FINISHED IN 2020! Sharward's Partial Garage Conversion

i can tell you that any concrete that is a pro and knows anything about what he's doing will vibrate for the air pocket issue. are you using rebar or mesh for reinforcement. with either one you'll have to have blocks or stairs for it to set on.

Yup, definitely plan to use half bricks or something to set the rebar on. :) Thanks!

Rebar in slab; if you're doing electrical in the room, code may require you to use a full 20' length of rebar embedded in slab and bonded to an electrode that protrudes up from slab, to use as your ground - not sure how Calif. approaches this, but it's new NEC in the last few years. If necessary, I guess you could bend a 20' piece to follow around the perimeter so you have the full length in contact with concrete... Steve

Thanks for letting me know that, Steve... I'll be sure to inquire about that come rebar time. I bought a 25-pack of 3-foot long wooden stakes this afternoon to steady the horizontal braces I'll be cutting and installing today... and maybe tomorrow. Pictures will follow. Today didn't start off very well. Mrs. Sharward discovered that our adorable mini lop passed away overnight. May Pipkin rest in peace... :( Pipkin before we adopted him in Fall 2000. He was about 2 years old then. Pipkin and his mate, Nutmeg, enjoying a rare outdoor furlough during a cage-cleaning ritual last November. The happy couple... Poor Nutmeg is sure missing him right now.

I didn't get much done today... Kind of hard to get motivated. Here are the horizontal braces that I did manage to do today. On the image with the red squares and blue circles, the red squares represent braces installed, while the blue circles represent the ones I intend to do tomorrow. While I used course thread screws throughout, for these horizontal braces I'm using one or two nails driven through the form board into the brace. For the longer ones I used a three foot wooden stake to keep it steady where it meets the existing concrete floor. I'm kind of embarrassed by how amateurish this all looks... :roll: I forgot to mention that I did get my permit extended six months. I learned that I get one courtesy extension, so I just used that. Going forward, if I need any more extensions, they'll cost me $162.50 -- half the original permit fee. However, I probably won't need any more extensions, as each inspection extends the expiration date six months from the inspection date.

Made some progress today. Finished the horizontal bracing, so Steve ought to be satisfied! :lol: (Seriously, thanks Steve!) I also widened some of the trenches and started to backfill the trenches with the crushed rock up to the bottom of the forms. (I cheated a little by putting a bit of clay soil at the bottom of the trenches... :roll: ...but I tamped it down really well. Don't tell! :shock: It's been raining a lot today, off and on, so I moved as much of the crushed rock as I could without getting wet. I'm glad I got the forms placed before the rains, so that I don't have to worry about water seeping into the trenches when the water table rises. Pictures will come later in the week, once I've gotten all the rock moved.

Here's a tip to make the pour go easier - cut off all the wood stakes below the top of the form and drive the metal ones below also. Then when you screed the concrete you'll have a smooth level surface to drag it across. Good luck! :wink:

Good tip, much easier and better than having to lift the screed board forward over one stake and backward over the other, in order to keep things smooth... Steve

I originally had planned to trim the stakes, but I'm concerned that I might need the leverage in order to remove them afterwards... I'll probably rely on my concrete guy's input on that, since he'll be the one doing the screeding, and if he wants to trim 'em, then maybe I'll ask/make him pull the stakes afterwards! :lol: Anyway, thanks for the tip! Feedback is always welcome. So, Steve -- the horizontal bracing meets your approval? :roll: --Keith :mrgreen:

Yup; shouldn't go anywhere til YOU want it to... Steve

Nobody offered us condolences on the loss of our bunny... :roll: I guess nobody wuvs me here... :cry:

Keith, sorry about that; I do feel your pain, just wasn't sure whether you wanted other tales of loss or not. One of the reasons we tend to keep 'way too many pets is to lessen the pain of loss at least a little (2 dogs, 8 or 9 cats, and actually considering getting another Akita pup :roll: ) It still hurts when you lose one, but the others keep it from being as deep or long. We've had rabbits as meat animals (about 300 does at one time) and as pets (less than 300 at once, usually 2 to 4 :wink: ) and I'm always suprised at the amount of personality they have if it's been awhile. I hope Nutmeg doesn't take it too hard... Steve

Thanks Steve -- I'm sure the my posts that followed the news slid the bunny loss post out of view, else I'd have heard more from folks. :) Nutmeg seems to be taking it OK. Lonely, but OK. Eating well -- that's the main thing. --Keith :mrgreen:

