Shed construction

secutanudu

I am thinking of buiding a shed this summer. I basically know what I want to do, the only questions I have are about the footings/foundation.

My plan was to pour 4-foot deep concrete footings with sonotubes. At least one in each corner, maybe more (dead center? under the door?)

Can I let the tubes stick up out of the ground a few inches so my floor is floating above the ground? Then mount some type of anchor bolt on each of the corners to put the rim joist in? What is the standard way to attach a 2x6 or 2x8 floor joist to the top of a footing?

Do they make some sort of "joist hanger" that sets in a footing? Like a u-shaped bracket with an anchor bolt in the bottom?

Just not sure the proper way to get the rim joist mounted. Seems pretty straight-forward after that.

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Andrew

DexterII

Just curious, but wouldn't you be better off with a conventional foundation? Around here, the woodchucks would perform the preliminary excavation underneath the shed, and ultimately open it up to skunks, raccoons, and anything else that happened along.

secutanudu

Pests of that size isn't really an issue where I live.

I thought about pouring a concrete pad, but I think it would be cost-prohibitive.

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Andrew

Daniel Holzman

You can certainly build a shed the way you are describing. Simpson (and competitors) make an entire line of brackets and connectors to connect essentially any wooden structural element to another wooden element, or to a concrete post as you describe. Go to the Simpson website, you can download free catalogs and software to help you select the proper connector.

For the type of structure you describe, typically you install beams from post to post, attaching the beams to the concrete posts using U brackets that are J bolted to the concrete. The joists typically sit on top of the beams, attached using joist clips. Or you can attach the joists to the beams using joist hangers. It all depends on your design. If you do not have a printed design, you may want to purchase a shed design book, or get some plans, typically the plans will include full details on how to build the foundation, and will show alternative foundation types such as posts or slab.