Lost Studios new construction build Portland Oregon

Well I finally broke ground and could not be happier. Its been 8 months with out a studio and I am itch'n to get back up and rolling My shoulders are killing me today because I got to do the hand digging while the backhoe operator moved the big stuff. I bought some large rocks to landscape the dirt wall up to the area that the studio is sitting on. We installed the rock wall and dug the trench for the electrical plus graded the foundation and footings this sat. and sunday. This week I will be forming the foundation and hopefully be pouring a monolithoc slab on saturday. Sharward- I have my permits Steve- I have my layout and details John- thanks for the layout and everyone else that has helped me along the way by reading their blogs. I hope it all goes smooth and fast. The rain will be coming soon so I need to get the roof on. Wish me luck and I will keep you all posted

here are some more

Since John was so kind to help out with the design I think it is fitting to post his drawing so all can see where we are going with this.

Lookin' good Tom; a quick (nearly) un-related question - looks like the track hoe had a metal "cover" of some sort covering up the teeth in one pic, presumably to be able to dig a smooth bottomed footing; if it's still there, can you take a close-up of that for me? IF not, no biggie; just looking at doing that for MY old monstrosity... Steve

Steve, He actually had three different buckets. one large smooth one about 3 feet wide for moving large amounts of dirt one medium that had teeth on the back side but a smooth front for foundation and picking up the rocks and one for digging the electrical trench same smooth front and teeth on the back the hoe also had a thumb that could move out of the way or in to pick up things When he comes back to grade I will try and remember to take a closer picture

Wow! Awesome! 8) 8) I love how you pre-empted my infamous building permit question. :lol: Pictures like this are very inspiring... To your competition! ;-) :P Congratulations on your ground-breaking, Tom! Keep those pictures coming. There's no turning back now, you know! :twisted: --Keith :mrgreen:

Congrats Tom on your groundbreaking!!!! I was curious about the pics: Are the rocks only for a retaining wall around the new building, due to grade differences, or is there another reason for them?... The rocks are awfully big... will they be exposed, or covered over with dirt landscaping? The trench with the pipe/conduit in it: is that connecting the house with the new building? ... for electrical or plumbing, or both? The mononlithic slab: is that the kind that actually laterally supports the concrete foundation walls, or that bridges the footings (actually part of the footings?)?... or is it that the kind just between the walls, and that provides little or no 'shoring-up' of the foundation walls?... Btw, thanx for all the help through the emails and phone about my concrete issues... (I will be having more Q's soon in the future, I'm sure...) K

Sharward, Pre- empt everything I can with you guys :) Kenni, The rocks are for landscaping and partial retaining. The wall was there when I bought the house but looked ugly and had a couple buldges in it. So I decided to cover it with the rocks but my excavator said it would help with the run off also. we will have a pond, its already dug out to the right and lots of fern with flowers and plants The trench is for electrical 30" deep code is 24" from top of pipe here in ptown. The weekend was getting away so I will do the plumbing trench later when he comes back to grade Not a problem on the help. This is how we get things done efficiently by asking question to do it right the first time. Here is my foundation and slab detail

I don't mean to be picky but how exactly do you get into the studio? I don't see a door other than the one that looks like it goes into a cement brick room (and nowhere else). It is possibly in the lower corner that's cut off in the picture? len

Len, John and I called it one of his quicky drawings. The door in the bottom right hand corner is cut off, the one room to the left as you go into the door is the breakroom. The bath is in the far left corner and yes they have doors leading into each other and the studio. And its actually all wood construction Here is the studio design link http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... highlight=

Well I finally got the forms in this last weekend. This fabric has been around awhile but its the first time I have ever used it. It took about me about 5 hours to install. The nice thing is you save your 2x6's for use on the structure after you strip the forms. They stay clean and like new. I just got 5 yards of gravel delivered. It was actually crushed cement 3/4" minus that was about half the price of rock. I will post those pics as soon as I get the pile moved. It was not a fun experience this morning. I tried putting 3/4" plywood over the forms and foundation hole so they could dump the rock onto the slab area ....but it filled up alot of the footing so I will be digging my brains out tonight

and some more

I will figure this picture posting sequence thing out soon so I can get them in order. I am sure you get the idea :oops:

Cover those steel stakes with OSHA approved impalement caps! Unguarded Protruding Steel Rebars

