tedtedted
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# Posted: 18 May 2026 03:16pm
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Hi folks! I recently broke ground on my first real construction project, a small off-grid cabin located in the foothills of the cascade mountains in WA.
The cabin is small enough that it does not need to be permitted (12 x 16), but I am trying to gain experience in doing things the right way, so I'm attempting to follow code when possible and doing some back-of-napkin engineering where not possible.
I'll share more soon about the plans for the structure, but I've got some foundation questions to start with.
Unfortunately the foundation is an area where I'm not able to meet code, due to access and cost limitations. Modern code requires continuous footings, but I'm building in the 100-year flood zone, so I want to elevate the structure by 2-3 feet above grade. I'm over an hour away from the closest concrete batch plant, and the road to access the site is too tight for a concrete truck to make it in regardless. So I've decided to use over-sized concrete footings dug into the ground, and piers to bring the foundation up to girders.
I'm using two rows of 3 piers, 6 total. The corner footers are 24x24x6", and the center footers are 30x30x7". The piers are 10" sonotubes.
https://i.imgur.com/GyD6nrC.png
Over the previous few weekends I dug out footers to below the frost line and placed ~4" of 3/8" minus gravel and tamped it down.
This weekend I cut and tied rebar, and poured the footings. (concrete on this pour is a little wet, I did better on the others).
https://imgur.com/a/LBXN5nj
Now my plan has been to use sonotubes to bring the foundation all the way up to the horizontal girders, but after wheeling the mixer around yesterday I'm realizing that getting the concrete into the tubes ~3 feet off the ground is going to be a serious challenge.
Can anyone recommend a method for accomplishing this? some kind of movable plywood ramp or platform? A stand of some sort for the mixer?
Should I just give up on the tall concrete piers and use PT 6x6s for the verticals?
Thanks,
Ted
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