Above 1200 Sq/FT Project not an eyesore

[jcarapet]

Shop/Pool
Got a call from Mueller buildings and was told other than a few boxes of screws that they have everything ready to ship to me. I am more than excited about that. Having to assemble it in August in Texas? Not as excited...

Concrete work is well underway. The team started last week and while they measured slope and got an estimate, I don't think they were anticipating the pool company to set the deck height as up where it was. To be fair my wife wasn't either. She got one look at where the slab was going sit and had a freak out moment. Our goal has been from the beginning that this would not be a neighborhood eyesore and this is pushing it. Like everything on this project, we will figure it out.

Anticipated pour date was Friday but will be pushing it off so I can learn how to spell, then do plumbing rough-in.


First load

Forms starting to go up. As you can see there is about to be a lot of dirt delivered.


With the unanticipated height, I realized that I was going to have to do a slight modification. The Green was where I was planning on adding a walk door which I would have to climb into. I am going to have them pour a walkway when they do the driveway next. Also looking at him adding an additional small pad to hold compressor and dryer outside of shop space. Just don't want to sacrifice the square footage and noise.



Up to date with today. This is approximately 20 trucks of fill down, another 9 to go. Supposedly will be done with fill work by tomorrow and then I can get to work.

 

[jcarapet]

Some general shop notes and planning around toys when it's done.

I am pretty much deadset on getting this combo for an air compressor and dryer. I want it outboard of the shop so I don't lose square footage, and want the noise under control.

5 HP Air Compressor with 30 CFM Air Dryer, 1 Phase, Silent Air System

EMAX carries a wide select of quiet air compressor packages, including this 5 HP air compressor with air dryer and silent air system.

emaxcompressor.com

It's pricey and overkill for my future CFM requirements, but the noise rating on it is a critical factor for me in a residential neighborhood.

My question for the compressor area pad is.

• How big should pad be? Plan is frame around it and add a few inches of rockwool sound deadening insulation. Ideally would be able to service both components without too much issue.

I also need to get back to concrete person regarding the thicker rebar for 2 post lift. Where ideally should I place it? I'm thinking tucked to one side right about the midpoint (30 out of 60 feet) would be a good spot. Maybe 5 feet off the wall. Logic was;

• room in front to allow smaller cars to pull in.
• Should allow room for upstairs apartment? I'm planning on putting it on back half and being a 15 X 33. 15 feet should be enough to still have room for a newer model pickup right?
• 5 feet will allow walk room as well as tool storage on the side. Do not want to eat too much into open space if possible.

 

[driftpin]

Also, 3 Duke C.S. majors? Well done.

No, two U-Miami electrical engineering majors, one computer science major, then U-F for law school, for the last-one. Like The Rock says,

It's all-about The U!

​

Incidentally, Dwayne Johnson didn't start on the U-Miami football team, due to the depth of the program. He played just-after HOF member Russell Maryland, winner of the Outland Trophy (awarded to the best defensive interior lineman in college football), and along with Lombardi Trophy winner and All-American Warren Sapp.

​

You are making good progress with the fill and the excavation for the electric. The pool is looking good. Our pool re-model will have a larger swimming area and a smaller spa than that.

 

[jcarapet]

Ah, my mistake. Regardless still a win as a parent. The U 1 & 2 are still one of the best 30 for 30 documentaries.

I appreciate the work they have done so far. Putting together a list to grab tonight and a full weekend of plumbing rough-in and verification to come.

I like our pool, but if I was to design and do it again i would move the spa a bit further back or extend the shallow end a few feet. It's a good sized pool, but the ledge eats up a big chunk of wading and partying area.

 

[jcarapet]

Footers and Beams are done being cut. Have some stair forms waiting to go in and my plumbing and they will start on rebar


Green sticker from the electrical inspector. Just had to run some mule tape. Now I have to find a 3" locking nut and a couple other odds and ends and I'll be good to go. Concrete trucks are driving over where I need to trench next section, so have to wait until slab get's done before that.

 

[ned911]

If you are putting a waterfall in or having the spa flow into the pool make sure you have a way to turn it off. We have a waterfall between the spa and the pool (can't turn off), this causes a large amount of evaporation. Obviously this summer is a bit different but I'm having to fill at least 3 times a week. Normal summer its once a week.

 

[svhamelly]

Wow, great looking plan and looks like you found a GC, congrats!!!

We just finished our garage build and slight house reno a few weeks ago... I started looking for designer/GC in Sept 2018
Even pre-pandemic it was impossible to get a return phone call or email
Finally found one in 2019, he drug his feet for a year on the design (partly my fault for not pushing more), so we parted ways in 2020 and the search for new GC re-started... got a recommendation from a friend and everything went as well as can be expected from there... garage door took 6 months, but it finally did arrive.

