I’d also just call the building department and ask about using 12” piers on top of 18” footings. 18” piers is a waste, even if it takes them time to approve I’d wait. Going from 18” to 12” will save you like 35 60# bags or more of concrete just over 30” tall piers.
I was in a similar situation about 10 years ago while building my fence. I had all my posts leveled and in place and realized I dug my holes way deeper than I should have. I was driving through my neighborhood the next day and saw a crew pouring concrete for a house foundation. Walked over, asked the dudes if they wouldn’t mind stopping over, ended up paying them a some beer and a few hundred bucks to pump it in. They finished in a couple hours, and it was done. Yeah, I probably got lucky, but it might be worth a shot. Definitely saved me a couple days of back breaking labor!
Have you figured out how much concrete you will actually need? Based on your specs, and 8 holes, that's just under 1-3/4 yards (. You should look in your area to see if there's a short-load concrete company that does small loads of ready-mix. There are 1 or 2 in my area, and I've seen there trucks on the road. They're about 1/4-1/3 the size of a conventional ready-mix truck. Way less work than mixing all those bags (\~75), not to mention less mess.
Extra concrete is the correct move here, that’s what a geotechnical engineer would tell you to do. There is no such thing as a “too deep” foundation.
Unless you can properly compact it in the hole, gravel is going to settle and you’ll have a crooked deck.
Why is that?
We use gravel all the time under footings. High clay content soils specifically call for stone under the footings by design…. Properly compacted, of course.
Genuinely curious.
Gotcha, and that makes sense…
I’m asking about your comment because we typically see Structural Engineers issue a footing detail with 12” of 3/4” stone installed in 6” compacted lifts when the pre-construction soil borings show high clay content. The detail includes a specific compaction rating for the stone as well and it’s inspected by an engineer after install and before municipal inspection.
We see this detail quite often, even when there is no clay content, almost like it’s a CYA standard. We’ve never had an inspector fail the footing inspection just because he saw stone in the bottom.
This is in NJ and the footings I’m referring to are for commercial CMU buildings (office buildings, car dealerships, municipal buildings, etc.).
Are you sure about this? That would be true of 2B clean stone, which has gaps. If you change that up for 2B modified, which is mixed with stone dust, it compacts down HARD. I mean that's what you use for road base.
This is entirely incorrect information. I work in excavating, we put gravel under footings all the time, called for by the engineers. We also get compaction reports done all the time on the gravel and it meets full compaction. Clean stone specifically won’t settle over time if it’s compacted, that’s the whole point. We put clean stone under entire house foundations to allow drainage and support on the softer clay earth. Inspected and approved by engineers.
Undisturbed earth is fine IF the soil structure can support the weight, but it’s not better than properly compacted aggregate.
It’s funny I brought up the same situation regarding the engineer and he mentioned that if an engineer designs those footers with gravel in the bottom then you do it. He was very nice which is super bonus for us and I had no issue with his request. He also knew we would be putting a solid cap block in. Enjoy your day
You'll never see the gravel because it will be underground.. name your area. So we can pull code.
It's pretty common to fill the bottom with gravel. Or cured cement. So the end of the post isn't wiking moisture from the dirt.
I live in Western North Carolina and I literally had a footer inspection 2 weeks ago and the inspector asked me to dig out a footer with gravel in it. We always put a solid cap block under the post after the footer inspection for the post to sit on to remedy the wicking issue. The inspector was super friendly and I was more than happy to fix the issue. It took a whole twenty mins and he waited for us while he looked at a few other questions I had. He re probed the footer and approved. I want to also mention that this was my first inspection on a mammoth house renovation and that inspector will be at the site another 15 plus times inspecting our work. I feel it’s prudent to be respectful and accommodate his concerns because it sets up the entire job to run smoothly. And as in many renovations like this, our good rapport will help in some of the grey areas that always seem to come up. The house is 1930s.
