When the temperatures finally warmed up I spent some time pondering how to do some final grading on the inside. Thankfully and actually quite amazingly given the size of the machine we were using to fill the foundation, the starting point wasn't too bad - probably within an inch..but 1" by 1200 sq' is still a lot of stuff to move!
Unfortunately, the interior was filled with leftover wood, three 10x10 rolling doors packed in crates and miscellaneous other debris. I think I spent a weekend just getting that stuff out of the barn.
I had a high side on the South side and a bit of a low spot on the North side. So, some serious raking, shovelling and wheelbarrowing managed to get things in better shape. I spent a fair amount of time thinking about what the grade had to be given insulation, drains, slab thickness and slab slope...lots of confusion over the seemingly simple task!
I became quite good friends with the the laser level. Being slightly incompetent I think I ended up renting one of these three times, but they really are essential for this kind of work, especially if you are working alone. I was able to mark the walls and a series of stakes and use that to help set the grade. If they weren't so ****** expensive, I;d probably have bought one, but the commercial rental versions are great.
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As you can see I set some slightly deeper spots to add a lift (hopefully) at some later point. I put in some thicker 24"x24"x~9" footings. So I hope to be good to go with that as well.
After spending the spring pondering, I also decided that I wanted to add a drain. I'll be bringing the tractor in with the snowblower / blade and I want somewhere for the melt water to go so that it doesn't freeze the doors shut. Say hello to about 2 more months of work!
In the end I decided to go with three trench drains with one in front of each door. The drains are light duty commercial grade polymer concrete that come in 3' sections. They sell the crappy plastic ones in big box stores, but I was able to track down some good stuff and connect with the company, find a local dealer, negotiate price and then get delivery. Rough-in of location:
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In the end I was really pleased, but I wish I had figured this out before I filled the foundation - it would have saved a lot of work and grief. I went with 4" pipe which was probably overkill for my needs - 3" would have been cheaper and required less digging..but overkill can be good.
I had to remove a bunch of gravel to get the pipe system connected and then backfill it all. Given that I'm lazy, I rented a mini Ex to help with this job (and managed to bang out a bunch of other jobs on the weekend as well). This is the picture of rough placement of the pipes and drains before final positioning and gluing.
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The drain system all connects together with two drains running to a trap in the West wall and the North drain connecting to the same connection. Drilling the 4" hole in the wall made me never want to pick-up a drill again. Again, lesson learned...spend way more time than you think planning and staging the work!
That same weekend, the electrician came by and suggested I dig a new trench for a new power run (vs. using the old run). Made sense to me and the mini Ex made amazingly fast work of the job. In two days I managed to dig the rough areas for the drains, dig a 100' x 4' deep power and water trench, dig a 200' long ditch AND dig a 12' x 12' foundation for a (future job that will likely take an entire summer as well) wood-fired pizza oven! Best $300 I ever spent!
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