slab options for a garage

[keegs]

At our summer place in nothher ME I spend a full day of every trip cutting the grass with a walk behind mower. I cut around the house, down around one side of the pond and out to the road. I don't really mind the work but it's a day out of what's typically a 7-10 day visit. I really need a bush hog and tractor to do the job quicker but I don't have a place to store it. I'm thinking about having a small garage built to store a small tractor and bush hog.

I'm finding out that the biggest part of the cost in garage construction is typically the slab. I'm not a builder but my understanding of it is that typically in order to put down a slab you need perimeter footings and walls poured up from the frostline. The frostline in this area is about 5' which drives up the cost even more.

I'm wondering whether there's some lower cost options for putting down a slab for a unheated garage.

 

[kidr]

I would go with a pole building. no need for footings and such, just a slab.

 

[Egon]

Consider a shipping container?? Quick and easy.

Can you build on concrete piles ?

What type and wetness is your soil? Does the surface drain well?

Slab on a gravel pad??

 

[Bocephous]

We're currently in the beginning phases of having a garage built. My step-brother, who has been building for 40 years or so, is the contractor. He recommended an Alaskan slab, and that is what we'll be using as a foundation.

Monolithic or Floating Slab Foundations for Garages, Sheds and Small Barns

 

[bearhawk]

We did a 24 x 36 floating slab for our barn. You make the perimeter 12" thick and the center of the slab is thinner..

 

[brokenknee]

Another vote for a pole shed, and floating slab. My last place had a 40X60X12 with a floating slab. No sure how thick it was on the perimeter, but it was 6" in the center. Soil prep is the main thing to help minimize cracking.

 

[flusher]

Pole frame construction for the building. Floating concrete slab 4" thick with 12"x12" integral concrete footing around the perimeter to stiffen the edges of the slab and prevent cracking under load, 4000 psi concrete, #4 rebar on 24" centers.

 

[Texasmark]

Why slab it? Why not just rock it and if you get your new tractor with a loader or box blade you can spread the rock yourself.

If you are building a place where you work in addition to storing equipment then by all means a slab. But for the cost of the product and requirements for finishing labor and connections to a concrete retailer I surely wouldn't spend the money.

I have 2 shops, pole building design...poles in concrete, with floating slabs; a 24x36x8 (built in '81) and a newer 30x50x12 with a 15' roof extension (shed)running the full length built in '05. The first shop had a 4" slab and cracked, course we have tremendous soil upheaval here. The newer shop has a 5" floating slab and the shed part is floored in gravel. I kept a 100 pto hp JD tractor in there (on the slab) with cab and rear wheel weights and have had no problems.

My opinion: Perimeter and cross beamed buildings are primarily for areas where the perimeter gets the load...supports the structure, like for a home, and the rest is just filler; not made for heavy machinery and all that goes with a farm shop. I mean if you are just going to have a work bench and drill press, band saw, welding equipment, maybe a lathe and that sort of thing ok fine. But if you are going to park a 10,000# tractor on it, I don't think so; not for me anyway.

My 2c,

Mark

 

[Carl_NH]

We did a 24 x 36 floating slab for our barn. You make the perimeter 12" thick and the center of the slab is thinner..

Same here monolithic/floating slab 24x36' for the barn, 16"x18" perimeter with rebar with 4-6" interior slab all poured at one time. $2600 complete - All I did was dig the outside, level the area with crusher run gravel and the concrete guys compacted, formed, rebar, poured and finished.

Carl

 

[Bocephous]

We did a 24 x 36 floating slab for our barn. You make the perimeter 12" thick and the center of the slab is thinner..

That is the thickness that my contractor is going with, too. Eight triaxles of
2B gravel, and now waiting for a good day to pour the concrete.

 

[tcreeley]

There are cheaper ways! Many people slope the land and add gravel. They don't use a slab- just a thick base of gravel. Then they either build a pole building or a stick frame on sauna columns. Depending on the size of the building (small one)- the might just let it sit on cement blocks and build stick frame- check local regs.. There are many mobile homes that sit on top of gravel pads in Maine without any cement. Local gravel haulers can tell you how thick it has to be to work.
Good luck with what you do. For fast lawn cutting- consider a ztr.

 

[keegs]

Thanks for all the feedback Gents.

I'm familiar with the mono-slab... If I do pole construction, do I build on the slab or do the poles run through the slab to footings below the frost line?

