Foundation installation in Juneau AK - a base built for cold, wet ground

Insulated concrete form foundations, ICF for short, have the insulation built right into the walls and generally cost the most up front. They save a lot of labor, though, since most go together in a few days, so you pay more at the start and get to the rest of the house a little sooner. Whether that trade makes sense depends on your lot and your plans, and I'll go over it with you at the estimate.

Not as a bare slab, because ground temperatures in Alaska sit near 33°F and an uninsulated floor on that ground stays cold. Insulating just the edges isn't enough here, so if a slab will be living space, plan to insulate the entire floor. Tell us early, since it changes how the base goes in.

Get the site drainage and the waterproofing right before the foundation goes in, because ground moisture left alone at the start is extremely expensive to fix later. On wet soil, a perimeter drain, a pipe around the footings that carries water away, may end up being cheap insurance. Good gutters and big roof overhangs belong in the same conversation.

Some parts of Juneau carry more risk than others, by the city's own account. A lot of earthquake damage in Alaska comes from liquefaction, where shaken ground loses its strength, and while the city hasn't assessed Juneau's soils yet, it says floodplains like the Mendenhall Valley are likely at some risk. Large avalanche paths surround the city, especially near the Behrends and White subdivisions and along Thane Road, and the city has adopted downtown avalanche maps with rules for those areas. If your lot is in the downtown landslide and avalanche assessment, ask about a site-specific investigation, which the city says is required to sort out the risk and the fixes for a particular property.

Make sure the house is bolted to its foundation, because the city's hazard guidance says bolted homes are less likely to be badly damaged in a quake. Houses that aren't bolted can slide off their foundations and usually have to be condemned, which is an expensive way to learn the lesson. We plan the bolts before any digging, and concrete and masonry foundations should also be reinforced against quakes under local or state codes.

Start with the city's Permit Center, which covers residential building permits and grading permits and has a residential plan review checklist and a grading permit checklist to work from. When a job needs a city permit, we take care of the application and book the inspections through our Civic Access account, and if it isn't clear whether one is needed, we ask the city before we start. We're fully licensed and insured.