The Skunkworks Build begins

[Bib Overalls]

That is not a retaining wall. That is an extension of the Maginot Line!

 

[bluesman2a]

nice....very nice. Mind if I ask the cost?

The cost is probably not the best I could have done since I had to use multiple contractors and all the mess with the original people (there's a thread on that eleswhere).

Essentially the break-down is:
$15K in the foundation/site work/materials
$12K in the rest of the wall.
I still need to back-fill and do the drainage which will be in the $2K neighborhood all-tolled.

I'm absolutely certain I could have gotten it done cheaper, but I look at this as a very expensive lesson. One I am not soon to forget. It's my first major construction project and while it started badly, I was happy with the end and the final product.

That is not a retaining wall. That is an extension of the Maginot Line!

Well once I got into it, I took the position "in for a penny, in for a pound". I incurred some extra cost because we changed from a 10" wall to a 12", added a second matt of rebar, and 7 dead-men. I'm positive this was all over-kill but I had no faith in the engineer at that point so I went with my gut. Ultimately I didn't go for the vendor who could build me the cheapest wall, I went with the one who I felt could build me a wall I would NEVER have to mess with again in my lifetime.

So unless the Germans send a Blitzkrieg over the top in airplanes, I think we're good for a while!!

 

[walleyed]

Nice, looks like they did a great job on the wall. Glad you found the right contractor to get it done.

 

[BoCRon]

bluesman2a, looking good! I'm glad to see you making some real progress. It was probably too hot earlier to enjoy it anyway.
So if you don't mind my asking, what part of Atlanta?
Annette

 

[bluesman2a]

Thanks Annette! You're right, it's been WAY too hot, but I drove to work this morning with my WINDOWS DOWN for the first time in at least 2 months!!!

As for where, we're on the edge of Lawrenceville, not far from the Mall of Georgia. If you know the area, we're North of Hwy 20 on Braselton Hwy (124).

 

[bluesman2a]

So we started back-fill today. Had 16 tandem loads of fill, with 2 loads of #57 for the drains.

After the drains and the 1st couple of lifts:

The remains of the old/pathetic retaining wall:

The bob-cat artist... I've known this man a long time, but I never realized the skill it takes to run one of these things as well as he does, always a pleasure to watch!

Every now and then it never hurts to have a little, green wacker...

Some more new pics here:
http://www.sjmembers.com/gallery/album59?page=4

I'll be adding more over the next couple of days as things progress.

 

[Will67]

Does your County/building inspection unit require a compaction test?

Some geo-tech company comes out with their nuclear gauge to see just how compact the soil is...

 

[cyclopsblown34]

Is the person in the photo qualified to use their little wacker?

 

[bluesman2a]

Is the person in the photo qualified to use their little wacker?

His: yes. Mine: not on your life. I firmly believe what you do with your own little wacker in your own back yard is your OWN business.

Does your County/building inspection unit require a compaction test?

Not sure, I don't think so, but we've been doing pretty conservative lifts because there will be a slab on top of some of the area and I didn't want any settling issues. Of course it helps that the dirt has been near optimum for compaction in both content and lack of junk.

 

[C_F]

His: yes. Mine: not on your life. I firmly believe what you do with your own little wacker in your own back yard is your OWN business.

I'm with that!


I didn't know those Wacker's were remote controlled, purty cool.

 

[bluesman2a]

Well, the back-fill has been finished about a week and they started forming for the foundations today. Here are some more progress pics:

Went to the home-show this weekend and found a company that's gonna come out and put in a 10 X 12 portable shed here for the wife's tractor and lawn junk.

Forming up slab:

Setting up for new sidewalk:

If all goes well, I should have a slab by this evening... I'll post some more updates...

 

[bluesman2a]

Well, we've had some slab-drama. Some of it's in another thread, but long-story short:

• Slab pour started off fine, first truck unloaded and they were screeing it out.
• Had to leave the house for about 30 minutes and came back to the second truck already unloaded.
• The second truck had 1-2" of water standing on TOP of the concrete.
• The original truck in the back section was fine, but the wet stuff still hadn't set well enough to finish in EIGHT HOURS.
• Met with the concrete company today and they are gonna come jack-hammer out the new slab and replace it with the correct spec concrete. The concrete vendor is going to eat the damages.

