What can realistically be done to this foundation? What can I build on it?
We have plans to turn this into an outdoor dining space and fire pit. Can I build a roof over this thing using the foundation in its current condition (which is not that great)
Can anyone point me to a resource where I can read up on repairing a foundation like this?
PS this may not be 140 year old but its old
Anything you build is only as good as its foundation
Theres your answer
>What can I build on it?
a trash heap
May hold a two story cat house
Only if you put Teflon on all the screws.
Roof trusses would span that easy. Just build a bit bigger than it and use it as a floor slab. You could even do a strip footing all the way around it that is slightly higher and fill the whole fricking thing with clear epoxy and you have this heckin elder scrolls looking floor down below. So much can be done with that, just use your imagination unlike any of the other morons in this thread.
Sick idea
^Wisdom. homosexuals overthink shit.
Does OP already have a large shop building? If not erecting a pole barn etc over that (which can be open at first to spread construction costs) would be a fine start.
Most outdoor dining spots rarely get used so putting a separate fire pit convent to the slab would be the smart move. People get dreams of glory, build elaborate fire shrines then those sit for most of the year.
Just search concrete repair. It doesn't have to be gorgeous to be a useful shop floor. "Capping" with a thin slab would make it good as new.
Were it mine I'd place a 40' High Cube container as part of the structure to get instant protected shop space then use used steel posts and trusses (which aren't hard to cut and weld if want) to frame the rest. Foundations and slabs are no longer cheap so I'd not waste one that size.
>would make it
only as good as the foundation it's on which is SHIT.
FTFY
if that thing is 140 years old, wouldn't it have settled about as much as it possibly could and become a pretty decent base on which to put a thin slab over the top?
I’d probably tapcon down some rebar/driveway mesh and throw an inch or two of concrete on top to fix surface defects and re-level it.
My opinion is the slab is incredibly valuable.
Also, if it’s old, it gets grandfathered into building codes of the era, or at least you could argue that it does.
Bingo on the code part, main reason I'm looking into ways to salvage it. Plus history.
here. Look without getting a structural engineer to drill through it, see how thick it is and what it's made of generally I wouldn't be using it to hold up walls. It would however make a lovely floor if you could either grind it level and polish it, cover it in resin, or even cover it as you suggest. Just build around it and span it. It doesn't look very big anyhow.
If that's an old farm building, the farmer probably dug it/poured it himself. It could be 6" thick in some areas and 2" thick in others - I've seen this before. An outdoor patio/firepit would be fine, or even a garage, but I wouldn't build anything structural on it.
also atleast here it would cost quite a lot to dispose the old concrete at a dump site
(they prob crush it together with some nasty slab from a pesticide factory and sell it back to you for the new foundation)
You could invite me over to help decide. We might have a great time and we maybe even could touch wieners together?
>. Can I build a roof over this thing using the foundation in its current condition
Yes but it won't be ideal.
i'd park cars on it. that's about it. it's cheap to tear it out and just start over so there is no reason to save the concrete.
Just set on it and drink beer with your fat wife and homosexual friends you larping shit talker
rude
Oh yeah eat dog shit
Welcome newbie
I would shore it up with some quikrete
If you're wanting to use it as a grandfathered foundation to skirt a permit I would just plan on building the building over it waiting a while so anyone that wants to b***h about that lack of permit can eat crow, and then planning on finally pouring a nice 6" slab over the top of it all to make it nice and level and a joy to work on.
Cement mixer chutes make that easy as I've done similar for my and bros slabs.
Yeah we had a dirt floor in part of our farm shop and ended up digging it out and pouring concrete in after the fact. It is of course easier to do it before the building goes up, but not too bad afterwards either.
Put down a RV and a tent garage
RVs a shit, ditto tent garages.
Pressure wash it, chip out groove along the cracks, and slosh cement over it.
If you put your fire pit on the slab, insulate the bottom with fire brick and refractory cement or you'll crack it real fricking fast.