Retirement Home Under Construction

[JDewey]

Long time in the planning, I have started building my "retirement home". It is a 40' x 50' welded steel building with a 24' x 50' overhang on the front. 15' walls with 3/12 pitch roof over the shop with the pitch running front to rear, with a 1/12 pitch on the overhang. Shop doors are 12' x 12' and 18' W x 10' H powered roll-ups with a people door on the front. Front of shop (door side) will have brick up 4' and the front support posts will have brick all the way up (around the support beams). There will be a separate 5' x 10' pad on the side for the HVAC heat pump and compressor mounts. Service will be 200amp, 230-single phase.

I got homeowners approval on Friday, 4/13, met with the contractors on Monday and construction started on Tuesday. On Tuesday (1st day of construction), the contractor cleared and mulched the trees and brush, cleared the stumps and started laying the driveway base material. Good progress for the first day. Some photos below.

 

[A_Pmech]

Welcome!

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Howdy, and welcome!

That overhang is going to be one heck of a 'shade porch'. Is there a 'retirement home' on the property or is one planned for it? What kind of fun stuff will you do there? Looking forward to the progress pics.

 

[Shoottx]

Great pictures, and a good start , but we will want more pictures and a complete explanation as you go.

Thanks from the north end of the Republic.

 

[JDewey]

Ophalo...:
In San Antonio area you will grab all of the shade that you can get. the overhang is for washing cars, to park the trailer under the overhang and do other things that I would rather do outside the shop. Shop doors face due East, so it will also serve to keep some of the heat off the front of the shop. The trees on the other 3 sides will take care of the rest of the building.

The "live-in" house is already in place. After 22 years in the house and nearing retirement, I decided I needed to have a "proper shop" and let the new(er) daily drivers park inside the house garage for a change.

More photos from day 2 (last Weds), land is cleared and graded, driveway base material is completed & all debris from clearing land is gone except for a large pile of mulched cedar:

 

[JDewey]

Day 3 (Apr 18th): Batter boards up; footers dug; met with power company today re getting power to the shop - Bad news! Looks like I will have to add 4 new power poles from the street to the shop, with the meter/transformer on the last pole next to the shop. House is too far away to use the existing meter. Making good progress!

 

[JDewey]

Day 3.5: They only worked 1/2 day today (today is Fiesta Friday - after all - this is San Antonio!), but they did a lot of work. They got all of the batter boards finished and started bagging and filling for the pier and beam part of the foundation for the shop section of the concrete slab. The bagged section on the left is completed down to the area toward the camera on the left side. This will be the depth of the shop. The area in front of the bagged section will be the covered area in front of the shop.

 

[Shoottx]

Following along, keep the pictures coming!

 

[JDewey]

Day 5, Monday, 4/23: They have almost completed the pier and beam filling of the main shop area. The shop will be over the area where all of the slots are in the filling. The front covered area is the solid section closest to the camera and will not have the pier and beam matrix. It just has a piling around the perimeter. They are making good progress. I expect the filling to be completed by noon tomorrow and then they will start in on the rebar and plumbing lines. I have been told that they should be pouring concrete by the end of the week.

 

[Nighttrain]

Welcome neighbor! Congrats on your retirement shop. Looking forward to seeing it built.

 

[Kevin54]

Very interesting build so far. I have never seen anything like this with the bags. What do they put in the bags?

 

[markviii]

Good call on the overhang area. We love the ones we installed on all of our garages/workshops. I'm looking forward to you progress -- and more pictures!

Chris

 

[bluejeep]

I am at the same spot you are in with my Coleman County, Texas barn build except i have been told we will be pouring the slab next week. I will be following this one closely!

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146060

 

[JDewey]

Day 6, Apr 24: All of the bagging & fill done. Sewer line in. Side pad for HVAC heat pump and air compressor framed. Rebar delivered but not yet started. Garage building section is the rear area with all of the cross beams. The covered parking area is the front area without the crossbeams. The pits at the front are the piling mounts for the front vertical building support beams. The slight jog to the outside of the corner piling mounts is so that we can brick around the vertical steel support posts. The odd spacing is so that they are aligned to not block the entry way to the garage doors. It is looking bigger now that they have the bagging done. Concrete pumper is scheduled here for Friday morning.

Kevin: We have lived all around the country and they do foundations differently in different parts. I don't know the technical explanation, but here in the south, people generally don't have basements. The slabs are build so that they "float" somewhat on the ground, or on the solid rock in my case. We don't get much in the way of ground freezes here. The bagged material is about the same as the base material used for the driveway before it is paved. It is gravel, sand, water & some other material that is close to a firm mix when compressed. The trenches will become "beams" for the concrete slab, with the slab poured over the top of the bagged material (in my case to 5" thick). My house was built the same way and in 22 years, I have no dry wall cracks due to movement.

