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Building my own smokehouse

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boomerangg22

boomerangg22

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Aug 24, 2016
95
29
Iowa
I've been reading on here a lot lately and I got interested in building my own smoker. I want to use the cinder blocks 4 foot by 3 foot and 3 blocks high then build the rest out of wood. I've been reading and searching all over here and the internet on how to get started. I've seen some that just put the blocks on the ground and some that dig down from a few inches to several feet.

I've seen cowgirls smokehouse and Wes's smokehouse and several others. I live in Iowa so winters can be brutal and frost line varies. I found were the average frost line is 58 inches, I live in the top of the lower half So average I'd guess is pretty close.

1. Do I need footers?

2. If so how deep?

Width should be 16 inches I think and 5 foot long for the 4 foot wall I think.

Course I won't be starting till spring/summer but I want to collect all or most of the stuff as I can.

Any help/wisdom would be appreciated.

Boomer
 
If I was to build a permanent smoke House I'd want it to last. I'd use footings.

Here our frost depth is 18" to btm of footing, so I'd go that deep. If your frost depth is 58", then I'd go that.

If you are using 8" CMU then a 16" wide footing is correct.
 
Some other things to consider when digging your footer-make the math simple. Start with what height you want to smoke at and work down to the footing using nominal dimensions of your building materials. 58" depth with 8" CMU doesn't work with a typical 6" (in depth) footing to get to level ground. 58"-6" footing= 52"-8"x 7=56" +4". Then with three courses of 8" CMU (24") you're at 28" above the ground. You can always dig a little deeper or place a little more concrete to adjust your finished elevation but I wouldn't shallow your footing, one hard freeze could wreck all your hard work. Again, just something to consider so your not cutting block. I would also cast or dowel/epoxy rebar into the footing in each corner and grout the corners solid extending to your top course. The remaining CMU should be grouted solid to ground level. I've been building for some time now and professional engineers and architects screw up the math every now and again but it's always the contractors fault! lol  A Google search for "CMU foundation wall section" should clarify any questions if what I suggested doesn't make sense. Hope this helps and be sure to share your build!
 
Nptwnsmkr said:
Some other things to consider when digging your footer-make the math simple. Start with what height you want to smoke at and work down to the footing using nominal dimensions of your building materials. 58" depth with 8" CMU doesn't work with a typical 6" (in depth) footing to get to level ground. 58"-6" footing= 52"-8"x 7=56" +4". Then with three courses of 8" CMU (24") you're at 28" above the ground. You can always dig a little deeper or place a little more concrete to adjust your finished elevation but I wouldn't shallow your footing, one hard freeze could wreck all your hard work. Again, just something to consider so your not cutting block. I would also cast or dowel/epoxy rebar into the footing in each corner and grout the corners solid extending to your top course. The remaining CMU should be grouted solid to ground level. I've been building for some time now and professional engineers and architects screw up the math every now and again but it's always the contractors fault! lol  A Google search for "CMU foundation wall section" should clarify any questions if what I suggested doesn't make sense. Hope this helps and be sure to share your build!
Click to expand...

As a professional engineer/architect it is our experience that the contractor and/or excavator is usually at fault. We specify a floor elevation and a bench mark but we do not provide the math for the dig out. That is the responsibility of the contractor.

More often than not the contractor trying to shave pennies to add to his/her profit instructs the excavator to not dig the proper depth. We are constantly having contractors asking us to raise the floor elevation so they don't have to dig deeper or blast rock because their excavator blew his rock clause.

On our plans floor elevations are specified. The foundation & floor material soecificatikns are called our. Minimum frost depths and minimum crawl spaces heights are specified. It falls upon the contractor and his subs to do the math to get from point a to point b.
 
Case- my point to boomerangg22 was to think about the entire build not to insult a design team. Engineers and architects are human and do make mistakes, you pretty much made my point where the blame usually falls. I have submitted plenty of RFI's over the years where elevations do not match or no other member of a design team bothers to look at the structural drawings, MEP engineers are the biggest culprits. Unfortunately in our business we can't eat our mistakes like we can our smoked foods. Happy New Year, peace and smoke on! 

beercheer.gif
 
Thank you for your help dirtsailor and NPT. I will think about that when I draw up my plans. Not sure but I think I understand.
 
boomerangg22 said:
Thank you for your help dirtsailor and NPT. I will think about that when I draw up my plans. Not sure but I think I understand.
Click to expand...

One thing to consider is if you footprint is say 4'x4' or less it's just as easy to pour a slab that size rather than strip footings. It will take a bit more concrete but it's worth the time savings.
 
Well this my second time through this post looking for ideas. My frost line is 6' here so that's a pretty big footer. What about a floating slab for a 4x4 or 4x5 smokehouse? 
 
i'm still looking for ideas too AB. Slab is most likely the way to go. Just don't want a bunch of cracked slab to deal with in a few years. 
 
Whew wasn't sure where this was going good idea Dave you ever notice the house in Alaska don't set on solid foundations for a reason. my $.02.

Warren
 
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