Foundation - Block Wall

Last week I was happy to get the footer poured before the rainy weekend.  But the rain did take a toll on the project.  I probably spent 8 hours pumping out and cleaning up the foundation trench due to the rain.  I suppose could have figured out how to cover the entire area with plastic...but even so, there has been water filtering in through the sides into the deeper parts of the trench.  I don't know a good way to stop that.

In any case, this weekend I started laying the block.  When I checked the levels of the poured footer it varied by as much as an inch.  I'm sure a pro would have done better, but it wasn't too bad to work with.

Here's the first course on one of the 35' sides:

Generally, I'm getting about 25 blocks to an 80# bag of mortar.  I'm mixing the mortar by hand and that isn't a problem given the speed I'm working at (slow).

Here's a overall shot of the work site at this point:

And I'll wrap up with a link to a video of a guy laying block. Now that I'm about half way through laying block on the garage, watching a video like this just makes me smile in amazement for the efficiency of this guy's motions.



Oh, wait, one more photo that I didn't get a chance to add last week.  Super cute!

Foundation - Footer

Concrete day started with yet more trench widening and cleanup.  Next, I cut up pieces of rebar and pounded them in every 4 feet with their tops at exactly the height (via laser level) that I wanted the top of the footer.  That way there is not measuring going on when the concrete truck is there. Then I put lengths of rebar on 'chairs' in the trench and wired them together. I put two in most some trenches and three in others where I wanted a little more strength.

This rebar cutter/bender from Georges Tool Rental for $28/day was nice to have...but probably not critical for a job this small.

The concrete schedule was running a bit late.  I had scheduled it for 2pm.  It got here around 3:30.  I paid $233 for the delivery and $67/yd.  I estimated 7 yards and ordered 8.  At the end, the guy said he thought there was a half yard left...but maybe he was just being nice.  At least I didn't run out.

We 'shot' the concrete wet and fast to make it to the back corners without any wheel barrow work.  I was concerned about being the only guy working...considering that this was my first time doing it.  But the driver was helpful and it went really well.  I did work like a dog though.  One thing I didn't know is that when the concrete is so wet, you get splattered all over your face if you're working near the shoot.

And the finished product!  I was really pushing to get to this point by today.  Now I can take a bit of a break while it rains for the next two days.

Foundation - Digging

In the first day of work digging the footers, I got 3 of the 4 sides done and the 4th started.

What took so long?  Well, one of the sides turned into a quarry operation - check out these stones!


Here's photo representing plenty of time spent shoveling stones out of the trench.  Silas, in the background was not always a contributor to the effort.

Demolition

At the suggestion of my neighbor, I put the old shed on Craigslist to see if anyone wanted it.  I listed it for $300 and I got a lot of calls.  But, there was a problem: the shed is 13 feet tall and that's too tall to trailer.  In the end, I found some nice folks from A bit of Luck Farm (http://abitofluckfarm.webs.com/) who came, disassembled, and took away the shed.

Here's a photo along the way:

While I was waiting for the demolition, I started burying the electrical conduit from the house.

Garage Project - The Plan

Here are some photos documenting our garage project.  We don't currently have any garage space - we have a small barn and a 12 x 20 "shed" (shown below).  Over the winter we decided that this year we would build a proper garage to provide more storage and an area for my workshop.

First, here's a 1999 (13 years ago now) photo of what the shed looked like when I bought the house.  What a beauty.

  

The junk cars were removed long ago, but I left the shed figuring that having an existing structure would help mitigate an property line setback issues in the future.  Fast forward to today, the shed, lacking a foundation, was not helpful in lessening the required property line setback.

The Plan

In Upper Salford Twp, we don't need a formal plan for outbuilding structures, but I decided to buy a garage plan just to give shape to what I was thinking and so that Jen and I could discuss what we wanted it to look like.  There are tons of garage sites, but Behm Design seemed to stand out as a bit more genuine.

The design we picked out is:

(http://www.behmdesign.com/garageplan816-235-2x24.aspx)

I paid $160 for the plans (4 paper copies).  They arrived in several days.  And I was very impressed with the level of detail and accuracy of the plans.  There was one question that I had about the truss design and I was able to call Behm and talk with the owner who answered my question in 1 minute.  Good outfit.

The Permit

Upper Salford Twp is pretty good to work with on permits.  Back in the day, I felt it was better to "limit government intrusion" and skip the permit.  But in Upper Salford at least, I've come to value the advice and oversight that I'm able to get with a permit.

For the permit I needed:

Plot plan - showing location of garage

Contruction plan - showing details of how the garage would be constructed. (from Behm Design)

Cut sheet showing acceptable spans for LVL headers - because these laminated headers for use over the garage door are "engineered" and vary by manufacturer, I need to show that the one I'm going to buy is rated for the span and load present in my design.

Stamped Truss Plan - a one-page, computer generated printout from the truss manufacturer showing how the trusses would be made.  Our garage design uses 19 trusses (incl. 2 end-trusses, and 2 two-ply trusses)

Stamped Electrical Plan - a one-page sketch showing the conduit from my house to the garage, the 60A sub-panel, and the garage circuits.

Permit application and about $165