Now it’s my turn for a workshop build thread
 

And the story goes….

About three years ago we found the house we wanted but it didn’t have a garage. One could be added to the carport/utility room pretty easy so we went ahead and bought the house. The first step was removing a few pine trees. One was in the footprint of the building addition and two others needed to be removed now or it would be a real chore to the get them out in the future. I got the trees out and ground the stumps down but the roots were the hidden below the surface. More on that later.

This will be a workshop not a garage but it will have a garage door and I can get my 914 in it. It will be wood framed and will have lap siding to match the house. The roof line will tie into the existing carport roof so it will not look like a bastardized addition. The first picture shows the back wall of the utility room which will be removed and on the right is the pine tree that was removed. I had to find an architect and a structural engineer for the signed/sealed drawing as I needed a permit.


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I put in some stakes for reference to the area of the addition and I rented a walk behind loader to clear the site and scrape down a few inches of top soil to remove the grass. It sounded like a great plan until I hit the first bundle of tree roots. The roots stopped the machine in its tracks and without teeth on the bucket I wasn’t able to hook the roots and get under to pull them up. After a few hours of playing in the dirt I decided I need something different.

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The roots are beginning to show....

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Cool

Very rich soil. Great place for roots to grow....

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So it was time to step up with a better tool for the job. I borrowed this from a friend. It was a blast to play with.......

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Subscribed. Looks interesting. Good luck

The more I pulled up roots, the deeper the hole got. I would hook the roots with the bucket and pull them up use the blade to push the material. :(

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Roots, roots and more roots..........

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Fast forward a few weeks and I paid my forming crew to backfill and prep the pad. Here it is all formed up. In Florida it's a simple slab-on grade. Note the pile of roots in the fore ground. If you look on the right there's a pile of roots out at the street.

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Can the architect do the structural calc in FL? That seem to be a pretty simple built and its a non living space. I wish we have that much land out here I would do the same thing. I am keeping on eye out for this thread, interesting for sure.

It's been compacted, tested and inspected. It was like this for several weeks while we waited for a concrete plant to be open on a Saturday. The crew is doing this as a side job so the concrete will be placed on a Saturday.

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This past Saturday was the day. Pump set up in the street about 8:00, first truck showed up at 8:30. Sorry neighbors there will be no sleeping in today. First truck was 10 yards.

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The boys started filling in the raised curb and footers from the far side.


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This is heavy hard work. I didn't offer to help. The old guy on the right in Delmar. He's the father of 2 of the guys.

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Awesome project you have coming along. Looking forward to seeing the build come to fruition!

After the perimeter is filled they come back and start in-filling the slab.

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All poured out. 14 yards at $130/yd. You do the math. It's fibermesh so there is no welded-wire-mesh in the slab. Footers have 2 #5's.

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And then it started to rain. And rain and rain. They cover it up and we wait.


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Sunday morning at 7:15 they get back on it with the trowel machine. It spins metal blades and basically polishes the slab to a smooth finish. It can't get into the corners so that has to be troweled by hand. More hard on your knees work.

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Looks good!

I wanted a curb so the walls will be up on the curb. This makes the bottom edge of the interior walls to be off the floor. Also easier to clean the corners and find that ball bearing after I drop it. :rolleyes:

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The slab will have control joints cut tomorrow. This is right at 600 s.f. The cut out in the curb is for the door.

That's all for now. Wall framing is next. Stay tuned. SmileWavy

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Only if the Architect is a licensed PE and not many are. I tried to only used signed/sealed drawing from the Architect with building department. Told the plans reviewer it was a work shop addition and not a living space but no go. I needed s/s plans from a PE. $750 later I get the detailed structural drawings. All structural members are sized, details on walls, slab etc.

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Great project! How does the perimeter framing work? Is the concrete poured and cured and then the wood pulled away and then the slab poured? Or is the wood left in place?

^^^ The wood is a temporary form. The footer/edge is poured first, then the slab. All in one pour. We call it a mono slab, but there are probably other names. After the concrete is firm enough, the forms are pulled to finish the inside edge/top/outside edge, fill in the honeycomb, etc.

One thing I noticed, was no anchor bolts installed. Will you drill and epoxy threaded rod in?

Thanks, that's what it looked like, and seemed logical. Important to know for my own project this spring.

That's right. They are actually threaded rods that are epoxied in and connect to the top plate of the wall. Engineer calls for 3/8" which I thinks is pretty thin. I was lucky to find some 5/8" rods from a friend for free.

The outside forms were able to be removed late on Saturday after about 6 hours after pouring.

3/8”? That’s really small.

Years ago, we used 1/2”. Now it’s 5/8” every 4’. An LTT19 every 8’ and both sides of all doors and windows.

Make sure you get good embedment...9” or so. Drill the holes and use a bottle brush and compressed air to clean the holes out. 3” square washers.

I'll have straps, clips, brackets, rods, etc, etc. Simpson Strong-Tie owe the code writers big time.

Paul looking good so far I will be following your progress . Will you install AC ?

Cool, keen to see how you treat the roof wrt big wind.

Nice, and I read where you said concrete "placed," which is the trade term. But it was still workable the next morning!!??

Yep I'll need AC for sure.

We had a lot of rain, high humidity and mild temps so yes they could still trowel it the next morning. If it was in August with the sun beating on it they would have had to stay an finish it same day.

It sure makes it easier when you don't have to worry about frost heaves.

Cool project. When we were looking for our house I told my wife if it did not have a three car garage it had to have the space to build a workshop. We found a place with a three car garage and a built in workspace. I still want to build a workshop, but it is never going to happen with a wife that is a master gardner, and keeps expanding the gardens.

Paul, looks good so far, thanks for starting your thread

I'm really going to enjoy following your build and to see how you do it on the other side of the pond

Thanks Captain. I've been watching your build and planning mine. My 2 x 4's are going to be a lot lighter than your stones and steel beams. ;)

Last two weekends I been prepping the existing utility room walls for the tie-in of the new addition's walls. I've removed the vinyl soffit material and the 1/4" masonite which appears to be original to the house.

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