No going back now!
Once you order your building from Future Steel Buildings, an agreement is signed and you are asked to place a deposit using a credit card. Although I understand the reason, this part of a transaction has always been a bit disconcerting for me. Your credit card is billed but the product you are purchasing is months away from being delivered. Anyway, with that done, I jumped into this building project with both feet. A few days later, this arrived in the mail:
So with pieces of a steel structure that will become my garage/shop to be here in April; it was time to decide upon a foundation!
The default foundation for a Future Steel Building of this type, is a basically a concrete footer around the perimeter that is 8 inches wide and 18 inches deep. Along the length of the building, the footer is poured with a “u” channel into which the steel arches are placed. The arches are then anchored inside the channel using angle iron every two feet and then grouted over top. Inside the perimeter of the foundation, your floor can be anything from dirt to crushed rock or pea gravel, or, you can pour a concrete floor later.
I don’t think so!
While certainly cheaper, I could see within about five minutes, that this is not the foundation that I wanted. First off, I think building the forms for the “u” channel would be a pain. Secondly, grouting over top of the steel arches would effectively make the structure permanent, and I wanted the option of moving the building if need be. Third, any mistake or miscalculation here means the building doesn’t go up straight and true. Fourth, it seems to me that any mistake or breakdown in the grouting means that water is going to get into your building and I don’t want that. Finally, this option still left me without a floor.
So, after some, but not much deliberation, I called Future Steel Buildings and told them that my intention was to put this building on a concrete pad. To do this, I also had to order the portable steel base plate connectors. This was an extra cost; however, I feel that this is a much better foundation option for a steel arch structure. Basically, the steel base plate connectors bolt to the concrete pad along the length of the building. The steel arches of the building then fit and bolt to the base plate. Water can’t get into the building because it can’t get past the plate. Also, the plates are engineered to fit the arches so theoretically, if I put the plates onto the concrete pad properly, the building should go up straight and true. Also, theoretically, if I want to take down the building, I just have to unbolt it from the plate, and unbolt the plate from the pad. True, if that ever happens the concrete pad is a waste, but the way I see it, concrete is gone as soon as it hits the ground.
I spent a few days thinking and researching into excavating and pouring the pad myself. After all, I grew up on a farm and had done some concrete work as a kid pouring pads for grain bins and so on. I was feeling confident that I could accomplish this, when my step dad told me that I was crazy. He suggested that I find someone that was “good” at concrete work (obviously pointing out that I am not) and make sure that it gets done properly. Given that I don’t have any excavating equipment and the time that it would take for me to do the prep work I decided to take my step dad’s advice; a concrete pad formed and poured by a professional it is (cost is going up!).
Thank you for your response. ✨
Backyard Building 