Now the next project... a dock... got several recommendations and sent emails and made phone calls... crickets... here we go again

 

[jcarapet]

Ned911, Thankfully no water features. We talked about it and realized we didn't really care about having them. Just wanted a clean, basic rectangle. Auto-fill came standard with the builders.

svhammelly, we found a pool builder but I'm operating as PM and a decent amount of the GC jobs for garage work, which is overlapping quite a bit more than I'd like into handling PM work for pool. This weeks negotiation is if running the water line off house to shop/pool is in my purview or theirs. A little annoying considering how much I'm paying. What if I wasn't building a shop? You would definitely be on the hook folks.

Best of luck on finding someone for your dock. I'd say start tackling that yourself, but that's a big enough undertaking that you want someone other than yourself on the hook

No real updates this week. Stair forms on backside of pool are going in today. concrete guys were nice enough to use the skid steer and rip out a couple of cedar trees I was going to remove later in about 5 minutes. Threw a 12 pack of beer at them for their troubles.

Fencing started coming in, but that's another industry where it's hard to get people to call you back.

Oh yeah, One of these finally showed up in stock so I snagged it. Now I have to start finding a spray foam person

MRCOOL DIY Mini Split - 54,000 BTU 3 Zone Ductless Air Conditioner and Heat Pump with 25 ft. Install Kit, DIYM348HPW03C28

MRCOOL DIY Mini Split includes everything you need to cool and heat three different rooms. You'll be sent: 48K Multi-Zone Condenser, three 18K Wall Mounted Air Handlers and three 25 ft. Installation Kits. The best part about all of this is that you can install it yourself!

www.premiumhomesource.com

 

[jbrentd]

I felt the same way with my GC. He or his "foreman" only showed up 3 times and those corresponded with the 3 checks I wrote him. I am please with the finished product, but it was me keeping things in line sometimes.

 

[jcarapet]

Unfortunately, today was one of my more difficult days as GC on the shop. Started off early and had most of the plumbing rough-in laid out before 7:30. Thought I was off to a productive day.


Unfortunately that's when we started noticing an issue with the amount of fill. In the contract we agreed to a 6" slab and I expect some variance on that. Really a 4" would do me more than fine in most situations. When we laid out a string line to set the bathroom wall and where the sink drain would be we noticed a bit of an issue. There might be a 1/8" sag on line but it's as tight as a banjo string.



As you can see, the edges are within tolerance and what you would expect.




The center sections are, uh, slightly less...



It gets worse


Needless to say we had to shut down plumbing rough-in until we could get that sorted out and work off a revised grade. I called the concrete contractor and tried to be as polite as possible and sent him all the images. His first reaction before seeing the photos was "i'm finding that hard to believe as we checked everything with a laser level and it was 5 1/2"-6" all around". Well, it's not, and they have a lot of work ahead of them to fix the problem.

Alerted pool builder so they could check on their own as well. Having a lot of emotions and thoughts about this. ***** because up until this point he has seemed on point and someone I could just let handle things. I have gone out of my way to provide them with gatorage and water on the site. He has seen me working alongside, knows I'm particular, and knew that I was going to do the plumbing work. Did he think that this wasn't going to come up? Moral of the story is always check your contractors work. I know I will be double checking everything including spacing, what type mix he orders, everything from here on out. Just have to do it in a politically correct manner to let everybody save face.

 

[eastmtn]

I imagine that most of a GC's job is keeping subs honest with what they agreed to do. Maybe they were flat earthers and refused to taken into account the curvature of the earth. It's a good thing that you caught the mistake when you did. There will be more gotcha's guaranteed.
On my project I thought that the builder had put up the wrong trusses based on the drawings I received and was gearing up for a conversation to make them take it down and redo it even though the roof was completely done. It turns out that the engineer had instead emailed me and submitted to the county someone else's drawings with my name on them. Like you said earlier, check their work during and after.

 

[jcarapet]

I imagine that most of a GC's job is keeping subs hones with what they agreed to do. Maybe they were flat earthers and refused to taken into account the curvature of the earth. It's a good thing that you caught the mistake when you did. There will be more gotcha's guaranteed.
On my project I thought that the builder had put up the wrong trusses based on the drawings I received and was gearing up for a conversation to make them take it down and redo it even though the roof was completely done. It turns out that the engineer had instead emailed me and submitted to the county someone else's drawings with my name on them. Like you said earlier, check their work during and after.

Lol, that's a a good enough joke where I'm tempted to say it to them. And that's a bit of an oversight with your plans. I could totally see why you would get worked up on that. The shampoo bottles in your shower must have gotten quite a talking to if you are like me.

At this point I'm debating where this fits on the line of Hanlons razor whether it's malice or ignorance. Regardless it forces me in the drivers seat. He is going to lose a couple days of renting equipment on this, so will have to check his concrete ticket on the mix he orders and validate that he isn't cheaping out on that or amount. Don't want a situation where he doesn't order enough and we get a cold joint, especially when temps are 105 every day.

 

[jcarapet]

Still some concrete drama. The contractor came Monday and said "well, we double checked and our forms were off by 1.5 inches on one side. We are going to raise that side and dig down the rest to get it to level".

Me: That sounds like the start of a plan. Are you going to dig down the footers and beams to account for the dig down?

