses..