FINISHED IN 2020! Sharward's Partial Garage Conversion

[len-morgan]

Hey Keith, that liquid nails product you used, the LNP-903, is only available in California. Do you think the 901 stuff would work too? It's basicaly the same stuff except the 901 has a higher VOC number( not sure what that means) and a quicker dry time.

VOC means "Volatile (sp?) something or other" but basically its the solvants that are added to the product, be it Liquid Nails, paint, etc, that keeps the product "soft" until you use it. The VOCs evaporate and leave you with the finished product whatever it may be. Any easy way to think of it is the more VOCs there are, the more it stinks and the more ventalation you'll need to keep from frying your brain.

California realizes that most of their brains are already fried so they require lower VOC products. Having been born and raised in California, I think it's ok that I can comment on my former statesmen.

len

[cyeazel]

Interesting. Thanks Len. I don't really smell anything when I'm around that stuff. I guess that's not a good thing though. Maybe my brain is fried already.

[sharward]

Great news! I had arranged for my city's solid waste department to deliver an empty container for my concrete chunks next Monday, the soonest I'd be able to get one. Just for fun, I called them yesterday (Thursday) to see if there would be a chance of getting one earlier so that I could schlep concrete over this weekend. Well, as luck had it, they had an early return, so they were able to drop it in the street in front of my house today!

It's 18 feet long, 8 feet wide, and about 2 feet tall. I'll post a picture tomorrow. (It was dark by the time I got home.)

In other news, I've had three two-hour rehearsals with my Weekend Warriors group, and things are really coming together. A coworker dropped by during the rehearsal and he was blown away with how good we sounded under the circumstances! We have one more "official" rehearsal next week, and then we'll get together once more unofficially before our live performance, scheduled for Sunday, November 13 at Hard Rock Cafe (Sacramento). It should be fun -- my first live performance!

--Keith

[vair327]

Hey Keith what time is the gig on th 13th?

[sharward]

The show runs 7 PM to about 9:30 PM. I won't know the sequence of acts until close to showtime, by which time the house will be full.

I assume you're asking because you're thinking of coming by, and if so, it would be great to meet you!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled concrete removal story...

My father-in-law offered to assist in the migration of all the concrete from the garage and side yard to the dumpster this morning. How could I not accept?

While we were working, my neighbor from across the street pitched in with his own wheelbarrow. Very cool guy! He did disclose that there was a bit of self-interest going on in that they are moving in five days and the dumpster may make things difficult as far as the moving van goes!

I was very pleased by how quickly the job got done! All the "big" concrete was in the dumpster in less than 3 hours. Once Dad left, I began raking up the smaller chunks of concrete and crushed granite and separating them by hand. The crushed granite will be useful as a base for the new slab. (I'll need to supplement it, of course.) I'm using the large Rubbermaid-type containers to move and store the rock in the side yard. I'm about 60% done with that effort -- hopefully I'll be able to finish it up tomorrow.

I'll phone in the dumpster pickup request Monday, so it will likely be hauled off on Tuesday.

Look ma! No slab!

By the way, I'm the guy in the shorts. Until now I don't think I've been pictured in this thread!

[knightfly]

Lookin' good Keith; I have to ask, did you actually put the pieces in one at a time, or did you open those end doors and use a plank to run the wheelbarrows up, and just dump to the far end of the dumpster? (I hate extra work, so tend to analyze material handling a lot) STeve

[sharward]

I opened the doors at first, but the doors are for dumping, not loading. There's a bar across the top of the doors for stability, and there's no ramp. So, yes, everything was thrown into the dumpster by hand. At least it's nice and short!

I spent the day clearing the slab of all the top layer of crushed granite and bits of concrete. The rocks are smaller than golf balls and the concrete chunks were between marble and softball sized. I did my best to separate the two by hand (oh what fun! ). It was like separating salt from pepper! I'm sure some little bits of concrete found their way to my rock collection, but that shouldn't be a problem.

In the photos below you'll see three 28-gallon totes full of rocks. There are actually six now, covered with a tarp. I'm also starting a pile of rocks/dirt/sand in the back yard on the old spa pad -- that will be where I'll move the earth I excavate. I'm pretty sure that I am not permitted to put anything but concrete in the dumpster without paying a hefty penalty.

