Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT The Garage at The Place in The Valley (Garage Condo 45x23x20)

Greg_STL · Jun 27, 2017

@Silk560 - I had a good laugh - thanks, I needed that.

I stopped by today and no work was done but a forklift was parked in front of my unit. My guess is that the steel will be delivered tomorrow and they needed something to lift the steel off the delivery truck.

Unfortunately, I'm on a business trip tomorrow out of state. My wife promised to stop by and take some pictures if the steel gets delivered.

I also decided to create a separate new Flickr album to cover the pictures of the Condo Build Out. The link is below and I also added it to the first post of this thread. There are only a couple pictures so far but hopefully that will change....

Flickr The Place - Unit 25 Build Out Album

jay8s · Jun 27, 2017

EEEEE it is all happening! So excited to see this step start!!!!

Greg_STL · Jun 28, 2017

Cyberstalking early in the day.

First pic from my wife.

I'm at the airport now getting on a plane. I'll get more and better pics tomorrow. Bad timing on my trip...

Greg_STL · Jun 29, 2017

More Pics from the first day of steel mezzanine construction...

A picture of the stairs:

You can see the hollow pans on the stairs that will be filled with concrete.

A close-up of the post base plates:

And one bonus picture - I had to laugh when I saw this one my wife took. One of these is not like the other....

There are many more pictures in the Flickr album - see link in first post.

Greg_STL · Jun 29, 2017

So I got home tonight from my trip and I had to go down and check things out. It looks like they finished out the steel that was delivered in the first batch. Mainly it looks like the front railing was finished up. The sheeting for the floor is there but the joists running front to back in the unit haven't been delivered yet.

You can see a couple more of the posts for the stub wall on the front of the mezzanine have been welded in. There also looks like a turn buckle was set up to help true up the back posts.

I took a picture under the posts / base plates. It looks like they are shimmed for now. I'm guessing at some point when all the flooring gets in place and everything is leveled some material we be put in this gap for a permanent install. Sorry for the crappy photo but it's hard to get real low to look under the base plate.

The county made us put up a railing on the drywall side too. I think they may not have blocking in the wall to support the railing. Something to watch to see how they solve.

We got a call today asking where to put the dumpster tomorrow for the concrete they are going to pull out hooking up the water/sewer. They pulled off some drywall to make sure they knew what they were tying into.

The sheeting to hold up the concrete floor until it cures is here. We just don't have all the joists that will hold up the sheeting.

One final shot from under the mezzanine looking back to the front of the garage.

I'm very happy to start seeing real progress. I almost wish there wasn't a holiday weekend coming up. Then I remember my job and I'm glad I've got a 4 day weekend!!

Blackie94Gt · Jun 29, 2017

Someone should place non shrink grout under the columns when they are done.

If there is no blocking in the wall and I'm thinking there probably isn't, you could get them to snap a line on the wall at the bracket elevation and mark the brackets, then cut the drywall and install 2x6 or 2x8 wood blocking or run a strip of sheet metal then patch drywall and they'd have something to attach to. Either that or they have to remake the wall rail and use a posted rail that would weld to the stringer. If You use sheet metal make sure they use lags for sheet metal and not wood. I wouldn't use toggle bolts, they'll hold just long enough for the check to cash.

The stair is really long, surprised they didn't put a landing in, I don't know the mezzanine height but looks real close to limit.

Cool space. Great hangout spot.

readhead · Jun 30, 2017

At 12'-1" total rise there should have been a landing. Hopefully the inspector will let it go since plan check missed it and approved it. The steel fab looks good and the installation is well done. Cutting out a strip of drywall to install backing for the rail isn't a big deal. There will be other drywall repairs anyway. The columns should be grouted before the concrete is poured for the deck and stairs although in this case I wouldn't worry about it if it was done later since the columns are so small.

Do you have to sprinkle under the deck and stairs or do drywall? I bet you are pretty excited to finally see some progress.

Andy

JettaGetUpandGo · Jun 30, 2017

readhead said:
At 12'-1" total rise there should have been a landing. Hopefully the inspector will let it go since plan check missed it and approved it.

