JLC • NEW ENGLAND EDITION • SEPTEMBER1994
When a foundation will be backfilled
to just below the first floor, every builder
puts in a full-height basement wall.
That's because the wall must hold back
the earth in addition to holding up the
house. But present the same builder with
a wall that will be backfilled only part of
the way — a house bermed into a hill,
for example — and the solution may
be quite different. In such a case it
seems sensible to step the wall up the
slope, pouring a concrete wall or laying
up a block wall to just above grade,
then spanning the rest of the distance
with a wood-framed