On 8/4/13 6:52 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
-MIKE- wrote:


You might be trying to NASA-tise this. :-)
8 inches is nothing, one concrete block. You could dig one side down
only 4 inches and it wouldn't look too high on the other side.

As for a foundation, where in the country are you? If you have a lot
of freeze and thaw, you may want a foundation under the freeze line.
If you don't have long hard winters, you could hand dig shallow pier
holes or wider pads for crushed stone and a concrete post block. I'm
in TN and I dug shallow pads filled with crushed stone, on top of
which sit flat cement blocks that the wood skids sit on. My shed is a
bit smaller than yours and hasn't moved in 12 years.

I think block on stone would work for you and you could do it yourself
in an afternoon.

Excellent commentary. I do live in the frost zone - I'm in the Syracuse, NY
area and our frost goes a full 4' every winter. My shed is about 20 years
old and is built on concrete blocks around the perimeter. I did not use any
gravel fill or crushed limestone. I simply leveled in the blocks in the
natural soils. It's still there - level and plumb, and doing just fine.


If there's enough loose, porous fill underneath, you will get just what
you describe and everything's fine.
In fact, for a small shed it's probably *better* than digging post
holes. Posts in the ground can be lifted by freeze and next thing you
know, your sheds un-level.

If water freezes in a loose fill pad and raises the shed a bit, it falls
back down after the thaw.

[Mike, ignore any email reply you may get from me. I hit the wrong button.]


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com

---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply