FINISHED IN 2020! Sharward's Partial Garage Conversion

Yeah, I was waiting until we picked her up before posting the big ol' update, including pictures. For now, in short, she continues to show lots of improvement. The last bloodwork showed about a 50% drop in the bad stuff, but it's still very high. Our hope is that this afternoon's blood panel will show even more improvement. As of yesterday the plan is to take her home this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Thanks for asking, Dan. 8) --Keith :mrgreen:

Sera is doing great. We brought her home on Friday afternoon and she's definitely back to her sweet old self. :) She's very talkative and affectionate (as usual), no longer wobbly when she walks (which should have been a greater warning sign to me), and eating her prescription diet like it's a delicacy. 8) Tonight will be our first time giving her fluids under the skin, so we'll see how that goes! :shock: But that's not the only good news I have to share! I'm also pleased to report that all the prepwork for the supplemental concrete pour is complete, so I'm ready for my next (and hopefully final) concrete form inspection! 8) The depth is 10" (11" in a couple of spots). There are essentially two levels of rebar. The upper level is resting on U-shaped pieces attached to the lower level. The lower level is resting on 3" high concrete blocks. I hope this will pass, because I pretty much invented it as I went along! :roll: I also glued a closed cell foam expansion joint along the existing concrete floor. The foam is perforated, so I'll be able to tear off the top 1/2" or so and then fill the gap with caulk or something. Wish me luck on my inspection! It will be a week or so before I get my inspection scheduled, because I'm going to be out of town most of this week (training) and then I go on call (which makes it kind of tough for me to be home during business hours). --Keith :mrgreen:

Aloha Keith, Glad to hear Sera's doing better. Congrats on your prep work! Aloha 8)

I'm out of town at a four-day training class (work-related). I scheduled the inspection for this morning and I asked Mrs. Sharward to give the inspector access. I just got the following e-mail a few minutes ago:

Mrs. Sharward wrote:

I figured you would want to know that I just finished with the inspector and you are signed off for this part of the work. It was someone who had not seen your project before so he was very interested and intrigued about it.

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Woo-hoo!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: I have officially passed my entire concrete form inspections!! (The first sign-off was a partial.) I can now try to get the next pour scheduled! :D Oh, and Sera is doing great. Mrs. Sharward administered the fluid treatment by herself yesterday and it went fine. 8) --Keith :mrgreen:

great news on both fronts :)

Thanks Dan! Hey, I'm pretty close to you right now (Sunnyvale, 101 @ Mathilda). 8)

Congrats on the inspections!! :D

I talked to my concrete guy a couple of days ago, and he said that it would take him about the same amount of time to do this job as it took him to do the main slab... :roll: ...so the cost would be about the same (~$350). That's just for his time, not including the concrete or the buggy rental. He's also very busy right now and he hasn't yet called me back about scheduling a date. So, I'm seriously contemplating actually doing this one on my own. I'm glad I didn't do the slab by myself because I know I would have royally screwed it up! :lol: But this one is far less daunting for a number of reasons. First, it's much smaller (one cubic yard instead of five). Second, it won't be visible from inside the room at all. Third, only some of it will be visible at all -- from the garage or from the area between the doors -- and that's only temporary, as I intend to cover these areas at some point. (I'm planning to eventually do one of those epoxy type floors in the garage, along with texturing all the walls and ceiling in the garage.) Bottom line -- as long as it's structurally solid, it doesn't much matter what it looks like... :roll: So, what exactly would I have to do? Well, I'd have to rent the buggy and get it filled with concrete -- something that I can do at the equipment rental place (yes, they mix concrete there). Then there's the challenge of transporting it -- since my RX-8 doesn't come equipped with a trailer hitch ;-), I'd have to rent one of their 1/2-ton pickup trucks and get their full insurance (since my insurance company doesn't cover any kind of truck rental, including pickups). I think I could pour the concrete into place and begin to smooth it out. Then, after the first couple of passes with the trowels, I could return the truck and buggy, then come back and resume the finishing. It would be great if I could have a truck-owning buddy help me with the transport... I've left a couple of messages but I'm not expecting them to be able to come through this weekend (they're both extremely busy folk). I'll probably head over to the rental place this morning, just to lay my eyes on the buggy and to perhaps muster up enough confidence to reserve the equipment for tomorrow if possible. --Keith :mrgreen:

I just heard from my landscaper buddy -- the guy who did the concrete cutting. 8) He's actually going to be here within the hour to cut the grass -- he'll look at it and talk with me then. Maybe, just maybe, he'll help me tomorrow morning...? :roll: :roll: :roll: --Keith :mrgreen:

OK, my buddy is committed to do the pour next Saturday (a week from today)... Or there is a slight chance of our doing it tomorrow. I went by the rental yard, where they have fourteen 1 cubic yard mixers for rent. They say they don't even take reservations on them because they have so many. Although this isn't an exact copy of what they have, they look a lot like this:

The cost is $12.50 per hour, minimum 2 hours. One yard of six sack concrete is $111, plus fiber mesh and accelerant. --Keith :mrgreen:

Here's a little QuickTime video for those who are interested in how little Sera is doing. 8) That noise she's making is her signature combo "purr-meow," which translates to "I'm the happiest kitty in the world." :) It sounds pretty awful on the video because of the poor quality microphone on my new Treo 650, but hey, it's not too bad for a cell phone! :roll: --Keith :mrgreen:

At long last, I'm done with concrete work!! :D :mrgreen: :twisted: :) 8) :D :mrgreen: :twisted: :) 8) :D :mrgreen: :twisted: :) 8) :D :mrgreen: :twisted: :) 8) :D :mrgreen: :twisted: :) 8) I'm quite pleased with the outcome. It set up pretty quick, thanks to the accelerant -- maybe a bit too quick as I was unable to get the same quality smooth finish as the main slab. But it's close, and I'd say probably slightly better than what is in the garage currently (which doesn't say much, to be honest!). Since only a small part of it will be visible (and that's only until I get an epoxy-type coating on the entire garage floor), it's much better than "good enough." Here are the pictures! Pardon the poor quality... I had to use my Treo because I had temporarily misplaced my regular digital camera. Loading the mixer at the rental yard My buddy's cool Tundra, mixer being loaded Mixer in my driveway -- too tall to get into the garage due to the slope of the driveway Poppin' a wheelie! :shock: First dump Sorry, not much in the "in progress" category -- I was too busy! Coming along nicely! All done! Like my scoring? 8) Facing East Facing South Yikes! :shock: We had too much concrete and had to dump it somewhere... So, without much time to think, we decided to dump it onto the dirt pile in the back yard -- which then slid down onto the pavers! :? Eventually I'll bust it up and toss it into the garage (a little at a time). That won't be fun. But, then again, neither will be moving all that dirt again!! :roll: So, what's next, you ask? It will probably be adding a layer of drywall to the existing ceiling, with Green Glue. I might do some of the outer leaf framing first though. That may seem odd, but I think it will work out better because I can then add the new layer of drywall up to the edge of the outer leaf wall frame top plates. I can leave several studs out to make it easy to work and get things in and out, with the intention of toenailing those studs into position later. I guess I'd better buy that case of Green Glue pretty soon, huh? :roll: --Keith :mrgreen: P.S.: No arse burn ala Paul Woodlock! :lol:

Congrats on the finished concrete !!!!

So, without much time to think, we decided to dump it onto the dirt pile in the back yard -- which then slid down onto the pavers!

Man the pavers... I've spent hours laying out pavers around my property. In fact every single paver "path" I've picked up and put back down one or two times. I hope you didn't destroy to many. :shock: I've got the luxury of an old emtpy orange grove behind my property to dump dirt or I've been leveling out my yard. Also I've been using concrete by the bag, so there is very little waste... I'm in envy of the mixer. I just mixed by hand (shovel) in a wheel barrel cement for 16 fence posts at almost 180 pounds of cement per post AND another 800 pounds of concrete for my sons fort/swing set. The 800 pound portion I had delivered to my drive way but still had to move it into back yard. The fence post concrete I got in my van and man handled every 80 pound bag my self. :roll: I'll repeat, I'm in envy of the concrete mixer... but I've lost some weight. :twisted: Looking forward to your framing. :D Marc

Aloha Keith, Hey, congrats on great looking pour 'n scoring! :D Aloha 8)

Hey, bring that thing up here... I've got some concrete work for you. Do you work by the hour? Looking good!

guitardad72 wrote:

Congrats on the finished concrete !!!!

