does it matter if you kiss someone with a cleft pallet? is it contajous? and with braces?
Sorry - but nothing beats a concrete slab. All the work you will be putting into building your structure will go to **hell** if you don't have a proper foundation.
8-10 Pressure-treated timbers arranged over a (level) bed of pea gravel. (From an old Black and Decker plan book)
If you use pallets are anything biodegradable, it will rot. Then the bottoms of your walls will rot too. Cinder-blocks are cheap, so I'm not sure why you don't want them. I assume you want a dirt floor, since you are being so cheap, but do not put wood in contact with dirt or it will rot in 2 years. You could use Hardie cement products, but those are expensive. Really 12x8 is really way too big to half-***. You will spend probably $400 in materials and 12+ hours of labor. Just buy some cinder blocks and build a strong wooden foundation on top of them. Make sure you use either treated wood or prime/painted wood or again, it will rot out in 2 years time.
You can use treated wood or crushed stone. But if you don't put plastic down somewhere you'll get water inside if your ground isn't high enough for drainage. More importantly if you don't have a stable foundation your building isn't stable either. If you get any high winds or storms it can blow, rattle or vibrate of the foundation. YOU MUST ANCHOR IT. You can do this by getting metal rods and pound them into the ground and fastened it directly to the structure. You can do this also by drilling a hole through your plate and then a metal stake. Try to do anything to secure before its finished. As far as the zoning ordnance's your building seems smaller then they would have to worry about. But you may have to ask about distance from property line or neighbors. Theres no charge in asking and if they ask for a building permit its really not that much. Good Luck
Rocks would be the next best thing, after cement and/or cinderblocks, wood works for a while then rots. Look for some nice big stones that are flat on at least one side. Dig holes in the ground to set them, flat side up. Make sure that your foundation sticks up above the soil at least 4 inches. Level the top of the stones with each other so you have a flat stable surface on which to build your structure. To do this shem the stones with smaller rocks under them and a level on a board across the stones checking all directions. It pays to take the time to square up your corners too. This is the way many foundations were built before cement products were widely available. If you do a good job of it, you may be surprised how long it lasts.