 

[Depmandog]

Thanks for all the feedback Gents.

I'm familiar with the mono-slab... If I do pole construction, do I build on the slab or do the poles run through the slab to footings below the frost line?

Your poles are your foundation. They are placed below the frostline of your area. Several threads on here about the correct way to set your posts. Trust me - lots of back and forth banter about which way is best. Use a concrete round under your posts, attach some hardware towards the base of the pole to anchor into the poured cement. Some say fill cement to the top / others say don't.

 

[Texasmark]

Your poles are your foundation. They are placed below the frostline of your area. Several threads on here about the correct way to set your posts. Trust me - lots of back and forth banter about which way is best. Use a concrete round under your posts, attach some hardware towards the base of the pole to anchor into the poured cement. Some say fill cement to the top / others say don't.

Large commercial buildings built around here, cheapest kind of construction, use a steel frame attached to a "pole" buried in concrete. The building is built and when finished the floor is poured (floating) and is flush with the top of the hole filled with concrete that the pole rests in. I think this part is a moot point....

Personal opinion: My shop was built and later a concrete crew came in and poured the floor 5" thick which came up almost to the top of the treated 2x6 that formed the bottom framing around the perimeter of the barn and the board to which the metal siding (lower end) was attached. The bottom board was a ready made form and remained in place after the pouring which covered the top of the concreted pole hole. I did drive 60d nails into the poles to anchor it all together somewhat.

Has been 7+ years now and even with last year's drought there has been a minimum of building shifting in this heavy clay soil and my doors (2 ea 12x5, 2 ea 10x5, and a 3' passage door) are still in place and work correctly.

Here is a pic of it after I had it built: 30x50 with 15' shed.

 

[keegs]

Spent the past week up at the ME farm getting things finalized on the new garage work. I've got two guys lined up.

There's site work needed to prep for the slab. The excavator is going to scrape the sod, compact the earth and then bring in 50-60 yards of crushed stone to form a pad and an approach with a two foot margin and a minimum of 12" of aggregate. The crushed stone base with be compacted and the area around the garage will be shaped up with a mini dozer to address a slight grade. Work starts next week.

The builder teaches shop at a local high school and takes jobs like this during the summer months. He built the chimney on the house a few years ago. He's going to pour the slab and put up the building. The slab is 24'x24'x5" with an 18"x12" thickened edge with re-bar in the thickened edge and 6"x6" road mesh in the field. The building is 2x4 frame with 10' OSB sheathed walls, a trussed 6-12 pitch, vinyl siding, metal roofing, 16' steel, insulated roll up door and a a steel man door. Work starts the end of June.

Total price (excavation/prep, slab and building) is $15k.

Stopped off at the Kubota dealer while I was up there too...

 

[Jstpssng]

Spent the past week up at the ME farm getting things finalized on the new garage work. I've got two guys lined up.

There's site work needed to prep for the slab. The excavator is going to scrape the sod, compact the earth and then bring in 50-60 yards of crushed stone to form a pad and an approach with a two foot margin and a minimum of 12" of aggregate. The crushed stone base with be compacted and the area around the garage will be shaped up with a mini dozer to address a slight grade. Work starts next week.

The builder teaches shop at a local high school and takes jobs like this during the summer months. He built the chimney on the house a few years ago. He's going to pour the slab and put up the building. The slab is 24'x24'x5" with an 18"x12" thickened edge with re-bar in the thickened edge and 6"x6" road mesh in the field. The building is 2x4 frame with 10' OSB sheathed walls, a trussed 6-12 pitch, vinyl siding, metal roofing, 16' steel, insulated roll up door and a a steel man door. Work starts the end of June.

Total price (excavation/prep, slab and building) is $15k.

Stopped off at the Kubota dealer while I was up there too...

Sounds like your ducks are in a row. :thumbsup: have you considered also putting a layer of styrofoam under the slab? http://building.dow.com/na/en/applications/building/foundations/foundationslab.htm Not only will it help keep the floor a little warmer should you ever decide to work on something in winter; but it will also distribute the slab weight better and reduce cracking.

 

[Carl_NH]

This is exactly the slab we did for our 24-36 barn 11 years ago - no problem, but i concur you should lay down plastic sheathing before concrete or better put down 1" styrofoam below the wire for insulation.

Carl