Building pad preparation question

[MinnesotaEric]

I'm taking delivery of a double door, 40-foot, high-cube container this coming Tuesday that I need to use as immediate storage.

I have prepared a pad for it to rest on that is about 6" higher than grade out of a compacting fill dirt that is mostly sand and clay but rocks too. Cement guys would want a gravel or sand layer over my fill for the final grade before setting up to pour cement.

My plan is to build a monitor-style pole barn with 16' sidewalls right next to the container and then build a shed roof over the container so as to hide the ugly. Eventually, I plan to hit the container with a plasma torch and make the container into part of the building.

In a perfect world, I would like a cement contractor to match the interior floor of the container with the top of the cement, and as of right now, only the pad where the container will go is built up above grade. The rest of the pad remains below grade.

That said, should I be concerned with setting the container straight down on my compacting fill dirt, or am I good?

 

[Fawken]

Sounds like fun. One suggestion, and I think your plan with the container is pretty sound: Weld your rebars to the bottom container support beam when you add on. That way it will stay with the slab. I weld my rebar and always have. This house has been sitting here for 36 years with zero probs. A builder friend of mine said the other day that wire ties are what city inspectors want nowadays, but I have no clue why.

 

[Egon]

Just set your contain down. It can always be moved to fit in.

 

[RDrancher]

Not sure how you did it, but typically the area is excavated below the toe elevation of the slope to key in the pad and compacted in lifts from there. Smaller pads should be overbuilt to at least 1.5x the machine width so the entire area can be compacted, then cut back to size.

If you have the entire pad compacted well, you should be ready for the container.

 

[rustyshakelford]

Have you compacted the pad? If not I would! You could put your BB or something heavy in the back of your truck and go back and forth till it's all rolled in. Then dress it back smooth.

Brett

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Everything has been compacted. What you're looking at is a total of eight twelve-yard loads and the entire pad has not been brought up to grade. Because of scheduling problems (in Minnesota the building season is a fast and furious event done between winter freezes and thunderstorms), I wound up removing material I had spread and used it instead to build up the pad where the container will go. This stealing from Peter to pay Paul can be seen as a second step down to the left of the built up pad in my photo.

The idea to weld rebar onto the container to lock the cement onto the container is a really good idea!

Anyway, I know that I cannot level crushed rock, but I had heard of people plopping containers down on green treat and gravel and wanted to get the views of people who know more about this kind of thing because I don't know anything about it. From the sounds of it, it sounds like the container becoming a permanent structure sitting on my compacted fill will work as is.

Since I shot the first photo in my OP it has rained and I plan to hit the pad once again as a final grade with my box scraper.

First load.

First load spread.

Here is the seventh load.

Spot filling

 

[hcallaway]

Any pad will usually benefit from weather cycles. Clay is in my opinion very hard to compact and rain water helps the soil settle voids.

 

[Fawken]

The idea to weld rebar onto the container to lock the cement onto the container is a really good idea!

Done a lot of concrete work (more than I ever wanted to actually). If you want a 100 year building get the thickest rebar you can afford and wash your welds and spray them or dab them with Rustoleum. One of my customers owns a logistics company that stores and short hauls these containers. I'll log in remotely & snap a couple a pics with the PTZ (he won't mind):



He has over a thousand on site at any given time and you'd be amazed at the stuff they can make with them. I really like your idea and I'd stack another one on top to give you the ready-to-go height for a good barn or shop with space above for an office or storage.

As far as your soil prep, I'm jealous looking at your soil with that much natural sand and rock you won't have any issues.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Done a lot of concrete work (more than I ever wanted to actually). If you want a 100 year building get the thickest rebar you can afford and wash your welds and spray them or dab them with Rustoleum. One of my customers owns a logistics company that stores and short hauls these containers. I'll log in remotely & snap a couple a pics with the PTZ (he won't mind):

View attachment 430220 View attachment 430221

He has over a thousand on site at any given time and you'd be amazed at the stuff they can make with them. I really like your idea and I'd stack another one on top to give you the ready-to-go height for a good barn or shop with space above for an office or storage.

As far as your soil prep, I'm jealous looking at your soil with that much natural sand and rock you won't have any issues.

Depends on where you are at in Minnesota. Where I'm at is a sandy region that is good for aspen, oaks and then finally pine in mature forests. The sand and clay is great for lakes. Some of our lakes in our county can exceed well over 20' of clarity during the summer, with the most clear lakes being deep enough for winter lake churn (cold water sinking) which brings the surface algae to the bottom where it hits a copper vein and dies.

That said, our sand stinks for crops (except potatoes), and so a higher percentage of our farming is ranching or hay-making than along the red river, and Minnesota river valleys.

Anyway, thanks for the vote of confidence! I've never done anything like this before and prone to second-guessing myself.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

The only concern I would have is the soil holding moisture getting damp and rusting the bottom off the container. You may not have much of an issue with the sandy soil.