Worst case he's at 12'-3" assuming a max 7" rise with 21 risers. Even if the risers are 6.9" that would be enough to get him under 12'-1".

I would imagine the stair fabricator and/or the architect knows the local codes and would have warned him if they were broken.

Greg_STL · Jun 30, 2017

The height restrictions on the mezzanine were a known and discussed issue. The mezzanine floor was set at least one inch lower than what was the max before a landing mid-stair was required. A landing part way would have pushed the stairs too close to the entrance of the unit. A lower mezzanine would not have allowed a two car storage lift to fit under the mezzanine. As it is the short cars need to be the lifted vehicles to make sure you don't top out on the bottom of the mezzanine floor. I've stated here a 12' lower and 8' upper split of the 20' total height but that was always just rounding....

*edit* add picture of drawing showing stair section. Floor to mezzanine height 11' 11".

readhead · Jun 30, 2017

Somebody caught it and revised the plan. One of the other plans had 12'-1". The fabricator probably caught it while they were doing shop drawings.

Greg_STL · Jun 30, 2017

If you were looking at these plans (a picture my wife took earlier this week), then the 12'1" refers to the long metal beam (runner) to which the individual steps are welded. It is not obvious but there are two leader lines up at the top - one goes to the top of the mezzanine floor (labeled 11'11") and one goes to the top of that runner and is labeled 12'1". The 12'1" draws the eye because it is on the outside of the drawing.

To me, the big question is how tight of a tolerance did they build it given those shims at the bottom.... Hopefully, it will all work out.

Greg_STL · Jun 30, 2017

And now for something different. They broke through the concrete to hook the sewer pipe up. The cut seems bigger than necessary but not that crazy. What I do not get is why they kept digging. Did they think the water line was in there somewhere??? The water pipe comes in from the back wall not here.
The only other guess I have is to put in an s-trap to keep the sewer smells from coming back up but I'm not sure even that would need to be this deep.

Greg_STL · Jun 30, 2017

@redhead - I got distracted by the stair discussion and didn't see your question on the sprinklers/drywall. Sorry. The support poles get x-braces on each side and between two poles on the right side at the back to meet seismic code. After that a stub wall gets built over those x-braces and poles so that the underside of the mezzanine will have smooth walls and no steel showing. I think the steel studs and drywall may form a structural role as well. And, yes, the sprinkler system will be extended down and be under the mezzanine as well.

readhead · Jun 30, 2017

The deep hole is kind of curious. Maybe they need to bury a body. Thanks for the clarification. Sounds like you have potential maximum exposure according to the building department. All the structural steel has to be covered and sometimes that is enough but in this case they want any flame spread knocked down right away. I have always thought that it is odd that the structural steel has to be protected but the stairs that everyone is using to get out don't have to be.

Greg_STL · Jul 1, 2017

The county has not understood the project at all. As a result, we have seemed to have the worst of every zoning configuration they could throw at it. There is no wood in the construction at all. Everything is steel and concrete (and drywall). And even with that, the sprinkler systems duck under the garage doors and get extended under the mezzanines. I'm envious of some of the other condos that I have seen built with all the wood in the construction. I was just looking through the "Thomas' garage projects (Canada)" thread and I was amazed at the amount of wood used in stairwells and mezzanine construction. If there is a silver lining, these should be robust spaces when they are done....

TomcoPDR · Jul 2, 2017

Greg_STL said:
The county has not understood the project at all. As a result, we have seemed to have the worst of every zoning configuration they could throw at it. There is no wood in the construction at all. Everything is steel and concrete (and drywall). And even with that, the sprinkler systems duck under the garage doors and get extended under the mezzanines. I'm envious of some of the other condos that I have seen built with all the wood in the construction. I was just looking through the "Thomas' garage projects (Canada)" thread and I was amazed at the amount of wood used in stairwells and mezzanine construction. If there is a silver lining, these should be robust spaces when they are done....

I'll take more detailed pics of the sprinklers at my garage condo when I'm back in my hometown... they're like every 3' apart. Probably because of the wood built used.

Greg_STL · Jul 2, 2017

@TomcoPDR - I like seeing details but by no means was I trying to imply your facility was not done right. It is our facility that seems to have gone completely overboard.

TomcoPDR · Jul 2, 2017

Not at all. I just meant, these garage condos has to be built under commerical zoning, that even at our size 1,200-1,500 sqft. That some equipment and requirements are over kill. Like my bathroom has to be accessible as well, same width, i lost a car width's space, my width under the mezzanine is (feels) so tiny once you're in the unit in person. Sure it's nice and high 12'-13'. But I don't own any vehicles nearing that lol.

Greg_STL · Jul 3, 2017

I took the four day weekend. Being off, I decided to stop by the unit to see if they were working or also took the long weekend. Couldn't say I would blame them either way.

No work was in progress, but the dumpster showed up that they will use for the rest of the construction. Not a big deal but continued forward progress... yea!

The dumpster is a about as big as my unit! They put it outside - otherwise it would have filled the unit. At least it is a short walk from the unit to the dumpster.

Bib Overalls · Jul 4, 2017

Looks like you are going to have a solid mezzanine. The plumbing mystifies me too.

Greg_STL · Jul 4, 2017

In anticipation of more photos and posts, I did some clean-up on this thread today. I moved the index to the second post and updated the index to put links through the last week. I cleaned up the first post to removed the index and added some pictures of the completed complex so that first time followers will have an idea of the finished product. The pictures that were in the second post (my PowerPoint plans for the interior) were moved to post 14 where I put some additional plan view PowerPoint plans. I also went through the whole thread and cleaned up a few very minor items.

Hopefully, we will have a lot more picture posts to follow over the next two months....

shortykorte · Jul 4, 2017

Would you do the same for my thread? [emoji23]
Looking forward to seeing the space turn into your space.

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Greg_STL · Jul 5, 2017

So not huge progress made but some more snooping *might* have solved some of the mystery of the hole.

First, they cleared out some of the rubble.

They worked on the blocking for the railings. They cut small areas of the drywall out and put blocking in for the hand rail.

The hole got squared out at the bottom and generally cleaned out more.

My daughter saw this drawing sitting on the floor. It shows how the water and sewer lines come into the individual units. At first glance, it looks like there are two parallel lines for the water that run in my unit and the unit behind mine. However, if you look at it closer, I think that only the line in unit behind me is a real water line. I've highlighted it in the second picture to be more obvious. If they are looking for the water line, they will not find it in that hole.

Without Highlighting:

With Highlighting:

What do you think?

shortykorte · Jul 6, 2017

Isn't the water line poking out of the wall?

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Greg_STL · Jul 6, 2017

shortykorte said:
Isn't the water line poking out of the wall?

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The lines in the wall go up to what was the shower and will be the bar. They need to make the connection from the lines in the wall to the county water supply.

Greg_STL · Jul 6, 2017

The the first thing we saw today was a new set of plumbing plans for the whole complex hanging on the mezzanine cross brace wire.

When I walked around the dirt pile; surprise, they found the water!

And they filled the dirt back to a more reasonable depth.

Here is a close-up of the actual water valve.

I probably should have called after the first day. I just didn't know what they were doing for sure. I didn't want to annoy them if they were actually doing something else.

One last shot for the day - The dumpster is seriously bigger than needed....

shortykorte · Jul 6, 2017

I'm kinda surprised they didn't have a scrap pvc stubbed up marking location. Good the plans aided in finding the right spot.
On the dumpster, just wait, others will magically fill it when you're not looking.

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Greg_STL · Jul 7, 2017

shortykorte said:
I'm kinda surprised they didn't have a scrap pvc stubbed up marking location. Good the plans aided in finding the right spot.
On the dumpster, just wait, others will magically fill it when you're not looking.

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Actually, they couldn't because the walls were poured into forms nailed on the floors. If they left a pipe out at every water and sewer location we would have lots of funny features in our walls!

I'm joking a bit. With some advance planning, the original builders could have left unpoured a small area in the corner of each unit with the sewer and water hook ups there. They did exactly that on the club house. But advanced planning was not a hallmark of the original prime. To them it was a white box and any customization was to happen after they were long gone.

shortykorte · Jul 7, 2017

Gotcha. Onward and upward to the good part of the build.