Pictures:
first part of the pour, things still going well

Second part of the pour where things started to ger f'd up, this is about an hour after the concrete was poured from the truck:

This is probably the worst part with about 2" of standing water on top of the cement mix:

Notice how this looks like a LAKE on top? That's cause it IS. Again, about an hour after the pour.

Here's what it looked like when complete, it's hard to tell, but there's a distinctive color change from front to back.

So the slab was so wet they couldn't work it that night. They came back the next day, threw out some sack-crete and put a skim-coat on the surface. This is what started happening within about 8 hours of THAT:

While I'm not HAPPY about the situation, the concrete people are at least being decent about the whole thing and haven't put up a big deal about tearing it all out. So at least they are willing to do the right thing.

 

[Bull]

Sorry to hear of the screw-up. I know that during my build, I was anxious about each stage being done correctly. Glad to hear they are going to take care of it...throwing on the sack-crete and skim-coating would never have satisfied me, since I'd be afraid that the underlying material had been weakened from being way too wet.

By the way, whenever I see pics of concrete work, there always seem to be a lot of guys involved. When my floor was done, it was just one guy, the owner of the company, doing all the work. I thought that was cool.

 

[cwolfley]

what the heck happened to your concrete. they put to much water on it....

 

[rock_climber]

Herb, there is a water shortage in Atlanta, and you are ordering concrete with too much water in it.

Good luck with the next pour.

James in NC

 

[03bluesilver]

I know when they poured mine, it showered right after they got it in.It was not enough to hurt anything.Glad to hear they are willing to stand behind there work!!!

Keith

 

[warehouse360]

They probably siphoned the rest of the Chattahoochee to add that skim coat to the top of your slab...

Herb, there is a water shortage in Atlanta, and you are ordering concrete with too much water in it.

Good luck with the next pour.

James in NC

 

[bluesman2a]

They probably siphoned the rest of the Chattahoochee to add that skim coat to the top of your slab...

Naw, I don't think they did that... A) there ain't THAT much left in it B) my slab doesn't smell like sh!t like the CrapeeCuchi does

Looks like they should be out on Tuesday to begin the demo on the bad slab.

 

[bluesman2a]

More progress today (if you want to call it that), they got started on the slab demo...

1st attempt... Hammer the shyte out of it with a track-hoe (failed):

2nd attempt.... we gonna get a lotta air in here:

3rd attempt.... two jack-hammers running constantly for about 4 hours:

 

[Namocsid]

Well shoot, if hammering on it with a trackhoe wouldn't break it up, it was probably fine, shoulda left it in place!



Glad to see more work in progress!

 

[Bubbles]

who pays for the removal?

 

[bluesman2a]

OK so it's been a while and things have been rolling right along, here are some update pics:

Hard to believe we're in the middle of a drought here in Georgia, here's the old slab gone:

Rebar down and ready to pour (you can see the piers I had them put in for the lift in the closer part of the slab):

Poured (the original spec on the slab was 8 yards, the new section with turndowns is a little over 16 yards):

Framing package was delivered last night and framers showed up this morning. Took off all the extra junk and started the first wall:

 

[bluesman2a]

Based on what the new GC is telling me, should have it decked and ready for tar paper by Saturday. Monday it gets tar-papered, tuesday is house-wrap, and roofers on Wednesday.

And I sure hope he's right, I'm READY to start MOVING now!!!

 

[bluesman2a]

Wow, these guys are fast... 1st wall already raised. They've been here for a little over an hour and a half now.

 

[cdrewferd]

Great progress. Can't wait for more pics. Glad you got them to replace that horrible pour for free.

 

[bluesman2a]

So when I got home from work this evening, I found all four walls up, sheathed, the joists set and before they left, they had probably 90% of the rest of the roof structure in place.

