Today, I finished placing the 6 precast concrete piers that will support my 16' x 8' shed. In the first photo, you see part of the shed and where it will be moving to. I'm turning it about 90 degrees and getting it off the edge of my driveway/parking area. That will make snow removal easier. I plan to put in a small culvert and ramp up toward the shed with gravel. I'll build a wooden ramp to the shed door.
I carried the piers over to the area with the bucket, then set them in place with the hoe. I did a lot of measuring and checking to get them placed horizontally. The laser level was a big help in setting them vertically. I overexcavated by at least 3 inches, then placed a bed of gravel. I had a lot of water coming into the holes, so things get souped up in a hurry. I would start with the gravel about 5 inches high, then work the pier down into it, adding gravel and tamping around the outside. The taper of the piers was such that I duct-taped a 3/4" wood scrap to my 2 ft level, to make a rig to plumb with.
When I got done, I rechecked all of the piers with the laser level. They're all within 1/8". That's far better than anything this shed has sat on before!
Before digging a hole, I would place a bucketload of gravel nearby. I used that gravel for bedding and plumbing, then hand shoveled and packed the rest of it around the pier before dumping the next bucket of gravel over the pier. I would rough-level that second bucket of gravel, then go get a third. Most of my holes took 3 6' bucketloads to fill.
I was pleased to get the job done before dark tonight, and before tonight's snow.:thumbsup: It wasn't really quite as dark when I finished as that last photo looks.
My tractor and I had an "anniversary" today. The clock went past 535 hours, which means that I have now put 100 hours on it since I got it home on August 2nd.
