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So I'm going to be installing a standby generator here at my place and the first
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step is to create a pad for it to sit on and I've got an approach which is a
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little different than normal. It's better than the basics and then easier with one of the more advanced methods people use but this is the
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generator here. I might want to take a look at it before we go over to the pad site
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There's an engine in this case it's propane fired. It connects to a generator
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unit and it switches on and off as needed so when the power goes off this
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automatically fires up and provides a more or less instant source of
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electricity for the house. So there's all kinds of wiring and stuff that needs to
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happen to make this work but as I said the first step is a foundation pad and
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that's what I want to show you now. So here's the basic idea of this pad
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The simplest way that people do this sort of thing is just to lay down some patio slabs but they're thin and they can break and you know one Cadillac
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option is to actually pour a pad out of concrete but that's a lot of trouble and
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if you don't get the concrete mix just right you're going to have some deterioration over the years. So this I think is the best way to go about it and
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it starts with this pressure treated wood frame. This is going to be a regular
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part of the installation. It's going to stay here. This is a foundation grade
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pressure treated lumber so it's meant for continuous contact with the earth
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and it will never rot. They actually build foundations of houses out of this
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stuff. Inside are what's called foundation slabs. They're kind of like patio slabs
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They're not as fancy looking and they're thicker. They're about three and a half inches thick so they're stronger. The idea is that I'm going to level this
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frame with some stakes as I'm going to show you and then I'm going to fill the
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bottom part of the frame with some sand up to this line that you see here. The
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line will be level because the frame is going to be level. I'm going to compact
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that and then I'm going to put these foundation slabs on top and we're
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going to end up with a nice solid base. If there's any frost heaving and
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moving at all these aren't going to crack because the joints between the
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slabs will take up that movement and I'm going to put some topsoil around
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the edge to kind of slope it down, get some grass growing and just make it all
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look nice. It's not likely I'm going to have to move this pad but unlike a
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concrete pad I would be able to do that. I can just take it all apart and move it
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over. I think this is the best way to do it and now I'm going to show you how
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I go about putting it all together. My job here now is to level this frame
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I don't really know for sure what the highest point is at the moment. I kind of
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think it's this corner but I'm going to be driving these stakes into the ground
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so that I can raise or lower the frame as needed and then drive a screw or two
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in to hold it level because this is going to set the stage for the whole
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installation. These stakes aren't going to stay here but they are going to be
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here when I put the fill in and compact it. So I've got my level out now. My job is to level this frame and as I suspected
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this corner is a little bit high so that'll be my reference point. I'm
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actually going to raise it a little bit and then drive a single screw in through
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the stake into the frame. That sticks out a little bit but that's going to be
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that I'm going to be taking that screw out again and it's below the level where
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the slabs are going to go so I'm not concerned about that. Now I'm going to go over and
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level up this next side. So now I'm going to put in some sand which I will level and compact. Some
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people recommend digging out the sod in a situation like this but I think that's actually counterproductive because if if I dig that soil I'm going to loosen it
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It's as compact as it can ever possibly be right now. There's just the tiniest
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amount of vegetation on there so for an application like this I'm not going to
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take that away. I'm just going to put my sand on top and level and smooth and
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compact that sand. You can see it's going to take another load so I'll go and get it. So my job now
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is to level this sand more or less where I've marked the inside of the frame
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with the marker. So I've marked that inside of the frame two and three
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quarter inches down from the top edge. The foundation slabs are three and a
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half so those slabs are going to sit up a little bit proud of the wood which is
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what I want but I can't start compacting it now because some places have too much
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sand so I'm not enough. So I've cut this screed just fits within the frame and
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I'm just going to work it back and forth to put my eye on as close as I can to be
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on that line which you can see here. Just got to get it kind of level and then
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I'll do some compacting and adjusting. There's too much sand in here but that's
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okay. There's too much at the moment I'm not sure how how much it's going to
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shrink by the time I start pounding it down but across that ridge where we come to it
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So I'm just gonna go get the wheelbarrow here to empty some more sand in. So I've done some work with my screed and my trowel
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I've just I'm more or less up to the line sometimes a little bit below the
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line I think the whole thing is going to be below the line once I do some
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pounding but that's okay we'll just do two or three back and forth until we get
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things pretty good. There's going to be a certain amount of settling in of the
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slabs anyway they're pretty heavy so they're going to settle in and and
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really do their final final adjustment on themselves. We've got a fair amount of
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shrinkage here but that's good that's what we want. If you've ever poured a pad you know it's a lot more trouble than this and
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as I said before it's not it's not as reliable in this situation at least on a
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northern climate where I live. So the compaction even with that little hand tool has resulted in quite a drop
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in the sand level. That's what I expected so I'm just going to shovel on some more
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sand repeat the process screed it pound it see how we're doing in relation to
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the line and and just keep on doing that until we've got compacted sand evenly
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all around the line. Well I'm up to that line now everything's compacted and
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smooth and I'm ready to set these slabs in place. Before I do I'm going to cut
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these stakes off. As I mentioned before I'm going to be putting some topsoil in
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here almost up to the level of the wood and tapering out. That's going to stop
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the sand from coming out there I'm going to plant some grass that'll establish sod on it and it'll just hold everything together nicely. So for now I just want
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to cut off these stakes just somewhat lower than where that soil is going to go
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Just so that they're out of the way. These slabs are pretty heavy and and I
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don't want to have anything in the way when they're lower in place. Okay so now
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it's time to set these slabs in place without pinching my fingers or making a
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mess. So I'm not going to rely on this frame too much
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Yeah I should say I've left about half an inch of clearance with the frame all
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the way around the assembled slabs so it's not too tight of a fit. It would be
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an awful shame right now to try to put these slabs in place and find that the
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frame was a little too small. So you definitely want some clearance
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Yeah I'm just gonna center them a bit in relation to the excess space and then
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put down some soil. So everything's all done and in place now. We used the loader
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tractor to bring the generator over here. We put it in place. I've started to put
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some soil around the outside. I'm going to need more only at least twice as much
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I think to bring it up higher and feather it out further but but there you
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go a foundation platform for the generator all ready to go
