HoosierBuddy
Well-known member
Hey guys,
25 years ago I built a little back porch off our kitchen with 3 stairs down to the drive way. Just a 4 X 4 landing with three steps built out of treated lumber.
To anchor it, I just dug 5 post holes and set treated 4X4's in a bags of sack-crete.
OK. It was showing it's age and looking bad and I had an idea for an upgrade, so I clipped it off at the posts, strapped the whole thing to the loader on my tractor, hauled it to the backyard, and had a ball using the loader to crunch it into a zillion bits.
So...the big plan is to replace this with a steel and precast concrete structure. The landing is still 4' X 4'. The treads are precast 12" X 48". All in it's going to weigh right at 1 ton with no load on it, including steel and concrete.
It needs a footer to hold it up and tie it down to.
My plan was to cut out a 4' X 7' section of the asphalt that was under the old porch and replace it with a concrete footer and slab (monolithic pour) right up to the same level as the driveway. The project started well enough....I used a concrete saw with an asphalt blade and neatly cut out the section, then I got in there and removed all the asphalt.
What I've run into though is my old sack-creted post holes, are still in my dig zone along with some pre-me sandstone and limestone blocks from the historic stairs I replaced 25 years ago (the house is 102 years old).
I can get all of that out of there, but what I pictured as a neat excavation with 24" deep footers along the sides and a 5" deep section in the middle is just going to turn into a great big messy hole by the time I get all of the old junk out of there.
So...now I'm thinking about just digging the whole thing down 24" and pour it full to the brim. Honestly, it only increases my pour by 1/2 yard, and I'm already going to be paying a penalty for a small load.
The sanity check is this....am I nuts for pouring 4 tons of concrete to put in 3 steps and a 4 X 4 landing? Honestly...I feel like maybe I am.
Phil
25 years ago I built a little back porch off our kitchen with 3 stairs down to the drive way. Just a 4 X 4 landing with three steps built out of treated lumber.
To anchor it, I just dug 5 post holes and set treated 4X4's in a bags of sack-crete.
OK. It was showing it's age and looking bad and I had an idea for an upgrade, so I clipped it off at the posts, strapped the whole thing to the loader on my tractor, hauled it to the backyard, and had a ball using the loader to crunch it into a zillion bits.
So...the big plan is to replace this with a steel and precast concrete structure. The landing is still 4' X 4'. The treads are precast 12" X 48". All in it's going to weigh right at 1 ton with no load on it, including steel and concrete.
It needs a footer to hold it up and tie it down to.
My plan was to cut out a 4' X 7' section of the asphalt that was under the old porch and replace it with a concrete footer and slab (monolithic pour) right up to the same level as the driveway. The project started well enough....I used a concrete saw with an asphalt blade and neatly cut out the section, then I got in there and removed all the asphalt.
What I've run into though is my old sack-creted post holes, are still in my dig zone along with some pre-me sandstone and limestone blocks from the historic stairs I replaced 25 years ago (the house is 102 years old).
I can get all of that out of there, but what I pictured as a neat excavation with 24" deep footers along the sides and a 5" deep section in the middle is just going to turn into a great big messy hole by the time I get all of the old junk out of there.
So...now I'm thinking about just digging the whole thing down 24" and pour it full to the brim. Honestly, it only increases my pour by 1/2 yard, and I'm already going to be paying a penalty for a small load.
The sanity check is this....am I nuts for pouring 4 tons of concrete to put in 3 steps and a 4 X 4 landing? Honestly...I feel like maybe I am.
Phil
