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I appologize for reposting this I posted it somewhere but dont know where it ended up, so here it goes again.
I have an old grainary(probably 100 yrs) that is 14 x 18. It is just sitting on cement blocks. There are heavy timbers under it that sit on the blocks at 8 diffrent points, I would call them piers ? There arent any footings it just sits on top of the soil. The building seems to be heavy enough to stay put. Now I would like to build a lean to addition on to it, but am not sure what to use for a foundation. I thought about pouring corner footings making it a pole type construction, but I worry that they would not shift around same in the winter (in Wisconsin) and that the addition would tear away. I also thought about just building walls ontop of either cement blocks on ground or maybe pressure treated landscape timbers. It doesnt need to be fancy but I want to make sure that it doesnt fall over either. The addition will be the length of the shed (18′) by about 8-10 feet wide. I sure appreciate your help. TIA
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Must it be an addition? Perhaps you could just build the additional storage adjacent to the current building? I've tried a couple times to add on to this type building without a great deal of success. The new add-on will need some time to settle down and may, or may not, like to be square and level to the existing building. So, what I've done is use the same type foundation as existing and just build another shed adjacent to the first and accept any misalignments that happen. I do make sure to make the floor rigid enough to take some movement without racking out of shape. What is there is a good model. Or, some homemade 2X and plywood beams do the trick. What I'm after is function, not Fine Homebuilding Structure of the Year.
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One other thing that I should mention is that I am not planning on putting a floor in the new building. It will be animal housing so I will just use the dirt floor. I had hoped to get away with just building 3 walls, but what's one more? I had also hoped to run the electicity from the existing building into the new I guess it would be better to wait awhile and let it settle. Thanks for the info.
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No need to wait for the electricity. Just leave some wire in a drip loop or somesuch. With no floor and used as an animal shelter maybe another way would be to butt the new building up under the old buildings roof overhang. Then there is no wall on the side joining the old building and the roof of that building protects the open joint area which may be as little as a couple inches. This way you get the three walls, a separate building and ease of construction. But you will need to put bracing on that side to keep things square.
Good luck.
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I appologize for reposting this I posted it somewhere but dont know where it ended up, so here it goes again.
I have an old grainary(probably 100 yrs) that is 14 x 18. It is just sitting on cement blocks. There are heavy timbers under it that sit on the blocks at 8 diffrent points, I would call them piers ? There arent any footings it just sits on top of the soil. The building seems to be heavy enough to stay put. Now I would like to build a lean to addition on to it, but am not sure what to use for a foundation. I thought about pouring corner footings making it a pole type construction, but I worry that they would not shift around same in the winter (in Wisconsin) and that the addition would tear away. I also thought about just building walls ontop of either cement blocks on ground or maybe pressure treated landscape timbers. It doesnt need to be fancy but I want to make sure that it doesnt fall over either. The addition will be the length of the shed (18') by about 8-10 feet wide. I sure appreciate your help. TIA