# Garden shed 8x10 foundation/floor - update



## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

In about 2 weeks I'd like to get started on this, but I'm waffling on the foundation/floor. Obviously not a big shed. I can either build up a level base with crusher run (there's about a 6 inch slope across corners) and just build a shed on skids…

OR…

set some sonotubes and build it more like a pole barn. Compacted crusher run floor would get those 2ftx2ft concrete pavers laid over it for easier sweeping. I'm thinking of running a "skirt" board (pressure treated) around the inside to keep the stone in place. It will have vertical hemlock board and batton that SWMBO wants to paint so there will be a purlin down low on the outside and large field rocks surrounding the base.

The shed-on-skids option is just brain-dead simple. The only disadvantage SWMBO has voiced is that it can get critters under it. I told her if it has a wood floor, I can't close it off. It has to get air under it so….. she's ok with mice. Just not skunks and racoons.

The pole barn (kinda) design wouldn't have the critters-underneath problem, but I'd have to find a way to kinda seal off the base so critters couldn't come in under the bottom of the siding.

Thoughts?

One criteria I have to meet (code) is that it has to be anchored to the ground. So… shed-on-skids would need to be cabled to a dead man or even one of those curly dog stake-outs.

So…. once I get this foundation part finalized I can go get the field rocks and order the crusher run and get started…. or dig some holes and get the sonotubes in. On way or another I have to get out of this "analysis paralysis" mode I'm in.


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## BryanatWoodstock (Oct 31, 2012)

I built a 12×16 salt box style from a plan, called for 4 - 4×4 x 16 L on a gravel base. Then a floor joist of 2×4 PT was placed on top. Worked great , but I should have put pieces of 4×4 to close the gaps on the ends between the 4×4 x 16's. Critters love to get under there!


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## rossboyle52 (Dec 31, 2012)

I have a 12' X 12' shed that was built over 20 years ago. (not my fabrication) It was built on top of 8" cinder blocks. Incredibly it hasn't shifted more than a half inch in the 20 years since we've been in our home. To keep the critters out from under it I wrap moth balls up in dryer sheets and toss them just under the outside perimeter of all 4 sides of the shed (so that I can retrieve them and replace) in the spring of the year. This seems to keep the critters out. Hope this helps with your decision


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## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

When I first looked at your response I thought… "2×4s for floor joists?" ... and then looking at it I saw the span is so short that, yeah…. they're just nailers for a floor at that point


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## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

Ross,
Not sure what my dogs would do with those moth balls.


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## rossboyle52 (Dec 31, 2012)

Yah. that could be a problem. Where my shed is the dogs can't get to it. Maybe you could skirt it with chicken wire to keep the larger (skunks) critters out.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

Lay out a 9' x 11' "pad' and place about a 2×4 formed slab, on the gravel. Set the 2xs on edge, and the floor will be 3-1/2" thick, just enough for some Red_Head Anchor Bolts to hold down your shed.

( Six years in the concrete trade, kind of partial to it)


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## johnstoneb (Jun 14, 2012)

concrete pad get that lumber up off the ground and away from the constant moisture. Lumber in constant contact with moist ground won't last (even pressure treated.)


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## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

I'm not opposed to a concrete pad, except I really don't have a way to get the concrete back there except to wheel barrow it. I'd also have to check with the local building inspector and see if a concrete floor changes anything in terms of what rules I have to follow. I *do* have a concrete guy. He's already put in well over 2700 sq ft of flat work (driveway, patio, front porch, pad for shop) so I wonder what he'd charge me for a pad for an 8×10 shed 

If my rememberer is workin' right, this would be less than a yard of concrete.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

There is a foam sill "plate' available, to go between the concrete and the wood.

One sheet of 6×6 ww plus two 20' #4 bars. Cut the sheet to fit, tie the joint with wire. Tie the #4 rebars to the edge of the wire mat. Sit mat up about 2", by using a busted up concrete block. Decide where the front door side will be, and add a litle extra "mud" to form a apron. makes rolling things in and out a lot easier. Can use what is left in the chute for it, too. Minimum crete order: 2 yards.

You CAN add a little depth around the edges, back to the wall areas. Called a Thickened Slab. Like having a footer and a slab all in one pour. And it is legal, too.


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## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

Yeah my shop is on a floating slab with thickened edges. Around here they're called haunched slabs. It's about a foot thick at the edges almost like a grade beam 

When I told him it was for my workshop, his guys stayed a little extra time and hard troweled it. No control joints tooled in. I believe it was the next day they came back and saw cut the control joints. Between the super smooth surface and the saw cut joints, it sure is easy to sweep.


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## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

OK, just because I know yer all interested in this. *grin* ...
I called my concrete guy and because of minimums imposed on him by the suppliers, etc…. he said, "I can't do it for under $500, but I can't imagine it going over $1000". That's a pretty big range in price. He realizes that and is coming out to give me a real estimate. He doesn't go over his estimates to me… EVER… and he has often come back with a final price LESS than the estimate depending on the size of the job. But he knows he'll be wheelbarrowing the stone and concrete back there because there's no way to drive up to it. The neighbor might let me run a power buggy at the edge of his property but that's not even been approached yet.

So… to get an 8×10 (or maybe 8×12) shed on a haunched 4" concrete pad (thickened edges) there are pros and cons.
PROs:
#1 I don't have to wheelbarrow a few yards of stone back there
#2 I don't have to go buy 6×6 PT timbers and haul THOSE back there
#3 I don't have to *dig*. I usually offer to strip the sod to save some on the labor. but we'll see how much that saves before I commit to it.
#4 The shed would be on a concrete pad… that kinda speaks for itself and it would please SWMBO
#5 TIME! - it would save me a ton of time to NOT have to build up a foundation and floor and then lay pavers inside the building

CONs:
#1 money - I'm sure it's going to cost more. Just not sure how MUCH more. Might not actually be too bad though and my back is pretty valuable 
... that's the only CON I can think of…

Oh! And I already called the town and it won't change my assessment or anything and they said it's fine to use concrete. It's still just a garden shed as far as they're concerned.


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