I'm soooooo glad my old slab is gone!! My next steps will be excavation and prep for the new concrete. I want to take some time to do more research in this area. I'll post back with detailed plans when I have them.

I made a bit of an unfortunate discovery today though... There are several places where concrete from the house slab and east wall foundation spilled beyond the forms. Those areas will have to be hand-chiseled and I'm not looking forward to that.

[sharward]

Woo-hoo!! -- I came home from work last night to a dumpster-free house!

I've been reading a lot about construction of slabs... ...I have the same "am I crazy for considering doing this myself?" feeling as I did with the cutting, breakup, and removal of the old slab! At this point I'm pretty sure I'll be doing all of the pre-pour stuff on my own, but when it comes time for the pour, I'll probably hire a licensed pro or two for that.

This weekend, family time permitting (Mrs. Sharward's grandparents will be in town, so time may be limited), I'll be excavating a few inches of earth so that I can achieve a minimum 6" slab on a 3-4" compacted rock subbase and generous footings. I expect to run into some challenges with rough concrete from the existing foundation along the edges that will require a lot of hand-chiseling.

Expect more photos of dirt in a few days!

I should mention that this Thanksgiving is going to be weird. We're celebrating this weekend instead of next, because Mrs. Sharward and her parents are going to Disneyland over the real Thanksgiving weekend! Yours truly will be staying behind to do studio work! Now, before you think I'm nuts for passing up a Disneyland trip, my wife and I (and sometimes her folks) go to Disneyland quite often, so I'm quite fine missing this opportunity. Not only was I invited, but I debated whether or not I was going to go for a long time. So don't feel sorry for me -- instead, rejoice in the fact that while others are together with families watching football games and eating way too much fowl, I'll be digging holes in my garage!

OK, maybe "rejoice" is too strong a word...

--Keith

[Stick]

Lookin' good, Keith!

Hey, if you find that the dirt you're wanting to dig out is really hard and compacted, you need one of my new favorite tools. I don't really know what you call it, but it's a 6 foot long heavy steel bar with a chisel one one end and flat end for pounding on on the other. It's heavy enough that if you just lift it up and drop it, it'll dig into most anything. It comes in handy as a pry bar too... I've used it for pulling up fence posts, digging holes in my practically rock yard, etc.

[sharward]

You mean like this one?



See the bar in front of the impact hammer?

My father-in-law gave it to me. His father (rest his soul) fabricated it out of an axle... Just as you said -- pointy on one end and chiseley on the other!

--Keith

[Stick]

You got it.

[sharward]

My Weekend Warriors band rehearsed at House of Hits this evening -- $30 for 4 hours.

The experience was mostly good, but there were some really unpleasant drawbacks. The place is a warehouse with lots of poorly constructed little rooms with carpet on the walls. The carpet mostly covers what appears to be single layer gypsum walls with a layer of "soundboard" over them. Single flimsy doors without seals, aluminum frames, drop ceilings on a grid with standard office type tiles. ...and the sound of rumbling bass all over the place! But the worst part was the ubiquitous cigarette smoke throughout the building -- many people were smoking in the halls. (I'm asthmatic and ultra sensitive to cigarette smoke.)

Obviously they don't have a clue about soundproofing!

Most of the units are monthly rentals. I think the rate is between $350 and $450 per month depending on size. (I didn't ask -- I don't reallly care!)

Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to having my own place built!

[sharward]

I put several hours into excavating today. Not fun! The soil, as I've reported before, is dense clay, so it's very heavy and sticky. The pile of dirt in the back yard is large, and I'm only about 1/6 through the first pass! The second pass will be the footings.

[sharward]

I feel the earth movin'...

I'd say I'm about 60% done with the main excavation (not including footings).

I had to quit early today because... ahem... I'm performing tonight!

[sharward]

My live performance debut!! It was awesome! We're actually going to play a second gig at the grand opening of Skip's Music's new Elk Grove store!

I realize this isn't directly related to my studio build, but hey, it meant a lot to me and it is, however, the reason I'm bothering with this project in the first place -- right?