Above 1200 Sq/FT Overcoming Good-Deal-Itis One Project at a Time

[LXCam]

Kickass Sterling.....I'll bring a shovel Saturday

 

[SilverJimmy]

Contractor has started scarifying my shop pad!


Passed first inspection for compaction so forward we go!
Next week they should get all the fill into place. Excited to see progress!

 

[SilverJimmy]

We also got a AGA Lift Table donated to the race shop, going to be a great addition to our toolset!

 

[Old Man Roger]

Jealous, mine only goes about half as high. I think mine is a Harbor Freight.

 

[LXCam]

Jealous, mine only goes about half as high. I think mine is a Harbor Freight.

And it’s half the size too. These are big tables. I currently have my boys 69 bird strapped to one and stored in my car trailer.



And kickass Sterling, I’m glad to see some progress bud

 

[Old Man Roger]

Holy ****! Ya, I might be able to lift one end of the car with mine, but not the whole car.

 

[SilverJimmy]

Very cool that we got the AGA Lift Table. It only is missing one rubber pad adapter and the pump leaks at the plunger. Called the manufacturer and we are trying to get a rebuild kit for the pump, how hard could it be?! Also missing the linkage that changes the pump from slow to quick. We think we can make that cuz it seems to just be some kind of toggle. Maybe Mike @zmotorsports could post a couple closeup pictures for me? Already used it twice, works very cool.

 

[SilverJimmy]

Contractor has been busy getting the material in place and compacted. Wet, spread, and then wheel compact.

He says that all this material will only add 1/2 what is needed so more is coming soon. It needs to be almost a 4’ lift in back because of the slope towards the rear of the shop. My contractor father never could understand why I couldn’t see level, still can’t!

 

[john.k]

My 33x50 is on a slope ,not as much as 3 ft , and just dug down to solid ....wasnt expecting any problem with rainwater runoff ,but last two years have been super wet ,and I have to dig a cutoff drain on the uphill side ....its turned out quite large as city requires a 45deg slope or a retaining wall..........fortunately I have acreage ,so there is no boundary problem

 

[SilverJimmy]

Thinking about heat for my new shop. 4950 sq ft red iron building with the usual insulation. It doesn’t get really cold here in Prescott, low 20’s is about it, and then it’ll warm up everyday about 50 degrees. I’m trying to figure out what my options are, which are few. My current shop has good insulation, some half finished Thrombe walls and an old Wilderness woodstove. That shop never drops below 45 degrees and if I fire up the woodstove it’s comfortable in about an hour. Gotta love a wood fire!
Contractor says that the 2018 FPSA rules now ban a woodstove, or any other open flame heat source in a garage/shop where gasoline is present. Can’t even do a pellet stove! No natural gas in the area, so my only options are propane heat or a mini-split. Don’t think I need A/C so propane heat it is. Anyone have an opinion on forced air propane heaters? My concern is my shop getting so cold that my water spigots freeze in my walls and I have flooding. I want a reliable heat source for any extended cold events that might happen, especially if I’m not present at my shop. It would also be nice to bump the heat up to high 50’s or low 60’s for working in the shop.
Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[SilverJimmy]

They also had the new guy out working yesterday….
Worked for a few hours and didn’t even need a piss break!

 

[SilverJimmy]

As my contractor gets more material into place I can see where some of the trees are a bit to close to the building envelope. So I had to do a bit of pruning on one of the live oaks to give the 5 foot clearance the building needs.
Really trying to have my shop seem like it’s been here for years and the trees have grown around it. Trees like this would take 50+ years to grow and I don’t have that many years left!

 

[SilverJimmy]

Came home today and found my contractor has been busy! Shop pad is coming around nicely. They even had a laser guided box grader skid steer leveling all the fill!

Concrete contractor was demoing it to see if it was something he might want to buy. He said that it was even available with GPS for more $$$!
Pad still needs another foot of fill, more trucks tomorrow.

 

[john.k]

Chop the trees before the shed restricts your options.........unless you like clearing leaves from gutters.

