[chitownIrish]

Hi, I'm new to this forum. I'm going to be building a brick barbeque grill in my back yard using bricks left over from the construction of my house. The dimensions are going to be about 8' wide x 3' high x 2' deep. The guy who is going to do the brick work for me recommended that the foundation extend below the frost line to prevent the slab from heaving.

I figure that's probably the best way, but with the thing being only 2 feet front to back, a 'footing' around the perimeter is not practical, and I would wind up digging a solid 8' x 2' x 42" hole. I'm not real eager to dig that much dirt and mix/pour that much concrete.

The way I figure it I have three options:

1. Dig the whole thing out and pour a massive block. I'm not real fond of this option.

2. Pour a thick slab on top of concrete-filled sonotubes that extend down below the frost line. This is more appealing, but I'm worried that the frost could get under an edge of the slab and crack it.

3. Pour a floating slab and hope for the best.

One other detail is that this is going to be a gas grill, so there will be an underground gas line running to it from the house.

So my question (at last) is which option do you think is best? Or is there another one?

 

[Mop in Hand]

Sonotubes with rebar extending into the slab sounds like the better way to go. I don't think a foundation big enough to hold up the Sears Tower would be necessary.

 

[chitownIrish]

Thanks, Mop in hand, for the quick reply.

I'm wondering if the sonotube columns will really do me any good. I'm worried about what would happen to this system (slab above frost line w/columns extending below) if/when the ground freezes under the slab.

Couldn't the slab separate from the columns? Or even worse, if the rebar holds the slab and the column together, I'm worried that the columns will stay put and the upward pressure on the slab will crack it somewhere away from the column.

I've pretty much decided against the 'Sears Tower' option, so it's going to be a thick slab (8 or 10 inches) either with or without the columns. Do you think the columns gain me anything?

Thanks again for the help

 

[zircon]

Option 4 ?

Even the floating slab seems to me to be an awful lot of work just to grill a burger. If it were me, I would go buy a nifty SS grill. They are all going on sale next week after the 4th and I would kick back and enjoy the summer.

 

[jomama45]

Even the floating slab seems to me to be an awful lot of work just to grill a burger. If it were me, I would go buy a nifty SS grill. They are all going on sale next week after the 4th and I would kick back and enjoy the summer.

Better yet, pour the grade beam slab, let your mason build the masonry grill, & enjoy it for the rest of your LIFE! :thumbup:

Honestly, I've been through this several times, & I think the grade beam (thickened slab) would be the most efficient way to do this. The only thing I would add is to make the footing a little bigger all the way around to make the slab carry better over the soil, & leave the slab slightly under ground.

 

[chitownIrish]

Grillzilla complete

I went with sonotubes + 10 inch slab. A lot of concrete, but worth it.

Concrete poured

Cleaning out the mixer. Took a bit of trial and error - we found the best way to mix was add water first, then concrete mix. Otherwise, a bunch of dry mix would get stuck at the back of the mixer.

Brick work done - I had a guy come out to do this. I didn't have the courage to do it myself.

Granite top and grill head installed. I have a stainless steel door for the opening below the grill, but it wasn't installed at the time of this pic.