FINISHED IN 2020! Sharward's Partial Garage Conversion

Lookin' good Keith; I have to ask, did you actually put the pieces in one at a time, or did you open those end doors and use a plank to run the wheelbarrows up, and just dump to the far end of the dumpster? (I hate extra work, so tend to analyze material handling a lot) STeve

I opened the doors at first, but the doors are for dumping, not loading. :roll: There's a bar across the top of the doors for stability, and there's no ramp. So, yes, everything was thrown into the dumpster by hand. At least it's nice and short! 8) I spent the day clearing the slab of all the top layer of crushed granite and bits of concrete. The rocks are smaller than golf balls and the concrete chunks were between marble and softball sized. I did my best to separate the two by hand (oh what fun! :?). It was like separating salt from pepper! :lol: I'm sure some little bits of concrete found their way to my rock collection, but that shouldn't be a problem. In the photos below you'll see three 28-gallon totes full of rocks. There are actually six now, covered with a tarp. I'm also starting a pile of rocks/dirt/sand in the back yard on the old spa pad -- that will be where I'll move the earth I excavate. I'm pretty sure that I am not permitted to put anything but concrete in the dumpster without paying a hefty penalty. I'm soooooo glad my old slab is gone!! :D My next steps will be excavation and prep for the new concrete. I want to take some time to do more research in this area. I'll post back with detailed plans when I have them. I made a bit of an unfortunate discovery today though... :roll: There are several places where concrete from the house slab and east wall foundation spilled beyond the forms. Those areas will have to be hand-chiseled and I'm not looking forward to that. :(

Woo-hoo!! :D -- I came home from work last night to a dumpster-free house! 8) I've been reading a lot about construction of slabs... :roll: ...I have the same "am I crazy for considering doing this myself?" feeling as I did with the cutting, breakup, and removal of the old slab! :lol: At this point I'm pretty sure I'll be doing all of the pre-pour stuff on my own, but when it comes time for the pour, I'll probably hire a licensed pro or two for that. This weekend, family time permitting (Mrs. Sharward's grandparents will be in town, so time may be limited), I'll be excavating a few inches of earth so that I can achieve a minimum 6" slab on a 3-4" compacted rock subbase and generous footings. I expect to run into some challenges with rough concrete from the existing foundation along the edges that will require a lot of hand-chiseling. :? Expect more photos of dirt in a few days! I should mention that this Thanksgiving is going to be weird. We're celebrating this weekend instead of next, because Mrs. Sharward and her parents are going to Disneyland over the real Thanksgiving weekend! Yours truly will be staying behind to do studio work! :lol: Now, before you think I'm nuts for passing up a Disneyland trip, my wife and I (and sometimes her folks) go to Disneyland quite often, so I'm quite fine missing this opportunity. Not only was I invited, but I debated whether or not I was going to go for a long time. So don't feel sorry for me -- instead, rejoice in the fact that while others are together with families watching football games and eating way too much fowl, I'll be digging holes in my garage! :twisted: OK, maybe "rejoice" is too strong a word... :roll: ;) --Keith :mrgreen:

Lookin' good, Keith! Hey, if you find that the dirt you're wanting to dig out is really hard and compacted, you need one of my new favorite tools. I don't really know what you call it, but it's a 6 foot long heavy steel bar with a chisel one one end and flat end for pounding on on the other. It's heavy enough that if you just lift it up and drop it, it'll dig into most anything. It comes in handy as a pry bar too... I've used it for pulling up fence posts, digging holes in my practically rock yard, etc.

You mean like this one? See the bar in front of the impact hammer? ;-) My father-in-law gave it to me. His father (rest his soul) fabricated it out of an axle... Just as you said -- pointy on one end and chiseley on the other! 8) --Keith :mrgreen:

You got it. 8)

My Weekend Warriors band rehearsed at House of Hits this evening -- $30 for 4 hours. The experience was mostly good, but there were some really unpleasant drawbacks. The place is a warehouse with lots of poorly constructed little rooms with carpet on the walls. :lol: The carpet mostly covers what appears to be single layer gypsum walls with a layer of "soundboard" over them. Single flimsy doors without seals, aluminum frames, drop ceilings on a grid with standard office type tiles. :roll: ...and the sound of rumbling bass all over the place! :lol: :lol: But the worst part was the ubiquitous cigarette smoke throughout the building -- many people were smoking in the halls. :evil: (I'm asthmatic and ultra sensitive to cigarette smoke.) Obviously they don't have a clue about soundproofing! Most of the units are monthly rentals. I think the rate is between $350 and $450 per month depending on size. (I didn't ask -- I don't reallly care!) Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to having my own place built! :D

I put several hours into excavating today. Not fun! The soil, as I've reported before, is dense clay, so it's very heavy and sticky. The pile of dirt in the back yard is large, and I'm only about 1/6 through the first pass! The second pass will be the footings.