 

[LXCam]

Very cool tool sterling. I can make a pretty flat and level pad with my skidsteer but it take a shitload of effort. Just how much is that thing?

And you think you’ll be placing some mud come mid January?

 

[SilverJimmy]

Cam, I really hope I have a slab done by the end of January! 12 more loads of fill got dumped, spread, and compacted today.

This is the west side showing the amount of lift so far.

Concrete contractor said there’s still 8” more of A/B coming and then the 4” of concrete. Good thing the shop is in the lowest spot in this neighborhood!
Speaking of the neighborhood, my wife and I got to work prepping the trees in the north side of the shop for removal. The previous owner had planted a double row of Arizona Cypress for a privacy screen. They are all overgrown and crowded from being planted too close together. I am planning to use this area for outside storage of project vehicles and materials.
We cut all the branches off as high as I could reach from the ground and I’ll soon cut them down leaving an 18” stump. My contractor said if I leave that much stump he can then grub out the stumps easily with his backhoe when he’s over digging my shops footings.

When we were almost done for the day my neighbor on the other side of these trees walked over to chat. My wife apologized to her that we had to take down the trees but that we’d be building a fence soon to try to block as much view as possible. Neighbor told my wife to not worry about that, everything looks great, and besides, it’s your land, you can do what you want!!! WOW! So glad we picked this place!

 

[Old Man Roger]

To keep them happy, still put up the fence. No one wants to look at a bunch of cars and equipment behind someone’s garage.

 

[SilverJimmy]

That is the plan, just need the shop done so I can move all my treasures. Can’t build the fence until all the construction and dirt work is done. Catch-22 again!

 

[LXCam]

Kill two birds with one stone bud. Just bury your treasures and save all the hassle

 

[zmotorsports]

Coming along nicely Sterling.

 

[SilverJimmy]

Coming along nicely Sterling.

Thanks Mike!
It is, and another 16 loads of fill is scheduled for today. I think 10 have come already, but I’ve lost count. Contractor says it still needs about 4 more inches, so more trucks!
I did trim a couple of the live oaks that are in the area in front of the shop, they look lots better now.

Now that I can actually see a better view of where the shop is going to end up I’m now having to rethink some of my vision of what it will be. Hope that makes sense!

 

[SilverJimmy]

Guys came by today to finish up the shop pad. After a bit of conversation it was agreed that the shop needed to move east 2’ on the south end and 3’ on the north to get all the pad completely laid and still preserve the oak trees. Also took the pad down about 3” to lessen the angle of the future apron.
After a couple hours of work it looks great, straight and level. After a good soaking from the water truck there was a pool of water everywhere, absolutely flat!


Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! And here’s to a new shop in the New Year!

 

[LXCam]

Kickass bud. It’s almost a damn shame we’re staying above freezing tonight otherwise we could’ve been ice skating tomorrow

Merry Christmas to you both

 

[SilverJimmy]

Final loads of fill got delivered yesterday, I think it’s the last of it!
This is for the apron/driveway in front of shop. Digging of the footings and piers should get started in the New Year. All the plumbing and other conduit needs to get into the ground then there should be concrete before the end of January. If Mother Nature cooperates!

 

[SilverJimmy]

Over the holiday week my wife and I got all the trees down in the future outside storage yard.
Contractor told me to leave about 18” sticking out of the ground so that when he has his backhoe over digging the footings he can pop the stumps out of the ground for me.As I was cutting everything down I used a layout stake as a guide to cut all the trees to a uniform size. Today my wife and I trimmed all the small branches up and then stacked it all in our temporary wood storage. That pile is two rows deep, got almost a cord out of those trees.
Now we just need to wait for a few weeks for all the slash to dry out some and then for favorable weather conditions to get it all recombined with oxygen! I love a nice warming fire in the wintertime!

 

[SilverJimmy]

It‘s getting really serious now, I had to lay out where my two post lift will be installed. Taking Mike’s @zmotorsports advice, I spaced the front of the pads 18’ from the back wall.
I laid out 3’ squares centered in the bay for the lift. The lift will end up approximately 19’ from the inside of the wall with my tool box directly in front of it. With my math I should have plenty of working room between a vehicle and my tool box.

