Birth of a shop

[Marty Walsh]

Sorry about the problems (but not surprised) with your HF mixer Marty.

What you have done so far looks good.

I think that 90 degrees F is about 32 degrees C and I spent the last two days working outside all day in temperatures that were warmer than that (35 degrees C) and with high humidity as well. Its draining isn’t it. But I was decking and gardening neither of which is as hard as mixing concrete. I doubt that I am a better man than you –the largest project I ever didwith hand mixing was about 30 wheelbarrows full –less than what you would need to do.

Thanks Frank. This isn't the most fun aspect of the build, but it's one of the most critical.

And yes, the heat sure is draining. I just did the conversion...it's been between 34.4 and 35.6 here in Celcius degrees. Doesn't seem quite so hot when I type it like that!

Anyway, hope to make better progress tomorrow...
- Marty -

[Steve Clardy]

Time spent, HF cost, dying on you, cost of bagged concrete, I learned a few years back, anything over 4-5 yards, call the mixer with the diesel engine and driver to come visit. Quicker, easier, pay em, cry a bit, continue on.

[Marty Walsh]

Time spent, HF cost, dying on you, cost of bagged concrete, I learned a few years back, anything over 4-5 yards, call the mixer with the diesel engine and driver to come visit. Quicker, easier, pay em, cry a bit, continue on.

Steve,

The diesel mixer WILL be here NEXT WEEK to pour the actual tubes. The pads should work out to about 75-80 bags (about 1.5 yards). The tubes themselves will be right about 4 yards in the big spinny thing...

There's too much 'finesse' work that I have to do to pour the pads. There's no way I could afford to have the diesel driver here all day while I get the work done a pad/tube at a time! It's probably less than half the cost to do the pads by hand as I'm doing.

- Marty -

[Steve Clardy]

Gotcha!!
Your bags are premixed? Concrete, sand, rock?

[Marty Walsh]

Gotcha!!
Your bags are premixed? Concrete, sand, rock?

Yup, Quik-rete...just add water and sweat, and pour.

[tod evans]

keep pluggin` marty. you`re gaining.

[Dave Richards]

Marty, the shop is coming along nicely. Are you finding that your struggles in getting the drawings done in SU are paying off now that you are actually building?

[Marty Walsh]

Marty, the shop is coming along nicely. Are you finding that your struggles in getting the drawings done in SU are paying off now that you are actually building?

Dave,

Not only are my efforts paying off, but watching what I drew come to life is doubly exciting! Seeing things come together EXACTLY as planned and drawn confirm that it was all time well spent! Thanks again for helping me through it...

- Marty -

[Marty Walsh]

Special mid-day update...

Well, I was all ready to go get an industrial concrete mixer from the local rental place this morning. LOML and I were on the deck at sunup having coffee, when I thought I'd go give the HF mixer one last chance. Still in my bathrobe, I checked to make sure the extension was connected at the house, walked out to the mixer, plugged it in and threw the switch.

Much to my amazement, it fired right up and kept going!!! I guess it must have just not liked the heat last night, and having to work for a few hours straight right after assembly. Whatever it was, it was time to get to work before the mixer decided to call it quits again.

LOML took off a few hours this morning to give me a hand, and as you can see, it was time well spent:

Attachment 39799

There's now 21 poured pads, with rebar and the tubes in position! We blasted through 18 of them this morning! And without Denise's help, I'd still be out there working on...oh I don't know...maybe number 12 or 15. It's amazing how much faster it goes when there are two of us blasting away!

I have to do a little more fabricating now so I can get the last row of 7 poured. Since the site slopes down as shown in the diagram above, I have to extend the tubes by about 24". I have 14 tubes left, so the plan is to cut 7 of them to the required extension length, then duct tape them to the full length section to create the required length.

(I'm worried that I'm already using duct tape in the building of my new shop, and I'm still only working on the foudation. I better have Denise hide the roll when I'm done extending the tubes so I'm not tempted to use it anywhere else!!!!! )

Oh, and the other fabricating I have to do is cut and bend rebar for those last seven tubes, and make some braces to hold them plumb and level when the spinny diesel concrete shows up.

Hopefully later this evening, I'll post a picture showing this pile completely gone:

Attachment 39800

That's 58 empty concrete sacks against that pine tree. There are only 26 left on the pallet, and we won't be needing them all. I'll still need it to pour the posts for the porch, so it won't be going to waste.

It's back to work for me while Denise toils away in her office.

Thanks for following...
- Marty -

[Don Baer]

Looking good and I'm glad the HF mixer just needed a rest.

[Dave Richards]

Marty, I'm glad I could help you out. You really did all the work though. I'm glad you're enjoying the process. It's a good thing you didn't have a roll of SketchUp duct tape.

[Marty Walsh]

A major milestone met this morning...

Denise and I have been busting tail for the last two days, in preparation for what had to happen this morning. We had to get all the pads poured, with the tubes and rebar in place, for a total of SEVENTY TWO 80lb bags of concrete. Boy were we glad that HF mixer decided to come back to life!!

Then we had to backfill all 28 holes, which was no easy task with a shovel, since most of what we were dealing with was HARD Georgia clay. Then we had to reinforce the back elevated row of tubes. Then we had to box blade the interior of the site so the big spinny concrete truck could get access.

With all of the above accomplished this is the end result:

Attachment 39910

We now have 28 of these:

Attachment 39911

And although Denise didn't want me to post this, here's a shot of her levelling out the tops after I inserted additional rebar and the Simpson MAB23 anchors:

Attachment 39912


By the way, I AM THE LUCKIEST MAN IN THE WORLD to have Denise. Did I mention today is her Birthday? And this is how I treat her before she has to spend the day in her office!?!?!?


Next task is to let the columns cure for a day or so, then take the box blade and level out the surface so I can spread the plastic. Then I get to move that pile of 9 tons of gravel you can see in the picture above. Although Tod had a great idea to avoid the plastic and gravel, asthetics won over since the shop exterior has to match the house, which has lattice work around the bottom.

Monday will be another major day, since the engineered floor is due to be delivered. It arrived at the yard today, but I asked them to hold it for me since I didn't know for sure when the concrete truck would be here and gone.

I'm supposed to be borrowing a friends large tractor this weekend that has a set of forks on front so I can set the beams in place. They weigh in at over 350 pounds a piece, and doing that by hand for 24 beams might be just a little too much for me to handle after this weeks shovel and concrete work...

Thanks again for following. Hopefully you're enjoying this as much as we are...

- Marty -

- and B'day girl Denise! -

[Jim Becker]

Marty, borrow or rent a compact tractor with a loader to move that stone around!! Really... ...I'm not kidding. The loader is the most used implement we have for our tractor and it's on the machine full time except when mowing.

Congrats on getting your concrete "done"...looks great!

[Steve Clardy]

Looking great!! Happy B-Day to your Wife!!

[tod evans]

you guys have been humpin`! happy b-day to your wife marty.. tod