Garage Footer???

[BODYSHOPMARO]

In The Digging Process For My Garage(16x21). Regulations Were A Minuimum Of 32in Down So We Did 36inches And Its Roughly 16-20 Inches Wide. My Question Is How Is The Concrete Poured And How Deep Is The Concrete Or How Many Inches Is The Concrete From The Top

[Jay@GMR]

First off, congrats on the garage!

Wow, your footings are HUGE! I take it the natural soil is not very compact to require a footing like this (unless it is 3 stories tall). I also am surprised that the garage is not required to have some sort of engineering? Usually (west coast) all these questions are answered in the pre-engineered blue prints. Then once pre-engineered by private engineer..... the county in which you build also has a plan review process that another engineer reviews..... very overkill and expensive, but nothing seems to be falling down in high winds and earthquakes :rolleyes:

In my experience a simple pour like yours can be done right from the concrete truck, but in more complex scenarios a pump is used. Dont forget to vibrate those footings to avoid pockets!

As for the height of concrete above grade at footings, I say higher the better.... get that plate level up high so your sheet rock does not get wet should you want to hose out. I also prefer a flat poor for the slab vs sloping as it works out great for work benches/cabinets/etc.

Hope this all makes sense and helps.

Jay

[bobcat68rs]

The depth is determined by the frost depth in a particular area. In your case the safe depth must be 32". As far as size of your footer the rule of thumb is for width it should be twice as wide as the thickness of the foundation wall and the depth should be the same as the wall. so if you have a 8" wall it would be 8" thick this would be the minimum.( a little thicker wont hurt) Also you should run two rows of 1/2 "rebar.Some area's will let you use fiber instead of rebar. But confirm this with code. Jay is right if you can get the truck around the footer you can pour right from the truck. If not you can wheel barrel it or rent a mud buggy. With no step's it will be around three yards figuring it with the numbers i have. If you pour it at a 5 slump it will flow pretty well and you wouldn't need to vibrate it down on the footer. If you are doing a concrete foundation then you will need to vibrate. You can always check with code inforcement in your area for any questions you may have. Or reach out to a local contractor for some info. Most will help you out with some question you might have. Ask around at the local lumber yard for a good one. Hope this helps good luck with you garage

[Beamster]

Your footings are not huge. Part of the purpose of the footings are to support the wall forms.

And the frost requirements are to the bottom of the footings but you need to be on undisturbed (original, not previously dug), inorganic (no roots, peat, etc) firm soil. Some soils are sensitive to wetting and working, so you might need to skim off additional material if it rains on your excavation.
And just compacting the top of loose soil does not prevent the soil below from settlement when it gets loaded by the building and floor loads.

Suggest you use not less than 10" thick footings but 12" is pretty much a commercial standard.

For the wall projection above the finish ground surface, your local Building Code has a requirement on how far ant wood framing needs to be from the ground surface, so check that out.

Don't skimp on your foundation. Remember the tower of Pisa.
Those are mistakes that you're not going to want to try to fix.