Contractor then dug the lift pads 4’ square and 8” deep cuz he said bigger is better! When they pour the footers these will get filled to the top of the pad and then when the slab is poured the lift reinforcements will be 12” thick in total, plenty of room for the anchor hold down bolts.
Also all the footers and plumbing trenches got dug!

Plumbing trenches. I’m having a full bath installed and also a washer/dryer so I can wash shop related rags, towels, and work coveralls out in the shop so the house stuff doesn’t get contaminated by my mess!

All dug and now today they’re starting on installing the steel and forms for the footers. Concrete contractor is hoping to get it inspected and poured by Friday or Monday, really depends on the inspectors!

 

[fouckhest]

Very exciting progress, looks like its going to be a great space!

 

[zmotorsports]

Looking great Sterling. I think you will be pleased with the lift placement. Looking at your oversized square holes in the substrate, looks almost identical to mine at the same phase. Although mine was poured with the floor as my shop has footings and foundation which were poured prior.

The fun is about to start with the erecting of the shop.

 

[SilverJimmy]

Forgot to take pictures of all the stumps pulled out of my outside storage yard. Contractor followed thru and pulled them and then pushed them into a pile for me. My wife and I then cut all the 18” chunks that we left on them to make pulling easier. Now we have more firewood! The leftover stumps are going to be great for a warming fire when we have outside get togethers!



After the shop gets done I’m planning on gravel and a fence for this area.

 

[SilverJimmy]

The call is in for inspection of the footers, should happen Monday and then concrete on Tuesday. The forms and layout of all the anchor bolts look awesome, very nice work by these guys!
These are the footers for my mezzanine wall and stairs, they will pour them even with the top of the fill when the footers get poured. Concrete contractor says he’s doing it this way to eliminate a potential problem with shrinkage when he does the final monolithic pour of the main slab and foundation.
They also added rebar to my 2 post lift pad areas, that also gets poured in the first batch of concrete.
Very excited to be at this stage, just need to stay out of their way when the trucks show up!

 

[Xti04]

Looking good, hopefully inspection goes well and concrete gets there quick.

 

[LXCam]

Kickass Sterling, that's looking real good. I sure hope this snow they're predicting for us tomorrow doesn't happen. I had to run out to cali yesterday to grab a piece of equipment and this morning when I left it was raining. Sooooo.........

 

[Swanny1953]

Congrats, Sterling - always nice when a project begins to come together, although you are way past beginning at this point. Will be checking in to watch progress!

 

[SilverJimmy]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the positive feedback! I’m just trying to be patient and not stress too much about the pace of progress on this build. I‘m sure when it’s all done it’ll seem like it happened in a flash but right now it’s like watching paint dry!

 

[SilverJimmy]

And I do hope it rains a bit before they pour the concrete Tuesday, any extra moisture is good, too a point.

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks great Sterling.

 

[madison069]

looking good!

 

[SilverJimmy]

Inspection happened, only a couple things need remedies before the footings can get poured. Contractor assured me that will happen tomorrow, but there is this…..

Almost feel like I need some of those guys working on Jeff’s @Norwell Equipped new garage!
But this is Arizona, so probably going to be almost t-shirt weather tomorrow!

 

[zmotorsports]

Sterling, I've only been to the Flagstaff area about 6 times in my entire lifetime and we've gotten caught in snow half of them..

 

[SilverJimmy]

Mike, Flagstaff historically has had more snow that most of the lower 48 and some years even more than Alaska. That is the number 1 reason my wife and I have decided to relocate to a less severe weather area. I can honestly say that I hate snow even more than you do having NEVER done any kind of frozen water wintertime “FUN” like you have. The thought of throwing myself down a frozen mountain with boards strapped to my feet or zipping around on a motorized sleigh gives me nightmares!
This new shop is at our new place down in Prescott. When we were buying it I was talking to the owner and asked him how much snow he got at the house. He pointed at a snow shovel hanging on the wall and told me he moved there in 1996 and had never used it! Perfect, I’m in!