FINISHED IN 2020! Sharward's Partial Garage Conversion

Aloha Keith,

Good grief -- my thread slipped to page two! Horror of horrors! We must not let that happen again!

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Anyway, we're heading home from Maui tomorrow... What a wonderful vacation we have had.

Glad you had a good time. Hope you have a safe trip, home. Y'all come back now, hear? Aloha 8)

Please excuse me while I pick my jaw off the floor. That sunset picture is absolutely stunning.

Aloha everyone -- back on the mainland, and life has picked up the pace like I've never left! :cry: :lol: Anyway, we had a great time and a safe return. Sera (the cat) is doing very well, is walking on all fours, is with us at home (confined area), eating like there's no tomorrow, and will get her sutures removed next Wednesday. :D Thanks for the compliment on the photo, Sonic. I took that from the patio of this restaurant in Wailea -- the best fish and chips on the island!! 8) Hopefully I'll have a chance to pull more forms off the slab this weekend. Gotta' run... More l8r! --Keith :mrgreen:

Today I had some fun playing in a band that consists of a friend of mine and three of his coworkers at an event at the office where they work. 8) No, that's not my drum kit... :( :( :( ...but most of the cymbals are mine, as well as the kick pedals and high hat stand! ;-) We did a hybrid thing, combining the best of my world and that of our band leader's. (I call it the "you got your peanut butter on my chocolate" approach!) :D --Keith :mrgreen:

do you have any more shots of that? :lol: kidding man ... hope you had fun :)

Yes, but they're blurry. ;-)

Looks like a sold out crowd! -just kidding.

Nice pix and sunset. I must say, I do miss the Pacific Ocean being from the west coast myself (NW). Now I live in a land locked state...Doh! I don't miss the earthquakes, but I sure hate these tornado's!

Here are some more pics from Hawai'i! Here Comes the Sun Haleakala National Park, Sunrise [url=http://www.sharward.com/photos/albums/maui_2006-04/haleakala/DSCF0113.JPG]Click to Enlarge[/url] Peek-a-boo! Haleakala National Park, Sunrise [url=http://www.sharward.com/photos/albums/maui_2006-04/haleakala/DSCF0113.JPG]Click to Enlarge[/url] Over The Rainbow Kula Lodge [url=http://www.sharward.com/photos/albums/maui_2006-04/kulalodge/DSCF0161.JPG]Click to Enlarge[/url] Choo-choo Sugar Cane Train [url=http://www.sharward.com/photos/albums/maui_2006-04/sugartrain/DSCF0020.JPG]Click to Enlarge[/url] After Luau Sunset Lahaina [url=http://www.sharward.com/photos/albums/maui_2006-04/luau/DSCF0061.JPG]Click to Enlarge[/url] Black Sand Beach Hana [url=http://www.sharward.com/photos/albums/maui_2006-04/hana/keith/DSCF0012.JPG]Click to Enlarge[/url] More photos on my on-line photo gallery. 8) --Keith :mrgreen:

Aloha Keith, But did you have a good time? :P :P :P (I would say so :wink: ) Glad you did! :D One of my favorite memories of Maui is waking up and opening the livingroom drapes to find the island of Moloka'i sitting in the front parking lot, then grabbing my surfboard for a 4 hour surf session. Y'all come back now, hear? Aloha 8)

Good news! I finally got the form boards and stakes out, so the slab is totally naked now. I hope to work on setting the forms for the L-shaped area later this afternoon/evening. --Keith :mrgreen:

WOW! Nice pics Keith! Being from "Kin-tu-kee" it's rare for me to even see the ocean. But the few times I have...man-O-man...there's something about standing on land and looking at water as far as the eye can see...and to know the water goes on and on and on and on and... Love those sunrise-sunset pics

Thanks, Stan. I lived in the San Diego area during my teen years, and I can't count the number of times I would just go by myself to walk on the beach, sorting stuff out in my teenaged head. I totally miss that. Well, the beach walk -- not so much the teenaged head sorting rituals. ;-) --Keith :mrgreen:

I'm done with the forms for the L-shaped foundation along the edge of the existing garage floor. I still need to hand-tamp the crused rock... Then it will be ready for my concrete guy to do the rebar, plus attach "cold joint" material where the new concrete will come into contact with existing concrete. After that it's inspection time again, and then the pour. Obviously this is a lot less work than the main slab, with a lot less concrete -- probably one cubic yard or so. --Keith :mrgreen:

Hey Keith, did you ever confirm which way you are going with firestopping? Did you ever consider this product: http://www.accumetricinc.com/boss/PDF/816.pdf What I like about this idea is that it stays flexible, and seems like it will pass ANY codes. It's also rated for STC 51. I'm thinking of leaving a small gap between a gypsum fireblock, and the outer-leaf top plate(s), then filling that gap with some rock wool, and then coating the rockwool with the Boss 816. The rockwool is basically there to support the 816, so it won't drip down the gap. What do you think? K

Hey Luftweg, That's a great product that you've found. I'll be interested in your experience with it, as I very well may get some myself when I get to framing. The specs say: "Meets ASTM E-814 (UL 1479), standard test method for fire tests of through penetration firestops. Conforms to BOCA National Building Code (1996), CABO one and two family dwelling code (1995), Uniform Building Code (1997). See UL Fire Resistance Directory for a list of systems that have been established for BOSS® 816." My city uses California Building Code (2001), which is based on Uniform Building Code (1997). According to the Karcher Firestopping Inc. Web site:

UL 1479: “Fire Tests of Through-Penetration Firestops” (equivalent to ASTM E 814). UL 2079: “Tests for Fire Resistance of Building Joint Systems”

I would suggest drawing a side-view detailed drawing of how you intend to use the product and have it attached to your plans so that your local building department can approve use of the product. I will cross this bridge if and when I come to it. For now I'm proceeding in with my current plan (which the senior inspector at my building department blessed verbally), which calls for filling the gap between my walls with Thermafiber Sound Attenuation Fire Blankets (SAFB) - Nominal Density (2.5 pcf) or Roxul Acoustical Fire Batt (AFB) - ≥2" (2.5 pcf). 8) --Keith :mrgreen:

Long story short: Sera's back at the vet, this time at an emergency clinic where she'll be monitored 'round the clock tonight. Short story long: As you may know, our eldest kitty, "Sera," endured a tiny injury on her back, which became an abscess. The abscess had quickly migrated to her inner thigh and required surgery. The surgery and her after-care went very well, but a second surgery became necessary as a result of a significant sized patch of diseased skin and tissue that had to be removed. She recovered at the veterinary clinic while we vacationed in Hawai'i. She had most of her sutures removed and was healing very nicely. She finished her antibiotic regimen and was doing great. Late last week, however, Sera had been vomiting and having diarrhea and had become somewhat dehydrated over the weekend. We'd done a pretty good job getting some fluids inside of her and she had been showing signs of improvement by late Sunday. We spoke to the vet Monday morning, but we agreed to "watch and wait" for our Wednesday morning suture removal appointment for an exam. She hadn't eaten anything today, so Jennifer took her to the vet this afternoon. They got some fluids under her skin, took her temperature, and took a preliminary blood screen. Her body temperature was low and the numbers are WAY off from what they were a few weeks ago prior to her surgery, so there's definitely something going on inside of her. The vet's recommendation was that we transport Sera to the emergency veterinary hospital for round-the-clock monitoring tonight. She's currently in a heated kennel and doing OK. We'll be transporting her back to our regular vet tomorrow morning (early), and then it looks like she'll be hospitalized for up to 3-4 days. We're really having a tough time with this, because just as she seems to have gotten all healed up on the outside, she ends up with some kind of illness on the inside. While the past several vet visits have been cause for some concern, we're really worried now. We need all the support and well wishes we can get. I realize this has nothing whatsoever to do with my studio build, but it means a lot to me to have your support on this. Our pets are our family, and I'm sure many of you can relate to that. --Keith :(

