Shed Footings for DIY Dummies

shed foundation with pier footings

Freelancers who attempt to write about DIY tasks should, in our humble opinion, have some experience with the project they're writing about. At the very least, the freelancer should be able to write intelligently and intelligibly about the subject, a minimum competence that was never required by Demand Media in the days of eHow. That's how people with AAS degrees in business, like one Stephanie Nolan, were able to get away with writing nonsense about topics like "DIY Footings for a Shed"¹ (it's at GardenGuides.com, for unknown reasons).

Like many an eHowian, Nolan cobbled together some crap from a few online forums and then – forbidden to use forums as references – pretended to have used books for her sources. Stephanie's biggest problem, however, is that she was confused by the footings used for foundations and the footings used for piers. Her confusion is easy to discern based on these two disparate statements:

"Footings should be every 4 feet around the base of the shed; the exact number of footings varies depending upon the size of the shed."

and

"...excavate the trench for each footing approximately 12 inches with a shovel."

The former refers to the placement of piers supporting a structure in pier and beam construction; the latter refers to a continuous foundation. That's not to mention that "every 4 feet around the base of the shed" doesn't actually make much sense: perhaps she should have mentioned the corners? Whatever the case, here are some of Nolan's other boners (she appears to have chosen foundations instead of piers, by the way):

• "Measure to make sure that the staked outlines for the shed footings are square (even) with a level and framing square. Place the level on the straight edges and the framing square on the corners." – It's well-nigh impossible to use a carpenter's level and framing square on staked outlines. Perhaps a line level and the good old 3-4-5 right triangle???
• "Place forms on the outline of the footings, aligning the forms with a string." – WTF does that even mean? Does she mean to align the forms with the mason's string used on the staked outlines? Plus now is the time to level the footings, Steph.
• "...frost lines vary from region to region. Verify where your frost line is before creating footings for a shed. Contact a builder in your area to verify the frost line if you are unsure." – Frost lines vary with latitude and, to a lesser extent, with altitude. It's pretty easy to find a frostline depth chart online, you need not ask a "builder."

We aren't that convinced that a small shed needs a continuous foundation; it seems like overkill to us, but if that's what our Dumbass of the Day wants to think it's fine with us.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/how_7841404_diy-footings-shed.html

copyright © 2019-2022 scmrak

DDIY - FOUNDATIONS