My shed foundation took 3 tries to get right

I built a 10x12 shed in my backyard last spring and thought I could save money by doing the foundation myself. First try I just put down some gravel and concrete blocks, but after a month the whole thing was wobbling like crazy. Second time I dug deeper and tried to level it with sand, but a heavy rain washed everything out from under the blocks. Finally gave up and called a buddy who does concrete work, he helped me pour six sonotube piers sunk below the frost line. Took me from April to late June to figure out what should have been a weekend job. Has anyone else learned the hard way that skimping on foundation prep just costs you more time and money in the end?

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3 Comments

ray6485mo ago

My buddy Mike tried the same thing with his garden shed up in the mountains. He figured a few bags of concrete mix over dirt would hold, but after the first freeze the whole slab cracked right down the middle. Had to rent a jackhammer to break it up and ended up paying triple what a proper gravel base would have cost.

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james_ross3mo ago

Ngl, read this same thing on a DIY forum last week.

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grayw325mo ago

That cracked slab story hits close to home, I did the same dumb thing with a carport.

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