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Greg_STL · Jul 7, 2017

So upwards it is. The floor joists were put in today.

Just the area under the mezzanine is bigger than my garage at home by quite a bit. I so badly wanted to walk up the stairs and see how things looked but I had visions of me knocking everything down like a big stack of dominoes. That wouldn't happen but its not worth getting hurt or messing something up either.

Some details of the ends where there are hangers that tie to the beams:

And finally, this stack of material so they can keep working. My guess is these pieces are for the stub walls that will enclose the vertical columns and the cross braces. I am also assuming the metal sheeting that is on the left in the first photo will be the mezzanine floor decking and "shot-in" like the ceilings were on the building.

Greg_STL · Jul 10, 2017

The corrugated steel for the mezzanine floor got installed today.

An interesting feature is the welded on braces underneath the mezzanine where each vertical post is located on the mezzanine stub wall/railing.

The handrail on the drywall side got installed too. It is rock solid which is nice to see.

I figured it was safe now that the shear panel was put on the floor. There were lots of dusty foot prints on the stairs so I certainly wasn't the first person up. I didn't walk out on the steel decking but took photos from the last step.

The decking looks screwed down. It is a little hard to see in the second photo, but the corrugated sheets overlap with a set of screws going through both sheets where they overlap. Of course from the bottom, the screws go through the floor joists.

I'm really hoping that they get to pour the steps, mezzanine floor, and plumbing repair on the main floor this week. I think they can get there but it will depend if they need to do the x-bracing and stub walls before they can pour the concrete. Even then, they might get to it by Friday.

SiGmA_X · Jul 10, 2017

That is really surprising to me regarding the plumbing. I guess it makes sense with how the building was constructed, I just figured it would be closer to the wall or something. Like you said, the original builders were there for one purpose and your guys get to do the detail work!

Lookin' good, sir. I'm happy to see your unit finally getting built out

shortykorte · Jul 11, 2017

Nice to see floor going in. How thick will the mezzanine concrete be?
The joist look about the same size I used above my office so I'd have a second floor. What is the size and length of the joist?

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Greg_STL · Jul 11, 2017

@ SiGmA_X - Thanks for keeping up with the thread.

@ shortykorte - I'm not positive of the thickness. The mezzanine is 15'x23' and the joists run the short distance so something just under 15'. I didn't measure the depth but they look like 8" +/-.

Greg_STL · Jul 11, 2017

Not much exciting to see today but it does appear that tomorrow or the next day will be a big day. The plumbing got connected for both water and sewer. I find that exciting but I fully understand that it is not that exciting for most following this thread. They didn't really connect the water to the pipes in the walls but at least it is re-located into the area that the under-mezzanine stub wall will be located.

They put plastic up all around the upper deck and along the stairs. My guess is that this is to keep concrete from splashing on the walls and stairs and make clean up easier. Fingers crossed that the concrete pour is tomorrow.

SiGmA_X · Jul 11, 2017

Are you going to have a ceiling fan to push hot air down in the winter?

Greg_STL · Jul 12, 2017

There will be a 96" Hunter 6 blade fan.

I looked at the macro air and the big a** fans but the price was much higher - although the fans were much nicer. This is just $799 at Menards and seemed like a good fit for my space. It has an outdoor rating and 8' is probably as big as I want before I get too close to my lights.

Greg_STL · Jul 12, 2017

And it does look like the pour happened today. Yea!

Greg_STL · Jul 12, 2017

The stairs and mezzanine were poured. I've got pictures of the steps only as I was not going to touch anything!! The floor cut for the plumbing was not poured. I do not know why but I guess they may want to get everything settled first and make sure everything works before locking it in by pouring concrete over it. It really is nice to see progress daily.

Hopefully, in a couple days I can go up and get a feel for how everything looks from a new perspective.

cangusfarm · Jul 12, 2017

[emoji106]

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Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT The Garage at The Place in The Valley (Garage Condo 45x23x20)

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