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We just bought our first home, and it came with a shed (hooray! Workspace!).

The shed has a footing that's about 8" wide and runs the perimeter of shed, and at some point erosion has caused the part that is butted up to the neighbors fence to crack and more or less collapse against the fence.

This has caused the floor to be a bit spongy as the footer is barely supporting the bottom joist on that wall, and it has started making that wall of the shed bow outward, as well as push up against the neighbors fence.

Is there anything that I can do, short of say - moving the shed and really fixing the footing - to level things out?

The wall with the busted footing is probably 16' long, and because of the pressures it's fractured that footing into a couple of 4' to 6' pieces. The thought I had was to get a concrete drill and stick some eyelets through and anchor it under the shed (there's about 12" of clearance under the floor), but I'm not sure if that would just cause more problems with the concrete.

I'm not opposed to the idea of doing it the right way (which probably means moving the shed and fixing what the footing stands on) - but right now my primary goal is to get things more or less stable so we can finish getting moved in.

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  • What are the dimensions of the shed? Is it actually movable? Some pictures might help folks understand the problem a bit better.
    – Tester101
    May 22, 2013 at 13:39
  • It's bolted to the footer in a few places - when I get home I'll put up some pictures.
    – Wayne Werner
    May 22, 2013 at 13:55

1 Answer 1

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Lifting it (slightly) in place may allow you access to do repairs.

  • If there is enough solid footing, use (2) 2x10s bolted across the studs (parallel to roof peak). Lift both 2x10s parallel to floor (disconnect all tie downs first) using 4 bottle jacks. Cut 4 2x4 cripples to attach to studs under 2x10 at desired final height (for safety and to backup jacks. Leave some weight on jacks. You shouldn't need more than an inch elevation.

  • If the busted side won't allow jacking, you can run carry beams (2 2x10 bolted together) through the structure and out to each side. Developing a footing at the jacking points may require 12" sona tube and concrete.

  • Mud jacking (concrete pumped under pressure) may be an option, but you'll need a pro for that.

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