In one of the Home Sections, a reader wrote in to the Ask the Inspector column with a question in regards to a flotation sunroom versus a piled sunroom. The author of the column went on to provide some good points about sunrooms built on a piled structure as well as sunrooms built on ground augers or on a telepost and pad system.
While ground augers or teleposts are adjustable which implies "flotation" the applications are a little different. Ground augers are considered a substitute for piles and any system, including actual additions, can be built on them (providing they meet loading requirements for the weight of the structure). The telepost and pad system can only have an engineered flotation system built on them that will compensate for ground movement without causing stress to the system and the structure it is attached to.
Glastar Sunrooms have the only system that we know of, that you can get a permit to be installed on a pad and telepost system. There are no waivers required and the system is guaranteed. Without this proven engineering, you cannot get a building permit - period (even by signing a waiver that says you promise to adjust or moniter the teleposts). Not only is this system manufactured here in Winnipeg, it was designed here for our “Manitoba gumbo” and has been in use for over 40 years. This becomes especially important when we get a very dry year such as this and our clay like sub-soil shrinks as it dries out. Even piles and pile substitutes (ground augers, ground screws, etc.) can move in these conditions. With normal construction any movement can be catastrophic but with the flotation system damage is virtually eliminated.
If you would like more information on this made in Manitoba innovation (proven for years) contact Glastar at (204) 940-3030 for call for a tour of our full size exterior display.