Sharward, You're such a buzz kill.:cry: Just picked them up today with the anchor bolts. Need to mark my doors so I don't put an anchor bolt in the middle of a door and I should be ready

Sorry about that, Tom -- I had drafted a much nicer and more enthusiastic post, but I lost it when looking for that OSHA link. I was very short on time so I opted to emphasize the "not killing yourself or anyone else" point, intending to come back and then follow up with my enthusiastic congratulations on the progress and other stuff. :-) Anyway, belated congrats! 8) How, about those forms -- is there in fact plywood from top of 2x6 to bottom of footing trench? All I can see is the fabric... :roll: --Keith :mrgreen:

Keith Oh stop... I was kidding........ You are the OSHA police here for those people that don't do it proper At the old studio I was setting a nail in a 2x4 between my feet and then let go to wack it in the wood and it came straight up and stuck me in the corner of my eye. Thankfully it only broke the blood vessels in the side of my eye and did not do any permanant damage. I now wear safety glasses for just about everything. As far as the forming !! Thats the cool part. There is only one 2x6 at the top and the poly fabric drops to the ground and across the bottom up to 3 feet if you need. The weight of the concrete holds it down and has only a slight buldge not seen after back filling. I have 12 penny nails in the dirt to keep it from shifting while pouring. They say if your forms are over 16" high you should put a second 2x4 to help the buldging or pour half of the footing first and then the rest of the footing and floor. This allows the concrete to set up a touch before you load the form up to full. The only thing I am worried about is using a stinger/vibrator in the footings because this will make everything move a little more than usual. But neccesary if you want minimal air pockets check out their site http://fab-form.com/products/fastfoot/fastfoot.html

So glad I didn't really ruffle your feathers there, Tom! 8) Truth be told, I have been known to do so on occasion here. :oops: It's not something I'm proud of and it is something I try my best to avoid. :D Oh man, those Fastfoot things are awesome! 8) 8) Why the heck weren't you around when I was setting my forms? I could have used those and saved a heck of a lot of effort and expense!! :evil: ;) For that, I shall hate you for at five minutes... Starting NOW. :evil: :evil: :evil: (OK, maybe just two minutes.) --Keith :mrgreen:

Man, that's gotta be some strong stuff - even 3/4 ply will bow if you don't have 2x4's on edge backing it every couple feet or less :shock: I was just getting ready to ask about those rebar sitting on the OUTER periphery, now I know. (Still can't believe the mud won't bend those over... Steve

Tom: So the FastFoot is a capillary break of sorts, in addition to being a 'form'? Would you not also be putting some plastic sheeting under the middle area of the slab as well... I guess the idea of the 'bulge' is so that the shape 'mushrooms' out in order to give better retention and to spread out the load more? And that vibration thingy to get out air pockets (large bubbles?), does this also help 'air-entrainment' (little bubbles)? Ohhhh, btw, I do have a couple unrelated questions: Can a thin concrete surface be put over the Mapei MRB? I'm not sure if I had mentioned this before, but it has been my intention to try to keep a concrete surface as the finished surface (i.e., NOT add a carpet, etc.); I was thinking about those stamped, stained, and/or polished surfaces that kinda look like marble or stone.... The pics on this site really caught my eyeball: http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete ... index.html Are things like this 'good' to do with concrete? Does it have an effect on moisture/vapor permeability? Should I still use the MRB even if I intend to have 'finished' concrete? thanx, and keep posting pics and details of your progress.. I'm jealous... K

TomVan wrote:

...As far as the forming !! Thats the cool part. There is only one 2x6 at the top and the poly fabric drops to the ground and across the bottom up to 3 feet if you need. The weight of the concrete holds it down and has only a slight buldge not seen after back filling. I have 12 penny nails in the dirt to keep it from shifting while pouring. They say if your forms are over 16" high you should put a second 2x4 to help the buldging or pour half of the footing first and then the rest of the footing and floor. This allows the concrete to set up a touch before you load the form up to full. The only thing I am worried about is using a stinger/vibrator in the footings because this will make everything move a little more than usual. But neccesary if you want minimal air pockets check out their site http://fab-form.com/products/fastfoot/fastfoot.html

