Pimping my garage
#16
05-10-2006, 08:04 AM
1/27/06 Progress report
This concrete job is going to hell in a hand basket.
This pic is of the jacked up walls that were torn out. Note the terrible alignment.
Here is the new wall. Notice how well everything lines up. Something else seems different too, something missing. Can you find it? Answer on the next caption.
THEY FORGOT AN OPENING! That’s ten inches of concrete to cut open! The concrete cutting company will be back again. I hear he is almost like an employee now, cowboy f***ed up a lot of other jobs too.
Here’s my observation. On the day of the pour the foreman, project manager, and the owner of the company were present. When the walls were uncovered not one of those people walked the job with the prints in their hand. I inspected after they started pouring, and found one wall with the steel missing at the top, I made them stop pouring and get the steel in.
On Wednesday the forms were stripped and removed from the site. Time to inspect the new walls. What do we have here? Bug holes in the concrete? Inside and out, the walls are completely covered with huge air pockets. They used a concrete vibrator when they poured, I have pics of it. WTF? The vertical lines are two feet apart so you can see how big they are. My waterproofing contractor said he cannot waterproof walls like this, too many holes.
Here is a visual of the walls poured by the cowboy who got fired.
The framed wall is dead straight, and spacers are needed to fill in under each stud. A close up, some spacers are ¾+ thick. We also found the openings for the garage doors out of place. I hade them cut 2 ½ inches from one side of an opening so that the garage door would fit.
And another cowboy wall in front. Gonna be fun to build on this roller coaster. Luckily it’s not too long.
I have a meeting at 7:00 AM on Monday morning with the project manager, the general manager, and some poobah from the concrete supplier. We think they entrained too much air in the mix or it was just a bad mix. They are a state certified concrete supplier, and their computer controlled batch mix records are filed with the state. Every single truckload gets recorded. They are bringing a printout to the meeting. We will see what the concrete looks like on the inside when they cut the opening.
On the plus side, the new walls checked out to be nice and square and straight. It should be real easy to build on them, if they stay that is.
This concrete job is going to hell in a hand basket.
This pic is of the jacked up walls that were torn out. Note the terrible alignment.
Here is the new wall. Notice how well everything lines up. Something else seems different too, something missing. Can you find it? Answer on the next caption.
THEY FORGOT AN OPENING! That’s ten inches of concrete to cut open! The concrete cutting company will be back again. I hear he is almost like an employee now, cowboy f***ed up a lot of other jobs too.
Here’s my observation. On the day of the pour the foreman, project manager, and the owner of the company were present. When the walls were uncovered not one of those people walked the job with the prints in their hand. I inspected after they started pouring, and found one wall with the steel missing at the top, I made them stop pouring and get the steel in.
On Wednesday the forms were stripped and removed from the site. Time to inspect the new walls. What do we have here? Bug holes in the concrete? Inside and out, the walls are completely covered with huge air pockets. They used a concrete vibrator when they poured, I have pics of it. WTF? The vertical lines are two feet apart so you can see how big they are. My waterproofing contractor said he cannot waterproof walls like this, too many holes.
Here is a visual of the walls poured by the cowboy who got fired.
The framed wall is dead straight, and spacers are needed to fill in under each stud. A close up, some spacers are ¾+ thick. We also found the openings for the garage doors out of place. I hade them cut 2 ½ inches from one side of an opening so that the garage door would fit.
And another cowboy wall in front. Gonna be fun to build on this roller coaster. Luckily it’s not too long.
I have a meeting at 7:00 AM on Monday morning with the project manager, the general manager, and some poobah from the concrete supplier. We think they entrained too much air in the mix or it was just a bad mix. They are a state certified concrete supplier, and their computer controlled batch mix records are filed with the state. Every single truckload gets recorded. They are bringing a printout to the meeting. We will see what the concrete looks like on the inside when they cut the opening.
On the plus side, the new walls checked out to be nice and square and straight. It should be real easy to build on them, if they stay that is.
#17
05-10-2006, 08:06 AM
I finally got a break in the weather and manpower available at the same time soooo..…Time to have a roof raising.
We started assembling the first two pairs to go up on Tuesday. One set for a dormer and another for the stairwell. The trusses cannot be cut so we double them up on each side of any opening and ladder frame between them. I needed 4 sets assembled like this. We set up two in the back and I had to pick the second set and lift it over the first set to start off. This was the trickiest part because the right front wheel was sinking into the ground as the boom extended out. Lucky for me that this machine can tip itself left or right. It sank a total of about 18†and would have tipped over without this feature. It has 4 wheel drive, front wheel steering, all wheel steering, and crab steering. Just push a button to select.
A view from the operators (me) cab. The black ball in the tilt gauge shows how far the machine is tipped. It’s almost level now.
End of the day on Wednesday. Not bad considering that the machine arrived around noon time.
Mid morning on Friday, day three. I put the ML in there to show the scale.
The last one goes up and gets secured.
And it would not be complete without the topping out tree branch secured to top of the last truss.
An upstairs shot from the house completes it.
I hope to get the roof decking well under way tomorrow because there is a winter storm coming, 8-12 inches of snow plus strong winds. The decking will make the roof system very strong.
We started assembling the first two pairs to go up on Tuesday. One set for a dormer and another for the stairwell. The trusses cannot be cut so we double them up on each side of any opening and ladder frame between them. I needed 4 sets assembled like this. We set up two in the back and I had to pick the second set and lift it over the first set to start off. This was the trickiest part because the right front wheel was sinking into the ground as the boom extended out. Lucky for me that this machine can tip itself left or right. It sank a total of about 18†and would have tipped over without this feature. It has 4 wheel drive, front wheel steering, all wheel steering, and crab steering. Just push a button to select.
A view from the operators (me) cab. The black ball in the tilt gauge shows how far the machine is tipped. It’s almost level now.
End of the day on Wednesday. Not bad considering that the machine arrived around noon time.
Mid morning on Friday, day three. I put the ML in there to show the scale.
The last one goes up and gets secured.
And it would not be complete without the topping out tree branch secured to top of the last truss.
An upstairs shot from the house completes it.
I hope to get the roof decking well under way tomorrow because there is a winter storm coming, 8-12 inches of snow plus strong winds. The decking will make the roof system very strong.
#18
05-10-2006, 08:09 AM
Follow up work on the porous concrete work has come to a standstill. Too much air and too much vibrating were the culprits. They sent 2 men to start filling the air pockets in the wall. They worked part of the day last Wednesday and never returned. I cannot waterproof the walls with the holes unfilled, and I cannot backfill with the walls not waterproofed. No show, no call, nothing. Another one bites the dust. No more Mr. Nice Guy. They’re going to find their check extremely light.
The second turkey concrete company is behind me now and things are starting to roll. I have decided to fill the holes and cut the opening myself because I just don’t want any more losers here.
We finished erecting the trusses on Friday and on Saturday two of my men got one side of the roof decked while I plywood decked most of the second floor. Here is a pic of the snowstorm that hit us on Sunday. Near “white out†conditions at times.
We cleaned the snow from the roof half, truss framing, and the deck on Monday in prep for safe working conditions. The second half of the roof was decked while I built the end walls with the window openings. We’re closing up the front here. I take the pics and drive the blue machine. Two days after the storm and one of my men is wearing only a T shirt.
We covered the roof with a tarp to keep the inside dry and we ran the Tyvek wrap over the window openings to keep the weather out. Putting the tarp on the roof was no fun at all. There were strong wind gust and a severe wind weather alert. We almost lost it several times before finally secured it in place.
A view from the end of the second floor. This room is 18 feet by 43 feet long.
These are the openings for the dormers. You can see the dormer walls framed up and ready to go. At the next weather break the tarp will be cut and the dormers assembled. Once the dormers get their exterior trim I am ready for roofing, followed by the upstairs windows.
The second turkey concrete company is behind me now and things are starting to roll. I have decided to fill the holes and cut the opening myself because I just don’t want any more losers here.
We finished erecting the trusses on Friday and on Saturday two of my men got one side of the roof decked while I plywood decked most of the second floor. Here is a pic of the snowstorm that hit us on Sunday. Near “white out†conditions at times.
We cleaned the snow from the roof half, truss framing, and the deck on Monday in prep for safe working conditions. The second half of the roof was decked while I built the end walls with the window openings. We’re closing up the front here. I take the pics and drive the blue machine. Two days after the storm and one of my men is wearing only a T shirt.
We covered the roof with a tarp to keep the inside dry and we ran the Tyvek wrap over the window openings to keep the weather out. Putting the tarp on the roof was no fun at all. There were strong wind gust and a severe wind weather alert. We almost lost it several times before finally secured it in place.
A view from the end of the second floor. This room is 18 feet by 43 feet long.
These are the openings for the dormers. You can see the dormer walls framed up and ready to go. At the next weather break the tarp will be cut and the dormers assembled. Once the dormers get their exterior trim I am ready for roofing, followed by the upstairs windows.
#19
05-10-2006, 08:10 AM
Warm weather progress.
I took advantage of a warm Saturday to strip the tarp and pop out the dormers. The side walls and trusses were upstairs and all I needed was to frame the end walls and go for it. It was a very productive day starting at 7:30 AM and stopping a bit after 5:00 PM. A lot of the earlier work was done by my crew, but this time I was very hands on. Almost all of the framing was by my hands and walls were being placed almost as fast as I could build them. I followed by putting the trusses up on all 6 dormers, and getting the dormer roof sheathing and final framing set up. A real roof will be on it soon and the dormer windows soon after. Once it is sealed to the weather more inside work will get underway. WOOT! WOOT!
A view from partway down the drive.
Shot from the top of a pile of backfill.
And a shot from ground level.
I took advantage of a warm Saturday to strip the tarp and pop out the dormers. The side walls and trusses were upstairs and all I needed was to frame the end walls and go for it. It was a very productive day starting at 7:30 AM and stopping a bit after 5:00 PM. A lot of the earlier work was done by my crew, but this time I was very hands on. Almost all of the framing was by my hands and walls were being placed almost as fast as I could build them. I followed by putting the trusses up on all 6 dormers, and getting the dormer roof sheathing and final framing set up. A real roof will be on it soon and the dormer windows soon after. Once it is sealed to the weather more inside work will get underway. WOOT! WOOT!
A view from partway down the drive.
Shot from the top of a pile of backfill.
And a shot from ground level.
#25
05-10-2006, 05:23 PM
Originally Posted by bobk
Hey,
Nice equipment!!
Very painfull to re-cap in 3D however.
Cars are much more fun that construction.
Nice equipment!!
Very painfull to re-cap in 3D however.
Cars are much more fun that construction.
BTW, yellow machines are by Bobk, the corrupting influnce behind my getting the 997TT. If I ever get him to take his wife for a ride in the SL55 with the roof down.............................
#26
05-10-2006, 07:32 PM
An up to date progress report. 5/9/06
Progress came to a halt in mid March after the roof went on. I hired a roofer who came highly recommended. At a site meeting I told him that he needed to roof only up to the eve line of the dormers so he could put his flashing on and we would be able to put our trim boards in place to cover the aluminum flashing. My guys are only a min away and would not hold him up, as he could start the other side. Everything was pre cut and sitting upstairs. He started the job on a Saturday and never called. He had one side completed and the other side 1/3 of the way done. Wifey and I were away in Vegas (work) and came home on the red eye Sunday AM. At first I was happy to see that the roof was almost done, but after unloading the limo and looking closer I started to loose it. @$#&%^WTF, nothing to do but try and get some sleep, as I cannot sleep on a plane and was beat. On the following Monday I called the roofer over and had a few words with him. After a few min he knew it was his FU. Twenty min later his crew stripped the roof back down to the eve line, and they had to replace every bit of drip edge on all of the dormers. By the end of the day the roof was fully completed and the mess cleaned up. He apologized for the mistake too. The house foundation is now waterproofed and backfilled too.
