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  1. J

    Poured concrete building

    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.
  2. J

    Stupid Things You See People at Work Do That Make You Shake Your Head

    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...
  3. J

    Tossing out an idea and looking for feedback

    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%...
  4. J

    Tossing out an idea and looking for feedback

    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...
  5. J

    Tossing out an idea and looking for feedback

    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...
  6. J

    Tossing out an idea and looking for feedback

    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...
  7. J

    Tossing out an idea and looking for feedback

    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...
  8. J

    Tossing out an idea and looking for feedback

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

    Tossing out an idea and looking for feedback

    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...
  10. J

    Hoist ?

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

    Another Jeep Garage - 20' x 25'

    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.
  12. J

    Compressed air in concrete?

    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...
  13. J

    Another Jeep Garage - 20' x 25'

    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.
  14. J

    covering the top of a work bench???

    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.
  15. J

    16' door on 20' wide garage: shear walls?

    Save your money and build your own. I believe your assessment is pretty close to being correct, however pay attention to how the wall is tied to the foundation. Do a search, as this topic was discussed on GJ about 2months ago.
  16. J

    Need help identifying a wrench

    It's a Duro-Chrome. I picked a 7/8", 2036 at a pawn shop a while back for 25cents. It has Duro-Chrome on the opposite site. I really like the look/style of the wrench but the beams pretty thin. Because it's lightweight, I believe that they were not made for indrustrial work.
  17. J

    Trenching time/speed?

    Just curious why you did it in two passes! Most rental trenchers auger the dirt right next to the trench. To make a second pass you would have to walk the trencher over the newly extracted soil from the first pass. Or did I miss something.
  18. J

    Scissors Truss Overhead Door Help Needed

    Holy ****!!! Don't walk away from this contractor, RUN. Try your local garage door company. I installed scissor trusses in one bay of my garage and had the installer run the channels as close to the bottom of the truss as possible. If I remember correctly, they ended up about 4" below it. It...
  19. J

    Trenching time/speed?

    As everyone has stated, your soil conditions determine the time needed. I did a 6" x 48" trench 260' long in less than 4 hours with a walkbehind trencher. I had a lot of rocks and the soil condition was sand mixed with clay. I wouldn't think at the depth your digging that time would be an...
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