[The_bluester (Paul)]

So, I am finally making a start after years, a pretty basic start.

On the weekend I made a final decision as to where my proposed RORO shed will go and used that to pin down the spot for the first pier block to go in. Taking advice received here on IIS and elsewhere I am aiming at approx 1 cubic meter of concrete in the ground. Thankfully I have been able to give myself a head start as I have a post hole auger on a tractor so I bored a number of holes down to about 900mm (The limit of where the auger will plunge to) so I can then break out the soil and clay between them rather than having to manually do the whole lot.

It has led to a couple of questions in my mind. I have tossed the idea around for a long time and decided to set threaded rods in when casting the block (Three, not four unless someone can give me a good reason why not as three mounting points makes for far easier leveling by shims as required) What material are people using for the threaded rods, gal or stainless?

The second was how extensive a reo mesh cage are people putting in? I was thinking it does not need to be all that extensive as the purpose is really to make sure the block stays together in the ground, rather than trying to make it strong enough to hold up a bridge. I was thinking of a pretty basic light reo cube some 400mm or so smaller than the hole, with the threaded rods attached to the top of it, and the whole lot supported by a form that the threaded rods will be bolted to so that it is all suspended away from the bottom and walls of the hole during the pour.

If all this works out then with the currently planned shed size I might end up with anything up to 5 blocks, 3 for piers and two that will be double poured (Leaving the ability to remove the top section) and brought up to finished floor level to have somewhere stable to plonk down dobs or visiting tripods.

Based on previous advice a wooden floor will be built over the blocks and cut in around the piers with a space for some foam rubber seal to avoid the thermal mass of a concrete floor.