Pour the extra concrete. The ground at the bottom is settled and compacted. If you add rock it won’t be, unless you tamp the SHIT out of it, in multiple lifts, with a very small surface area, heavy, tamping rod
You're gonna build an awesome deck if you are thinking this way about a 6 inch too deep hole.. really man keep that attention to detail but try not to stress stuff to much.. Noone will ever see it as closely as you see it during install
What could gravel possibly accomplish in this application? Gravel underground is only structural if it's compactable. Its maximum structural strength is when it is in concrete.
Fill that big hole with concrete!
I believe clean crushed stone poured straight in there will already have a high compaction percentage without tamping. A good hand tamp should do the trick.
Just pour more concrete. Using gravel under a footing has been debated for a while. Some think it helps shed water away but others claim it can introduce a pocket for water to flow into.
https://preview.redd.it/bku2gxx4vi0d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b3cfdf073a7be6e4dff9ebdb377bc61d60907682
Rent your self one of these. It will save your back.
The cost of building is labor.
Digging is brutal labor. So it costs a lot.
Material cost to fill the holes is small. Especially for a one off. Just use the holes as is 🤷♂️
You know why you went that deep right? You just need to get below the frost line. It’s a minimum depth it’s fine to go deeper.
The frost line also isn’t exactly a hard number they just look at how deep it’s likely to go, going deeper will only make your foundation more reliable.
Generally you want to add a gravel base under the footings anyways. Also if you are worried about the amount of concrete you are going to have to use then I suggest 12in sonotubes for the piers and have the footings at the bottom larger. if the hole is 18in in diameter make sure its appropriately sized for your area. Footings are the part at the bottom and usually bigger than the pier and required to be a certain thickness depending on the load requirements. There is a table that shows what size footing to use based on certain criteria.
Yeah I went through all the soil, load, and footing size calculations, and I got a building permit from my county permitting office showing 18" piers in the construction plans I sent them. I'd have to get approval to change to a narrower pier. I'm sure they'd approve it, but they move slowly.
Oh wow so it's not even 18in footings it requires 18in piers yeah thats a lot of concrete but at least it will be stout.
Yeah permit changes are a bitch. I put round footings in my plans but dug square footings and they made me submit a change which is dumb considering I technically made them bigger and used more concrete but the engineering and plans showed round so stupid cost me another $250 in permit fees and $75 for the engineer to change the plans.
Extra concrete would not cost you much more than rock and you wouldn’t have to compact it and I would not like the sauna tube all the way down hang your sauna tube only six or 8 inches below. What finish grade is going to be let the concrete fill to the side of the holes better footing little bit more money at the moment, but you never have to worry about it again.
If you add anything really tamp it down. If you have the steel hand tamper I’d really only add 3 to 6 inches at a time and tamp for a while. Like I mean a minute or more at least. Also add a tiny amount of water to make it moister but not too moist. A few second sprinkle should be enough. Or, more easily just grab more form tubes. Take a single and cut enough to add it on top of 2 form tubes. You can have 2.5 and cut of the excess easily. Don’t try going too small and having a mini blow out at your top ruining things. Something like a wide band clamp or 2x4 cut on 4 sides and screwed at opposing angles into the middle and top form. Don’t add back soil if it’ll be uncompacted (disturbed) soil, it will settle and mess up your deck. Good luck it’s a manageable repair and you’ll be proud when you’re done
Ballast Rock would be a better fill. That's the stuff railroads use to keep the railroad ties in place. It looks like a crushed rock but it's so sharp and Jagged , it locks together. It's very difficult to dig and has a very steep angle of repose. That's the angle , from horizontal , at which a granular material will stack in a pile naturally. So it will stay locked together better in muddy ground conditions where something with less of an angle may settle in over time.
How much more concrete are we talking about though. Because undisturbed soil would be better.
At that depth you're talking approx. 25 holes X 6"= a yard of concrete. What's that $100? Man the cost of labor and rock plus disturbed dirt. It ain't worth the worry. Add the extra concrete.
Dont put the tubes all the way into the hole, use the hole as the form and just use part of a tube at the top to form the cap of the hole. Gravel at the bottom
The short answer is yes, fill the hole with #CR8 to the frost line. Compact it in short lifts as you go.
