I have no idea what I am doing.. but Im making progress .
 

Trying to put up my garage solo. I got a couple of quotes for the footer and pad, then covid hit and I said the hell with it, Ill do it myself .
I have done a ton of hack carpentry at the rentals, but have never built anything bigger than a shed before . No real experience with squaring up , or leveling a footer , or pad. Im learning a lot as I go . Cleaning up tonite, it was apparent that I am starting to make some headway . Couple more weekends, and I can pour the footer, and foundation.
I enjoy working outside every night after work, and on the weekends . Last weekend when I dug, it was 94 deg for 3 days, brutal hot, but I really enjoyed it
I plan on calling in all my favors to the family to help me stand up the building itself .


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Put dirt or stone around your forms before you pour. Make sure that the concrete can't get under your forms or they'll lift. And I'd tighten up that spacing on the form supports and every other one I'd drive a support stake that runs diagonally back to another stake in the ground. You don't want your forms blowing out when you're pouring. Been there... Done that.

I was already planning on adding many stakes, and reinforcements , but I will take any and all advice that is given here . Thank you
I am getting the forms built, square and level, and then I will add a bunch of stakes and really tighten things up and make them straight .
You cannot see it ,but there is rebar pounded in the ground between every wood stake on the outside forms I just got started on the inside forms tonight .
Good advice on pushing the dirt back up against the forms . This side is partially below grade, the other side is above grade a tad ,

Nicely done Fred. I love projects like this. I recently built a small shed and enjoyed every second of it.
I've got paving stone on the ground but the 4 posts and door frame are in concrete.

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Good on you!

The satisfaction you will get every time you walk into that shed.

Lots of work, should keep you busy for a while, play safely. Tie in a brace across the top of your form connecting the sides every four feet, will the load trying to open the form. you will want some help smoothing off the top of that when you place the concrete. is there a reason you are keeping the top of the formed section so wide? lots of concrete, really needs to be width of the wall, unless I am thinking something different.

I love a good project. Subscribed.

"I have no idea what I am doing.. but I'm making progress."

That could be the title of my autobiography.

Sounds like most projects on my farm, we just wade in, and figure it out. We just finished this greenhouse, and it is ready for final touches, and flooring.

https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-GreenHouse-Build-Solid-Structure/

It is a steel quonset hut building , It calls for a 16 inch deep, by 22 inch wide footing with all sorts of re bar reinforcement placed into the upper portion to help with the forces pushing outwards . I got a quote for 22k for the concrete work. Ill do a lot of labor for 20 large . Lets face it, most of this work, is just manual labor. I am figuring I wlll have 6500 in crete, and another grand in wood, and rebar ,

I am going to be a strong boy at the end of summer . I have somehow even managed to get my teenager on board. I have to pay him, but I am getting 4-5 hours of work out of him every weekend/
Ill make updates, I think the building will go up fast once the footings are done

So you're pouring footings separate from the floor (not monolithic.) What is your plan for the floor?

I wondered the same. I would have thought with that wide a footer that it'd be a monolithic pour with rebar running throughout.

No idea what you're doing? Would that I were so "ignorant". SmileWavy

When we moved into our house I knew before we bought the place I was going to put a storage shed in the back yard for the lawn and garden stuff. I looked at all the prefab sheds and then went to a local manufacturer's sales lot. I looked at sheds of all wood construction and they felt like an attic, just blazing hot. Side by side was a woof framed, but metal clad shed and it was much cooler.

I just hired them to build it in place. One guy showed up and 8:00 AM with a long bed pickup loaded up with the parts. All by himself he built it from precut pieces and the epoxy coated metal panels. He was do by 4:00 PM. It is supported by 9 concrete blocks and has a wooden floor. And I paid an extra $100 to have it an 8 foot ceiling not a 6 foot ceiling. That was a wise choice. After 22 years is is in great shape.

Yes, because I am doing this basically by myself, I cannot handle a monolithic slab . That is a lot of concrete to handle for one guy !
My goal is to stand the building up, then I can do the slabs in smaller pours, that my son and I can handle . Most likely 4 10x20 pours. I believe we can handle that .
This way, as we head into fall here in Pa, the weather cannot mess with me either . This is a weekend warrior project.
I really like the satisfaction of doing things myself.

Is there rebar going across the floor joining the two footers? Would be pretty easy to bend up some 5/8 x 5' L shape and have them in to your footers pointing inwards and join with a 20' 5/8 rod across your floor using a 24" overlap on the rebar, do the same for the ends. Probably overkill but easy to do now.

Yes, the plans call for a tie going from footer to footer every 8 feet . I will be bending lots of rebar .

Is your electrical going to be overhead or in ground? Do you need a conduit in your footing to get into the building. Do you need a grounding plate buried in there?

Ahhh, good ideas !! Currently , my electric comes in over head. I would like to change that down the road. I was already thinking about underground service. Also thinking about bringing water in an drainage out . I made a trench for that .
I never thought about the ground plate though...
Now is the time right ?

I'd double check on the electrical grounding.
I had a garage built in the back yard a few years ago. Standard ground rod just outside the structure. Wisconsin code is now two ground rods, 8 ft apart, tied into the rebar in the slab. The inspector told me this after the slab was poured and the walls were up, but since code had just changed, (I'm not sure when) he grandfathered me in.

Don't worry about doing it yourself, the crew that did my house did the whole thing without ever using a level or framing square. Or at least that's how it looks.