# pour own footers



## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

The cheapest way from a concrete standpoint is to order a truck and pour it all at once. - No question, no matter where you live unless you buy gas for nothing.

If you go to all the expense and trouble, you can pour in sections and run rebar across the formed cold joints. In some areas you need rebar continuous and in some you do not need any rebar, but it is cheap insurance. Your footings may be a little wide, but apparently you have sized them for the wall and loads you have.


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## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

You are looking at about 5.3 yards of concrete. At 6 bags to the yars you need about 33 bags of cement to go into your 5.3 yards of sand gravel mix.
If you are going to use the redimixed bags of concrete like Qiuckcrete then you need about 240 bags of 80 pounds.

8" doesn't sound very thick for a footer.


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## lbird20033 (Sep 23, 2008)

do you think 8 inches is to shallow? we asked around and thats what we were told was the right depth?


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

For a normal basement, 8" is enough and will meet almost any code.

The only thing to change it is if you have very poor soil and need a wide footing. If you have a wide footing some codes may require a thicker footing, but that is rare. A wood basement is built without a concrete footing since a house does not weigh much.

Do you need extra weight to prevent the house from blowing away in a tornado?

Check you local code requirements and they will probably say 8" thick.


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

lbird20033 said:


> do you think 8 inches is to shallow? we asked around and thats what we were told was the right depth?


8x16" is a common size for footings. Typically anything wider than 16" is going to have to be thicker. Your footing's size should be engineered to work with the soil's bearing capacity on your lot.

You should not even consider doing this with sack concrete. You want to get the concrete placed quickly, and you're not going to do that with sack mix, even if you have a powered mixer. Pouring concrete in multiple pours causes what's called a "cold joint", which is a failure of the new concrete to correctly bond to the hardened concrete you're pouring against. It creates a weak point, and that's something you don't want in a footing. 

You need to call a concrete company. It will be cheaper anyway. Guessing...Say $120/yard...That's $720. How much will 240 bags of (inferior) sackrete cost you, plus rental of a mixer?

Yes, you need rebar. There are occurrences when it isn't needed, but that is very uncommon. It is always a good idea. If it were mine and it were 24" wide, it would be no less than 12" thick and it would have three #4 bars in it. Once again, that depends on soil conditions, but pure physics dictates that footings that are thin and wide aren't going to do as well as thicker footings when bearing loads from above. 

You need to contact a structural engineer, or at least the local building department.


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## James Con (Aug 29, 2007)

Doesn't the footings have to be a monolithic pour by code. And also does'nt footing mix have larger and more aggregate in the mix, Something you won't get from a bag mix. Another thing you should look into is the eufer ground incorporated into the rebar that is in the footing, If rebar is used in the footing it must also be used as a eufer ground. At least in my area it's required.


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Any inspector worth his salt is going to instantly disapprove a cold joint and require an engineer's review. I've had entire foundations torn out because they couldn't get an engineer to sign off cold joints in the walls. 

Ufer grounds are not new, but they are a new code requirement in residential construction. Yes, it bears mentioning and is definately something that the OP should determine if they're required to do. You can't get a better ground, that's for sure.


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## handy man88 (Jan 23, 2007)

lbird20033 said:


> i want to know if anyone can tell me how many bags of concrete i need to mix to pour a footer for a new house. it is 24x30 and the footers will be 2 feet by 8 inches. also does it have to be a continous pour or can we do it a little at a time and add rebar to join?
> thanx
> lisa


I don't want to rain on your parade, but if you're just starting out on building a house, and need to come onto this blog to ask questions about pouring the footers, then you may seriously be in over your head.

Pay the money and have a pro do this for you. You won't regret it.

Footers are critical to the structural integrity of your house.

They probably need to be poured all at once, not piece meal over time depending on how quick you can mix and pour from your wheelbarrow or mixer while trying to ensure consistency.

Have you even thought about digging the trenches and making sure everything is level yet?

The money you save in the long run will either be used for repairs or therapy, or both.

I recommend you don't do it.


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## lbird20033 (Sep 23, 2008)

we have someone coming to dig the trenches these questions are just for my own peace of mind. so i have a little better understanding of why things are to be done a certian way


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Trenches? Trench footings are normally much, much deeper than 8". 

If this is a conventional spread footing with a foundation wall on top of it, you should not be digging trenches for the footings. You should be forming them up out of lumber above the bottom of the excavation. Otherwise you'll have a heck of a time getting the basement slab poured correctly...You'll end up trying to excavate the inside a few more inches in order to gravel under the slab.


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Aaaaand...

You'll end up buying more concrete for your foundation walls to reach the same height as they otherwise would.


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## James Con (Aug 29, 2007)

lbird20033 said:


> we have someone coming to dig the trenches these questions are just for my own peace of mind. so i have a little better understanding of why things are to be done a certian way


If it's possible talk to the mason you are gonna use to do the block work and get him and the excavator together and go over the job at the job site. Because if the excavator doesn't leave enough room when digging the frost line for the mason to get in there to lay the footings and lay the block up, the mason might charge you more due to the pain in the butt it is gonna be for him to get in there and bring up the block to grade and also it will be a b!tch to parge. Most excavators know there jobs, but then again it won't hurt to get them all on the same page. Just a little food for thought.


