Can a waffle slab be built without waffle pods at all?

No — if the pods are removed, it genuinely stops being a waffle slab, since the pods are what create the ribbed underside and void that defines the system, not a cosmetic add-on.

If you want a slab without pods, that’s a different foundation type entirely — a conventional slab, raft slab, or another system your engineer would specify instead, based on your soil report.

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