post & frame shed-- related to roadbed stabilization! 2

[schreibs]

OK guys, Here goes again.

I last asked for your help stabilizing the roadbed for the 1/4 mile lane to my planned home across virgin soil. Now, I'm building a simple post and frame shed in the same area as this roadbed, laterally in the same position at the base of a small forested hill. The location is in the same field I referred to in the previous thread.

Here is the problem:
-- building 200 sq ft shed(keeping it small for now) using only 8, 4x6 posts, simple lean to shed but must place the post bases below frost level-- 42" here. The grassy field here drops about 6" per 10 ft. Placement is about 20 yards from a wooded hill, with an expected increase in the rise up.
-- augering the post holes yesterday I did not get far, just the first hole. At about 3 ft I hit mud, looking in, I could see water flowing in, a few minutes later the sides of the hole were caving in! After the dust(ummm, water) settled the water level was only 18" from the top of the hole.
-- I tried again closer to the hill about 30 ft from the first (i.e. uphill slightly, maybe a foot ) and hit water again. So, now, two artesian wells! This one settled out about 3 ft from the top. So, the water table recedes a bit as the land goes uphill. No surprise.

I really want to build this shed to house some equipment over the winter before building the home next spring. Moving up the hill into the forest before the hill rises drastically is a possibility but it some real downsides I do not need to detail just now. However, doing so would likely get to a point above the water table based on auger drills.

I don't want this to be expensive for a simple and small shed. I don't want to get in a big cement truck and wreck my newly fixed lane when I KNOW now that the lane also has a high water table beneath it and was likely the main cause for all the work I put into it. Any ideas how I can place 8 dang posts for this shed without having to place concrete piers or some other costly foundation support?? OR, another way to address this is not to place the posts into the ground but ONTO something(?). . . I have some thoughts on this but will hang fire until I hear your own!

 

[schreibs]

thanks guys, OK, Simpson post anchors and 5/8" thread rod are in.

Worried about proof testing. . . what if it pulls out? plus, I will have to wait till it cures a bit . . . a few days before trying and Menard's is already pushing me out six working days for delivery of the dang 8" PVC pipe, Like you say, winter is afoot. If it pulls out and I'm out into mid-November I may be REALLY stuck(figuratively!) Plus, not sure what the pull power of the 80 HP ASV track loader is with its hydraulics but it can pull about 2000# to pick a load of heavy class 5 from a pile--guessing here.

I will not proof. Reason, hey, this is JUST a shed, a small one(200sq ft), located behind a woodrow protecting it from the SW winds in the summer and by a 25 ft tall heavily wooded hill on the North. Besides, I would rather spend the time BUILDING rather than proofing. thanks for the idea, oldest guy, just the same.

 

[schreibs]

I got lucky. PVC pipe is ready for pickup. Heading out to make it happen.

 

[oldestguy]

My "proof load" suggestion is downward, not upward, assuming there may be a question about support.

 

[schreibs]

hmmm, well I will get a chance to do it then. Sorry, I misunderstood the concern being for uplift proofing vs support. Yeah, not sure what I will run into on that, kind of worried about what I will find tamping it in. If it goes in real easy and I'm able to bury it like pushing a stick in mud, I will simply have to re-locate the shed up into the woods high above the water table. I did not read your post clearly. Still confused on the chain deal. Why use a chain and not just set the loaded bucket on the pier while releasing the hydraulics ? . . . AND not sure how exactly to release them completely because if I turn the loader off completely and have the bucket raised, will they bleed backward through the valves and allow the bucket to lower by gravity?? or are there check valves preventing this?

I am a rookie owner of the loader and not sure about the hydraulics and circuitry involved. . . I will figure something out, regardless. and let you guys know how it goes. I'm hoping to get at least one in today, but have to build a guide rail for the line of piers so they stay lined up during driving. . .

 

[oldestguy]

For downward loading, with full bucket, you just set it on what is projecting out of the ground and then put some down pressure also. It might also raise the front of tracks off the ground to boot.

Let's say you instead were doing a pole building and were setting posts that also would be the columns. In order to get a downward load on that post you some how have to get your bucket load onto the post. By wrapping a chain around the post a few times and securing it to itself and then the free end to the bucket, you could apply a downward load to the post. If no place to attach, likely a long enough chain would go under and come up to the rear top.

I once was at a ham radio friend of mine and we needed to pull out some steel, copper coated, rods that he had pounded in for ground rods (lightning protection). Only about 5 inches of rod (8 feet long) were sticking out of the ground. This guy was 65 yeas old and had done a lot of outside work at his country place. Had tractors and much stuff. His comment about the chain wrapped around the 1/2" diam rod was "That will never work". Boy was he surprised at how well it did the job on just a few inches of grip. A 4 ft. farm jack was used, from Farm and Fleet.