Steel buildings are a popular option for many uses on residential and farm properties. Besides being used for storage, homeowners use them as garages for ATVs and snowmobiles, pool houses, hobby rooms and home offices. One of the major reasons for their popularity is the ease with which they can be assembled. Many vendors offer pre-engineered steel buildings that are delivered to you with all the components cut, pre-drilled and ready to put together. Unless your town requires it, you don’t even need a professional contractor to put one up. Many homeowners assemble their own metal buildings with the help of a few friends.
One of the major reasons that steel buildings are so easy to build is that smaller buildings only require a cement slab foundation – or no foundation at all. In fact, if your steel structure is a small one and you have basic DIY construction skills, you can easily pour a concrete slab foundation for it yourself. These basic instructions explain how to do it.
A basic slab foundation is built up using standard 6-feet by 6-feet by 4-inch thick slabs of concrete and putting them together to build a floor/slab big enough for your building. Check with the building codes office in your town or county to find out whether that will be sufficient for the steel building you plan to construct.
Clear the location where you’ll be placing your slabs down to bare dirt and prepare them for building. Remove any grass, debris and plants from the area and smooth the ground.
Assemble pouring frames from 2x4 lumber, using two 6-foot boards and 2 8-foot boards for each frame. Attach the two 6-foot boards exactly one foot in from the end of the two 8-foot boards to create a 6-foot by 6-foot square with 1-foot overhangs on each corner.
Assemble as many pouring frames as you’ll need for the floor area of your steel building. Arrange the pour frames on the cleared ground side by side, leaving enough space between them to insert 3 2- by 2-inch wooden pins along each side of the pour frames. These pins will help stabilize the pour frames so they don’t move or shift when you pour the cement. Drive one into the ground about every 2 feet, then cut off the top with a hack saw to make it even with the top of the pour frame.
Dig a 4-inch deep trench around the inside perimeter of each frame no more than the width of your spade. This will make the concrete deeper and strengthen the edges.
Wet down the dirt in the center of each frame lightly and tamp it with a hand tamper to firm and level the dirt surface.
Pour a 1-inch layer of concrete into the first pour frame and spread it with the shovel. Lay a 5-foot long reinforcing rod over the center of the concrete and wrap a piece of #3 rebar around the inside of the pour frame, about 2 inches from the wood.
Pour the rest of the concrete into the frame and bang on each side of the frame with a hammer to settle it and pop any bubbles in the concrete.
Screed the surface of the concrete, then smooth it with a float. Allow it to cure for 30 minutes, then float it again. Repeat the float after another 30 minutes. Let the concrete dry until there is no moisture on the surface and smooth it with a trowel.
Fill the remaining frames the same way. Allow the concrete slabs to cure for three days, spraying them with a garden hose once daily. After the slabs have cured, remove the pour frames.
While it sounds complex, making a cement slab foundation for steel buildings isn’t difficult. It does require physical labor, persistence and attention to detail. Remember that the cement slabs are the base of your building and their quality will determine the strength of your steel building. If you have any doubt about your ability to construct a strong, stable foundation, hire a professional to make sure the job is done right.
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