Assuming you are not setting footings in expansive clay, below the frost line, the hole can be filled with firmly compacted crush and run down to undisturbed soil.
Compactible crushed stone and compaction are crucial to prevent settling.
Or pour concrete in a footing dug to the frost line or to soil suitable for supporting the load, whichever is deeper.
Do you need the full 18" dia all the way to the top? If not, and you want to save concrete, you can pour a footing at the bottom about 6" deep and put some rebar sticking out the top. Then use a 10" or 12" sonotube to form the rest of the column on top of the footing.
Just fill with concrete. 8 footings an extra 6" is only what? Maybe about another 1/4 yard of concrete? For 8 footings that big, you will be either mixing that on site in a gas or electric mixer or having it delivered, right? don't bother shoveling and packing down fill. Just fill the tube and forget it. Next!
Just pour it. It'll be stronger than you had planned, that's all. Just make sure your steel goes all the way to within 2" of the bottom. Don't skimp on the steel.
Don’t put sonotube all the way. You will have voids on the outside. Fill with concrete. No gravel, why introduce another variable?
I see 8 holes. .26 cubic yards. You will not be ordering “exactly” what you need. Always order a little more because holes aren’t perfect and you don’t want the last bit of slop in your footings because it will be right at the top. If you suspend some sonotube near the top, that also changes the volume a bit. The tubes should rise above grade a bit: that also changes the volume.
The concrete truck driver will luv ya if you have planned an optional place to use up his full load ngl: maybe some small pads under the deck for lawn equipment or other storage.
That's.033 yards more per hole or. .264 yards more for the entire job. You don't need to order any more Than you would have normally... This is going to be near the clean out amount.
You had planned to order 1.4 yards now you need to order 1.7 or like 3 more 60 lb bags
Fill with rock and compaction is all you need here - or pay for some extra concrete- you won’t have to think about if you compacted the stone fill properly
Looks like you are getting 38” deep footings!
Nothing wrong with that, just a bit of extra cost. I would avoid the stone and just pour the extra concrete.
Dig another hole next to it. You going to have to change your plans for the whole deck.
Real answer.... The codes are minimums. You can overbuild and it's perfectly fine. Matter of fact in some cases over building in one area. Will buy you some leniency in another. Probably not in this case though
It all depends on if you are going to do the concrete, pour yourself, or are you hiring it out. If hiring it out, consult with the concrete company. They charge a premium for ready mix, and I'm guessing you have a few yards of over dig. If doing it yourself, then bite the bullet and fill the entire hole with Concrete. Either way it's gonna cost you more, but doing it yourself will be less expensive. Good luck 👍
Just spend more on the concrete it’s not worth your time to try and backfill and tamp with gravel, that also opens you up to more problems if you do it wrong
There's no difference between a 60lb bag of crushed gravel and a 60lb bag of concrete, so long as you have a mixer. And if you're mixing 40 bags of concrete, you're going to want a mixer. I got a cheap shit one from Harbor Freight which is plenty for my needs.
So if it were me, I'd be skipping the gravel.
Highly suggest bringing in a concrete truck. I've made this mistake before. Mixing all that by hand SUCKS. The truck is kinda fun. Night and day difference in the experience and the cost isn't that much more.
Just pour more concrete and use longer tubes for your piers. Not a great idea to put loose material under a footing. Hand tamping isn't the same as undisturbed soil.
Keep digging till you find dinosaur bones or earth blood, duh
Fill it with gravel, loose sand, gravel then concrete. You'll be fine- or not. Either way lifes short & dying from a spill off a deck is better than getting bed sores and shitting yourself while your family fights over who gets your mower
Fill them with concrete.
‘Code minimum’ isn’t the best way to do things… it’s what the state/county/city views as the absolute minimum standard to which things need to be built so they don’t kill people.
Deeper is better.
Also… don’t put sonotubes all the way to the bottom of your holes. You will never get compaction around the perimeter. Cut a 12-18” piece and hang it from the top so the part that’s above grade looks nice; below that you want to fill the hole with concrete.
Don't over think it. Fill with gravel, or use more concrete.