 

[JDewey]

Day 7, Apr 25: They covered all of the fill material and installed all of the rebar today, including the steel plates that will be used to weld the vertical support beams to when they start erecting the building. The separation between the building and the covered parking area is shown as the last beam/pier area and has a temporary form they will use to level the garage floor. Tomorrow they will put in the water lines and Friday they will bring in the concrete pumper at 6:30AM and start pouring at 7AM.

 

[Nighttrain]

They used bags on mine also. Just mis-printed grain bags. They use them as form on the inside of the pour because the sandy soil/fill would never keep shape. Works real well and they just use the fill dirt on site to fill them.

Build is looking great.

 

[JDewey]

Day 8: Not to much to show for today. Everything is getting ready for pouring of the concrete tomorrow. They did install the fresh water lines today and had the electrician ground the rebar/slab to earth. Concrete tomorrow and the steel building material is scheduled to be delivered next Wednesday.

 

[Shoottx]

Yup

When we built our hose they used the same construction method, but we had to have tension cables in the concrete. At least in the north Texas area they are required. I don't know the code in your area do you have to have tension cables in the slab?

Still watching!

 

[JDewey]

Day 9, Apr. 27: They showed up at 5AM this morning with the pumper truck and we had 3 concrete trucks pumping concrete by 5:30 AM. (concrete guys are special!) Work went quickly and the concrete was all in by 9:30. They spent the rest of the day leveling, floating and pulling some of the forms. They guys worked hard and did a great job! Still have some forms to pull. The garage door openings have a ramp style entrance rather than a raised section into the building. That way I don't have to push things (like engine hoists) up over a 1.5" raised lip.

The steel for the building is scheduled to be delivered next Thursday (5/3) and they will start erecting the building the same day. I ordered the powered roll-up garage doors today and they should be here in about 2 weeks.

Picture set #1 of 2

 

[JDewey]

Day 9, Picture Set #2 of 2.

Shootx: I have seen tension cables in some of the homes here, but it is not a code requirement. It appears to be a cost-related item. The shop does not have them.

 

[Thedoc14]

Looks great, now the fun begins.......

 

[TheShrine]

Very interesting build so far. I have never seen anything like this with the bags. What do they put in the bags?

The bagged foundations are pretty common around here. Good to see another Hill Country build! Welcome!

Note the rebar sticking up between the bags and form..they are drilled into solid rock about 12 inches. The vertical rebar is tied to the rest of the slab. Dewy's slab ain't go'n nowhere once its poured.

 

[JDewey]

Day 10: They finishing removing all of the forms today and cleared the ground, brush, etc to run the lines to the septic tank and water line from the garage.

 

[draider]

Looks good so far, Dewey. I'll be following your progress, so keep us updated!

 

[JDewey]

Day 12: I got home after dark last night and couldn't see what work was done; however, here are today's photos. They worked on the disposal plumbing yesterday and today, running from the shop to the existing house septic tank. The contractor called me today to say they ran into a rock the size of a school bus and he needed to get a hydraulic jack ram to break it up enough to put the pipe into the ground enough to keep the flow running at the correct angle, otherwise we would have to add a "poop pumper" between the shop and the septic tank. As a result, he had to invoke the "rock clause", which was not un-expected. They still have to run the fresh water line from the house main line, and I expect it will also have to go thru rock. I was also told that the power company may have to use the "rock clause" to install the poles.

They brought in the lift equipment and the large fork lift for tomorrow's delivery of the steel. The unloading of the steel and the start of the building erection will begin tomorrow morning.

 

[JDewey]

Day 13, May 3: Steel was delivered today, plus roof & wall panels and insulation. This is a "weld-up" building, and they have started sizing the beams, cutting the angles and welding all the tabs to the main beams for the cross "pearlings" or whatever they are called (I have learned that the same material is called different names depending on where/how they are used.) I also picked up the 21,000 cfm exhaust fan to be mounted high in the side wall.

On another note, the power company finally sent me their quote for running the power from my existing power lines (already on my property) to the new shop. I will need 4 poles, including a meter pole. They will not let me mount a meter on a metal building or a "loop" from the pole to the building, so we will have to run an underground feed to the building from the meter. They would not start until I paid for the work, so I paid it within an hour of getting the quote. Then they told me that I also needed to get a septic tank waiver to allow them to install electricity (???). So I went to the county to get the waiver. They told me that they had to come out to inspect my house septic tank to make certain that it didn't need to be pumped and met current requirements and I needed to pay an additional fee for a septic tank renewal permit. I have built the house 23 years ago and have never been told I need to have a renewal inspection/permit, and I can almost guarantee that a 23-year old septic system doesn't meet the current requirements. What a "crock". All of this because I want to have electricity run to my shop. More to come...

