How to choose and build the substructure

Which foundation is suitable?

Before you decide on one of the substructures listed below, it is important to take a close look at the subsurface:

• How thick is the existing humus layer, how compact is it?
• What types of soil are there, for example is the soil sandy or loamy?
• Is the terrain completely flat?
• How can you get to the construction site? Ideally, could the substructure be delivered directly?

The foundation plate: Easy to manufacture yourself

Since the load of the garden shed is distributed over a large area, this is the ideal solution if the floor does not offer good stability. The slab foundation is manufactured as follows:

• Dig a pit about forty centimeters deep, which must be about ten centimeters larger all around than the planned one Garden shed.(€ 39.99 at Amazon *)
• Stabilize the edges with formwork.
• Fill up about halfway with gravel, then add a Plate compactor(€ 359.90 at Amazon *) is compressed.
• A PE film is laid on top to protect the concrete from frost damage and moisture.
• Fill with concrete in two layers, separated by a steel mat.
• Straighten them horizontally using a puller.

The intelligent construction of the strip foundation saves concrete

In this substructure, concrete is only poured under the outer walls of the garden house, but the ground must be dug at least seventy centimeters deep for the trench required for this. The actual floor slab of the house can thus remain much thinner.

The point foundation

This is not so easy to plan for the layman, because that Point foundation for the garden house is usually formed from nine small individual foundations. This requires square holes with a side length of forty centimeters, which must be at least eighty centimeters deep. These are boarded up and filled with concrete. An additional base plate is often dispensed with in this substructure.

The slab foundation: quick and easy to erect

This consists of individual pavement slabs that are laid in a gravel bed. However, this simple substructure is only suitable for smaller garden houses that do not have to withstand great loads. The construction is quite simple:

• Dig the soil at least a foot deep.
• Put in a layer of gravel about 25 centimeters thick and compact it using a vibrating plate.
• A five-centimeter-thick layer of gravel is applied to this to compensate for the height.
• Lay the concrete slab with joints of around five millimeters.
• These come with silver or Quartz sand(€ 15.15 at Amazon *) filled and thereby stabilized.

There are no long drying times, the metal substructure of the garden shed can be anchored directly afterwards on the slab foundation.