footings

[ebstein]

I see alot of you guys pour footings......are they code in your area?

the only thing around here with footings are commercial buildings.....most residential detached garages are just poured on slabs..

 

[akdiesel]

Are you sure? Being a location where it freezes I would bet you have to have footings below the permafrost.
I do not know how they do things in the warm areas.

 

[ebstein]

Are you sure? Being a location where it freezes I would bet you have to have footings below the permafrost.
I do not know how they do things in the warm areas.

possitive.....we poured a 40*80 slab to set a timberframe barn on....6" thick...the guy in back of me has a 40*60 on a slab.....my 22*24 is on 4" slab..and my next one will be on a slab too...

 

[Stuart in MN]

In Minnesota garages are commonly built on slabs, so I imagine it's the same in Wisconsin (my 24x40 is on a slab and it's been just fine for nearly 20 years now, it replaced a single car garage on a slab that was built in the 1940s.) The slabs are poured thicker around the perimeter, I want to say about 12" but don't remember exactly.

On the other hand, my neighbor built his garage on footings, but it also has a second floor his wife uses as an office.

 

[TRC51]

I wish our area still allowed Alaskan Slab (thicker on the edges). Might have saved me some money, but I am not sure how much. Our NY code typically requires footings for anything over 400sqft unless you get a PE to sign off on it. Could have done that, but it seemed like every PE I talked to wanted $800 - $1000 just to look at my simple little drawings and stamp them. So I said screw it and threw in the footers. I look at it this way, should be no trouble to add and attic if I want to do it in the future.

 

[rburke65]

Footings here in NE Ohio. Residential footings where I live in Canfield city limits are 12"x 24"!! I'd love to be able to build on a pad.

 

[kmacht]

Here in CT, any structure over 600 square feet required footings. That is exactly the reason I am going with a 24x24 garage. I did go two stories high though. The 600 feet only applies to the footprint and not the useable area.

For those of you who went thicker around the edges, why did you do it? I plan on a 6" thick slab with 6" of compacted stone under it. The pre-fab garage I bought is built on 6x6 lumber as a base (completely self supporting). Any reason I need to go thicker around the perimeter?


Keith

 

[portcity]

we have to have them here in the south. Our local code requires 1' below natural ground, and 17 " wide for a monolithic slab. 1' below natural ground and 2' wide for floating slab. Built up pad requires the same but 1' below grade instead of natural ground

 

[mo2872]

Don't know the codes here, but had to have them on mine for the brick. If I'd sided the whole thing, could have done it slab on grade. My footing is 18"x18".

 

[jklingel]

I believe the need, or not, for footers is climate/soil dependent. With good soil (solid, well drained) you'd likely be fine w/out any footers if the garage is detached. I believe the shallow footers (thicker slab at edges) are for structural strength, not frost reasons. Just keep them "warm" or dry as a bone if you do get frost. I built a 14x44 addition onto my house 25 years ago, SOG, no footers. It is attached to the upper floor of my daylight basement house and it has not moved one iota... yet. However, the ground is pretty solid and the grade drops off noticeably so the water runs away from the house. AKdiesel: I think it is funny that you said "permafrost"! We need to remember that some lucky folks live where they have a moving frost line instead of permafrost. I sometimes mention to people about how easy it is to push over medium sized trees, forgetting that they have tap roots; way tougher than our trees.

 

[jklingel]

BTW: TRC51, don't go 'n tell me you know that gal in your avatar, or live w/ her. Every woman has a right to be voluptuous, but she abuses her privileges. Wow. Sorry for getting off-topic; couldn't help myself. j

 

[Ch3No2]

Just obtained my permit to build my new single story 1200 sq ft garage here in So Cal...after mandatory structural engineering the footings are 24" deep into natural grade and 12" wide. Los Angeles County=pain in the ars

 

[Boyd Who]

My new build is 440 sq ft (20x22), and is an "Alaskan slab" as TRC51 called it. 12" thick around the perimeter and 5" thick in the center.

 

[rburke65]

Apperently everyone likes your avatar TRC51 !!

 

[TRC51]

Apperently everyone likes your avatar TRC51 !!

LOL... one very good reason why I don't change it. A lot of members would probably revolt!


Note: She is not my girl or garage mate. She is Elisha Cuthbert from the TV show 24. We have pet names... she calls me, "who the hell are you" and I like to respond with "duhhhhhhhhhhhh".

EDIT: For the record, the closest I have come to speaking or seeing her is through my TV set. LOL

 

[Gary S]

Thickened edge slab is standard here too unless garage is attached to the house. In that case, we need footings 4' down.
Winter here can freeze the ground to 6', so frost line isn't an issue with slabs.

 

[38Chevy454]

Just had my garage 26x48 monolithic poured slab and footers this week. Code here is footers required 24 inches deep and 10 inches wide, any living quarters require insulation around footers.

 

[Boyd Who]

Apperently everyone likes your avatar TRC51 !!

I'm sorry, what was the question? I was distracted.

 

[WHIPOLDS]

In Maryland we have to go 32 in deep. I went with 12 block to ground level then 8in with brick .

 

[6768rogues]

We can do it either way in western NY. When I got my permit from the town, they gave me a handout showing how to build a slab on grade building base with a thicker edge section. It really depends on the soil. Well drained soil does not hold a lot of water; the water is what freezes and heaves things. Poorly drained soil will move a lot when freezing.