How to Dig & Pour Concrete Footings for Additions

Digging a footing for an addition to your home can be as simple as using a shovel, if you know where to dig and how deep the hole needs to be. Since the footings will be the structural base for the entire addition, the sequence of steps is important to make sure your new room ends up properly supported.

Plans for your addition with dimensions
Mattax, or pick axe to break up hard soil
Round point shovel
Metal rake
Wheelbarrow
Work gloves
Perhaps some heavy equipment, such as a backhoe or concrete pump

Instructions

- 1
  
  If the soil is too hard and rocky, you may want to rent a backhoe.
  
  Mark footing locations on the bare ground. Dig a clean, precise trench to a depth slightly greater than the height of the footings as specified by the plans, leaving vertical sides and a flat, level bottom.
- 2
  
  Preparation is important.
  
  Add steel reinforcing bar, if required, and drive a series of stakes in the center of the trench spaced at 8 to 10 foot intervals, leaving the top of the "grade stake" to represent the top of the finished concrete. This step will help speed up your progress on the day of the pour and ensure that the surface of the footing will be level.
- 3
  
  Your concrete supplier will help you determine an appropriate waste factor.
  
  Calculate the amount of concrete needed by measuring the volume of all footings (length x width x thickness) and converting this result into cubic yards. Allow for waste by rounding up to whole yards, and then order the concrete.
- 4
  
  Talk to your concrete supplier about your site conditions before you place your order to determine best delivery options.
  
  Position the concrete truck so the delivery chute is able to reach the entire length of the footing area, or use equipment such as a wheelbarrow, motorized concrete buggy or pump truck to help get the concrete into the trenches.
- 5
  
  The dirt trenches will be the forms for your footings.
  
  Start at one end and move around the addition, pouring concrete in all trenches, filling them evenly and completely to the height of the "grade stakes." Tamp the top of the wet concrete mix with a rake or shovel to help level and smooth the finish surface.

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