I hope and pray that your cat gets better.... I totally understand that pets can be a part of the family, and not just possesions.... K

Same here Keith, I feel your pain; we have a total of 8 cats (+2 "guests") - 2 that are "inside only", 4 that are "garage/outside only", and 2 that go wherever they damn well please (except when I'm watching) - and two dogs (and tonight, two young deer that decided it wasn't too scary to graze in our back yard - I walked slowly up to within about 20 feet of one before she decided it was a bit too intense) We have about 10 acres that's about 15 miles from the nearest town, and lots of forest cover not too far away; hence the "bambi brigade". One would think that with that many animals around, it wouldn't be as painful when one had problems; doesn't seem to work that way :cry: Anyway, I hope everything works out for Sera, both for her sake and yours... Steve

Thanks, Steve and Luftweg, for your kind thoughts. We just called the "Kitty ICU" to get the latest. Sera's body temperature last night at about 11:30 PM was normal, so they were able to turn off the heater in her kennel. As of this morning she had eaten and is doing well. The on-duty DVM wasn't able to speak to us, but we'll be picking her up within the hour anyway to take her to our regular vet for follow-up care. As you might expect, I've been doing my homework here... And it seems there may be some cause for optimism. While the blood urea nitrogen (BUN) number is extremely high (over 200), it is not in and of itself a sure sign of chronic renal failure (CRF). It is, in fact, often a result of severe dehydration. She also had slightly elevated BUN before her surgery -- enough to keep an eye on, but not cause for alarm. It is our hope that she's just fighitng a bug and that her BUN levels will return to close to normal, and that results of other tests lead away from a CRF diagnosis. Many thanks to the night owls and/or early risers who have already shared their well wishes. Those who are interested in nitty gritty details about tests and diagnostics of CRF can learn more here at the Feline CRF Information Center.

UPDATE: We picked up Sera and took her to our regular vet, and met with her today. (We met with Sera too! :)) So far, so good -- she's doing much better today, and the vet is "cautiously optimistic" that she'll recover. However, she does have signs of liver disease, so we will probably have to undergo a treatment plan that includes a change of diet, very close monitoring of her general health condition, and home-based subcutaneous fluid therapy for the rest of her life. She will be spending the night at the vet clinic tonight (most likely not the emergency vet hospital where she spent last night), and perhaps longer. We'll know more this afternoon. --Keith (with a "cautiously optimistic" :mrgreen:)

And now, an update not related to the cutie in the kennel across town... ;-) I just got off the phone with my concrete contractor. He's been understandably very busy now that the weather is dry. I did the gentle "Sooooo, do you think you could spare a wee bit of time to do my rebar, maybe, maybe, maybe?" bit, but he said he was regrettably very swamped. So I asked him if I could borrow his rebar cutter/bender (assuming he doesn't need it for a while) so that I could give it a stab on my own, and he said, "Sure!" 8) He said he's not sure if it's at home or at his shop, but he'll let me know tonight. He also said that Home Depot sells rebar in 10 foot lengths, which I can manageably transport in either of my cars -- no need to rent a Saturn Ion for that! :lol: (Inside joke there for my "regulars"! ;-)) So, there's a good chance that I'll be cutting, bending, and setting rebar on my own this weekend. :shock: :) While I'm not exactly looking forward to doing this particular task, I think it's a great compromise. When I first engaged this contractor, we figured he'd be able to do my job in rainy weather. I'll save a bit of money on labor (with these vet bills, I could use the money!! :?), and I don't have to rent the tool. 8) Oh, and I did the math -- I need about 0.91 yard of concrete for this part of the job. My guy eyeballed it and figured about a yard. He was right! --Keith :mrgreen:

HD also sells rebar benders. They're $20-$30 range if I remember correctly.

I got voice mail from my concrete guy tonight -- he said he has the rebar breaker/bender and will drop it off at my place tomorrow so that I'll have it in time for the weekend! :-) --Keith :mrgreen:

I guess no news is good news as far as Sera is concerned ... glad she seems to be doing ok.