FINISHED IN 2020! Sharward's Partial Garage Conversion

yea no time for music here . . we're musicians, get out that hammer.

Haha!! :lol: I'm "back at work" (my real job, that is) and it's hard getting back to the grind! :roll:

Real Job??? whats that. LOL.

Well I finally pulled the forms last night. Man, what that a pain! It took me over two hours because a couple of the stakes were pinched so tightly against the existing concrete that I actually had no choice but to leave them in place, then heave the forms up from the opposite end, using all kinds of unnatural acts! Here are some pics. You can see that I chipped the new slab on the corner -- oh well... :roll: ...shouldn't be a problem because, as you can see, the soleplate doesn't even touch that corner. I am now officially done with all the concrete work!! Woo-hoo! (Unless you count breaking up and disposing of that extra crap out back on top of the dirt pile! :P) The other day I missed the ending of an auction for a used Telpro drywall lifter by ten minutes -- I meant to check on it and then just committed a brain fade. :-( I would have had it too! :evil: They don't come around very often.... :? Looks like I'll be ordering that case (or two?) of Green Glue any day now! I'll be needing it when I add a layer of 5/8" drywall to the existing ceiling. --Keith :mrgreen:

Hey, how much do those drywall lifters go for? Jeff, the contractor is thinking about picking one up for this gig.

Ohhhhhhhh, I feel a deal in the making! :twisted: I can get one freight shipped for $630. This is a high quality setup that allows a single person to easily lift panels as large as 4' x 12' as high as 11 feet (up to 15' with an extension attachment) -- nowhere near as cheap and flimsy as the Chinese knockoffs from what I have learned. I was planning to buy one and then sell it on eBay when I was done. Renting wouldn't work on my project, since I'll be interleaving ceiling and wall layers. Plus, I want to be leisurely about it. Perhaps I can buy one new, and your contractor can agree to buy it from me used for, say, $400... Only I'll let him "borrow" it from me until I'm done with it. :roll: :idea: --Keith :mrgreen:

Here's the product brochure.

Hey, that's not a bad idea... I'll run it by him on Monday when he comes back. We're probably 2-3 weeks from hanging the first ceiling. BTW, how do you put the photos inline in your posts? I've been doing the attachment thing, and it's clunky. Yours looks much cooler.

My first ceiling drywall application is probably about the same time frame out, but I'm flexible. :) I have handled inline images in various ways over the past 18 months. At first I was using the free Web space associated with my broadband Internet service. However, the disk space allotment was very limited and I soon ran out of space. So I decided to become a "big spender" and I purchased Go Daddy's least expensive virtual Web Hosting service, where I was able to significantly increase my disk space. It only costs me about $3 per month (paid in advance). Then I decided after a while to install "Coppermine Photo Gallery" on my Go Daddy Linux hosting account. It's awesome! Here is my photo gallery. What's great is that it creates thumbnails and intermediate images automatically. I configured it to set the maximum intermediate image width to 700 pixels, and then I simply use the URLs for the intermediate images in my posts on this forum. Manually resizing images is now a thing of the past for me. 8) --Keith :mrgreen:

Ah ha... tricky. Well, I'll probably stick to "old school" for now. I'm mixing a record for a guy that's a pro web-designer in trade. So, when we dial up the new Stickhouse web page I'll probably end up with some more options like that.

Hey Stick/Keith Another way you could do the pics is to simply use "Paint" that comes with Windows. It's really just a matter of copying a picture or sending it to a selected folder, resizing the picture(s), then sending them to 1 "master" file/picture. (If anyone wants a more detailed explaination, just send me a PM and I'll try to give detailed instructions on exactly how to do it.) Paint comes with Windows anyway...why not USE it! Below are 2 pics I did using Paint, resizing and adding text... Any of the pics look familiar??

My beef with Paint is that cloudy/blurry haze over the text. Paint is akin to the recording of a master that wasn't done very well in the first place. Hence the artifacts. Keith, I checked out EVERY ONE of your 47 "First Slab" pix. Did you get most of your info from a book? (I have read your whole thread but......ya know, it's pretty long and it's been a while). I ordered Rod Gervais' book yesterday. I've realized that it's difficult for me to "plan" in front of the computer. I get sidetracked so easily by email, music........ I'm hoping Rod's book will bring the inspirado like this forum does!

Most of what I learned, I learned right here. And the plan for an Isolated slab was pretty much blessed by Rod himself, before his book came out. :-)

Greetings Aaron True, there is a haze around the text, but ask yourself this...From the 1st picture in my last post can you read what I wrote? Does the haze detract from what I'm trying to show or convey in the picture? For use in some other type of application, I can see where you might be coming from, but for the purpose intended here...well, the pictures in my post speak for themselves... My point is simply this...As an OPTION, for those who can't afford to buy new software, or don't have the time to learn it, Paint is a standard in Windows. If the program is already there it can be used. The main thing is being able to convey in drawing and literature what it is you're trying to say/accomplish so that others can understand. Hey, even if you have to scan something, that's another OPTION (Although some scans I've seen on here don't come out clear, if that's all you can do, do it!) To me, that's ONE great part about this forum...the conveying of OPTIONS for those who can't do the things in "1" particular way. No problemo' though...we all have our opinions :)

camistan wrote:

