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Re: Different kind of foundation. Am I crazy?
I don't know why you are diddling around with digging a bunch of holes that are only 3' deep! Take a shovel and dig the whole thing out...It's only three feet, around waist level. Then pour a single slab with rebar sticking out where your posts are supposed to go...Maybe 3- 1/2" rebar with an L bent on each end for each post. When the lower slab sets up, place your sonotube over the rebar, tie them together with some braces on the bottom/make a grid on top to hold them in place then backfill. You can have the tubes as high as the deck if you want. Once they are filled with concrete--you are golden!
but that is just my opinion...and wear gloves when you dig the dirt out, forget about a power auger. If you have frost working on the posts, it will raise them unless you have a slab beneath! I always had problems with decks in Northern Minnesota until I started doing posts with bases on the bottom.. Imagine trying to pull an umbrella out of the ground. That is the idea of the larger bottom base.
If you continue with the multi hole plan, the holes will probably cave in before you get them poured and you have to start again...
I don't know why you are diddling around with digging a bunch of holes that are only 3' deep! Take a shovel and dig the whole thing out...It's only three feet, around waist level. Then pour a single slab with rebar sticking out where your posts are supposed to go...Maybe 3- 1/2" rebar with an L bent on each end for each post. When the lower slab sets up, place your sonotube over the rebar, tie them together with some braces on the bottom/make a grid on top to hold them in place then backfill. You can have the tubes as high as the deck if you want. Once they are filled with concrete--you are golden!
but that is just my opinion...and wear gloves when you dig the dirt out, forget about a power auger. If you have frost working on the posts, it will raise them unless you have a slab beneath! I always had problems with decks in Northern Minnesota until I started doing posts with bases on the bottom.. Imagine trying to pull an umbrella out of the ground. That is the idea of the larger bottom base.
If you continue with the multi hole plan, the holes will probably cave in before you get them poured and you have to start again...
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