Shop update

[Daniel]

I got slowed down on my shop by situations beyond my control. the real estate people where dragging there feet. the foundation was completely dug out in 9 days. the forms are now set and the perimeter, and it is setting there waiting for the rebar and concrete. I am yansy with waiting myself so decided to write this.
We finally got our money tonight and where paying for the materials 45 minutes later. they will be delivered on friday. I will order the gravel to be delivered on monday. and should pour the concrete the following saturday. I would do it sooner but I cannot take next week off work.
I will post more pics when there is something new worth seeing. still just a big muddy spot that now has a whole surrounding it.

 

[pete00]

im excited as well....seeing how you agreed to let me work in the new shop too.
you remember saying that right !! [}][}]

 

[Daniel]

Now the work can begin. today the bits and pieces arrived. we had fun for about three hours just moving them around, still have two piles and two pallets in my driveway. not much question what I will be doing with my weekend. I actually have the first piece of rebar in the foundation []

 

[JimGo]

I'm really excited for you Daniel! Have fun!

 

[Daniel]

Can you belive it snowed all day here. Must be His way of getting me to not work on my shop today.

At least it melted as fast as it fell

 

[Daniel]

One more time, it is 4:20 a.m. I have been up for over an hour already. changed my wifes kitchen sink to waste some time. The reason I'm so energetic? today we are going to try and get the concrete mixed and poured. we will be mixing between 8 and 10 yards in 3.5 cu.ft mixers. I bought one from H.F and rented anouther so I hope we can get it done in one day. I have a crew of between 9 and 12 people that are going to help. the limiting factor will be the speed that the mixers can go. Be saying a few prayers for us over the next few hours. it is ony supposed to be in the 60s today with scattered rain showers. I need a window of no rain long enough to get the concrete in. I'll post pics later of the circus. Now I just hope all my helpers don't use the rain as an excuse to not show up.

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

Daniel,
I hope you checked out the price of a load of ready mix delivered to your site. Sounds like it is going to be a loooonnnnggggg day for you. I hope all your help sticks with you. It is a shame it is so far from Oak Ridge, NC to Reno or I'd be there with you. Good Luck, Mac

 

[Dario]

I am with Mac...whenever I need that much concrete, it usually is cheaper in the long run to buy pre-mixed. Quality is also much better.

Mixing and pouring concrete is a back breaker...hope things go "smoothly" (in more ways than one).

 

[woodwish]

Wow, I'm tired just thinking about this much work. I have a few sprinklers to replace this morning before I can hit the shop and I was dreading that, but that is nothing compared to your day![:0] Actually I woke up to it raining here for the first time in more than two months...so maybe this is God's way of saying "go on out to the shop, I'll take care of the grass watering today"? []

 

[leehljp]

I sure would like to be there to give you a hand. [] I did a lot of that in my younger days and am thinking of doing that for a 8 X 12 space in the future.

Have fun! I do know that you will enjoy your new shop. Just be sure that it is called "work shop" and not "storage shed". []

 

[Daniel]

Well we survived! we got 3/4 of the whole thing done. funny thing is we ran out of gravel and had to go pick up two more yard and are still short. HMMMMMMM, and yes I know how to calculate sq. yards. by the number of batches and the number of bags of cement I still have. after buying 12 yards of sand and gravel I only got 7.
anyway. we where doing fine until we got to the floor. not enough people that knew how to skred and trowel etc. the one guy that did show up that could help me and I got worn out fast so we will pour the floor in two pieces.
we had rain forcast for the whole day so I figured we where safe. all went fine until an hour ago. it started raining while one last corner was still not set up. so we are running out there every 30 minutes to check it. but it will all be good in the end.
the reason I went with mixing it is that I didn't have a crew that could work 320 Sq. Ft. of concrete that fast. this drug it out over a 7 hour period. I had lots of willies about that but it worked well.
anyway. the single hardest day of this project is now behind us. the next day of pouring will be a cake walk in comparison. thanks for letting me bend your ears once again. gotta go play in the rain again. looks like it may stop for a bit. hope so I can get that last bit of concrete a good going over and check the whole pad before putting it to bed for the night.

 

[woodwish]

So you feeling pretty good tonight? Wait until tomorrow when you try to lift those arms [] Congrats on getting most of it done. There is such a building boom going on here on the Gulf Coast that it is about a 4-6 week delay in scheduling concrete. When I built my shop we did use readymix and also hired two guys that knew what they were doing. Of course I had to wait until late in the day after they already poured a slab down the road. When I added on a porch on the front I had to mix it myself in a stolen mixer. Actually maybe stolen is the wrong word. I intended to do it on a Saturday and reserved a mixer at the rental place, but they still did not have one available. So a contractor was building a house down the street and they had a mixer just sittting there. I "borrowed" it for a few hours on Sunday, filled up the gas tank when I finished, and returned it. I started feeling guilty so I walked down a few days later and confessed, he laughed and said he wondered why the tank was full. He also told me where the key was hid for the front-end loader was so I could borrow it if I needed it. [8D]

 

[Daniel]

actually it was my lower back that woke me last night. I got up for a couple of hours then went back to sleep. when I got up an hour or so later it felt fine. spent today putting new windows in my house. hope to finish the concrete pad tomorrow but don't want to mar the half that is already in. then it will be on to putting siding on my house. real fun with all the cable and phone lines that run into it.

 

[woodwish]

Ahh, being a homeowner does seem to be full time job, doesn't it? [8D]

 

[Johnathan]

I wish you all the luck with all the hard work ahead of you.[8D]

 

[Daniel]

Just a thanks to everyone for your encouragment. I'm limping along today like Ihave a broken back. We finished the second half of the floor this morning. I was doing all the screeding, floating and troweling. If God had ment me to do that he wouldn't have built my hands so far from the ground[)]
that will be all the work on the shop until the siding on the house is done, so you all get a break from the updates for a couple of weeks.
thanks again adn I will try to ad some pics of the progress to my photo album in the next day or two.

 

[Tea Clipper]

Thanks for the progress reports, Daniel - I enjoy reading them. Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us, and I hope you'll continue to give us updates throughout the rest of this project.

Okay, back to lurk mode for me,