The garage with the roof.
Interior shot showing the radiant heat tubing.
There will be a utility closet under the stairs at the back of the wide bay. The stack is for the lav the second floor, with shower.
Today I took two bids for the floor slabs. I’m using fibremesh concrete, 4000# mix. I hope to have the floors done maybe late next week.
Progress came to a halt in mid March after the roof went on. I hired a roofer who came highly recommended. At a site meeting I told him that he needed to roof only up to the eve line of the dormers so he could put his flashing on and we would be able to put our trim boards in place to cover the aluminum flashing. My guys are only a min away and would not hold him up, as he could start the other side. Everything was pre cut and sitting upstairs. He started the job on a Saturday and never called. He had one side completed and the other side 1/3 of the way done. Wifey and I were away in Vegas (work) and came home on the red eye Sunday AM. At first I was happy to see that the roof was almost done, but after unloading the limo and looking closer I started to loose it. @$#&%^WTF, nothing to do but try and get some sleep, as I cannot sleep on a plane and was beat. On the following Monday I called the roofer over and had a few words with him. After a few min he knew it was his FU. Twenty min later his crew stripped the roof back down to the eve line, and they had to replace every bit of drip edge on all of the dormers. By the end of the day the roof was fully completed and the mess cleaned up. He apologized for the mistake too. The house foundation is now waterproofed and backfilled too.
The garage with the roof.
Interior shot showing the radiant heat tubing.
There will be a utility closet under the stairs at the back of the wide bay. The stack is for the lav the second floor, with shower.
Today I took two bids for the floor slabs. I’m using fibremesh concrete, 4000# mix. I hope to have the floors done maybe late next week.
#28
05-11-2006, 12:40 PM
Just a boxster?
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Maple Valley WA
Age: 47
Posts: 2,825
Rep Power: 164 
Great build out I am hoping to build in the next year. I have a similar plan but with a living area above the garage to live in for the first year or two while I build my "realistic" dream home.
#29
05-12-2006, 08:55 AM
¿Señor Member?
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Southern Virginia
Posts: 607
Rep Power: 46
great thread! Very interested to see the next progress report.
It's crazy how you have to pretty much babysit the guys to get the job done correctly. It's looking very nice though so far, I'm sure it will be amazing once it's all built and everything is in there.
It's crazy how you have to pretty much babysit the guys to get the job done correctly. It's looking very nice though so far, I'm sure it will be amazing once it's all built and everything is in there.
#30
05-12-2006, 05:47 PM
I knew I was out of synq when I started looking for the trenching pics, somehow I put them in the wrong folder. Found them today. This post belongs before the last one or two. Late March or early April we started digging for the garage utilities. This required us to give up most of our driveway. Parking on the lawn was no problem for wifey and I.
Electric for the garage and the house. More lines were needed to go around the front of the house to the new panel location. We hit the line to the shed in the process, but that was easily fixed.
Power, data and com lines here enter the garage on the far left.
One 2 inch pipe is for power, the other is for the generator behind the garage. 15KW ought to do it. 3 more smaller pipes for tele, data, and a spare? We had to core drill the foundation here, and also the existing foundation 10 feet in, and then bend the lines to the right to come up in the utility closet.
Water enters in the center. Sewer (not shown) is at the far right of the building, better shot to the tank.
And a pic from the second floor.
Electric for the garage and the house. More lines were needed to go around the front of the house to the new panel location. We hit the line to the shed in the process, but that was easily fixed.
Power, data and com lines here enter the garage on the far left.
One 2 inch pipe is for power, the other is for the generator behind the garage. 15KW ought to do it. 3 more smaller pipes for tele, data, and a spare? We had to core drill the foundation here, and also the existing foundation 10 feet in, and then bend the lines to the right to come up in the utility closet.
Water enters in the center. Sewer (not shown) is at the far right of the building, better shot to the tank.
And a pic from the second floor.