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## Maintenance 6 (Feb 26, 2008)

thekctermite said:


> Trenches? Trench footings are normally much, much deeper than 8".
> 
> If this is a conventional spread footing with a foundation wall on top of it, you should not be digging trenches for the footings. You should be forming them up out of lumber above the bottom of the excavation. Otherwise you'll have a heck of a time getting the basement slab poured correctly...You'll end up trying to excavate the inside a few more inches in order to gravel under the slab.


It's pretty common around here to dig a basement 8" lower than than the finished slab elevation, then dig an 8"x16" trench around it for a footer. After the block is layed, 4" of clean 2B stone and a 4" basement slab. It's not exactly common to form up footers. It could be soil condition driven.


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Maintenance 6 said:


> It's pretty common around here to dig a basement 8" lower than than the finished slab elevation, then dig an 8"x16" trench around it for a footer. After the block is layed, 4" of clean 2B stone and a 4" basement slab. It's not exactly common to form up footers. It could be soil condition driven.


Ahhh, a regional thing. We all definately have different methods across the country. Here, you'd pretty much never see a block foundation on a new home.


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

Having the footings poured below the finished floor is really the proper way to do it.

The block or poured wall is built on the footings. Rock and sand (4" thick and poly) are put in and the floor slab is a 4" poured slab is placed on top of the footing edge projection and over the rock/sand/poly. Many codes require 3 1/2" or 4" of concrete poured against the foundation wall.

This also gets the drain tile down where it does more good. - Inside, outside or both depending on the builder and site.

The wall may be higher, but in many areas, basements are over 8' (maybe 10') clear to the joists. If you use block, you use an extra course or two and some reinforcement. With poured, you use extra concrete and little more reinforcement and higher forms, which may also be used on the low profit short walls. Builders gladly accept the minimal extra cost because of the gains and better use of space.


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## Maintenance 6 (Feb 26, 2008)

thekctermite said:


> Ahhh, a regional thing. We all definately have different methods across the country. Here, you'd pretty much never see a block foundation on a new home.


There was a time when it was a rare thing to see a poured concrete foundation wall in this area. It is becoming more common, but the construction method is still the same. Trench footer, the same as if it were to recieve a block wall. In most cases the soil will hold it's shape long enough for the concrete footer pour, so forming isn't necessary. Sometimes I see footers with a slot for the poured wall to key into or with rebar projecting to tie the wall. There are a lot of regional driven methods. not necessarily better or worse. Just different means to attain the same ends.


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## joker242 (Apr 20, 2013)

*new question*

I am wanting to build a small shack sort of like a shed to use as a hunting cabin. would I need to pour footers or could I just set some 4x4's in concrete and run floor joist between them and have a space under the floor?


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## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

Location and size of shack would help us provide useful info.


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## Canarywood1 (May 5, 2012)

The best thing to do is tell us where your located,and the next best thing is to have a soil test done,before you even think about pouring concrete.


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## jsbuilders (Apr 13, 2013)

Answer to the question is 215 80lb bags if you don't waist any, with a price of $880 and several days of labor

Or you can order 5.5 yards from a supplier, for around $500 to $600. With a few hours or labor. 

Code is going to inspect your re-bar before your pour it.


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## jsbuilders (Apr 13, 2013)

http://www.lowes.com/cd_Concrete+Pad+Calculator_100901113_


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## joker242 (Apr 20, 2013)

It will be in Kentucky and it will be a one room building (like a shed) maybe 15x20


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

isn't depth of foundation's top elevation determined by desired 1st floor elevation less desired height of basement useable space less thickness of basement floor less code reqmt of foundation dimensions ? ? ? steel reinforcement's usually required in our work area + we need steelwork ( size, placement, overlap wiring ) inspected & approved prior to ordering conc & covering it up.

to answer your original question, its just simple math - any 5th grader can figure volume if you give him the right dimensions :whistling2: you should certainly feel more comfortable w/them, right ? 

you need to be discerning & winnow some of the responses,,, some post bags of pre-blended conc as you asked & some w/transit truck volume,,, you asked the former, not the latter,,, the former's easy - ,67cf per 80# bag OR 2SF @ 4" thick,,, you also asked for bags of conc,,, you didn't ask about portland cement rqmts per ANY mix design,,, at the end of this thread, you may be completely confused,,, i'm happy to help,,, if this response adds further to your confusion, my work's done :thumbup:knowing enough & using the right words when asking questions is also a boon to responders

good luck !


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## md2lgyk (Jan 6, 2009)

Do you not have a set of house plans? They will specify footer size, amount of rebar, etc. that is required.

Though my wife and I built our log home almost entirely by ourselves, the foundation is something we had a contractor do. Too important to risk messing it up.


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