Why is A post tension Foundation Important?
Central Oklahoma's soil is made predominately of clay, and when it rains, the clay is particularly good at absorbing water, making the ground expand, and when it's dry, it contracts. All this means that Oklahoma's home foundations are subject to a lot of movement and potential for cracking. Therefore, post tension foundations are a great alternative to the pier and grade foundation and post beam/stem wall foundation that have been used in Central Oklahoma for years. Post tension foundations are also much stronger and able to minimize damage from the increasing earthquake strength and frequency here in Oklahoma.
Why don't other builder's use this advanced foundation system? The answer is simply because it costs more, takes more time and they have a lack of knowledge and or a lack of the same level of quality we have here at Harbor Homes.
Every Harbor Home is individually engineered by an actual engineer. Cables and support beams are placed throughout the foundation as specified by the engineer. Before the concrete is poured the engineering company inspects the foundation and must approve the foundation. After the concrete sets up the cables are stressed to a specified force and anchored. Post tension external compressive force makes the concrete more resistant to the stresses that would otherwise cause the foundation to pull apart and crack.
Several years ago Ben Gray, the founder of Harbor Homes made the decision to go exclusively with the post tension foundations because he was embarrassed and disappointed with the performance of the standard foundation systems primarily used in Oklahoma. Nobody wants foundation problems and this is why Harbor Homes goes over and above to make every attempt to place all Harbor Homes on a firm foundation.