How to Pour Concrete Deck Footings
Dig, form, and pour durable concrete deck footings using cardboard building tubes and post anchors to create a stable foundation below the frost line.
- Read the tools, materials, safety notes, and steps below for free.
- Tap Start Camera Coach when you want hands-free voice help.
- Allow camera and microphone. Point your phone at the work; the coach watches your progress and tells you the next step.
🧰 Required Tools & Equipment
- ✓ Post hole digger or power auger
- ✓ Torpedo level or 2-foot spirit level
- ✓ Wheelbarrow or heavy-duty mixing tub
- ✓ Concrete hoe or flat shovel
- ✓ Margin trowel
- ✓ Tape measure
📦 Materials & Supplies
- ✓ QUIKRETE 5000 or High Strength Concrete Mix
- ✓ Cardboard building form tubes (Sonotubes)
- ✓ Crushed gravel (base drainage)
- ✓ Galvanized post base brackets or J-bolts
- ✓ Clean water
⚠️ Safety Checkpoints & Warnings
- • Call 811 before digging to locate underground utility lines.
- • Wear waterproof alkali-resistant gloves and safety glasses to prevent chemical concrete burns.
- • Lift concrete bags with legs, keeping the load close to the body to prevent back strain.
📋 Step-by-Step Guide (6 Steps)
Dig Footing Holes Below Frost Line
Dig vertical holes at your layout markers using a post hole digger or auger. Ensure the hole depth extends at least 6 inches below your local frost line and has a flat, undisturbed soil base.
- • Cylindrical hole with straight vertical sides
- • Measuring tape shows bottom is below required frost depth line
- • Stopping before reaching local frost depth
- • Digging a bowl-shaped bottom instead of flat
Add Gravel Base and Cut Form Tubes
Pour 4 to 6 inches of crushed gravel into the bottom of the hole and tamp it firm. Measure the remaining depth, add 2 to 3 inches for above-ground clearance, and cut the cardboard form tube with a hand saw.
- • Even layer of crushed stone visible in the hole bottom
- • Form tube cut squarely to the calculated height
- • Skipping the gravel base, leading to drainage issues
- • Cutting the tube too short so the top sits below ground grade
Set, Plumb, and Backfill the Form Tube
Lower the tube into the hole and place a level against the side. Backfill soil tightly around the outside of the tube in layers, checking plumb continuously to keep it perfectly vertical.
- • Spirit level bubble centered on two perpendicular sides of the tube
- • Firm soil packed around tube perimeter with no gaps
- • Backfilling all at once, which pushes the tube out of plumb
- • Leaving air voids around the tube
Mix the Concrete
Empty concrete mix bags into a wheelbarrow and form a depression in the center. Add clean water incrementally, pulling dry mix inward with a hoe until it reaches a uniform, thick oatmeal consistency.
- • Uniform grey color with no dry powdery pockets
- • Mixture holds its shape when sliced with a hoe without pooling water
- • Dumping all water at once, creating a runny soup
- • Leaving unmixed dry aggregate in the corners
Pour and Consolidate Concrete in the Form
Shovel concrete into the tube in 10-to-12-inch lifts. Consolidate each lift by rodding with a piece of rebar or tapping the tube exterior with a rubber mallet to eliminate trapped air voids.
- • Concrete filling form evenly to the top rim
- • Air bubbles rising and popping on the surface during rodding
- • Pouring the entire depth at once without rodding, trapping large voids
- • Splashing mix onto the inner dry tube walls
Screed Top and Embed Post Bracket
Screed the wet concrete flush with the top of the form tube using a scrap board or margin trowel. Immediately center the J-bolt or post base bracket into the wet concrete, leaving the bottom plate flat on the surface.
- • Smooth, flat concrete top flush with the cardboard rim
- • Post bracket centered on layout lines and leveled horizontally
- • Sinking the post bracket too deep, embedding the wood standoff plate
- • Inserting the bracket after concrete has begun its initial set
Credit: inspired by an original tutorial by QUIKRETE — watch the original on YouTube.
Don’t have everything?
- No Wheelbarrow? Heavy-duty plastic mortar pan or 5-gallon buckets
- No Post hole digger? Narrow trenching shovel and hand trowel
- No Rubber mallet? Wood block tapped by hand against the form tube