Notice when I had them frame in the garage door openings, they set the header at the top and framed down to the opening. This will allow easier access later if I want to have a taller door.

From behind/below:

 

[bluesman2a]

Another update from before work this morning:

 

[Namocsid]

Neat idea on the garage door header. Planning for those things you "just might do down the road" is always a good idea.

And I still really like the upstairs door on the existing garage.

 

[bluesman2a]

Neat idea on the garage door header. Planning for those things you "just might do down the road" is always a good idea.

And I still really like the upstairs door on the existing garage.

Thanks for the kind words. While I'd like to take credit for that kind of forward thinking (<forrest gump>I'm not a smart man</forrest gump>), but honestly I picked it up here on the forum. I'm sorry, but I don't remember who specifically gets the credit, but you heard it here first!!!

The upstairs is a bit funny. We bought the house about 8 months ago. The house and the property really suited our tastes/needs, but there were some finishing touches that were certainly lacking. We've been steadily working down the list of stuff that needs to be taken care of. This is something that has never really been a priority yet. The original shop had been decked upstairs and obviously a door and window was installed to make it a "bonus room", but there were no stairs. We didn't need the space, heck we use the bonus room in the house as climate controlled storage. Also take into account that in the long term, I want to build a 10' bump-out accross the back of the existing shop and any stairs I put up will essentially be disposable.

 

[Namocsid]

Would you get in trouble with the missus if you called that upstairs space "the mother-in-law suite"?

 

[bluesman2a]

Would you get in trouble with the missus if you called that upstairs space "the mother-in-law suite"?

Actually, I get along better with my mother-in-law than I do with my dad... The last time the old man came to visit, I told him to bring his tools and arrive early, cause he had a lot of work to get done if he wanted to sleep in a nice place

 

[Will67]

Damn...that crew is fast. I hope when i finally get going on my build that I can find a crew that does not mess around like yours.

Beautiful build!!!

At that pace it looks like you will be ready for electrical by Monday?

 

[bluesman2a]

Funny you should mention that, I was talking to my Electrician after work today. The framing is done and the roof is decked!!! I'm going to be out of town most of next week, so I'm interested to see where we're going from here.

Better interior shots:

 

[bluesman2a]

Quick update:

House-wrap and roofing today...

Friday we get garage doors and siding.

 

[JMURiz]

Wow, that is moving fast, great looking space.

 

[bluesman2a]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I left just after taking these pics on a business trip, talked to the wife and she said they finished the roof today (one guy working by himself from bare wood). It was REALLY hard to leave things today, I started this build back in APRIL. It's been a long road with one thing after another, but it looks like we're finally getting there.

I talked to the local Rotary rep today also and have them scheduled to come out next week and install my shiney-new SPOA10. So if the good lord is willing and the creeks don't rise, I MAY have a functional/secure space by Thanksgiving!!!

 

[bluesman2a]

Update as of today, been outta town since Tuesday:

Came back to a completed roof on Thursday night and siding guys showed up this morning

Siding went up pretty fast, they did all the siding and the soffit/fascia work in one day:

As you can see in this pic and the prior, we did find an exact match on the siding, but putting the new directly next to the old is a BAD match. I'm not going to worry too much about the rear because in the long term it's all coming off anyways, but I'm going to get a price to have the front finished with the new stuff. Also the previous owner didn't wrap the place with anything so we'll take that opportunity to re-do the wrap on the exterior when it's clean.

Also it's hard to see here, but I had them add 8 total mounting points front/rear top/bottom/left/right on the vinyl install, so I would have a place to mount security lights up top and exterior outlets down low.

I'll also get some better pics later, but some friends came over and we mounted the meter base and the disconnects so they could do some nice J-channel cutouts around the boxes. You can see them waaaay in the back on the left side of the building.

 

[Will67]

Looks like you will be pouring a new concrete drive-way soon?

You going to use the same contractor???

Here is to friends that come over to help and only ask for a beer or two for their labor

 

[CRAZYASTRO]

great progress

 

[Richie Carbone]

I like the "Mother in Law" door.