I am building a timber frame cabin this summer. The frame/beams are already cut. It will be 16'x12' and was made to be built on skids. I don't want to put the skids directly on the ground, so I am looking into different foundation options for this structure. I live in the interior of British Columbia, Canada, where the frost line is approximately 4 feet deep. I have thought about bigfoot footings with sonotube piers. If I go this route I will need to dig down about 5 feet, and then have the tubes protruding a good amout so that there is space underneath the cabin for insulation and plumbing, etc. I have read that code is to have the sonotube diameter be 3x as much as the size of the beams. Can I get away with having them smaller? Maybe 2x the diameter to save on cement? I have also thought about using rammed earth or cement filled tires for the footings, as well as ground screws or Cement footings and cinder blocks. Does anyone have any experience with foundations for a timberf rame structure of this size on skids? Any experience/advice is much appreciated. I am still in the brainstorming stage, and just trying to figure out what makes the most sense. Since it's on skids it can be lifted and moved in the future. I also plan on doing an addition to double the size in the future.
TIA
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