Concrete Slab for a Metal Building

   / Concrete Slab for a Metal Building #11  
I live about 60 miles north of you. Our soil is heavy clay and cracks significantly in the summer as you can see in the below picture. I had a 40 x 60 shop built 3 years ago. The builder excavated down about a foot and back filled with several semi loads of material, compacting multiple times. Perimeter beams are 3 feet deep with #5 rebar in the beams and #4 in a 12" grid across the slab. It took 100 yards of concrete and the slab cost almost half the total building. Good luck

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   / Concrete Slab for a Metal Building
  • Thread Starter
#12  
I live about 60 miles north of you. Our soil is heavy clay and cracks significantly in the summer as you can see in the below picture. I had a 40 x 60 shop built 3 years ago. The builder excavated down about a foot and back filled with several semi loads of material, compacting multiple times. Perimeter beams are 3 feet deep with #5 rebar in the beams and #4 in a 12" grid across the slab. It took 100 yards of concrete and the slab cost almost half the total building. Good luck

View attachment 617067 View attachment 617068

Our bottom looks like that but it is almost half a mile away and 50 feet lower in elevation. This part is pretty stable (no rain now for almost 7 weeks and no cracks) so after seeing yours I feel better. Any foundation problems so far? How much did the slab and dirt work end up costing? I have a mini-excavator and will probably do that part with it and the tractor to move the bulk. Did you go with a kit building or weld on site?
 
   / Concrete Slab for a Metal Building #13  
$24K - site work and foundation
$18K - steel for building (includes 4 roll up doors and gutters)
$14K - building labor

I hired a company that does commercial work and told them I didn't want foundation problems. This was an engineered slab. So far there are a couple hairline cracks but nothing that is a change in plane.
 
   / Concrete Slab for a Metal Building #14  
Getting ready to build a 40x80x16 foot metal building at our place. It will be used for equipment and as a shop now and eventually for pecan processing in five to ten years. The soil where I want to put the building is a loam/clay/sand mix - it moves some between rainy and dry but the house slab 150 feet away has survived with minimal movement for 50 plus years and it seems to be farmer built rather than professionally poured and engineered. Bedrock is over 100" feet down so doing pilings that deep is not in the budget. I am planning on gutters and overhangs on the building to help keep water away from it.

I have talked to a several builders who have said we need to do everything from digging down 3 feet and back filling with road base with a 4" slab to doing a quick level job, use 3/8" rebar on 12" centers and pouring a 5" thick flat slab on plastic sheet. I am leaning towards 24" x 12" perimeter beams along with a center beam and cross beams at 20' and using 5/8" rebar in the beams and 1/2" rebar on 12" spacing with a 6" thick slab with a moisture barrier. This would use about 80 yards of concrete and 6500 plus pounds of rebar. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I have thought about calling in a soil engineer but after having dealt with them in the past, they seem to practice more CYA design after blowing the budget drilling test holes everywhere. Any thoughts or past experience on this?

Are you buying your materials for the building as a kit from a company? Usually they provide specs on what they want the footings need to be.

Since I don't know your soil, but understand how bad it can be in other parts of Texas, I would overbuild and spend the money now instead of dealing with issues in the future.

My biggest problem with concrete slabs is seeing the rebar laying on the ground and the Concrete Contractor lying about how they pull it up as they go. This might last long enough for picture, but ounce they really get into spreading the concrete and racing the clock, nobody is going to pretend to pull up the rebar as they go anymore. They just walk on it and keep it pushed down to the ground, making it pretty much worthless. This is also why wire should never be used in a slab. Rebar has to be on chairs. This is on of the most important things to ensure when hiring a contractor, and enforcing during the pour. Keeping water to a minimum is more important because that's what causes all the cracking during the following week. But back to the chairs, you cannot walk through the rebar if it's 12 inches apart. 16 is probably the closest you can do this. I personally go with 18 inches for all my stuff.
 
   / Concrete Slab for a Metal Building #15  
Always add concrete fibers to concrete. I had a professional lay down a small pad with no fibers before I knew of fibers and it cracked.
I layed down a similar pad same are ON SAND with stailess stell fibers and it never cracked and I drive heavt equipment on mine not the professional pad.

What is fiber reinforced concrete? - YouTube

Does Rebar Rust? - YouTube
 
   / Concrete Slab for a Metal Building #16  
I looked through the thread and didn't see anything about plans to ever heat (or cool) the building.
Since you are still in the planning stage, consider laying insulation down under the slab.
It will help with condensation regardless if you heat it or not and certainly will keep the slab temperature from migrating into the surrounding soil.
 
   / Concrete Slab for a Metal Building #17  
The standard concrete they sell you 3000# 3500# with what ever strands isn't worth a crap unless you take a cutoff saw and cut it in 4 foot pads with a concrete saw when it is green. Hit it with hammer its goes thud, get 6000# plus, slow dry it and it rings like bell when you hit it. Hard like curbs are. All topsoil vegetation removed and at least 12 inches of sand, watered and settled, then plastic, then limited rebar on chairs, after it flashes spray with floor sealant let that dry and etch it, then turn on sprinklers for 5/7 days.
Unless in frost area. I used 2x4 leveled off with stakes about 1 inch above level sand. Then shoveled some sand from outside the 2x4 to the inside and raked it out to close the one inch gap below the 2x4. Don't forget and expansion joint at least two. Metal is outside the plastic and close to the ground, 26" overhang and even with Florida humidity I don't have a rust or mildew problem. 40x86x12 $18,000.00 with land clearing, fill, leveling enclosed 40x40 6" limestone rolled under roof only section, but 17 years ago 150 services and water, even put drains in for sink, shower, washer, toilet stub it out about 12' from building, three 12x12 sliding doors and standard door. Had one leak when new. They didn't put a screw in tight because of a knot, I removed it drilled a pilot hole and put the screw back in.
 

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