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New Garage / Shop

38K views 51 replies 18 participants last post by  Soon2AdjustYou 
#1 ·
We have been working on this for almost 6 months.

We started grading in Oct. 07 and are now close to a concrete poor. Also, the building arrived last week.

40x60x16 CBC building
2/12 roof
2 ea. 14h X 12w roll-ups
1 ea. walk door
4 ea. windows
2 10' ridge vents
6 ea. sky lights
4'' insulation / sides and top
5.5'' pad

Moved 4000 cubic yards of dirt:eek:
400 tons of 3/4'' road base for road into site. (Need 200 tons more when project completed.) 3 weeks of grading and compacting. Lots of pizza for the work crew.

100 bales of straw / 1 bag of seed / 100+ feet of waddles.

Engineered plans for every step. Site plan / Grading / building / foundation etc.

Anyways check it out. I'll post more pics as the build continues.
 

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#5 ·
Couple more months and the nice pretty green will be fire hazard brown :p

Looks good man, you should have made the back wall against the hill and a bat-cave storage in the back :flipoff2:

Is this for personal use or do you run some type of business?

Keep us updated.
 
#10 ·
And I thought that I had to move a lot of dirt. My 40x60 has 6 feet of drop between one side and the other. The dirt work is as far as I have gotten. Now it has started raining, so it may be weeks before I get to do anything else. I'm hoping to get more done before it gets too hot to work outside much.
 
#11 ·
I started my project a few months ago. The house/shop is gonna sit on 38 acres. I have about the same amount of grading but its only being done with a cat 943 loader and a 247b track loader for the smaller work. Just working on it in our spare time. Gonna be awhile before I could think about a build thread.
 
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#13 ·
Thanks for all the replies and advice. It all helps.
I went out to check on progress this morning and found the work crew had removed all the rebar, pulled top layer of sand back and were attempting to install some black plastic that appeared to have been used for a season or two as a tarp. It looked like Swiss cheese. This is their idea of a moister barrier. The one they missed the first time. I came unglued and called the general and told him to get his ass over to the site and fix the problem. I waited awhile then left to go get breakfast. When I got back the workers were cutting sections of the bad black plastic and attempting to install it. It all had holes in it! Wtf! At this point I was ready to lock the gate on them. My contractor called me back and said he was getting the correct stuff for the job. WTF!:mad3: They went through all the trouble of back tracking and fixing what they forgot to add in the first place just to put crap in. Over two days of labor wasted! Is the Moister barrier that expensive or that hard to find?

Dan
 
#16 ·
10 mil is definately better than 4 mil plastic. It would resist punctures much better. I am unfamiliar with the codes in your area but we can use 4 mil as a vapor barier but as I wrote in your other thread, most of our inspectors would want to see it uncovered by stone.

It sounds like the labor guys just didn't want to get off their butt and get the right stuff. I'm being VERY generous here and giving them the benifit of the doubt. I hate to knock others work if I can't see it my self. That said I'd be all over them like white on rice when they poured the slab if it was my shop.

Just ask for copies of the tickets for the crete and let the GC know that adding a sh*t load of water is unacceptable in advance, he can order the mix to compensate. The GC sounds like he'll play it straight with you. Just let him know your concerns and tell him you'll be keeping an extra tight watch on things after this. If he feels that you know what you are talking about and he can't snow you it will go a long way to getting what you want. If you are really concerned ask him what mix he plans to use and when he is going to pour. My basic mix is listed on your other post and if you have any questions or problems PM me and I'll get you my cell phone # or some other contact info so you can reach me faster.
 
#17 ·
If you are worried about the quality of the concrete call around and see about getting some test cylinders, one of my friends is building a new shop and wanted 5000 psi concrete for the floor, to ensure that he got what he payed for he had several samples tested, his 5000 psi floor tested just over 5400 psi:smokin:. I think he payed about 100$ to have it tested, they test it after so many days, 7, 14 and 30? not exactly sure on the time frame, it was money well spent to him.

Brewchief:D
 
#18 ·
Test cyl. are what the state and big companys use to check the quality of a pour yes. However the way some contractors will beat the test is to fill ALL of the cyl as soon as the first truck shows up.

If I remember the test specs from our state work...

3 cyl per truck. One before any thing is done to the load, one mid way thru, and one at the very end. This shows that no addional water was added or if it was that it did not undully affect the strength.

cyl must be "rodded" to acheve proper settlement to limit voids. I believe that it was 12 vertical thrusts with a piece of rebar per cyl.

A slump cone is also used. This looks like a big funnel that you turn upside down and fill with crete. Remove the cone and set it next to the pile. lay straightedge on top of cone and measure down to top of the pile. A 1 slump will drop 1", a 6 slump will drop 6". This is a measure of how "wet" the concrete is. A truck that comes from the plant as a 3 can be wetted up to a 6 by addding water (bad if a lot is used) or with special additives ( such as for pumping) the additives are designed not to change the strength.
 
#21 ·
Concrete cylinders are tested at 7,14, and 28 days. They often make 4 to have an extra as a spare.

The proper procedure is to rod the concrete with a SMOOTH bar 26 times per layer. You fill the cylinder in 3 layers and you should not let the bar go into the previous layers. In other words, you fill it up 1/3 of the way, rod it, then fill it up another 1/3 and only rod that 1/3, etc.

This is the testing procedure I have seen/supervised on jobs ranging from army corp projects to simple 4 story apartment buildings.
 
#22 ·
Arya coming through on the specs!


A thought to keep in mind - getting 5000 psi concrete on a job is not always the best thing. You'll typically see more slab curling and shrinkage due to higher amounts of cement in the concrete.

3000 to 4000 psi, rebar, and proper curing can go a long ways...


bk
 
#24 · (Edited)
Well, here's an update.

The inspector called us on the following.

1.) Provide grading plan & Compaction report to verify pad location, compaction and approval by public works.

I think I live in the stupidest county in the world. A copy of the grading plan was stapled to the building plan. Also, county already approved the building site. It took them 6 weeks to do so because they were too slow so they let their help go!

2.) Provide min 5 1/2 slab thick as per plan. I guess the contractors guys screwed up again!

3.) Provide slab rebar mid thickness of slab. Per page 9 of plan! Builder screw-up?

Any ways this has delayed the pour. And there’s no way the buildings going up before we leave for Moab! So it will have to wait untill we get back.:p
 
#25 · (Edited)
Ok, we're back from MOAB. :(

The pad was poured on Thursday of last week. It looks good. I went by last night on my way home from EJS. The contractor says he will put the building together towards the end of this week. So I will get some more pictures of the final stages and post.:D
 
#36 ·
Done? Yeah right.:laughing: Keep on thinking that, it will help your sanity. A house/shop is NEVER done. You've just completed this stage. Looks good. I'm glad to see the translucent pannels in the roof of the shop. I don't know how cold it gets where you are at, CA if I remember, but the one in what I assume to be the living area might get a bit cold.

Remember how big it feels now, because I see it shrinking as soon as all your stuff goes in.:D
 
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