Digging a concrete footer???

[John_M]

Hi there.....

Let's say I am a really adventerous person!!  How hard is it to rent a small back hoe and dig your own concrete footer for s foundation?  Where I live, the frost depth is 42", so I am assuming that I need to go down that deep.

The footprint is not very big.....18 X 32.  All the research I have done looks like it is a trench dug out and then filled with concrete.  Seems pretty straighforward.  Am I missing something??

Just trying to cut down on costs.  I realize that in most bids a contractor will give you, at least half of the cost is labor.  

Would love to hear opinions / experiences???  Thanks!

[glenn-k]

If you can rent a backhoe but have never run one before I recommend having lots of room and keeping other people away from the entire swing area of the backhoe.  There is even a learning curve -maybe even worse when switching from one control system to another, but if you can and want to I would say do it.

Start slow and deliberate then speed will slowly increase as you get used to repeating and adjusting motions.  In a couple of hours you will be doing pretty fair.

Note that it may be as cheap to hire someone and a hoe who knows how to dig already, but won't be half the fun.

Note also that many of the girls like to try their hand at these big tools.

[Daddymem]

A bobcat might be easier and cheaper to use for this application.  Get one with the tracks.  My parent's just did a full basement for a ~20x20 addition with a bobcat.  

[glenn-k]

I would assume you mean the Bobcat if digging a full basement, daddymem, otherwise if just a deep perimeter footing the backhoe would be the tool of choice???

[Jochen]

I used a shovel and a pickaxe to dig my footings 4' deep for my 20 x 24 cottage. But that was one of the  reasons why I used Bigfoot Footings and Sonotubes instead. And to stay on that line I mixed my concrete in a biggggg bucket by hand. It is doable. But it will take some time.  

Jochen

[glenn-k]

You have a lot more energy than I do, Jochen.  I'm addicted to machines. I guess that is why they figure they can charge any price they want for oil. :-/

[Daddymem]

Nope:


Of course my perspective is warped to the sand sand sand sand we have around here, I don't imagine those have much grunt power to go through hardpan.

[spinnm]

John,

If frost is 42" any reason why you wouldn't do a basement?  Cheap space and you're half way there.

If you dig your own, there's the learning curve that Glenn talked about.  Also that learning curve may cause you to waste concrete...not cheap these days.

You might consider this to save $$.  Find someone who's really good with his hoe.  Get him to dig the trenches and you do the concrete work.  That's doable.

A backhoe artist should be able to do it in an hr or two....unless you have a lot of rock.  Rates vary, but $50/hr would be generous here.

[n74tg]

You mentioned in your first post, doing a foundation is just like digging a hole and pouring in concrete.  Nobody mentioned anything about rebar here, so I will.  You probably need some.  Put it up about 1/3 of the footer thickness from the bottom so it will be in tension when footer loads up.

[Amanda_931]

Continuous footer or holes for piers?

Auger (preferably on a tractor--not hand-held if there is any possibility of hitting rocks--how Charlie Daniels broke his arm years and years ago--couldn't pick up a fiddle for months) is not a bad idea for either.  We dug the--continuous--footing for a tiny building with one.   Two lines of holes, finished it up with a digging stick and shovels.  I'd gotten a 12" auger for that reason, it's not so good--too much backfilling--for fence posts.  But we did post holes for the rest of the building that way as well.  With the extra backfilling.

But we didn't have to go down no 40+ inches.

Guys who put in a utility pole for me had one person with one of those 16# digging sticks, the second with what doesn't work worth a flip around here as a post hole digger to pick the loose stuff out.

[glenn kangiser]

Good one, Amanda-- the piers would be much cheaper and serve the same purpose unless he does want to go to the full basement as Shelley mentioned.

[John_M]

Thanks for the info.....

Anyone know of any good info on the web about digging/setting up the foundation?

[glenn kangiser]

There is more information here about squaring, etc.  

http://countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=01;action=display;num=1119982770;start=2#2