In a recent conversation with Katahdin Dealer Brien Shreve at Cabin Run Contracting in Romney, W.Va., we learned more about precast or prefabricated foundation systems.  Brien has found them to be a timesaving and energy efficient solution for many of the homes he builds in the West Virginia and Maryland mountains. “Sometimes the location of a home is so remote, we cannot get a concrete truck up to the site,” he said. “In those cases we’ve specified Superior Walls for the basement foundation.”

Many homebuyers don’t realize that the average home can lose up to 33% of its heating energy through an un-insulated, poured concrete foundation. Superior Walls prefabricated and insulated panels provide an easy and energy efficient solution to foundation construction. Superior walls fabricates its foundation panels in a controlled environment so the concrete cures at an even rate for a 5000 psi strength bonding directly to the 2-1/2 inches Styrofoam insulation for a water resistant structure, with steel horizontal rebar reinforcement.

Then the walls are further supported and insulated with concrete studs that are faced with one-inch foam insulation.  The interior galvanized steel studs are ready for drywall finishing and have access holes for easy wiring and plumbing.

On the construction site, Superior Walls can be a huge timesaver when putting in the foundation. The foundation is excavated, and crushed stone footings and drainage pipes are laid. The Superior Wall panels are trucked to the site on a smaller truck and set into place and bolted together. The seams between the panels are sealed as they are assembled. Once the walls are complete, the concrete floor can be poured using a small on-site mixer and finished. Shreve says that for homes he’s used Superior Walls as foundations, he can get a foundation completed in as little as a day and a half, less than half the time it takes to pour a foundation. They give him the ability to move to log raising and constructing the rest of the home.  These prefabricated walls also can be used in temperatures below freezing, when poured concrete is not an option.