A footing is the widened concrete base poured beneath a wall, pier, or chimney that spreads the structure's weight across enough soil to keep it from settling, shifting, or sinking.
A footing does one job: carry the weight of everything above it down into ground that can actually hold that load without compressing unevenly. The width and thickness depend on the wall or structure it's supporting and the bearing capacity of the soil underneath it. A footing that's undersized, poured on loose fill, or set too shallow will let the structure above it settle unevenly over time, which is where cracked walls and leaning chimneys often start.
In the Blue Ridge foothills, a footing also has to be poured below the local frost line, not just deep enough to reach firm soil. Ground that freezes and thaws all winter can heave a shallow footing right along with it, cracking the wall it carries. We pour every footing, wall, chimney, or retaining wall, to the depth the site actually needs.
More masonry vocabulary from the glossary.
The services where this term comes up.
Chelo's Brick & Stone serves Hillsville, Galax, Wytheville, Fancy Gap, and Independence, VA. Call for a straight answer and a free on-site estimate.
