concrete pad for drying

[Dan_Shade]

I'm putting a 10x10 concrete pad out in my yard for a place to stack fresh sawn wood.  I'm probably going to make a roof over it eventually, but that will be down the road a bit.

I'm assuming the pad should be as close to flat and level as I can get it, and not to worry about water runoff from rain?  or should I slope it a little bit?  I'm planning on digging out 6 inches, puting 2 inches of gravel in, and then 4" of concrete on top of that.  I may change my mind and try to leave the concrete above the ground some.

one last thing, this pad will be over the leechfield of my septic system, I guess i'll put some plastic down to keep the water from coming up, but is this a plain bad idea in general? problem is I really don't have another spot to put it.

[Ernie]

I'm putting a 10x10 concrete pad out in my yard for a place to stack fresh sawn wood. I'm probably going to make a roof over it eventually, but that will be down the road a bit.

Pardon my ignorance but wouldn't it be more effective to build the roof over the pad rather than "Down the road a bit"

[Dan_Shade]

i never do anything the easy way. 

my short term solution is to make a frame, and hang a tarp over it.  I have to look into the building codes and such...

[Minnesota_boy]

If you put it over the leaching field, you'll have opportunity to make a new leaching field within a few (maybe very few) years.  The leaching field gets rid of the waste water by soaking away and by evaporation.  Not much evaporation through 4" of concrete.

Maybe you would be better off putting the pad on the neighbor's land? 

[hardwood]

I'm certainly no expert on septic systems, but from everything I have been told about how to maintain mine, this does sound like a bad idea and may even be against code. Compaction is one of the big enemies of a septic field. You are talking about digging up part of the dirt, and replacing it with a couple tons of concrete. Then you will be dealing with more compaction as you move the wood back and forth. Not sure about your codes, but here you cannot put anything on top of septic field, and especially not any type of permanent structure.

[Furby]

You will REALLY screw your septic system!

On the other hand, there is a TON of heat coming off that thing in the winter, if you have a large family that is.

Really, find another spot!

[Dan_Shade]

ok, I didn't know if the water would evaporate up, or soak down...

i guess i'll find another spot for it.  too bad the idiot here before me put a 16x16 shed on it too, at least the shed is on blocks, but probably not good for the shed's floor.

i'll have to clear a spot out in the woods, I suppose

[beenthere]

Yup, right where you cut some firewood trees 

(maybe put the drain field over on the neighbors  )

Some thrown-away pallets make good firewood base for stacking firewood, for me.

[Dan_Shade]

i'm using this to dry boards, not firewood

[beenthere]

Dan
Sorry, that went right over my head. I was thinking firewood all along. Need to read the fine print here. Now your pad makes a whole lot more sense than at first.........

[Dan_Shade]

I'm not stupid, I just pretend to be at work!!!

well, this is the second time I've started digging in my yard and the septic system got in the way, first time was for a barbeque pit, I found my distribution box, and now this (so maybe I am a bit on the slow side)

oh well, i'll scope a good spot out in the woods, might be better anyway, not as much sunlight

[Tom]

Dan,
You sound like you do what I'm accused of doing.  Here i am with 47 acres and I have everything shoved so tight together that I have trouble turning my truck around.

It's the same kind of logic as stacking all of your stuff inside the door of a garage so that you can't get to the empty space inside. 

[Dan_Shade]

well, the layout of my house and lot is far from ideal in my opinion.

real estate around here has gotten crazy, you can't even buy plain land now, unless you're really loaded, so you have to sorta take what you can get.

what I could get was a house on an acre, probably half of it is wooded, mostly pine trees, the house is crammed into the front quarter of the lot, presumably so that whoever put it here in the first place could later subdivide.  the driveway is on the wrong side of the house as well.