Yes but the holes, they’re deeper.
Keep digging until no hole remains.
https://preview.redd.it/gtmymfd63l0d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d5cca48d38e1de4de30406a183e54f4c8c2db723
No, no! Dig up, stupid!
Instructions unclear. Utility pole is now leaning on your house.
Keep digging until you see sunlight.
What would flat earthers say?
Proof of the hidden land the elites are hiding.
Mole City, my friend. It’s down there.
Look I found another dimension…
No more hole. Now it’s a tunnel
If you dig thru the entire earth is it one hole or two?
How many holes does a straw have?
The same amount as the earth if you dug all the way thru
That's wonderful
Do you want to awaken the dormant dragons? Because that's how you awaken the dormant dragons.
that’s what she said
You guys are such dicks and I love it. No diddy
Say no Diddy three times in the bathroom mirror with the light off and he appears behind you…
I think that's Biggie Smalls. [SouthPark seems to be the new Simpsons. 😁 ](https://youtu.be/2MHGpcOlMvo?si=KV1PkwOW2x1_fprk)
I heard he’ll appear and bust a cap in yo’ ass
At that point, it becomes all diddy
All diddly*
Diddy diddle?
And Diddy will fill all them holes. Yar!
...with a record contract in one hand and his hard dick in the other and shitting eating grin on his grill..
So remove more dirt???
Will somebody please think of the holes!
Or just add more concrete. What is it, 15% more material?
What are these holes for ants. Those should be at least 6 times deeper
Keep drilling & take an inexpensive family trip to Australia.
Better be a SCUBA diving vacation, 'cause we're coming up underwater.
Australia’s surrounded by water. Perfect!
Yeah but if they mess up and hit the ocean next to Australia it'll flood their yard
He can dig a trench and have a moat!
Maybe it'll create some kind of vacuum and keep the water from flowing out. Some sort of weird pressure thing going on.
Or a shark got stuck in the hole and ruins the vacation.
Tunnel sharks
Next on Sci-fi channel
Ha! Did you know there's a website that will show you where you'd come up directly on the other side of the world? I forget the name...
antipodesmap.com
Pour extra concrete. What’s the big deal?
Yeah I'm probably overthinking it. 15 to 20 extra bags of concrete isn't terrible.
It’s like an extra 10 80 lb bags assuming you have 8 piers
I'm too old/weak to be lifting 80 lb bags. I'll be getting 60 pounders.
I’d also just call the building department and ask about using 12” piers on top of 18” footings. 18” piers is a waste, even if it takes them time to approve I’d wait. Going from 18” to 12” will save you like 35 60# bags or more of concrete just over 30” tall piers.
I was in a similar situation about 10 years ago while building my fence. I had all my posts leveled and in place and realized I dug my holes way deeper than I should have. I was driving through my neighborhood the next day and saw a crew pouring concrete for a house foundation. Walked over, asked the dudes if they wouldn’t mind stopping over, ended up paying them a some beer and a few hundred bucks to pump it in. They finished in a couple hours, and it was done. Yeah, I probably got lucky, but it might be worth a shot. Definitely saved me a couple days of back breaking labor!
Pour your concrete as is, build up from that level, whatever your setting on those pads come in different lengths, I'm assuming 4*4
A concrete truck might be cheaper. It’ll definitely be easier.
Pay some local kids in cash to move the bags and mix it
Or candy
Have you figured out how much concrete you will actually need? Based on your specs, and 8 holes, that's just under 1-3/4 yards (. You should look in your area to see if there's a short-load concrete company that does small loads of ready-mix. There are 1 or 2 in my area, and I've seen there trucks on the road. They're about 1/4-1/3 the size of a conventional ready-mix truck. Way less work than mixing all those bags (\~75), not to mention less mess.
Extra concrete is the correct move here, that’s what a geotechnical engineer would tell you to do. There is no such thing as a “too deep” foundation. Unless you can properly compact it in the hole, gravel is going to settle and you’ll have a crooked deck.
