Recent content by jamm

Your proposed design certainly looks like it will work, but you should have an engineer take a look at it. With 14' tall walls being 64' long you may need pilasters added to support the side loading.

My training is in psychology, and even I can't figure that one out. Maybe you should have stayed there if your skin is so thin. :lol: Seriously though, take the chair home and get rid of half your troubles. You didn't say you were the employee's supervisor but if you are, get rid of them as...

In general terms, I agree with you. :) The deeper the footing the better the chance of combating frost heave as the footing remains on unfrozen ground. That alone doesn't guarantee frost heave will not crack and damage walls as the soils expand due to freezing temps. Water expands roughly 8%...

1) The area where the house and garage will sit is on top of a fairly large flat topped hill. It has been perked and the result was quite good (don't remember the actual comments) so I'm not too worried about a watertight tunnel floating. It will likely have some type of channeled drainage...

I hate the heat, humidity and geezer golf cart communities more than snow. No offense, just not my cup of tea for a permanent home. Plus we would be away from the rest of a close knit family. Novel idea but I don't want to raise attention to the passageway and it would negate being able to...

Unless I get rid of the wife (unlikely), Michigan will be the main state we will live in. The wife won't move away from the grandkids. I agree, Tennessee is nice for retirees. We lived in Murfreesboro for two years while I worked at a plant that provided the stadium risers for the Titans...

Thanks to all who have responded so far, keep the comments coming. I guess I should have elaborated a bit more about myself. My retirement home doesn't mean that I'm old and fart a lot when I walk. I owned my own precast/prestressed company and sold it to someone who wanted it more than me so...

Now that's what I'm talking about! :thumbup::thumbup:

I'm getting fairly close to my desired retirement age and looking at building my retirement home. Living in Michigan and not wanting to fight the winter snow and cold I'm thinking of putting in an underground tunnel from the house basement to the detached garage about 60' away. Anyone here...

Why not get one of these and be done with it? http://www.harborfreight.com/high-lift-riding-mower-atv-jack-60395.html

It's looking good. I like the first pic, as it looks like the wheelbarrow is tricycle powered. Are you using any type of sealer between the foundation wall and the bottom of the wall? I'm noy sure what the technical term is but it helps keep out drafts and bugs. Keep the pics coming.

DDAWG16: What is probably happening is that air is getting trapped in the hole by the drilling process. If you slightly lift the drill to remove the dust while the drill is still running and then push it back to the bottom of the hole you compress the trapped air and it blows out the dust is a...

Great start, love the Jeep. :thumbup: Your sketch shows an overhang on the front of the garage, just curious what you have in mind. Keep the pics coming.

Nice looking shop! I cannot tell from the angle of the picture but I sure hope you added some additional 2Xs running the narrow direction to keep it from folding over.