K, in your location you may NOT want to "fix" air entrainment - in colder climates people pay extra for concrete companies to include an additive to the mix to MAINTAIN entrained air, so freeze/thaw cycles do less damage to the concrete... Steve (not sure just how cold it needs to get before this is needed)

So then the additives supply the air-entrainment, and there is no need to, or no effect of, vibrating? Is it that the vibrating simply takes care of 'big' air pockets? Steve, I actually didn't mean wanting to get rid of the entrainment, but rather if the vibrating would or wouldn't have an effect on it (i.e., just gets rid of the big bubbles, but keeps the tiny entrainment ones)... K

knightfly wrote:

K, in your location you may NOT want to "fix" air entrainment - in colder climates people pay extra for concrete companies to include an additive to the mix to MAINTAIN entrained air, so freeze/thaw cycles do less damage to the concrete... Steve (not sure just how cold it needs to get before this is needed)

If you go to this link http://fab-form.com/products/fastfoot/fastfoot.html you can watch a video of the forms being filled. The supply house I purchased the material from showed me pictures of a 30" footing and they put a 2x4 in the middle to help support. So I just got out of the shower from installing them and the protection caps and the rest of the gravel. I have my inspection tomorrow and the concrete is already ordered for saturday. Steve it is strong, its kind of a woven fiber poly plastic stuff. However I have two people on form watch for the pour when typical is just one person On another note... air entrainment is typically for exterior slabs or pours. And yes is helps the freeze thaw cycle by allowing the moisture in the slab to have a place to expand to when it freezes. There would be no reason for a climate controlled slab to have air entrained concrete And yes by using a stinger you can get the air bubbles out (bubbles just from pouring not plant induced) of the foundation and slab if needed for a stronger and asthetic looking foundation And Kenni yes you can put and overlay type self levler over the MRB as long as you broadcast some sand into the MRB while it is still wet to give a bond line for the overlay. I am doing a stained floor just for the cost savings alone. I do them all the time at my real job ....fairly simple as long as you clean well before sealing the stain. There is a residue left behind from the acid and lime reaction that you get when you stain. Hard to see and its called floro silicate. A white fine powder that acts as a bond breaker if you dont get it all cleaned off. Just nuetralize with soap,vinegar, or TSP

Tom: Now that FastFoot site shows what I have been talking about (on another thread) with respect to 'rising damp' and vapor barriers... On that other thread, someone asked about trapping moisture in the dead air space between the concrete wall and the inner-leaf wall... It seems, IF you don't have any 'wicking break' (capillary break, no?), then locking-in the dead air space might give rise to trapping moisture there?... Would it be: 1.) better to allow venting of the dead air space by: a.) mechanical venting? b.) or, using only a vapor retarder on the inner wall? c.) or, using no barrier at all? Or would it be: 2.) better to slow vapor coming through the CONCRETE walls and floor by using something like the Mapei MRB and Thoroseal? And, in such case, would you then use a vapor barrier or retarder on the interior walls? Finally, considering all things with an existing situation where the foundation has no waterproofing, underslab vapor barrier, and possibly clogged or improper drain tile... Would it be a 'best practice' to replace the drain tile and add a waterproofing to the outside walls -- with respect to cost and inconvenience, and possible disruption or compromise of the foundation integrity during such excavation?... OR, is the interior drain tile a better option (yet this is obviously inferior to the exterior drain tile, and would have no effect on rising damp through the footings and walls, no?)? Hey, look at this diagram on a site I found about electro osmotic pulse technology: http://www.new-technologies.org/ECT/Fimages/eop_01.gif I wonder if that would really work? K

"Or would it be: 2.) better to slow vapor coming through the CONCRETE walls and floor by using something like the Mapei MRB and Thoroseal? And, in such case, would you then use a vapor barrier or retarder on the interior walls? "

Yes in my opinion this would be the best way but the MRB and thoroseal are vapor barriers and retarders

"Finally, considering all things with an existing situation where the foundation has no waterproofing, underslab vapor barrier, and possibly clogged or improper drain tile... Would it be a 'best practice' to replace the drain tile and add a waterproofing to the outside walls -- with respect to cost and inconvenience, and possible disruption or compromise of the foundation integrity during such excavation?... "

It is always better to stop vapor/moisture at point of entry. But like you said costs can become very high from major excavation and that osmotic pulse thing? I have never seen or heard of this