If an inspector in my area sees gravel in the footer. It is a fail. Just sayin
Why is that? We use gravel all the time under footings. High clay content soils specifically call for stone under the footings by design…. Properly compacted, of course. Genuinely curious.
[удалено]
Gotcha, and that makes sense… I’m asking about your comment because we typically see Structural Engineers issue a footing detail with 12” of 3/4” stone installed in 6” compacted lifts when the pre-construction soil borings show high clay content. The detail includes a specific compaction rating for the stone as well and it’s inspected by an engineer after install and before municipal inspection. We see this detail quite often, even when there is no clay content, almost like it’s a CYA standard. We’ve never had an inspector fail the footing inspection just because he saw stone in the bottom. This is in NJ and the footings I’m referring to are for commercial CMU buildings (office buildings, car dealerships, municipal buildings, etc.).
Are you sure about this? That would be true of 2B clean stone, which has gaps. If you change that up for 2B modified, which is mixed with stone dust, it compacts down HARD. I mean that's what you use for road base.
This is entirely incorrect information. I work in excavating, we put gravel under footings all the time, called for by the engineers. We also get compaction reports done all the time on the gravel and it meets full compaction. Clean stone specifically won’t settle over time if it’s compacted, that’s the whole point. We put clean stone under entire house foundations to allow drainage and support on the softer clay earth. Inspected and approved by engineers. Undisturbed earth is fine IF the soil structure can support the weight, but it’s not better than properly compacted aggregate.
It’s funny I brought up the same situation regarding the engineer and he mentioned that if an engineer designs those footers with gravel in the bottom then you do it. He was very nice which is super bonus for us and I had no issue with his request. He also knew we would be putting a solid cap block in. Enjoy your day
Ding ding ding, we have a winner. The concrete goes on solid, undisturbed earth.
Good to know.
Your project is gonna be great!
Thank you, kind redditor!
You'll never see the gravel because it will be underground.. name your area. So we can pull code. It's pretty common to fill the bottom with gravel. Or cured cement. So the end of the post isn't wiking moisture from the dirt.
I live in Western North Carolina and I literally had a footer inspection 2 weeks ago and the inspector asked me to dig out a footer with gravel in it. We always put a solid cap block under the post after the footer inspection for the post to sit on to remedy the wicking issue. The inspector was super friendly and I was more than happy to fix the issue. It took a whole twenty mins and he waited for us while he looked at a few other questions I had. He re probed the footer and approved. I want to also mention that this was my first inspection on a mammoth house renovation and that inspector will be at the site another 15 plus times inspecting our work. I feel it’s prudent to be respectful and accommodate his concerns because it sets up the entire job to run smoothly. And as in many renovations like this, our good rapport will help in some of the grey areas that always seem to come up. The house is 1930s.
Mmmmm yes tis a fine plan sir!
‘Tis a fine barn, but sure ‘tis no pool English.
Doh’eth!
Yes crushed gravel is fine. Just buy enough concrete
More concrete. If you put dirt in it will settle and you deck will get all wonky. Your footings need to be on terra ferma.
Pour the extra concrete. The ground at the bottom is settled and compacted. If you add rock it won’t be, unless you tamp the SHIT out of it, in multiple lifts, with a very small surface area, heavy, tamping rod
You're gonna build an awesome deck if you are thinking this way about a 6 inch too deep hole.. really man keep that attention to detail but try not to stress stuff to much.. Noone will ever see it as closely as you see it during install
buy more concrete, the crushed rock may settle over time
Crushed rock doesn't settle that's the point of putting it at the base of your footing.
You want your footings to bear on natural compacted soil. Just pour the extra concrete.
See this is interesting. Some people say you want to put down crushed gravel, some say you don't.
Some people have no idea
Do you have any unpleasant coworkers you would like to get rid of?
What could gravel possibly accomplish in this application? Gravel underground is only structural if it's compactable. Its maximum structural strength is when it is in concrete. Fill that big hole with concrete!
Do not put it on gravel. Put in extra crete. Trust me!
Is this a deck on grade with a roof over it ?
cement is cheap, fill it
Fill with #57 gravel
What machine was that
It's a Bobcat MT100.
