Building a nice size shed.

Im getting ready to build a pretty nice size shed for my lawn mower (rider), ATV, push mowers, weed eaters, and a 10x10 workshop. So my shed is going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 10x25 or 10x30 roughly.

Question is, do i need to dig piers and pour concrete for my corners and middle supports? Do I need an actual footer? Can i just use pier blocks on the ground? Do i need a solid concrete area to put the pier blocks on?

Im clueless when it comes to footers and foundations and things like that. i can build a hell of a building/shed, but i have no idea how to secure it to the ground. Will the weight of the building be enough to hold it on pier blocks or cinder blocks?

 

For a span of 20-30ft...Yes most likely. How tall will it be? Why 10ft wide? why not make it a little wider? say 18ft? then you can put a 2 car garage door on it. Check your local building codes. Also being in WV you probably have a minimum depth the footers need to be per the frost line. You don't want the floor and walls heaving.

 

You probably need a permit for that size of building , no ?

 

Yes something that long I would build it wider, pour a slab for a small garage. Moving stuff around to get to stuff in the back is a pita. We have lots of out buildings in different shapes & sizes. A pressure treated platform that big is $$.

 

Some building inspectors are decent enough. If you live in a small town, he may be willing to help you out and point you in the right direction. If you live in an overly strict town where everyone knows not to disrupt the building inspector, it's best not to bother him until you have your ducks in a row.

I agree with others, you probably need a permit for something that size although if you're in the sticks you could get away without it. My dad and I built a barn a little bigger than the one you're talking about and we augered holes, used sano tube to pour the piers then anchored 4x4 posts to the piers. The floor was large stone and the back corner was concrete for a shop area. What do you want on the floor? If you're going to leave it dirt or stone, you can get away with poured piers. If you want concrete, frost walls are a good idea to keep it from cracking and heaving.

 

Inspector isnt an issue where I'm at.

And i only have limited space. So 10' wide is about all i can go. I can go as long as i want. have 2 or 3 doors on the side. One for the ATV, One for the Rider, a regular door for the shop. Just tossin up ideas right now.

But i had planned on regular plywood or 1x's for the floor. I can a truckload of 1x's pretty cheap from the local sawmill.

 

Keep em up off the ground or they'll rot out quickly unless it's pressure treated (seeing how it's coming from the saw mill, I'm guessing its not)

 

What about slab on grade ?

 

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I think you can just pour a slab and anchor the wall plate to the floor using a hilti and tapcon's. If your not wanting to pour a slab and utilize a wood floor then I have no idea and dismiss my comment.

Also you said space is an issue and 10' is as wide as you can go. Build it longer than what you think you need. Last think you want is wishing it was a tad bit bigger.

 

Exactly

Slab on grade

 

You think he'll need a footer around the perimeter to support the walls and keep the slab from cracking?

 

Cool!

 

Technically he should do a turn down slab for frost but could most likely get away with thickening the slab at the perimeter and throwing some #4 rebar in the thickened portion to act as a footer. Make sure you saw cut in your control joints or it'll crack to hell.

 

Yes , you could do a thickened edge with rebar as an integral footing.

 

Good point with the frost heave , it's not as big an issue where I am .

 

Last question,

I have been looking around at those metal building kits. They seem fairly priced for the size I'm looking at. I measured and I can go about 26 wide by around 30 long.

Roughly 8k for a metal building kit that size. I know an actual built structure would be nicer, but just wondering if i could get all materials for 8k or less?

Anybody have one of these buildings?

 

When we bought our house we priced a metal building kit vs wood structure. I found the cost of material for a wood structure was more than the metal building kit. This was over a year ago though so I'm not sure about the price of lumber these days.
A house we were looking to buy at the time had a 25' x 50' metal building and it was pretty nice. He lined the walls with insulation and even had air conditioning installed. Very nice building IMO.

 

Metal buildings are great , just make sure you know who's responsible for what when you price it , ie concrete , services etc