FINISHED IN 2020! Sharward's Partial Garage Conversion

[Dan Fitzpatrick]

"suitable for overhead work"

[giles117]

Well you gotta one up your gov. Yous is bigger. Sorta like what Simon Phoenix used.

[sharward]

Great news! I have a reservation for a lighter model for Wednesday, and because the store will be closed for two days, I'll basically get three days' rental for the price of one! Plus I have a 10% off coupon!

If the lighter model doesn't "cut the mustard" per se, I can return it for the heavier one, as long as I do it before they close that day.

--Keith

[knightfly]

How much of that stuff needs to be removed? If it's very long, you may have better luck with a hammer drill and masonry bit first; 1/2" drill bit, drill holes down and slightly outward, spaced about 6" apart, BEFORE you start with the jackhammer approach. Then, when you jackhammer the holes will keep things breaking where you HOPE they do, instead of fracturing your main footings for the outer walls... Steve

[sharward]

That's a pretty darned good idea, Steve -- maybe I'll see about renting one of those things when I pick up my demolition hammer. Thanks for the tip!

Doing damage to my home's foundation has been a concern of mine... ...Your "perforate it with drilled holes" idea would certainly seem to be good insurance against that.

For what it's worth, I know for a fact that there is rebar in the foundation. How do I know this? Because there's an air pocket in the east wall foundation where I can see the rabar! Needless to say, I've not been most impressed by the workmanship of the concrete at this house of ours!

[knightfly]

Rebar in foundation, but NOT in the slab, right??

And, welcome to today's construction scene; I shudder to think what both my roofs would have looked like if I'd not stuck around to nag/bully/threaten, along with explaining to the whole crew numerous times that I was perfectly willing to PAY for a better job and did NOT like shortcuts/reusing questionable materials...

Also, depending on how MANY holes you'll need to drill you may want to just rent the hammer drill FIRST, these things don't usually go too fast... Steve

[sharward]

Rebar in foundation, but NOT in the slab, right??

I'm assuming there is rebar in the slab inside the house. My in-laws have rebar in their 2004 home.

You're going to give me a lecture about post tensioning, huh? (Don't let that dissuade you though...)

Also, depending on how MANY holes you'll need to drill you may want to just rent the hammer drill FIRST, these things don't usually go too fast...

Well, if I get them both at the same time, I'll have both tools for three days for the price of one day... It may actually be good to try a little drilling, try a little hammering, try a little drilling, try a little hammering... You know... Just to keep things interesting.

In case you missed it, my wife and her folks are traveling over Thanksgiving, leaving me at home to play in the mud.

[sharward]

More good news! I picked up the demolition hammer from the rental place -- their lightest model (15 pound) with a 2" chisel. Things are coming along pretty well, albeit rather slow. In about 2 1/2 hours I managed to do about 2 linear feet, with, uh, 37 feet to go! Clearly I'm going to be busy for the next few days!

Perhaps the "slow going" is a blessing in disguise. I'm basically chipping away the concrete with finesse in very small chunks -- you can see examples in the pan in the photo. (And, uh, yes, that's a cat litterbox!! ) So, there's little chance of my being too aggressive and causing damage to the foundation in the process.

You can see that the excess concrete in the (small) area that I completed is nearly straight down now. There's a little bit of an angle to it, but that might be OK.

I'm thinking about applying a layer of mortar to the whole thing when I'm all finished... That will allow for maximum surface area contact with the perimeter isolation boards. (I'll be studying "buttering mortar on wavy stucco" part of Dan's thread in great detail later! )

Compare these photos with those from three days ago and you'll see there's quite a difference.

[giles117]

You Cali Guys and all your issues....

I'll stay here in tornado land (Ok I'll wipe that smirk off my face....)

[sharward]

Maybe it's just a Southern California thing or I'm just too square to have picked up on it yet, but I swear, the only people who refer to this place as "Cali" are people who don't live here!

Sooooo, Bryan -- do you think I'm overkilling? You realize I'm into prog metal, right?

[giles117]

Overkilling??? Nah I am sure I'd do the same thing. Between sex with my wife and recording her vocals gotta have a hobby LOL

[sharward]

Would that be... Recording her vocals during sex? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

[sharward]

In completely unrelated news, I've been thinking lately about my plan for the outer leaf ceiling. Wayyyyy back in the beginning, I planned to add a single layer of drywall to the existing ceiling. My reason for only proposing to add one layer and not two (or more ) is due to the fact that I'm not certain how much weight the trusses can safely hold. Plus, the single 5/8" layer that is up there right now is hanging on hat channel that is 16" o.c. The hat channel is attached to the trusses, which are 24" o.c.

It was Dan Fitzpatrick's visit and his commentary that I should consider doing "the full Woodlock" in terms of walls and ceiling to achieve the level of isolation I'm going to need... ...so that's when my subsequent plan came into play: rip down the existing ceiling and hat channel, lay new 2x6 joists parallel to the existing trusses, attach those new joists to the top plates of the east and west walls (including my "new" yet-to-be-built portion of the west wall), then attach several layers of drywall to those joists. It's a lot of work and I wasn't looking forward to that.

However, all of that was prior to my having an appreciation for what Green Glue can do. One of the benefits of Green Glue, although expensive, is that it is very lightweight and can basically eliminate the need for a layer of drywall. So, in an oversimplified nutshell, two layers of drywall + Green Glue = 3 layers of drywall in terms of performance.

You can probably see where I'm going with this -- instead of all that extra work, I could actually leverage the ceiling that is already there and simply add one layer of 5/8" drywall (rotated 90 degrees, of course) and sandwich in the prescribed amount of Green Glue. Yes, Green Glue is expensive compared to a single layer of drywall -- but when you factor in the massive amount of labor saved, not to mention the fact that I can salvage the layer that's up there right now, it seems to make sense!

What I need to do at some point is determine whether the 2 layers of 5/8" + Green Glue -- oh, and some insulation across the top inside the attic for good measure -- will "keep up" with my extremely beefy walls. Obviously there's no sense in this plan if the ceiling will be the weakest link... Unless maybe adding an extra layer on the inside would make up for that...

I'm cautiously optimistic about this approach. If it passes the stink test here, I think I just might shave off at least a month of effort, and probably a significant cost savings as well. Before I get too excited, though, I'll wait for you all to comment. If necessary, I'll post a sketch.

--Keith

[giles117]

Would that be... Recording her vocals during sex? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Hmmm might have to try that one. LOL Might get some great sound effects to layer in the back of the tracks. LOL. Got all the single folk moaning on tracks promoting uncommitted sex......Why not a committed couple writing songs about married sex and the joys of one woman for the rest of your life.

As one guy put it, One woman is too much for any man... It will take a lifetime to know all the ins and outs of your wife. So why Stray.....For temporary play????

BTW....Sex in the Studio is one of the many reason why we got married

[giles117]

Sounds interesting....Hey experimentation is the joy of all of this, the worse that could happen is you have to take it all apart. Heck my STudio is the 4th one I built.... All the while learning along the way...

Looking forward to #5.....