Grade beam

A grade beam or grade beam footing is a component of a building's foundation. It consists of a reinforced concrete beam that transmits the load from a bearing wall into spaced foundations such as pile caps or caissons.^[1] It is used in conditions where the surface soil's load-bearing capacity is less than the anticipated design loads.

Grade beam

A grade beam differs from a wall footing because a grade beam is designed for bending and typically spans between pile caps or caissons, while a wall footing bears on soil and transmits the weight of the wall directly into the ground. It also differs from a strap beam because a grade beam is reinforced to distribute the weight of a wall to separate foundations,^[2] while a strap beam is designed to redistribute the weight of a column between footings.

Grade beams may also be used in conjunction with spread footings, in a case with large moments from lateral loads, in order to reduce the size of each spread footing.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Deep foundation

References

1. Allen, Edward (2009). Fundamentals of Building Construction. Hoboken, New Jersey, USA: Fundamentals of Building Construction. p. 970.
2. Allen, Edward (2009). Fundamentals of Building Construction. Hoboken, New Jersey, USA: Fundamentals of Building Construction. p. 54.