Expanding a small concrete slab

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JOhnH

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When I bought my house it had a nice, but old small steel shed out back
It is about 8x10 on a small slab. Irma blew a couple of roof panels off and the cross members where the panels screw in for support are quite corroded, which is why the existing mounting screws failed to hold.

I would like to replace it with a slightly larger shed but I don't want to get involved in a real big job. Can I just pour another section next to the current slab to add a couple of feet on two sides?
 
You could, for a lightweight shed. Make sure you excavate and prepare subgrade properly, with overexcavation and base rock and make the expansion sections slightly deeper. Drill in some epoxy grouted rebar to anchor the three sections together before the pour.
 
Around here concrete flatwork isn't outrageously expensive. I wish I still had a flyer from a company that was doing driveway work for a neighbor, it had a price list per sq ft (with a minimum). It included demo and hauling away old concrete, then pouring new and I thought it was pretty reasonable. Concrete really isn't very expensive, but the labor will add up.

Another option might be to pour piers, then put the new shed on those. If you frame in a floor with treated lumber and a subfloor, it could be above the old slab.
 
sheds have slabs? who knew?
 
Clark1961 said:
sheds have slabs? who knew?
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When I was a kid, my father built a very nice wood shed with a framed wood floor on dirt ( or rather Florida sand, which is what we call dirt). The floor rotted while I was still a kid. Plus, snakes liked to crawl underneath. I guess they wanted to eat the rats and spiders.
 
JOhnH said:
When I was a kid, my father built a very nice wood shed with a framed wood floor on dirt ( or rather Florida sand, which is what we call dirt). The floor rotted while I was still a kid. Plus, snakes liked to crawl underneath. I guess they wanted to eat the rats and spiders.
Click to expand...
Yep - around here it would be mice.
 
Sheds have floors other than dirt/gravel? I've had a few sheds built, roughly 40x40x20 or so. Those are feet, not inches. Never put'em on slabs...did have a couple sheds that I inherited blown away. Gotta attach them firmly to the ground.
 
Clark1961 said:
Sheds have floors other than dirt/gravel? I've had a few sheds built, roughly 40x40x20 or so. Those are feet, not inches.
Click to expand...
At what point does a shed cease being a shed and should be called a barn?
 
asicer said:
At what point does a shed cease being a shed and should be called a barn?
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Barns have domestic type critters associated with them. Sheds might have domestic type critters but barns definitely do have them. I had big sheds built to shelter equipment.
 
I poured a 5x7 slab, digging a shovel blade deep and filling halfway with gravel. Then the hot tub died and we bought a bigger one (7x7), so i added on an L-shape. For a small shed, 3-4" of concrete will be more than enough. You'll want a couple inches of gravel under it. Mix one 80 lb bag of mix at a time in a wheelbarrow, pour it in. Stop when it's full.

Oh, you'll want to put some lumber around it for straight edges. Stakes into the Florida sand to stabilize the pad are overkill. Dig it in the evening after work, buy the concrete mix the next night and store inside but not on a concrete floor (2×4s are good supports for full bags). Allow a night or two to rest, then mix and pour when you have a whole day off, but don't go so slow it starts to dry between wheelbarrow loads . . . Then pour yourself a cold one.
 
Clark1961 said:
Sheds have floors other than dirt/gravel? I've had a few sheds built, roughly 40x40x20 or so. Those are feet, not inches. Never put'em on slabs...did have a couple sheds that I inherited blown away. Gotta attach them firmly to the ground.
Click to expand...

Round these parts we call those machinery sheds, and yes they most often have a dirt or gravel floor. But I think the OP is dealing with an urban "garden shed", and the ones I've seen are almost all concrete or treated timber bases/floors. My guess is the gardening spouses prefer them that way. :)
 
Sheds sit on concrete blocks, houses sit on wheels. Greetings from SC.
 
If you are going to add to an existing slab you should bore some holes on the side of the slab and drive some rebar in it so they extend into the new slab area. That way they move together, otherwise one will move from the other.
 
wrbix said:
Sheds sit on concrete blocks, houses sit on wheels. Greetings from SC.
Click to expand...

Ya left out the clunkers in the front yard. But these are sweet clunkers.

Front-Yard-Full-Of-Chevy-Muscle-By-Rick-Lindsey.jpg
 
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