Thanks, Marc, but next time, more exclamation points for such a milestone -- at least six please. ;-)

guitardad72 wrote:

Man the pavers. . . I hope you didn't destroy to many. :shock:

Yeah, I hope not too, but I'm not too stressed about it... :roll: The previous owner put them down.

guitardad72 wrote:

I'm in envy of the mixer. I just mixed by hand (shovel) in a wheel barrel cement for 16 fence posts at almost 180 pounds of cement per post AND another 800 pounds of concrete for my sons fort/swing set.

Wow! :shock: I'm guessing you're not the "dump contents of bag in hole and just add water" kind of guy, eh? :roll: (That's what I did with the fence poles I set years ago -- worked great!)

guitardad72 wrote:

The fence post concrete I got in my van and man handled every 80 pound bag my self. :roll:

That reminds me of my pseudo pickup truck from a few years ago! There were also four bags of concrete in the trunk! 8)

guitardad72 wrote:

I'll repeat, I'm in envy of the concrete mixer...

Yeah, it was pretty cool. :) What's really cool is that we had it for almost four hours (including travel time), but the guy charged us only the two hour minimum ($25). :D

kendale wrote:

Hey, congrats on great looking pour 'n scoring! :D

Mahalo, Cuz! :mrgreen:

Stick wrote:

Hey, bring that thing up here... I've got some concrete work for you.

:lol: Gee, sorry, it's already been returned to the yard! :lol:

Stick wrote:

Do you work by the hour?

Ha! :lol: :lol: In all seriousness, Stick, I might be pursuaded to heading up the hill for a day or two of indentured servitude, as long as the weather's not too hot at the time (pant, pant). Of course, there will be payback! :twisted: But you shouldn't worry too much... The excavating work over here has been done a long time ago! But, hmmmm, there is that big pile o' dirt in my back yard... :roll: :P --Keith :mrgreen:

Coming along nicely. Hope I can grab a buliding soon, so I can join in the fun. LOL.

nice work! i'm impressed.

I think we should all pitch in an buy Sharward a truck, he's going to tear up those seats. :P

Haha! Let's just say that I don't intend to load up my RX-8 like that! Donations gladly accepted... My PayPal address is [removed]. ;-) --Keith :mrgreen:

Boy, you've come a LONG way Keith from when you first started. I know you went through a lot of changes to get to where you are, but it looks like it was worth the efforts. Congrats!

Nice concrete dude... Wondering? Are you needing to grind/polish any areas, or is the surface okay as is? How long will you be waiting to continue other construction, or do you need to? K (ps, good to hear that the cat is doing well....)

Thanks guys! Indeed, it is a milestone, and one I'm delighted to have finally reached. There's not much else to do before I do real work on the room now. As far as what comes next, I wrote a bit about that above, just below the string of pictures. (It starts with "So, what's next, you ask?") No polishing or grinding will be necessary. 8) --Keith :mrgreen:

Just got back from another Southern California trip -- saw Fates Warning perform in Santa Ana on Wednesday, followed by several days hanging with old buddies. 8) While I was there I checked out a couple of rehearsal studios. One was partially destroyed by a fire several months ago, so they're limping along in half the space. They're planning a move to a new building and are awaiting gaining access to the space. I learned they were planning to do staggered stud tenant improvements in the new place, whereas their existing place has double frames. They were also going to waste their money on some kind of "magic" soundproofing product woven between the studs (mass loaded vinyl maybe?) being recommended to him by a local acoustics consultant of some sort. Needless to say, I sang the praises of this site and all the great information here. I told him not to waste his money on crap products and also gave him a quick mass-air-mass lecture and told him that staggered stud construction is inferior to double frame. Hopefully we'll see him on here in the next couple of weeks with details of the project he's working on. I found some hourly rehearsal space with air conditioning a little ways away from my friend's place -- $18 per hour, which includes amps, a basic drum kit (which I didn't use -- I brought my kit along). The guy on duty took an interest in my project and has a desire to build his own studio. Again, I sang the praises of this site and Rod's book. When I saw him the next day, he said he spent three hours here and loved it! My friend and I had fun jamming like back in our high school days. 8) Anyway... This week I'll pull the stakes and forms. --Keith :mrgreen:

yeah man stop screwing around "playing music," get back to work!!