I think I must be getting lazy, but I'm taking more breaks than I am working! :lol: But, alas, I have moved all the leftover crushed rock from the back yard pile and filled the trenches with it up to the bottom of the forms. There was a little left over, which I scattered throughout the field. My "landscaper concrete cutter buddy" also came through with delivery of his 10" x 10" tamper that he's allowing me to borrow (also pictured in the center below)! Did I mention that he didn't want to charge me for the cutting back in November, and that I had to practically force him to take a check? Which... :shock: AHEM :shock: ...was for extra landscaping work -- certainly not unlicensed contractor working on my permitted project! ;-) Anyway... I tamped it down pretty good -- a task that is deceptively challenging, especially for this 98-pound weakling in an oversized body! :lol: I then used a hose with a long nozzle to "wash" the rock along the perimeter in an effort to clear away some of the clay sediment and sand that has adhered to the rocks, as well as to lubricate them somewhat for -- you guessed it :roll: -- more tamping! Next step is calculating how much "new" rock I will need to raise the field to no less than 6", then either get it delivered or see if I can convince one of my truck-owning friends to give me a hand! Someone (Len maybe?) suggested many moons ago that I should maybe see if I can get my concrete guy to procure the rock, since they get so much of it and they can probably get a better price. Once I do my calcs, perhaps I'll check in with my concrete guy to see if that's an option. I need to also see if he'd be interested in doing the rebar work, as I might like to hire that part out. --Keith :mrgreen:

Kieth, sorry to hear about your loss - i know it gets tuff even with pets....... Project is coming along nicely.......... form work looks pretty good....... keep it up........ :) :) :) Rod

Thanks so much Rod, both for the condolences and for the blessing on the concrete forms! You know, it's all your fault that I'm doing this concrete stuff! Remember? :twisted: :lol: Seriously... It means a lot to have your "thumbs up" -- even moreso now that you're on the verge of being all famous and stuff. ;-) Thanks for staying tuned into my project. --Keith :mrgreen:

OK, I just took some measurements for the supplemental crushed rock that is still needed.

• Field (not counting perimter) is about 7' x 14' with an average depth of 10". For the concrete to be no less than 6" thick, I need 4" in this area. 7' x 14' x 4" = 32⅔ cubic feet.
• The front area is about 2' x 11' with an average depth of 14". For the concrete to be no less than 9" thick, I need 5" in this area. 2' x 11' x 5" = ~9 cubic feet.
• The side area is about 1' x 9' with an average depth of 14". For the concrete to be no less than 9" thick, I need 5" in this area. 1' x 9' x 5" = ~4 cubic feet.

That's a total of about 45½ cubic feet, or about 1⅔ cubic yards. I'll probably get 2 yards as I'll probably lose some volume when it's compacted, and it's better to have more than enough. Plus, I like round numbers! :twisted:

I just did the math, and 2 cubic yards of crushed granite is about 5,000 pounds -- now I'm definitely looking at having having that professionally delivered -- so much for the "friend with pickup truck" idea! :lol: Althouuuuugh, maybe I'll rent a Saturn Ion again... :twisted: I'll probably go through these guys...

I dealt with them years ago when we redid our front yard. --Keith :mrgreen:

I stopped by Hastie's in West Sacramento this morning on my way to work. 2 yards of crushed rock will be delivered to my driveway on Saturday for about $105, which includes a contractor's discount that I was able to finagle by saying "I pulled permits and I'm acting as my own general contractor." :twisted: That compares to $45 per yard at the rental place which did not include delivery. Sharward = Happy Camper! For now anyway -- I may not be so happy while moving about two and a half tons of rock! :lol: --Keith :mrgreen:

Its not that bad, I moved 22.

Wow, what a crazy four days it has been! Seeing Dream Theater perform in three California cities, driving in heavy rains, hail, and a bit of snow over the Tejon Pass, hanging with a dear friend from my high school days -- then having to move rocks!! I even had the fortune of catching the band as they were exiting the bus at the venue in Hollywood -- I gave each of them a custom 2 1/4" button showing a montage of photos of everyone in the band (past and present) and each signed my shirt! I'm probably coming across like a teenage girl, but I don't care -- these guys are my idols musicwise! :mrgreen: The shows were unfreakinbelievable and worth every dollar spent and mile driven. I feel so sorry for the 2,100 heartbroken fans in or traveling to Salt Lake City whose stop on the tour was canceled due to weather. Anyway, here's a shot of me looking like a dork in Anaheim... Here is a fascinating series of pictures of rocks and my state of the art wheel ramp system. I moved enough rocks to be able to pull the cars in and out without having to juggle them.

Dream Theater kicks major ass! John Petrucci is a king on guitar. Amazing stuff. I also love the fact they cove albums from start to finish, They covered Metallicas Master of Puppets album and Dark Side of the Moon. If I had some cash Id but the Met cover CD they sell

I gotta grab more of their stuff, I've worn out the three CD's I have... Steve

Progress!! The rock base is in place for the main pour and it has been tamped manually with the 10"x10" tamper. Thre's room for 6" of concrete throughout the main area and 12" along the edges. I talked to my concrete guy yesterday -- he's agreeable to doing the rebar work. We'll see how much money that will cost me. He's also planning to visit me during rainy weather so he can see first hand my handiwork. I hope to get a firmer estimate from him at that time. More compaction needs to be done -- I was planning to use a plate compactor... But I think I'll wait and see what my concrete guy has to say because he may have one and maybe he can do it on the same day he does the rebar. I'm thinking that April will be the month I will see a slab! 8) --Keith :mrgreen:

Keith, Maybe I missed it a couple of thousand posts ago but what is going in that big gap between the old slab and the new slab??? ..db