Concrete shed bases in West Cork

The thickness of a concrete shed base depends on what the shed carries: a garden shed needs a thinner slab than a farm shed with machinery or stock, and a steel-frame shed needs foundations under each column as well. Euro Concrete Services pours each base to the shed supplier's drawings or the engineer's design.

A garden shed puts little load on the ground, so a level slab on a well-compacted stone base does the job, laid slightly larger than the shed so the walls do not overhang it. A farm shed floor has to take vehicles, stock or stored feed, so the slab is thicker and reinforced with steel mesh, and the columns of the steel frame sit on their own pad foundations below the slab. The ground under it matters as much as the concrete: soft ground needs more excavation and a deeper stone base. The drawings from your shed supplier or engineer set the thickness, and we pour to them.

For a small garden shed, paving slabs or a timber frame on a level stone base cost less than concrete, while a concrete slab is the base that lasts and suits larger sheds. Euro Concrete pours concrete bases for garden sheds and farm sheds, so ring Sean on 086 881 9848 to price the concrete option.

A timber shed from a garden centre can sit on a timber base or on paving slabs laid on compacted stone, which is quick and cheap. Those bases can move as the ground settles, and they do not suit heavy sheds, workshops or anything with a concrete floor inside. A concrete slab costs more to lay, but it stays level, keeps damp away from the floor of the shed and takes fixings for the frame. Some shed suppliers ask for a concrete base before they will install a larger shed. For a steel-frame farm shed, a concrete slab and column foundations are what the frame is designed to stand on.

Euro Concrete does not lay a shed base straight onto soil. The topsoil is dug out down to firm ground and replaced with a compacted stone sub-base, because soil holds water and settles, and a slab laid on it can crack and sink as the ground moves under it.

Topsoil is soft, full of organic matter and changes volume as it wets and dries, so a slab poured on it moves with it. Digging down to firm subsoil and laying a layer of crushed stone, compacted in layers, gives the slab an even, free-draining bed. A damp-proof membrane can go on top of the stone where the shed needs a dry floor. On soft or made ground, the dig goes deeper and the stone layer is thicker. For a farm shed, the column foundations go down to firm ground as well, below the slab. Send a photo of the site and tell us what was there before, and we will allow for the ground in the price.

A shed going onto existing concrete only needs a new base if the concrete is uneven, cracked, too small or too thin for the shed. Euro Concrete can check the existing slab from photos and tell you whether the shed can go straight on it, or whether a new base is needed.

A sound, level concrete yard or patio can take a garden shed directly, with the shed fixed down and its timber floor kept off the concrete on bearers so it stays dry. The concrete needs to be larger than the shed, level, and free of cracks that are still moving. An old yard that has sunk, broken up or sits on a steep fall needs breaking out or a new slab. A steel-frame farm shed needs its own column foundations, which an existing yard slab may not have, so new foundations are cut in and poured, even where the floor slab can stay.

Euro Concrete prices a shed base on the floor area, the thickness and reinforcement the shed needs, the ground under it and the access for concrete. Ring Sean on 086 881 9848 with the shed size and a photo of the site, or send the supplier's drawings, and we will price the base.

Area and thickness set the volume of concrete and stone, which make up much of the cost. A garden shed base is a small, level slab; a farm shed base adds column foundations for the frame and a thicker, reinforced floor, so the two are priced very differently. The ground decides how deep the dig goes: firm, level ground is quick to prepare, while soft or sloping ground needs more excavation and a deeper sub-base. Access counts on garden and rural sites, because the concrete has to arrive by lorry, dumper or pump. Several bases on the same farm share the setting up.

Euro Concrete Services lays concrete shed bases across West Cork, from Skibbereen itself to Bantry and Drimoleague, and Drinagh, Leap and Glandore, for farm sheds, garden sheds and workshops. Ring Sean on 086 881 9848 with the location and the size of the shed.

Shed suppliers deliver on a set date, so tell us when the shed is due, and the pour can be planned to give the concrete time to cure before the frame goes up. Farms and houses in the townlands around those towns are covered the same way. If the shed is going elsewhere in Cork, ask anyway, since our shuttering and concrete forming cover the whole county. Send the supplier's base drawing if there is one: it gives the size, the thickness and any column pads, so the base can be priced without guesswork.