Advice on concrete base for a self build shed please.

I have decided to build my own shed rather than pay £100's for a flimsy ready made affair. I want a concrete floor as it is for my motorbikes and have set out some gravel boards as shuttering. The problem is the height difference of ground level from one end to the other! It means that at the deeper end I will need tons of hardcore, can I level off the ground within the base area with loose soil? Bear in mind that it is on a lawn! I am concerned that by levelling off I will not have a solid ground base for the hardcore. At it's deepest end it is about 18 inches, at the shallow end about 4 inches.
Or should I leave it as it is and just pile in the hardcore straight on top of the grass?
Hope that's all clear, I will really appreciate any input as I am a stuck on this one.
Thanks. Jim

Why have you got a height difference?
Are you doing this on slopping ground or something?

Sounds like he has. If you plonk the hardcore onto the lower section of lawn and concrete over it, the loose exposed material will fall away over time and it will crack/fall to bits.

You should dig a proper concrete strip footing and lay a couple of courses of blocks as a retaining wall on the lower part.

Or, dig out the higher section and level it all off. This would mean the existing higher part, is now sunk into the ground. and you will still have to build a retaining wall filled with hardcore before pouring the slab.

The second option will require more digging and earth removal, but will be easier to set out, as you will simply be laying a few courses of blocks from a level base.


4" slab with a couple of sheets of mesh and you'll be good to go.

Yup sloping lawn!
Thanks Deluks, I think I will have to go for option one.
Regards
Jim