I want to build 26 foot by 50 foot three story recording studio on a sloping hillside lot around the Glendale?
Question:California area. Do any builders out there have any ideas for this? If I am building this into a hillside, what is the best form of foudation or walls that will be exposed to the dirt. I've looked at Permanent Wood Foudations, Concrete Panel Formed Foudations and Steel Structure Foudations. I also know that the state of California has strict building codes on these sorts of buildings since the problems with earthquakes in the recent years.
Does anyone have some advice for me? It is hard to find any land to build on close to Los Angeles that is not a sloping or hillside lot. Any ideas?
Answers:
You really should visit a few local engineers and maybe a few similar buildings. If you have a site in mind you should have it evaluated for what type of structure is best suited for that site. A local engineer would be able to tell you about any specific seismic issues for your site or area.
The specific conditions of your site are important to your options. Where you are on the slope is important.
You are talking about a substantial mass and I'm sure a sizable investment. Stating with a good civil engineer will save a lot of money in the long run. Test bores and a geotecnical investigation should be done first. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/geotechnica...
Keep in mind that the likely reason a given piece of land is available is because it is very difficult [and expensive] to build on. Most "easy builds" were taken long ago. You'd be better off finding a rundown property on level ground, tearing it down and build your building...
You will have a monumental problem permitting a structure as you describe.
Just the piling will be cost prohibitive as you must get down far enough for a stable base on some solid formation to put in a foundation.
I would check areas that already have homes built on them and contact a couple of the owners to see what problems they had with permitting. Even if you should get permits no insurance company would insure you without up rating you which would also be cost prohibitive. Steel anchorage and cabling seems to be the only system that would be remotely possible. But these were very large homes spread out over the crest of a hill in the 10,000 sq ft range.
These types of structures come with their own built-in problems.
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