separated footing

huangyhg

separated footing?
i'm working on a single family home that has a garage that was turned into an extra room.  a new footing was poured to support the new wall that took the place of the garage door...however this footing wasn't fixed to the existing foundation, although it was poured flush to the existing foundation.  anyone have thoughts about potential problems with having essentially a "joint" in a continuous footing that has been in place for a number of years?  my only thought is that there may be issues with separation and differential movement during a seismic event...
check out our whitepaper library.
depending on the site, load, etc. this could become a separation problem. in fact, i can't think of instance where it would not be a concern.  especially when you consider each piece as independently overturning. most residential footing 'additions' are doweled into the existing footing with re-bar and epoxy.  for light loads and 'simple' lack of projection, sometimes it is appropriate to underpin the existing footing by 'pouring' under the footing, but i don't recommend this unless it is a new and complete footing below the old one with a step to account for the lack of projection.