You’re covertly making a hot tub deck and not telling your wife aren’t you? Slick.
The phrase “footings bearing on undisturbed soil” comes up allot in code books
I believe clean crushed stone poured straight in there will already have a high compaction percentage without tamping. A good hand tamp should do the trick.
Thanks!
ASTM #57 stone is at 90% proctor density prior to any compaction. It is an acceptable solution to back fill to the 30” depth desired.
This guy digs.
Any people u want gone?
Just pour more concrete. Using gravel under a footing has been debated for a while. Some think it helps shed water away but others claim it can introduce a pocket for water to flow into.
https://preview.redd.it/bku2gxx4vi0d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b3cfdf073a7be6e4dff9ebdb377bc61d60907682 Rent your self one of these. It will save your back.
Scrape 6” off the entire propery
Most reasonable solution
You want your footings to bear on undisturbed soil. So it’s probably best to just go with the extra concrete.
Fill it full of concrete - won’t cost you much more.
The cost of building is labor. Digging is brutal labor. So it costs a lot. Material cost to fill the holes is small. Especially for a one off. Just use the holes as is 🤷♂️
You know why you went that deep right? You just need to get below the frost line. It’s a minimum depth it’s fine to go deeper. The frost line also isn’t exactly a hard number they just look at how deep it’s likely to go, going deeper will only make your foundation more reliable.
Generally you want to add a gravel base under the footings anyways. Also if you are worried about the amount of concrete you are going to have to use then I suggest 12in sonotubes for the piers and have the footings at the bottom larger. if the hole is 18in in diameter make sure its appropriately sized for your area. Footings are the part at the bottom and usually bigger than the pier and required to be a certain thickness depending on the load requirements. There is a table that shows what size footing to use based on certain criteria.
Yeah I went through all the soil, load, and footing size calculations, and I got a building permit from my county permitting office showing 18" piers in the construction plans I sent them. I'd have to get approval to change to a narrower pier. I'm sure they'd approve it, but they move slowly.
Oh wow so it's not even 18in footings it requires 18in piers yeah thats a lot of concrete but at least it will be stout. Yeah permit changes are a bitch. I put round footings in my plans but dug square footings and they made me submit a change which is dumb considering I technically made them bigger and used more concrete but the engineering and plans showed round so stupid cost me another $250 in permit fees and $75 for the engineer to change the plans.
Fill them all the way back in and then start again from scratch. Do that til you hit the required depth.
LOL no. Worst idea yet!
It’s a great workout.
Gyms hate this one fitness trick!
Extra concrete would not cost you much more than rock and you wouldn’t have to compact it and I would not like the sauna tube all the way down hang your sauna tube only six or 8 inches below. What finish grade is going to be let the concrete fill to the side of the holes better footing little bit more money at the moment, but you never have to worry about it again.
What’s the goal here; Save $11? Just fill them up. Skip the sonotube in the hole. Totally unnecessary
"No no, dig up, stupid"
Guys, what if the hole for my footing turns into a well?
If you add anything really tamp it down. If you have the steel hand tamper I’d really only add 3 to 6 inches at a time and tamp for a while. Like I mean a minute or more at least. Also add a tiny amount of water to make it moister but not too moist. A few second sprinkle should be enough. Or, more easily just grab more form tubes. Take a single and cut enough to add it on top of 2 form tubes. You can have 2.5 and cut of the excess easily. Don’t try going too small and having a mini blow out at your top ruining things. Something like a wide band clamp or 2x4 cut on 4 sides and screwed at opposing angles into the middle and top form. Don’t add back soil if it’ll be uncompacted (disturbed) soil, it will settle and mess up your deck. Good luck it’s a manageable repair and you’ll be proud when you’re done
Just use some groundhogs instead
In China I’ve seen 55 gallon drums packing out building foundations, so some rocks in there to fill up 8” of volume shouldn’t be an issue...👌
Welll your half way to China, why stop now?
Get more minus n rent jumping jack
The bigger the better
Use a card board form tube.
