Because they are human and made a mistake. The only perfect person who ever walked the earth is alleged to be Jesus of Nazareth and you know what the available records report that they did to him for that don't you?
A Massachusetts State Police officer stopped an elderly lady for speeding. She got sputtering mad and said "This is nonsense. The sign clearly says 93. He gave her the ticket and pointed out a nearby speed limit sign finishing with "I'm sure glad I caught you before you reached route 128.
I poured a floating slab for an outbuilding that is 16x50. I said the hell with all that detail and just poured the entire thing s uniform 8" with #5 rebar on a 1 foot grid. It's totally fine not a single crack in it. Ive seen it heave about an inch on one side, no biggie, doesn't bother it a bit. I think the reason for forming in a footer and making it thinner on the inside is just for more efficient use of concrete. I didn't really find it worth the time in my case.
"We need a more permanent solution to our problem."
12 inch depth in the earth.
was there building codes/inspections that applied to this building? Not saying what you did was totally wrong for your application, but many codes can be one size fits all types of codes.
The one with no plastic on the side will have better conductivity to earth than if the plastic wrapped up along the side, but it will likely have more resistance than if there were no plastic below. More surface contact with the earth should give you lower resistance to earth.
No this was not necessarily built to codes. I don't see what a built in footer accomplishes, if it has enough strength flat and uniform then seems equivalent. Now some codes may require frost protection which is often accomplished with insulation laid below grade out some distance from the building.
The plan reviewers are not held responsible for things they miss during plan review. At least in Florida they are not.