In the meantime, i'm trying to figure out what I want to do that won't cause me problems down the road.  First off, I need to get my lot surveyed where they actually put stakes in the ground ($300 just gets them to give you the plat from the last time around here...), then I need to fence off my woods from my neighbor, who seems to think they're a good place for his kids to play.  maybe then I can put in a second road entrance, and put a garage in the woods, problem is an acre fills up real quick, especially if you want to keep some privacy, if you can even consider having an acre "private"....

blah, woe is me!!!!

I guess I could have bigger problems.

[Furby]

I hear ya!
I have an acre and a 1/4 and the driveway is on the wrong side too. Or is the house turned wrong, ahhh.
Power comes in over the driveway making it hard to bring in something big.
(Now who would wanna do that )
Sewer line is 16" under the driveway, so I can't cut the grade down.
Not enough room for all my junk, and mill and logs, firewood, lumber....................
I could keep going.


Do you have two drain fields?

[Dan_Shade]

I have two runs of pipe buried about 10 feet from each other all from the same septic, pretty normal around here.

[Furby]

Yeah, that's one way they do it.
Here they tend to pull up the whole area to lay the pipes, leaves a large softspot in the yard.

[DonE911]

Well, I've done this before.... poured a slab over the drain field.  It was in FL which is very soft ground and the slab settled ad crushed the field...  I just put in a tee and took the field around the slab and everything worked fine again.

Will you even be able to pour the slab there without the officials going yahoo??

You could consider a pole barn and then put in a wooden floor. ( Timber frame would be nice and alot cheaper if you mill it as compaired to concrete)  That wont hurt your drainage and will be easy to insulate when you want to turn it into a kiln.  Not sure about your area, but I've never known anywhere to require a permit or anything for a pole barn unless you live in the city limits or a deed restricted area.

[FeltzE]

Normally the septic field must perk, that is to say drain to meete construction code the septic field is going to leak moisture in all directions but must... drain first. Pouring a concrete slab over top the field will not help it but shouldn't hurt it if the septic is in adequately drained ground.  Compaction shouldn't be any problem at all, less of a problem than parking your car on the current grass over top the septic. By placing a concrete pad over a large area you effectively evenly spread the weight of the concrete and the live load over the complete area, you are actually better off to pour a larger pad than required if you are concerned at all about compaction. Your car places 2 tons of weight on 4 spots on the ground measuring approximately 30 square inches each, divide that out and you will find about 16 lbs per square inch, park that same car on a 10 x 14 foot pad and your car weight is distributed to approximately .42 lbs per sq inch plus the weight of the concrete (guess at 1-2 lbs of concrete in a 1 sq inch by 4-6 inch thick pad maybe less) .... point being your resultant weight per sq inch is still only 2-3 lbs / sq inch...

Second, if you are pouring concrete for anything but a driveway you need to put a vapor barrier under the concrete. That keeps moisture from the underlying ground from wicking up through the slab to the interior of your future kiln, shop, or just making that cardboard box bottom fall apart.

Lastly, if in fact you have problems after the fact is there adequate room for you to reroute your septic field? If so, then roll the dice.

Best of Luck

Eric

[Furby]

Sorry Eric,
But I must disagree.
In order to pour a concrete slab, you must have compacted earth.
You simply do not want to compact a drainfield, and I'm sure you'll be bringing in fill if you try.
I've seen what can happen when a cherry picker drives at the very edge of a field, not pretty.
I've also driven a bobcat just a "bit" further, and it too wasn't pretty.
You are right that the field "should" perk, but as they get older, they don't unless in VERY good soil.
A pile of water is loss out the top. Why is the grass usually greener over one?
A lot of this comes down to type of field and type of soil, but for the most part, drainfields should simply be considered "greenspace".

[hardwood]

...I've never known anywhere to require a permit or anything for a pole barn unless you live in the city limits or a deed restricted area.

Welcome to Pennsylvania.

In our rural area, zone for agriculture, you need a building permit for anything, even an 8x10 prefab storage shed requires a permit and you must provide a plot plan showing where the building will be situated.