Building into Slope?

[600RacerX]

Hi Guys

I'm new to the board. Was referred from a few places so I figured I'd join in.

Now, I'm sure this question has been covered MANY times, but I'm looking to build a garage on our lot up north this coming spring. The lot is in Florence, WI and has grainy sand soil as deep as you care to dig.

We are looking at building a 24x32 or so sized stick built garage. It would need to be cut in 2-3' over the length of the building (gable door at starting grade and digging the rest of the building in). Now I guess my question is how is this typically done? Do you build a 'jagged' block wall as it goes in?

Can anybody give a rough guestimate as to what the concrete/block work would run. Also what your typical materials would run? (METAL roof, Vinyl siding, very basic construction)

A picture of the building area (would be building straight into the hill back to towards the right with it starting at the edge of the gravel pad).

 

[ConCretin]

Welcome to GJ. Lots of variables to your question. Do you need frost walls around perimeter of structure or are you talking about a retaining wall on a monolithic slab. Not a big up charge for the former and up here it would cost you $30-50 a foot for labor and $80 per cy for the latter. More info might help.

 

[600RacerX]

I guess I'm not really sure which would be needed? Pretty much a beginner here. I can DIY the build, but concrete and foundations are not exactly my forte'.

What kind of info is needed?
This is just going to be a basic storage garage. No heat, single story, non insulated, concrete floor building. Just not sure how most people go about building with the slope.

 

[bgarrett]

I paid the bull dozer man to add dirt until my pad was level. I have a 3 foot build up over 30 feet

 

[PAToyota]

Personally, I'd set the knee wall at one height for the whole perimeter. I didn't build into a slope, but still have a 2' knee wall so that I can wash down the floor without getting the wood framed walls wet. If yours is 2-3' deep, I'd set it at 4'. Then with 8' walls you'd have 12' and enough height for a lift.

Definitely put a exterior perimeter drain in around the underground sides and run it to daylight. Better to have it in there and not need it than find out later that you have a groundwater problem.

 

[camarotoolman]

I would make the walls block all the way up, why change part way up. 'm not sure about costs but it can;t be that much more.

 

[ConCretin]

I guess I'm not really sure which would be needed? Pretty much a beginner here. I can DIY the build, but concrete and foundations are not exactly my forte'.

What kind of info is needed?
This is just going to be a basic storage garage. No heat, single story, non insulated, concrete floor building. Just not sure how most people go about building with the slope.

You basically have two foundation options; a monolithic slab or frost walls.

A monolithic slab typically has thickened edges that support the structure above and 'floats' on the frost. A concrete or block curb wall around the perimeter is often used to raise the wood framing above the exterior grade. In your case, the wall could be higher in back to accommodate the slope.

Frost walls extend below the frost line and directly support the structure above. Your slab is poured inside the walls and is not structural. In your case you could simply pour a higher wall in back.

A monolithic slab is typically less expensive and works fine as long as it's not attached to an another building and is built on a well drained granular base.

Hope that helps

 

[Jack90210]

I staggered, but I would have staggered more gradually as the low corners of the "stagger" are very near grade -- too close to the ground. You can see what I mean in the 2nd pic.

 

[600RacerX]

Thank you for explaining this LL.

And Which type is yours considered Jack? That's almost exactly the kind of thing that I was picturing in my head. How deep does the main wall go (below floor grade?) Footings?

 

[rsanter]

Personally, I'd set the knee wall at one height for the whole perimeter. I didn't build into a slope, but still have a 2' knee wall so that I can wash down the floor without getting the wood framed walls wet. If yours is 2-3' deep, I'd set it at 4'. Then with 8' walls you'd have 12' and enough height for a lift.

Definitely put a exterior perimeter drain in around the underground sides and run it to daylight. Better to have it in there and not need it than find out later that you have a groundwater problem.

Do this.....

Bob

 

[bjcouche]

If you have the option, I would HIGHLY recommend building the low side up rather than digging the high side down. building the low side up will be significantly less expensive. Once you start trying to make a retaining wall, now it might need footers, because it's a structural wall supporting the weight of the building. If you have 3' of height difference, you'll need a wall 4.5' or more because you will need to to go higher with the dirt behind the garage to create a slope, for the water to drain away from the garage. You'll always want at least 6" of block above grade as well.
If you can't build up the low spot and must cut into the hill, you might want to check out digging into the hill and creating a retaining wall AROUND the building. You could then make the retaining wall out of retaining wall block, railroad ties, or whatever.
I built a 40' deep garage cut into the hill and at the back wall had a 8' poured concrete wall and it should have been 10' tall as now I have issues with the slope going toward the building.
Also, be sure to get somebody to use an accureate measurement of the slope with a laser level. What looked like a 3-4' cut for me was 8' in reality.

If you require footers, the cost of concrete will skyrocket. Being in wisconsin footers might need to be 3-4' below grade for frost, and that get's pricey... I have more money in concrete alone than the building itself.

Brian

 

[600RacerX]

Definitely something to consider! Would make grading from the front to get into the door a little tricky though. Could be cheap though. I could just dig a hole on the far side of the property (in the woods) to get all the free dirt I want. Plus that'd make a pond for deer too.

I would just be concerned about it settling over time. Is there special ways that people typically set the dirt before pouring?

 

[38Chevy454]

I had to dig into my lot about 4 ft at the back wall on my detached garage. Plus another 2 ft down below that for footers. Fortunately I did not hit any real rock, so did not have to blast out. I took 12 dump truck loads of dirt off, lucky I found a guy wanting fill, so we split the cost of the dump truck and loading. Remember you need to clear farther back to allow drainage *away* from the building.

I have always heard better to dig down than worrying about settling later. In my case I could not do fill as the entry was at the level of my driveway, so digging into the hill was the only option.

 

[bugnout]

I just had a 24x24 built last year up near Minocqua. Here's what we did