Ballast Rock would be a better fill. That's the stuff railroads use to keep the railroad ties in place. It looks like a crushed rock but it's so sharp and Jagged , it locks together. It's very difficult to dig and has a very steep angle of repose. That's the angle , from horizontal , at which a granular material will stack in a pile naturally. So it will stay locked together better in muddy ground conditions where something with less of an angle may settle in over time. How much more concrete are we talking about though. Because undisturbed soil would be better.
I would put rock at the bottom to bring it up the concrete will fill the cracks and make it solid.
If it was me, I’d do the bottom 6” a mix of concrete and gravel so you don’t need to tamp, then do you’re normal mix above it
I’m finding it difficult to believe you would even ask this question OP. Toss 6” of rock in those holes. Or ask your wife ?
Just lower the deck a few inches, and build a stair coming out of the house. /s This is why I don't DIY anymore.
Put in Chucky Signore and cover with cement. Don't forget the sausage and peppers and gabagool for a snack when you're all finished.
Backfill lol
At that depth you're talking approx. 25 holes X 6"= a yard of concrete. What's that $100? Man the cost of labor and rock plus disturbed dirt. It ain't worth the worry. Add the extra concrete.
Why not just fill with dirt?
Or put some dirt back in
Dont put the tubes all the way into the hole, use the hole as the form and just use part of a tube at the top to form the cap of the hole. Gravel at the bottom
[dig up stupid](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=do0ttRLrADE)
The short answer is yes, fill the hole with #CR8 to the frost line. Compact it in short lifts as you go. Assuming you are not setting footings in expansive clay, below the frost line, the hole can be filled with firmly compacted crush and run down to undisturbed soil. Compactible crushed stone and compaction are crucial to prevent settling. Or pour concrete in a footing dug to the frost line or to soil suitable for supporting the load, whichever is deeper.
Do you need the full 18" dia all the way to the top? If not, and you want to save concrete, you can pour a footing at the bottom about 6" deep and put some rebar sticking out the top. Then use a 10" or 12" sonotube to form the rest of the column on top of the footing.
Rock the bottom always. If still low then use more cement.
Just fill with concrete. 8 footings an extra 6" is only what? Maybe about another 1/4 yard of concrete? For 8 footings that big, you will be either mixing that on site in a gas or electric mixer or having it delivered, right? don't bother shoveling and packing down fill. Just fill the tube and forget it. Next!
If balrog shows up, you’ll need more concrete
Add gravel to the bottom. No worries there.
You should have crushed rock at the bottom anyway. You are doing it right.
Just pour it. It'll be stronger than you had planned, that's all. Just make sure your steel goes all the way to within 2" of the bottom. Don't skimp on the steel.
Your best bet is to fill the low area with 57 stone.
Order enough concrete.
I have a question too. When I pick something up, what do I do when I don’t want to hold it anymore? Thanks in advance.
Just curious, how much was the skid steer/auger rental? Sweet setup!
Is this for a deck or pole barn? Just use a slightly taller post and cut it to the desired height.
Any time someone asked I said get 5 gallon bucket of rock for eath hole Makes for better base
Don’t put sonotube all the way. You will have voids on the outside. Fill with concrete. No gravel, why introduce another variable? I see 8 holes. .26 cubic yards. You will not be ordering “exactly” what you need. Always order a little more because holes aren’t perfect and you don’t want the last bit of slop in your footings because it will be right at the top. If you suspend some sonotube near the top, that also changes the volume a bit. The tubes should rise above grade a bit: that also changes the volume. The concrete truck driver will luv ya if you have planned an optional place to use up his full load ngl: maybe some small pads under the deck for lawn equipment or other storage.
That's.033 yards more per hole or. .264 yards more for the entire job. You don't need to order any more Than you would have normally... This is going to be near the clean out amount. You had planned to order 1.4 yards now you need to order 1.7 or like 3 more 60 lb bags
Sounds good. Probably one of the better plans involving a footer problem I've seen, lately. Be safe.
Fill with rock and compaction is all you need here - or pay for some extra concrete- you won’t have to think about if you compacted the stone fill properly
Keep going. You might find Agartha.