I feel the earth movin'... ;-) I'd say I'm about 60% done with the main excavation (not including footings). I had to quit early today because... ahem... I'm performing tonight! :shock:

My live performance debut!! It was awesome! We're actually going to play a second gig at the grand opening of Skip's Music's new Elk Grove store! :-) I realize this isn't directly related to my studio build, but hey, it meant a lot to me and it is, however, the reason I'm bothering with this project in the first place -- right? ;-)

Dude! ROCK-N-ROLL! I particularly enjoy the extremely rock-n-roll facial expression. Very authentic and clearly heart-felt. Sweet lookin' drums too.

Yeah! :twisted: That's the "official Skip's Music Weekend Warriors Drum Kit." It's really 8) cool 8) to just "show up" and play! :D

I came across this by accident today while looking up an unrelated city ordinance. My city's council (City of Sacramento) voted unanimously to double the fine associated with unrepentant misdemeanor noise violations from $500 to $1,000 per incident. According to the law, this only applies when written notice is served and the violator does not take corrective action. This just goes to show that my project is not overkill! Having been a victim of other peoples' noise in the past, I'm actually glad to see that my city is taking this issue seriously.

Hello everyone! :mrgreen: I'm pleased to announce that, as of about 20 minutes ago, the primary excavation of my space is complete! :D "Primary excavation" is defined as the removal of enough earth to account for a minimum of 10" of depth throughout the entire area where the old concrete slab was removed. Why 10"? My latest concrete plan includes a new 6" structural slab atop a compacted base of crushed granite. I'm considering doing (from bottom to top) about 1" of clean sand and 3" of crushed granite -- all tightly compatcted with a vibratory plate I'll rent), then a polyethylene vapor barrier that will cover the entire base, including the footings. The footings will be about 12" deep -- just an extra two inches of excavation, but the footings will not be filled with any sand or rock. I have put together a revised side view illustration of this (below). So far I'm planning to do all the forms and rebar work myself, then contract out the actual pour of the main (isolated) slab. I'm considering doing the L-shaped outer leaf footings on my own, since the amount of concrete involved in that part of the plan is minimal and will not be visible from inside the room. As a finished floor I may opt to do a decorative concrete stain or stamping or both -- all the more reason to let a pro do the pour to ensure the best quality "canvas" from which to work. Next steps:

• Excavate the footings -- another 2" around the perimeter -- wider in the area where the concrete was cut to accommodate the outer leaf footings outside the isolated slab area.
• Chip away the sloppy excess concrete from the house slab and east wall foundation -- it appears concrete spilled out underneath the original forms... :evil: I am not looking forward to this. :( However, it is necessary unless I'm willing to lose a lot of square footage to this sloppy mess. :roll: I will make an attempt to do this by hand with a small sledgehammer and concrete chisel; however, that may prove to be too daunting and I may have to break down and rent an impact hammer again... :roll: I need to be careful with this effort because I do not want to cause any damage to the foundation! :shock:
• Research perimeter isolation boards. I've seen references to use of rigid insulation -- is this the way to go?
• Set forms around outer leaf wall foundations (near where the concrete was cut)
• Build rebar structure
• Calculate amount of sand and rock needed, shop for good price, then have it delivered, probably in piles in the street in front of my house
• Move wheelbarrows of said sand and rock into position and tamp it into a properly compacted base
• Interview potential concrete contractors

I'm going to be busy! :shock: Please -- if you have any experience with concrete, I would appreciate any feedback you may have about my concrete plan! :!: :!: :!: --Keith :mrgreen:

My architect finally completed our drum/practice room plans this week, and we are now going to be talking to concrete guys soon. The architect specified 2" rigid insulation around perimeter of slab, and also between the 2 rooms which will have a 2" gap in the slab. The main difference between our plans and yours in 3 layers drywall vs ?? and the slab will be 4" with a 6+" perimeter footing to handle the weight of the walls and ceiling with 4" of gravel underneath. I'm really looking forward to playing whenever I or my son wants to play instead of daylite hours only to satisfy our bitchy neighbor. I don't know how many times I've had a song or groove going on in my head, and not been able to go sit down and work it out....... :(

Great info! Thanks for sharing! :-) Why don't you go 6" on your new slab? :? 4" seems kind of wimpy to me... You wouldn't want me to have a cooler slab than you, do you? ;-) ;-)

Edit: I just reviewed your own project thread, and I see you asked this question and Steve answered it for you:

5. Should slab be more than 4" deep? Not necessary as long as thicker footings are used under all walls, as done in normal monolithic slab houses.

