Rant: Tried pouring concrete footings myself and ended up with a leaning deck

Look, I thought I could save a couple hundred bucks by mixing and pouring my own footings for a small deck I built in my yard back in Tulsa. I used a 10-inch sonotube and did the math on how many bags of Sakrete I needed. But here's what I didn't account for, I didn't check if the ground was level before pouring. Long story short, the tube shifted a few inches when I was filling it, and I didn't notice until the next day when the concrete had set all crooked. Now my deck has a slight lean on one corner that I can't really fix without tearing the whole thing out. My neighbor who builds decks for a living saw it and just shook his head. He told me footings have to be absolutely level and plumb, or you're asking for trouble. Has anyone else messed up a pour like this and found a fix that doesn't involve starting over?

2 comments

2 Comments

jakeperry12h ago

A little lean really that big of a deal? You see decks with a slight tilt all the time and nobody cares as long as the structure's still solid. I'd just throw some shims under the low side and call it good, slap a coat of paint on it and nobody will ever notice.

miles_perez11h ago

That attitude of "just cover it up, nobody will notice" is exactly why houses end up with way bigger problems down the road. A quick fix today turns into a major headache five years from now, whether it's decks or leaky pipes or anything else people ignore.