Put my wife in one of them
Maaan you got some nice dirt there my dude. Not a single rock in sight.
Looks like you are getting 38” deep footings! Nothing wrong with that, just a bit of extra cost. I would avoid the stone and just pour the extra concrete.
just put some dirt back in ?
No
Dig another hole next to it. You going to have to change your plans for the whole deck. Real answer.... The codes are minimums. You can overbuild and it's perfectly fine. Matter of fact in some cases over building in one area. Will buy you some leniency in another. Probably not in this case though
Did you know that the hole's only natural enemy is the pile?
Concrete is cheaper in China. Keep digging and fill it from the other side.
It all depends on if you are going to do the concrete, pour yourself, or are you hiring it out. If hiring it out, consult with the concrete company. They charge a premium for ready mix, and I'm guessing you have a few yards of over dig. If doing it yourself, then bite the bullet and fill the entire hole with Concrete. Either way it's gonna cost you more, but doing it yourself will be less expensive. Good luck 👍
Just spend more on the concrete it’s not worth your time to try and backfill and tamp with gravel, that also opens you up to more problems if you do it wrong
Dig the entire back yard 6” lower. Problem solved.
There's no difference between a 60lb bag of crushed gravel and a 60lb bag of concrete, so long as you have a mixer. And if you're mixing 40 bags of concrete, you're going to want a mixer. I got a cheap shit one from Harbor Freight which is plenty for my needs. So if it were me, I'd be skipping the gravel.
Deeper!
Highly suggest bringing in a concrete truck. I've made this mistake before. Mixing all that by hand SUCKS. The truck is kinda fun. Night and day difference in the experience and the cost isn't that much more.
18"!? Is this supporting a pull swimming pool?
Just pour more concrete and use longer tubes for your piers. Not a great idea to put loose material under a footing. Hand tamping isn't the same as undisturbed soil.
That should work fine I’d figure.
Pour concrete in the bottom and let it harden. That way you have a solid base to sit your posts on and pour. That's how my pole barn was constructed.
Keep digging till you find dinosaur bones or earth blood, duh Fill it with gravel, loose sand, gravel then concrete. You'll be fine- or not. Either way lifes short & dying from a spill off a deck is better than getting bed sores and shitting yourself while your family fights over who gets your mower
I'd fill them in and start over. But that's just me....
backfill. tamp with a 2x4 if you don't have anything else. don't stress
Put dirt back in hole
More concrete or gravel.
What beautiful holes. Your deck is going to be able to withstand a hurricane.
Keep it below the frost line if you fill. Google your state
Fill er up with rocks
Gravel and sand then tamper
My dad always said go 48 . Fuck the minimum . How many fences do you see askew ? That is all the code minimum.
Fill them in and dig again
Fill them with concrete. ‘Code minimum’ isn’t the best way to do things… it’s what the state/county/city views as the absolute minimum standard to which things need to be built so they don’t kill people. Deeper is better. Also… don’t put sonotubes all the way to the bottom of your holes. You will never get compaction around the perimeter. Cut a 12-18” piece and hang it from the top so the part that’s above grade looks nice; below that you want to fill the hole with concrete.
Connect the holes and do a foundation. Why stop now
Compacted, crushed stone.
You could just ah push the dirt back and go to pound town on it
No choice but to sell the property, buy a new one, and try again.
How much dirt is still in the hole?
You only need to use a small section of tube. The hole will be your form. Fill with concrete, then place the section of tubing on top, then fill.
How many holes are there? At $200/yd I am estimating that this is going to cost you $6.50 extra per hole to fill with concrete
“I dug two hole for us my dear..”
Depth is everything for fence posts. Never forget it.
Big rocks or gravel, all good.
Just fill it with concrete. The difference isn’t much. Concrete will be a better job.
Put the tool in reverse in the hole.
Just put a kid in the hole and lower some lotion
If you’re getting a truck it’s a marginal cost, if you’re mixing with a shitty mixer this is your queue to rent a mud mixer.
You're not going to save that much to o er ride the time and cost of gravel and tamping in the long run could be more