Site Preparation Process - Tam Lapp Construction, LLC

Here are some examples of what your building site should look like prior to start of construction.

The site should be leveled and clear of any trees, stumps, rocks, debris etc.

The size of your site should be approximately 3' larger than your building size. Ex: 30' x 40' Building Size = 33' x 43' Pad Size...Keep in mind. Porches, Carports should be taken into consideration when preparing your site.

You might ask, how do I know how much grass or dirt I need to dig out or bring in to level my site?

Your best option is to hire a local professional excavator who can assess your site and determine what needs to be done.

The important factor to keep in mind is that the "finished floor height" (Top of Concrete) of your building should be a minimum of 3" - 4" above the existing grade in order to prevent water entering into the building.

TLC usually recommends this:

On a standard concrete floor you’ll have 4 inches of stone and 4 inches of concrete which is a total of 10 inches high… so either you “cut into the ground” 4 inches and lay the stone in ground so that only 6inches is above ground and you can access the building without issue or otherwise you’ll have 10 inches above grade and might be a pain to pull into the building.

Also, keep in mind that you don’t want water from outside the building getting into the inside so a little higher than existing grade is always better than too low.

Example of a Site that is NOT LEVEL: View Building

In this case, additional 2×6 or 2×8 Treated Skirt Board is required at the bottom of building in order to hold in extra stone/dirt fill that is required to bring building grade to a level grade.

1 row of 2×6 Treated Skirt Board is included on all buildings but if your site is not level such as this, then additional rows will have to be purchased.

Before Level Dirt Site

Leveled Dirt Site

After Level Dirt Site

Before Level Dirt Site

We can build on a stone base ONLY if its COMPACTED very well in order to prevent stone from falling into holes when drilling footers”, otherwise a LEVEL DIRT PAD is required.

Level Dirt Site