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Last year I built a shed over a weekend without a proper level and regret it every day now | Shed Builders Anonymous - Rigidtalk

kelly61•3mo ago

Last year I built a shed over a weekend without a proper level and regret it every day now

I used to just eyeball everything and pour my concrete pads right on the dirt. Didn't bother with gravel base or a level string line at all. That first shed was leaning 2 inches off by the time I finished the roof. After a big rain last spring, the whole floor buckled and one wall cracked open near the bottom. Now I spend an extra day just grading the site and using both a 4-foot level and a laser level before I even mix concrete. Has anyone else had a shed settle so bad they had to tear it down and start over?

2 comments

2 Comments

jakegarcia3mo ago

Man, 2 inches off by the roof on a weekend project is rough. I did something similar with a little 8x10 garden shed a few years back, just poured the slab right on the grass and hoped for the best. By the end of summer, one corner was sunk a solid 3 inches and the door wouldn't close right at all. Ended up having to jack the whole thing up with car jacks and pour a new footer under that corner, which was a nightmare. I feel your pain for sure, that leaning shed feeling never really goes away.

gray_patel3mo ago

Honestly, "that leaning shed feeling never really goes away" is the truest thing I've ever read. I did almost the same thing with a little 10x12 shed, poured a skimpy slab right on some packed dirt. By the second winter the whole back corner had sunk and the door wouldn't even latch, just swung open in the wind. I ended up using a bottle jack and some stacked 2x4s to lift it, then shoveled in a bag of quickcrete under there. Took me three weekends and a lot of cussing, but it's still standing, just with a bit of a permanent tilt.