Greetings Aaron True, there is a haze around the text, but ask yourself this...From the 1st picture in my last post can you read what I wrote? Does the haze detract from what I'm trying to show or convey in the picture? For use in some other type of application, I can see where you might be coming from, but for the purpose intended here...well, the pictures in my post speak for themselves... My point is simply this...As an OPTION, for those who can't afford to buy new software, or don't have the time to learn it, Paint is a standard in Windows. If the program is already there it can be used. The main thing is being able to convey in drawing and literature what it is you're trying to say/accomplish so that others can understand. Hey, even if you have to scan something, that's another OPTION (Although some scans I've seen on here don't come out clear, if that's all you can do, do it!) To me, that's ONE great part about this forum...the conveying of OPTIONS for those who can't do the things in "1" particular way. No problemo' though...we all have our opinions :)

Stan, you're preachin' to the choir, amigo! ;-) I use paint quite often, actually. It's just not as elegant as some of the drawings I see on this-here site. Whatcanyado though?

Paint? :twisted: ah, photoshop's my friend :)

Keith, How big is the gap between your two slabs? Will it be filled with something? Are you worried about condensation collecting in that gap? Or some sort of "earth-drift" or something where one slab might eventually move closer to the other? Would this be a concern in earthquake-prone areas? Am I totally off-base regarding this gap? I could very well be.

Hey Aaron, I welcome the questions! I think what I'll do is lay plastic into the cavity and overlap it with the main slab and the outer concrete, whether it be the L-shaped foundation I recently poured or the existing foundation around the other areas. I'll use some kind of adhesive or sealant for this. Here's a drawing to illustrate. I'm not too worried about the concrete moving around in an earthquake... :roll: ...My bigger concern would have been the structure falling off the foundation, not the entire foundation shifting. I doubt there's much that can be done about the slab shifting around in an earthquake. Keeping the walls on the slab is a matter of using J-bolts sunk into the slab, which I have already done. :twisted: Keep in mind that the main slab is not flat underneath. It's twice as thick around the perimeter. It's also full of 1/2" rebar -- lots of it -- so I doubt it would crumble.

Thanks, Keith. I'm still unclear about the size of the gap though. ;-) I'm willing to bet it's in your thread somewhere but I'm busy trying to remember the posted picture size limit........

Sorry about that! The gap is about 2" wide at it's narrowest points -- that would be along the L-shaped area where I poured a new foundation for the outer leaf walls inside the garage. The gap is much wider around the rest of the slab -- probably 3" to 6". --Keith :mrgreen:

Back to work! 8) I went to Home Depot this morning to buy all the plumbing pieces for the future termiticide application solution (patent pending ;-)). While I was there I scored one of these:

The Bonaire Aspen personal cooler is exclusive to The Home Depot. The Bonaire Aspen has a rotating air grill to move the air around, a powerful but quiet two speed fan, a large capacity water tank 2.5 gallons providing longer running time, an easy to read water level indicator, and is easy to fill. The Bonaire Aspen is constructed from Styron 5700 a hi-tech polymer so it can never rust out. It is very power efficient and uses less power than a domestic light bulb to operate. The product is light and very portable and has a removable base for bench top or table use. The Bonaire Aspen has a separate fan and pump motor for long life minimum noise and maximum efficiency. Cools 10 Ft. X 10 Ft. All Bonaire products are UL certified.

They're normally $159 and I got it for only :twisted: $70 :twisted: because it was "open box." It appeared to have all the parts and is in working order except that the manual is missing. I can't find one on the Web either... :roll: ...so next time I'm at Home Depot, I'll see if they'll let me peek at the manual from another box, or better yet photocopy it for me. ;) This thing should help keep me a little cooler while working in the garage -- especially in the evenings. I have decided that I won't work with the big garage door open very often, especially at night, due to an increase in home invasion robberies in our region of late. :evil: Look forward to pictures of progress in the coming days. --Keith :mrgreen:

Keith, take a look at this link http://www.bonaire.com.au/uploads/documents/Tahoe_6242201.pdf it's the pdf of the bonaire Tahoe which looks to be exactly what you have, only The Home Depot badged it as the aspen, i guess... anyway enjoy. Brendan

You rule, Blue!! 8) 8) 8) You get the "coolest guy of the day" award in my book. :-) Thanks very much for this. I just learned an important item from the document -- that I need to run it in "fan only" mode for 30 minutes before shutting it down. :D --Keith :mrgreen:

Well I made some good progress on the termiticide plumbing thing yesterday. Most of the piping is glued together -- I just have to dig out some more holes in the gap between slabs and submerge the "upside down makeshift sprinklers" (1/2" PVC heavy duty 6" risers with threaded caps with four 1/8" holes drilled into their sides) and then plumb the ports. I'll probably run water into them when finished to ensure no "blow-outs." --Keith :mrgreen:

Keith, please forgive me if you already stated this but, do you have a termite problem? or is the plumbing thing just preventative maintenence? -Brendan

sharward wrote:

Well I made some good progress on the termiticide plumbing thing yesterday.

pictures? :) yeah i know how it is, i'm lazy about taking pictures too at this point.