Footers under concrete patio?

Getting ready to pour a 16x24 concrete patio out back. I'm curious if i need to do a footer underneath it or just pour a 4" or 5" thick slab right on grade.

As of now, we dont plan to cover it, but eventually we might want to sit 6x6's in the corners and put a roof over at least part of it if not all of it.

 

Put good steel mesh in form edge to edge and bond it together, you'll be glad you did. If you ever think you may enclose patio later a footer will be needed to support walls.

 

You could do slab thickenings at the locations where the posts will be later , as above use welded wire mesh in the slab and add some 1/2" rebar around the perimiter if that is where your posts would be later .

Is the patio on undisturbed soil ?

 

yes it is.

So I had this whole big post typed up and then i lost it, but i rememberd i copied it....So here is the just of the whole project.



I'm planning on pouring a 16x20 patio/porch. Maybe a 16x24. Havent decided exactly yet the length. It will be attached to the back of my house on the long side. My back door is sitting about 13" off the ground right now. 16' out it is about 8" high with the back door. The yard/hill gradually runs downhill toward the house. About a 4-5" slope within the 16'.

1st question.

I would like the patio to be even with the door and have a walk out porch/patio instead of stepping down one step.

I'm assuming I will need to dig down and pour a footer around the perimeter and then lay a course or 2 of block to get it up to where its even with my door correct? I was told to dig all the way down to the footer of my house and pour my footer for my porch/patio level with that footer and lay the same 4 courses of block my foundation has. Is this necessary?

2nd question.

Eventually, this will have 6x6's sitting on it with roof trusses over head and a nice gable roof over it. WAY, WAY down the road. But I need to plan for it now when building it. Is there anything I need to do to support the roof? Do something different in the corners?

3rd question.

Up against the house, I worry about the slab settling and falling. Will I need the footer down the entire length of the house as well? Can i tie into my existing block somehow to support the weight? Any other options?

 

The reason to get the footing down that deep is likely the frost heave depth of your area

If you do block and then compacted infill you can most likely acheive the results you are looking for , I would use rebar pins in the block voids to provide a block to footing connection and fill the voids with concrete so you have good bearing for your post saddles later