...But I still think 4" is wimpy. ;-)

BTW, I used to think neighbors were "bitchy" when they would complain about noise levels... :roll: However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that they have the right not to be disturbed, and in most cases the law is in (rightfully) on their side.

Those are some great pictures of dirt!

Just a thought Keith, You might want to look into your concrete vendor now. As you know, they need crushed rock to mix into the concrete so they can probably get a little better deal on it. Alternatively, if you find your vendor now, you might be able to buy the sand and rock from him as Phase I of the pour and get a good deal (and have some haggling room) if he knows he's going to get the back end too. As to your foundation "rash", I would NOT consider a jackhammer. I would think the foundation would be much easier to crack than the slab you removed which you had already isolated but cutting it. Also, wouldn't you have to lift the jackhammer up to get to the offending material? If it were me, I'd be afraid that as soon as the piece broke loose, the jackhammer would fall and more than likely, through the middle of my foot. If you think I'm paranoid, reference my "joist through the middle of the A/C register hole" picture on my thread. :-) Wouldn't it be possible to build a little scafolding or "runway" and use to concrete saw right up against the foundation? If I remember correctlyl, it has the motor on one side but was pretty flat on the the other so you could get up close. Or is "close" not good enough? Could you not get it pretty far back in two or three places, dig down a little further, then put in those big round paper tubes they use as footing forms? A little extra rebar in the edges and you might not need to support (with a continuous footing) the whole run. Just a thought. len

edenorchestra wrote:

Those are some great pictures of dirt!

I'm glad you like my dirty pictures, Mark! :P Seriously -- the reason I posted them is to show just how much earth had to be moved! :shock: About 2 hours before I finished, I was so tired and bored and devoid of motivation... But somehow I managed to muster enough energy to keep going. At least the weather was really nice -- highs in the mid 70s(F). 8) Len, great points about shopping now. I'll definitely consider it. I had such lousy luck the first time around with concrete contractors that I honestly considered doing all the work myself! :shock: It wasn't until doing more research that I got rightfully nervous about the final steps. So my latest mindset has been to do all of the "gruntwork" on my own, so that the concrete company "only" has to pour and finish. Since the job is small as it is, I figure(d?) the more simple and attractive I can make it, the more likely I'll get some interest in it. Not that your suggestion deviates from that idea -- just explaining where my brain is on this thing. :-) I've had mixed recommendations on the jackhammer idea. I'll cross that bridge if and when necessary -- today I'll have a chance to try chipping away at the "rash" (great term!) to see how it goes. Remember, I'll have this Thanksgiving to myself, so time isn't an issue! :lol:

If you think I'm paranoid . . .

:lol: Me? Call you paranoid? Yeah, Right! :P I'm the resident worrywort, dude! Don't you go invading my territory around here, Len! :lol:

Well, today I took a shot at hand-chiseling the "rash" concrete that spilled beyond the forms... And the verdict is not good. :evil: I think the jackhammer is necessary for this... :roll: Here are a couple of photos and an illustration so that you can get a better appreciation for what I'm dealing with. I can't see how even a concrete saw would help me here. Oh, by the way... Digging the footings is going to be a royal pain because my lovely dense clay is so moist as I get deeper, I can make pottery! :evil: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: Wahhhhhhh! :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: --Keith

I think I may have found my savior! 8)

Bosch 11311EVS 25 lb. Demolition Hammer
External image, not preserved — original: http://www.unitedrentals.com/images/eqimages/126_m.jpg
Can be used for breaking and chiseling concrete up to 3-inches thick. Cleaning out old and deteriorating cement between bricks, deep removal of concrete between joints, cutting or breaking asphalt, digging out clay or hard packed gravel, breaking out frozen ground, driving grounding rods or installing parking bumpers, bushing concrete surface to break down high spots or roughing up smooth surface for bonding or architectural designs are also done quite well with this hammer.

I'm getting a price quote for a day's worth of rental on this badboy! 8)

Have fun. I hate hard Labor. Pushing Faders is enuff work. LOL This is where I hire a professional :)

Hey, didn't Arnold use one of those in "The Terminator?" Is the isolation board in your drawing really there or is that where you plan to put the new stuff? I only ask because of that's accurate, it looks like you might be able to take it out and use it as a "start" on the cutting. I wouldn't be so worried about the damage to the foundation if you had a slot to start from. len

The rigid insulation isn't there yet... See the pics? ;-) I think that handheld impact hammer is the ticket. The stand-up one I used a couple of weeks ago is a 60 pound hammer -- the handheld one is only 25 pound.

len-morgan wrote:

Hey, didn't Arnold use one of those in "The Terminator?"

...vs... I see the resemblance -- only mine will be a two-handed model! :twisted: I'm so bloody mad at the sloppy concrete work the contractors did on my house that I fantasize about shooting it with an automatic! :P --Keith :mrgreen: