Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT 25 x 43 Shop Addition in Chandler

[Slowbuilder]

Long time lurker, infrequent poster. But I'm getting started on the addition to my 20x28x8, adding a 25x43x14.5 extension. It will primarily be used for auto restoration, light welding, some woodwork, and whatever else needs to be done.

I ordered a building from Rhino Steel Building Systems, in Denton, TX. It arrived today, and my son came out to help me unload it. I'm still wading through the permit process - even though we are in an unincorporated area, the county has to get it's pound of flesh.

First, some shots of the existing structure:

 

[Slowbuilder]

...and now some shots of the unloading process, and the resultant puzzle pieces

 

[mrycar]

congratulations on the material arrival.

 

[1949 caddyman]

Will it be erected on the slab it’s sitting on? What is its height?

 

[Slowbuilder]

Thanks, Mr. Y!

49: No, a new slab will be poured abutting the existing slab. The new structure will be open to the old, and a 16 x 10 door will be accessed from underneath the canopy where the parts are stacked. See the attached sketch.

Height is 14.5 at the eaves and with a 12/2 pitch, about 16.5 at the peak.

 

[plain2car]

nice delivery slow build! it looks like you might need a hand or two for completion.... it looks like your first helper is checking for something in his pockets! LOL!!!!
Well the county will eventually get tired of your flesh & move on to another victim... make sure to give shout out when the approval process is done & ready to begin the construction...

congrates on the new addition!!!

 

[Slowbuilder]

Thanks for stopping by plain2! I'll let you know when the county finishes their permit thing (re-submitted yesterday), and we'll schedule the assembly party! Wes said he is up for the challenge as well.

 

[Slowbuilder]

Maricopa county came through with the permit!!! I'm working with my concrete guy to get on his schedule. Just in time for the holidays!!

 

[1949 caddyman]

Nice Christmas present

 

[Falcon67]

Commence countdown, we are go for launch!

 

[Slowbuilder]

Happy New Year! The excavator got in touch with me on New Year's eve, and we set a start time for 8am January 2nd. They got started right away, but after getting the level set where it needed to be, the west section was too wet to compact well. The 3/4 of an inch of rain on the 31st hadn't soaked down through the clay I guess. So they dug out the wet stuff, and spread it out to dry and let it sit for the afternoon and night.

 

[Slowbuilder]

After a rare night of frost in Chandler (29* or so), they were back at it, things had dried out enough so that the soil compacted appropriately. Now we're ready for concrete forms!!

 

[rburke65]

Wow....looks like you ar3 going to have a great 2019!

 

[Slowbuilder]

Too wet to dig the footers (turndown) today. In Arizona!!! Whodathunkit??

We'll try again on Wednesday.

 

[mrycar]

progress, stop doing those rain dances now.

 

[rattle_snake]

Off to a good start. Are you going to do as much of everything as you can or hire parts of it out?

 

[Slowbuilder]

Off to a good start. Are you going to do as much of everything as you can or hire parts of it out?

Thanks for stopping by, Rattle_Snake. I read through your build earlier; I like the quality and attention to detail of your work - Plus, I wanted to see if there were Phoenix-area things that I hadn't thought of.

My plan is to do as much as possible, with the help of a few friends. I've hired out the excavation and concrete, but I think that's going to be it. The structure build looks pretty straightforward, and I'm handy enough to do the rest (I think).

 

[Slowbuilder]

progress, stop doing those rain dances now.

Thanks for stopping by MrY! Sage advice from the expert, I'd say.

Believe me, if anything, I'm doing anti-rain dances. It looks like things are drying out.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Great start, in for the progress.

 

[Slowbuilder]

Great start, in for the progress.

Welcome aboard, Outlaw!

 

[j p smith]

Welcome from west Phoenix, looks like you are off to a good start

 

[TTMotorsports]

Nice work. Going through maricopa county permitting process here in a few weeks. Who did you use for excavation and concrete. Trying to find a contractor for my 50x80 building in north Phoenix

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[C91x]

Looking at your yard reminds me what Mesa,Chandler, and Gilbert used to be like. Everyone had an acre or more and now its all HOA's and Californians. Good luck with your build!

 

[124ci]

Looking forward to more pics. I to am just starting footings. The rain keeps getting in the way though. TTmotorsports, I am using "Lone Mountain Concrete", located in north phoenix. They did my house and also doing my garage. 3 pour, and a good price I thought.

 

[TTMotorsports]

Thanks for that contact info I'll give them a call next week after I get my foundation plans.

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[Slowbuilder]

It finally dried out enough here to start digging. The excavator showed up Wednesday noon, unannounced. I got a text from the concrete guy saying "The excavator is at your house, and the dog won't let him in the gate". I contacted my wife, who was able to run home and put the dog in the house. The excavator was able to dig the trench for the turndown and the piers.

He did a nice job, and stayed away from the conduit runs, leaving the section behind the existing shop for the forms guys to dig by hand.

In the last picture, it looks like my dog misjudged the length of a jump required to get across, and knocked some spoil back into the trench.

 

[Slowbuilder]

Welcome from west Phoenix, looks like you are off to a good start

Thanks, J_P. A slow start, but things should start moving quicker now (or at least MY speed...)

Nice work. Going through maricopa county permitting process here in a few weeks. Who did you use for excavation and concrete. Trying to find a contractor for my 50x80 building in north Phoenix

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Thanks, TTM. My concrete contractor is Foundations Concrete - PM me and I can give you his contact information. He's been great to work with so far, he typically does high-end home builds in Flagstaff, but in winter does more work in the valley. You're probably 30-40 miles closer to his Flagstaff home. He is building a house for himself in my neighborhood. Good luck with Maricopa county - It took me 6 weeks and 3 submittals to get the permit through - but it was all online.

Looking at your yard reminds me what Mesa,Chandler, and Gilbert used to be like. Everyone had an acre or more and now its all HOA's and Californians. Good luck with your build!

Hey C91x - You're probably thinking farther back than the 27 years we've been in the valley, but I hear you. We used to drive down to near where my home is to escape the city light pollution to watch the meteor showers... Now it's all HOA's, block walls, and streetlights.

Glenn

 

[Slowbuilder]

The forming crew showed up Saturday morning, (Carlos, Donato, and Eduardo led by Leo). They made quick work of setting the forms, and then it was rebar bending - 50 20' sticks of #4. They knocked off about 3pm, with everything done except the form along the open slab to the northwest - that one slopes down to the east (yay!), so the building slab will be almost level with it (slightly above) at the west side, and 2.5" above it at the east side. That and the welded wire mesh. They will be back Monday afternoon to finish it up.

 

[Slowbuilder]

Then it was my turn. I stubbed out the conduit for the electrical feed from the existing sub-panel. Then, my son Jordan came out this morning, and we set and located all of the anchor bolts that we could. There are 12 more to do, but the forming must be complete first. Lots of measuring, checking, measuring again, checking again and again. I want them to be right so we don't have issues setting the steel for the building.

We did find two errors on the anchor bolt plan from the engineer - Wrong bolt size transposed from the Rhino drawings, and an incorrect bolt spacing pattern on one of the corner posts. The bolts for that particular column also interfere with the rebar - I'll have Leo take a look at it tomorrow afternoon. I plan on verifying everything one more time tomorrow, checking what we have done against the Rhino drawings. I sure hope we can get this right!!

 

[Slowbuilder]

Leo and his crew returned Monday afternoon, and finished up the forming around the entry door from the existing slab, and my friend (and Junior County Inspector) Jake Kehlenbach helped me set the rest of the anchor bolts. After seeing the last center column bolts in the daylight, I decided to improve the support to it so the plate could be shimmed to level. Jordan helped me do that Tuesday night; I think we are ready for the inspector now. He should be here within the hour!

Ok, the doorbell rang just as I typed the last sentence. We passed the monopour inspection - we are ready to pour!!!

 

[1949 caddyman]

I would cover the bolt threads with tape etc. to keep concrete off the threads. Looks nice!

 

[Slowbuilder]

I would cover the bolt threads with tape etc. to keep concrete off the threads. Looks nice!

Oh, good call, caddyman! I can see where that would save a ton of frustration later. The bolts are well oiled, but I think a couple of rounds of duct tape will hang on, and come off easy once the concrete is done. This forum is chock full of good information, and folks who are willing to share!

 

[cmgtstan]

Aluminum foil is even easier then duct tape to install and remove. Used on commercial construction projects all the time.

 

[readhead]

Good job so far. I noticed they stopped the sheeting notch at the walk door. A lot of people miss that. We usually don't install the bolts at the doors for various reasons and install wedge anchors later when erecting. I'm so jealous that you can scratch a groove in the dirt and make a building. We have to trench 36"-48" deep around here. PM me and I can give you some tips on erecting.

 

[Slowbuilder]

Aluminum foil is even easier then duct tape to install and remove. Used on commercial construction projects all the time.

Thanks, CMG! The hits just keep on coming! When I wrote "duct tape" I was thinking about getting the adhesive residue off, and lo and behold, the thousands of years of combined experience on GJ have a better idea right at hand! Aluminum foil it is!

Good job so far. I noticed they stopped the sheeting notch at the walk door. A lot of people miss that. We usually don't install the bolts at the doors for various reasons and install wedge anchors later when erecting. I'm so jealous that you can scratch a groove in the dirt and make a building. We have to trench 36"-48" deep around here. PM me and I can give you some tips on erecting.

Readhead, I'll certainly send you a PM about erecting. I can use all the help, tips, tricks and downright cheats that you can supply. We did have to scratch an 18" groove in the dirt - but the concrete guys thought that was overkill. My man door is marked "field locate" on the drawings; I can see that if the owner wasn't there to locate the door when the forms are set that they would just make the notch continuous. I'm not committed to the J-bolts for the man door until we pour (I could always pull the bolts and supports off). We're not going to move it with the notch already set - what other reasons do you use wedge anchors rather than setting the J-bolts???

We were set to pour tomorrow morning, but I called it off. Not having a laser level, I stretched some strings across the top of the forms to get a reference plane to set the bolt depths. I happened to notice that the depth between the top of the ABC and the string was much less than the 4" that I expected. I did some other spot checks and saw as little as 2 1/2". I called the concrete guy, and he said he would send the crew out to recheck the level. They showed up yesterday when no one was home (again, I got a text that the dog wouldn't let them in). They apparently defeated my fierce guard dog (likely by allowing themselves to be licked), and scraped a bit off the top in the center. They were gone before I could get home. I did my string check, and the only areas that are more than 3" - 3.5" are along the edges. Another call to the contractor, and we agreed to cancel the concrete order, then meet and do the string check Saturday morning (he's in Flagstaff until today), and we'll reschedule the pour for next Saturday.

I hated to delay another week, and I don't want to be "that guy" that questions everything the experts say and do, but I won't have a chance to re-do this if it isn't right, and I'll sleep better if I am convinced that we have a good 4" overall and 6" to 7" where the lift columns will go.

 

[Slowbuilder]

Good job so far. I noticed they stopped the sheeting notch at the walk door. A lot of people miss that. We usually don't install the bolts at the doors for various reasons and install wedge anchors later when erecting. I'm so jealous that you can scratch a groove in the dirt and make a building. We have to trench 36"-48" deep around here. PM me and I can give you some tips on erecting.

PM sent

 

[readhead]

The reason we don't set the door bolts is that more than once the owner has decided to move things around, sometimes just a few inches, and then if it is before the pour we are moving bolts or after the pour we are cutting them off and installing wedge anchors. I learned early on that it was just easier to leave them out. The concrete finishers will also like you more.

 

[Slowbuilder]

The reason we don't set the door bolts is that more than once the owner has decided to move things around, sometimes just a few inches, and then if it is before the pour we are moving bolts or after the pour we are cutting them off and installing wedge anchors. I learned early on that it was just easier to leave them out. The concrete finishers will also like you more.

Ah, we're set on the door location. I think the train has already left the station on the concrete finishers liking me - They've already had to make 3 extra trips, one because they didn't bring enough #4 rebar, one because the couldn't get done the first day, and one because I made them come back to verify the level, which will be a wasted trip they will likely have to do again (trip #4) if I can read a tape measure. They don't like working for a homeowner (amateur GC) who won't just take their word for it. I get that - it's more work.

 

[mrycar]

How goes today’s work?

 

[Slowbuilder]

How goes today’s work?

Mr. Y, you are clairvoyant! As of 4:18pm Friday afternoon, there wasn't going to be much work on Saturday, just stringing the forms to check the depth of the slab. At 4:19, I get a call from my wife - "Guess who just pulled into the back yard?? It's Leo, he said they want to get this slab on the ground." I rushed home, and the crew (including the contractor himself) were there, scraping down the ABC. We checked all over the formed area, and the slab depth now looked good. We're on for an 8:00am Saturday pour!

This meant I had to be out there in dark Saturday morning (Friday was my son's birthday, and we had an evening planned) putting in the stubs for future plumbing, and wrapping the bolts with aluminum foil.

Leo pulled in at 7am, and said he got a call from the concrete plant at 5 that we were scheduled for delivery at 7:30. He had some last minute forming to do (we had mis-communicated about the presence of the siding notch to the west of the east rollup door), and at 7:35, the first truck arrived.

The pouring actually started a little before 8, and went pretty smoothly. That's Nick (the contractor) manning the chute (and directing the truck above).

The order was for two trucks, with 10.5 yards on each. When they were both empty, it was still about a yard shy, so a third delivery of one more yard was ordered.

You can see below the amount that wasn't covered by the initial 21 yards.

After about an hour wait, we got the last yard; that did the trick. we had almost no overage - the cleanout area was mostly just cement (not much aggregate). Here's the crew, working feverishly to get the last yard poured and screed so that the finishing can proceed on the whole slab. Well, except for my friend (and co-inspector) Jake Kehlenbach!