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Primary Support Columns (PSC) - Strength
The PSC is very strong. Since it was designed to withstand the enormous forces of an earthquake or high wind, it is much stronger than the foundations designed to meet minimum support requirements during calm weather. The PSC provides great strength for both vertical loads and lateral loads.
Vertical Strength - Independent testing shows that the PSC for a standard doublewide Factory Built home can support more than 440,000 pounds – approximately 8 times the weight of the home – without damage to the Support Columns.
Horizontal Strength - Independent testing shows that the 12 Support Columns in the PSC for a standard double-wide Factory Built home work together to provide more than 48,000 pounds of resistance to lateral forces, or winds of 100mph.
PSC Footing Design - Concrete and Steel Reinforcing. The concrete footing for the support column is much stronger than other concrete structures. Its high strength (3,000 PSI) concrete is made much, much stronger with a highly innovative and extremely effective reinforcement pattern. Diagonal reinforcing bars are positioned so their intersection is directly below the center of the applied load. And a 16-inch diameter circle of reinforcing bar is centered on the point of applied load, so as to handle forces radiating out from the applied load. The result is that each PSC footing can withstand loads exceeding 200,000 pounds!
PSC Footing - Fully Cured Concrete. The PSC is delivered at full strength. Complete curing before applying any load eliminates the initial cracking problems that are common when site-poured concrete is used for Factory Built home foundations.
Reliability and Strength Testing - FoundationWorks confirms system strength by physical testing at Professional Service Industries, Inc. (PSI), one of the largest, independent construction testing companies in North America. In addition, the PSC has been approved by numerous certifying engineers in the eight western states where the business has operated to date.
Field Experience. In the last few years more than 1,600 Factory Built homes have been set on PSCs. Since the original design goal of the PSC was to address issues of earthquakes and high wind, these installations have been in some of the most challenging physical environments, including weather conditions, site locations, and a great variety of home designs.
Performance and reliability have been extraordinary! To date not a single foundation has failed. If fact, to this day not a single component of any foundation system has needed repair!
Earthquake Protection - The FoundationWorks PSC System meets the toughest earthquake building requirements in the U.S. It is certified by the State of California as an earthquake foundation, for use in all earthquake zones, including the most rigorous Seismic Zone 4.
Northridge Quake. The founder’s earlier use of some of the key ideas in the FoundationWorks System, produced foundations for more than 200 Factory Built homes which were located very close to the epicenter of the destructive “Northridge” earthquake of 1994. No home was lost. No element of any foundation needed to be replaced after that very destructive earthquake.
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