I started building my house this fall, but because of scheduling conflicts, weather, and other factors we got far enough to get the basement walls poured but it looks like we might have to halt construction until spring. We don't have the backfill in yet so the footings are exposed. How can I protect the walls and footings to last through the winter until we can pick up construction next spring? I was thinking of piling bales of hay filling the overdig, and around inside the walls of the basement. I also thought maybe using insulation to cover the footings like in shallow frost protected footings.

Any help will be welcome. Thank you.

You've got the wright idea with the hay but you'll have to make sure it doesn't get wet(that means tarpping the whole house). The best would be to floor, backfill and minimal heat to prevent frosting. By any chance are you built on bedrock ?

Where are you? What is your code for frost depth? What is your soil type? Is it a wet area? Frost does not go very deep in dry sandy soil.

Pour the basement, back-fill then use lots of frost blankets around the inside basement.