Foundation block wall installation in Hilo HI - a solid, dry base for your house

Yes, in most cases, because Hawaii's contractor rules generally require a license for anyone who offers or contracts to do residential construction, alterations or improvements. The exception is a project whose total price, counting labor, materials, taxes and everything else, is $1,000.00 or less and that needs no building permit, so any wall job above that or one needing a permit calls for a licensed contractor. We're licensed and insured.

You either grout only the cores that hold steel or fill every core, and the steel layout decides which one fits. Masonry trade guidance notes that where the vertical steel sits close together, filling every core may be faster and more economical. Either way, the grout is what bonds the block and steel so they carry the wall's loads together.

Match the barrier on the outside to the soil, and drain the ground around the wall. Masonry trade guidance says building codes typically call for dampproofing where water pressure won't build up in the soil and waterproofing where it may, such as with a high water table or heavy clay backfill that drains poorly. Dampproofing fits where water drains well through loose, granular backfill into a drain below, and either barrier has to run unbroken and up past the finished ground so water can't slip in behind it.

Draining water away from the wall greatly reduces the pressure it has to hold back, which lowers the chance of cracks and of leaks if the coating ever fails. That counts here because old lava tubes carry water underground, and they can cause flooding in Hilo when heavy rain falls upslope. I look at where water moves on your lot before we decide how the wall gets drained.

The cost comes down to how much wall you need and what the ground around it calls for, and I give you that figure in writing after I've measured. Height and length set the amount of block, steel and grout, and a wall with every core filled uses more grout than one grouted only at the steel. Wet soil that needs waterproofing and more drain pipe and gravel costs more than dry, well-draining ground, and taking out an old wall or digging where machines can't reach adds labor.

It's a common choice, because the steel and grout make the wall act as one piece instead of a stack of loose block. Hawaii Island has felt volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods and tsunami, so we build a foundation here for more than the weight of the house, with the steel and grout where the plans put them. We do this work in Hilo, in Hawaiian Paradise Park and in the cities around them.