Low spots in my footings?

[2zwudz]

  I  dug the footings for my cabin a few weeks ago and it rained again.  I have water that is standing in a couple of places.  These are places that I dug down about three inches too deep. Now they are water holes.  I am wanting to get the footing poured soon but about the time these low spots begin to dry up it rains again. Yesterday I put some dirt back in the low spots and tamped them down. I went back today only to find muckey mud in these spots.  What should I have done with these low spots?

Thanks for the help
Mark

[Redoverfarm]

Mark a rule of thumb in footings is not to fill with soil.  A better alternative would have been stone or gravel if you feel that it is too deep.  A small area of a few feet will not hurt anything only cost a little more for concrete. Throughout the years I have dug several footers and none have turned out in perfect demensions.  This is true especially in real rocky soil.  You start out with a 24"W and 12" deep and after you wrestle the rocks out it is now 30" wide by 16" deep.  You can narrow the width by some form boards (which does not comprimise the structural integrety) but the depth I usually pour as is because it has a solid bottom. 

In regards to the water.  Bail out the deeper spots and just pour your footing a little deeper in that spot.  The concrete will force out what water remains. It will not effect the curing of the concrete.  When you add fill a weak portion of the ground will or could cause it to crack later.  In an attempt to un-due the fill just take a garden hoe and drag out what little mud you created and pour your footings. 

I am assuming that you are doing a line footing rather than a pier footing.  If this is correct the application applies.  If it is a pier footing then i would remove the loose mud until I hit solid ground again and then pour. A little more concrete but alot more piece of mind.

You can see at the top of the photo that I had to form my footings to cut down on the width.  Just make sure that your form boards on the width adjustment are on grade.

[2zwudz]

  John
Thank you very much!!!  Sounds good.

Mark

[Rover]

As John said, you shouldn't fill under a footing. 
I'd do the same for low spots and just fill with the concrete pour of the footing.

On my commercial projects, if we are working in slightly unstable material or if its forecasted to rain, we use a thin layer lean mix of concrete over the soil to ensure its not disturbed by rain or foot traffic.  Of course on commercial projects, we will spend that money to ensure we don't have problems.  The rebar guys love it because its clean to work off.

For us guys with our projects, perhaps broadcast some cement over your soil.  With any moisture it should give you a hard crust to protect the bearing surface.  It could save some headaches if you see the need.  Sorry, I've never tried it and don't know if it will work.

Larry

[glenn kangiser]

Good tips there, Larry.  Thanks