 

[Nighttrain]

Texas has really started to look at the septic tanks. Mine is just enough for our house (2000sf) and my garage they want to know how much is AC/heated to add to the SFsf. The septic is engineered fo 2600sf. My interior of the garage AC/not heated is over 600sf. So I will need to upgrade my septic. I have not connected my bathroom yet to our septic. Still waiting to decide what we are going to do. I know my engineer will say to make the septic tank larger. Best luck on yours.

 

[theoldwizard1]

... welding all the tabs to the main beams for the cross "pearlings" or whatever they are called ...

Probably, purlins

 

[Shoottx]

Yup

Ya gotta feed the permit machine with cash. I wish the value of feeding it really provided value, but... oh nevermind. Kicking the soap box back to the center of the room.

 

[JDewey]

Day 14: Today they started erecting the steel frame. I am impressed with the progress of the assembly of the building. The size really doesn't show in the photos, except for the photo with me standing next to the beams. The cross beams are 7' from the slab floor. The side walls of the building are 16' at the low side. To refresh, the garage building is 40' x 50' and the front overhang is 24' x 50'. The best part is that you cannot see any of the building from the road. I have also included a view of the building from the front porch of the house. They also spliced into the fresh water line today and started the trench to the shop, but it still has a way to go. Shop should be totally erected by next Weds. (3 weeks + 1 day since they started clearing the land.)

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Dang, that is one huge building! Can't wait to see what you do with all that space.


Wow, I just noticed that was my 1,000th post; what do I win? lol

 

[JDewey]

Day 15, Saturday, May 5: As I was leaving the house this morning at 7:30 (Saturday morning), the construction crew was coming up the driveway to start work. I did not expect any Saturday work. When I got home this evening, they had completed all of the steel work (except for the fan and window framework) and perlings as well as painted all of the steel. They had bolted down all of the door frames and the angle plates at the concrete to mount the wall sheeting and installed the steel "people" door. Remember, this is a weld-up building and that is a lot of cutting, fitting and welding. It was mid 90's and 80-90 % humidity today. I felt sorry for the guys, but they did a heck of job and worked a really full day.

 

[JDewey]

Day 18, Weds, May 9: After working on Saturday, the crew has not been able to work the last 2 days due to severe thunderstorms. The steel building was hit last night about 4:30 in the morning, but no damage. (Talk about getting my attention!!!)

They worked this afternoon after the rain stopped and put in the steel purlings for the windows and the exhaust fan. They also installed the windows and the fan shutters. The fan wll be installed after the building can stay dry with a roof & walls. They also welded in the steel flange along the roof line (not sure what that is for - I'll have to wait and see what they do). Tomorrow is supposed to be severe thunderstorms all day so I have no expectations for any work.

 

[JDewey]

Day 19: We had rain most of the day, along with thunderstorms. I didn't expect any work to be done today (I wouldn't have done it), but when I got home, I found that they had put up most of the back wall sheeting and insulation.

 

[draider]

Its really starting to look like something!

 

[JDewey]

Day 20: More walls/insulation & trim applied today. Still have rain & electrical storms.

 

[JDewey]

Day 21, Saturday: They worked again this Saturday. They did most of the siding and roof sheeting today, along with the insulation. There is still about half of one wall to complete and some small sections of the roof. They also have to trim the tops of the siding to match the roof and install the trim. The horizontal trim on the front side of the shop is to cover the top of the brick (it will be 4' high along the front wall.) Now that it is (almost) closed in, it gives a better perspective of the size of the shop.

 

[jhexide]

Wow,Its going to be a monster building,
looks good so far..

 

[Nighttrain]

Looking good!

 

[JDewey]

Day 22: The now have all of sheet metal up on all sides and the roof. The trim is almost all on and they should be finished with the steel structure tomorrow if the weather holds (hail scheduled for tonight). They delivered the sand and mortor for the brick work today and are supposed to have that work done by Friday. The electric company called today and said that they have processed the work order for the new power poles, but it will still be 3-4 weeks before they get installed and wired and the meter installed. I am considering delaying the installation of the roll-up doors until I have power and can verify that they work properly (they are powered doors). Once they finish with the building, then I can get inside and do the wall work so we can get the plumbing finished out and the water connected. Then I can get to work on the floor to prep it for epoxy. That will probably take me as long to get that done as it has to get the whole building up.