Him: Oh, well we have always planned on doing 24" and don't worry I over dug them already

Me: (having dug my fair share of ditches lately and know what 24" looks like) hmmm, are you sure about that?

Him: Oh yeah, see here is the beam right next to your string line. Measures in. 19"

Him: Huh, I guess some dirt must have fallen in right there.

Me: Right...

I have my dad who was a builder for 15 years walk up and we repeat everything that he said and agreed to. Proceed to leave him alone for the day and come back out to look. Rather than dig down any of it he just slapped a 2x4 on the top of the form where the shop slab was and walked away. Not on the porch section that is attached to shop mind you. Just the bare minimum necessary. I don't know what his plan is but it looks like he is trying to create a giant fishbowl where water drains back into the pool.

At this point he has proven he has proven he is willing to say one thing, do another, and let measurements prove him wrong consistently. Not that a 19" vs. 24" beam will make a huge difference, I just want when you say something that it has some truth to it. Regardless, warm and fuzzy feelings and not double checking his work are no longer a thing.

I got the pool builder foreman out to the site, walked him through my complaints, and we agree that this is no longer a misunderstanding but a problem that affects both of us. I am going to proceed with plumbing rough-in work this weekend and we are all going to meet Monday to have a come to Jesus discussion on what the plan is.

As part of double checking I had to take time out of my workday to bust off my survey skills I haven't used since cub scouts. Didn't two point calibrate, but at this point I'm going to blame it on a transit that is older than I am and likely predates the Reagan administration



Amazingly, the mini-split package arrived Friday evening. Yet another thing to occupy the garage for the time being. My wife is ready to get her parking spot back.

 

[jcarapet]

I was hoping that my next update would provide a more positive update, but unfortunately I am not the bearer of good news in this instance.

After almost two months of back and forth it is obvious that my concrete contractor has walked from the job. There is a lot more detail that I will spare from people, but this person has been inexperienced and unable to handle this level of work, bad at managing their company, and unable to tell me the truth about the situation. All things that happen and are the contractors problem, but I have also started to be harassed by subcontractors to the concrete contractor as he owes them money from mine and other jobs. Not only is he causing me problems, he is making his problems my problem.

Unfortunately this is a good learning lesson in contractor negotiation, vetting, and in this instance the nuances of mechanics liens. The sad reality is we are so near the finish line I can almost taste it. I am genuinely one day of cleanup and one day of pour/finish from being done

Working through a list of recommended contractors at the moment. It is going to be an interesting breed of person who wants to take over this kind of situation and I can trust their work.

I am curious for people who have dealt with flatwork people, what kind of questions do you use to vet concrete contractors in this instance? If I don't get traction on this I might create my own post in flooring.

 

[jbrentd]

Man, that hurts to think about how close you are to being finished with the concrete and to have to deal with that situation. Hoping for the best.

 

[DeeDubz]

Damn OP thats a bummer, Ive found that most... not all contractors have some sort of shadiness that comes along. Most of the time of recommended contractors come by word of mouth by someone I trust. OF all the times Ive had people do work for me theres always something that they do that im not happy with. You waste a lot of time arguing with them. Because at the end of the day they dont give a ****. Its not their house/project. They just want the money. I'll give you an example. I have one contractor that I trust. Hes done multiple jobs for me. But it seems every job hes done theres something little that Im not happy with. I have yet to find the perfect contractor. If I do I'll send him your way.

 

[jcarapet]

After a long drawn out situation, going to bed tonight will provide a level of contentment I didn't realize i was missing. The drama of the last few months finally came to a close. Not with delivery from the people who originally bid on the project, but someone who took over it.

While far past the final straw, the turning point was when we decided to call the contractor after another week of no shows and no response. When we got a hold of him unfortunately for the contractors luck he had somehow ended up at in the hospital but was hoping to be released in the next day or two. Please keep in mind that when we called the hospital to send flowers to his room that nobody in the entire hospital system was registered under his name.

Already knowing that we were going nowhere slowly, we started taking more assertive action on finding a replacement person that would want to take on an abandoned project. Thankfully, a family friend had a connection with a local homebuilder who used a flatwork company exclusively. It was literally a recommendation Monday, look at site Tuesday, cleanup work Friday, and pour the following Tuesday.

Admittedly soured on some subs it was just so freaking nice to deal with for a lack of a better term, freaking adults this route.

First day they not only showed up like they said they would, but were waiting outside at 6:45 for light to show up



This was them blowing out the footers and beams which truly did make a difference. All the prep work made them seem like they gave a hoot about the end product.

 

[jcarapet]

The actual pour day (today), everything went as smoothly as you could expect.



6:45 the pump truck showed up ready to go.




8 AM the crew was fully assembled and ready to go. Talking with the foreman they had apparently done a 300 yard driveway pour the day prior.



First footer.



more in progress



closer to the end



working on the smooth finish from the shop slab and putting a brushed finish for the porch.

 

[jcarapet]

Overall, it went pretty well. The concrete guy initially estimated 60 yards. My math had it at 92, and we eventually ended up between 85-90 yards poured. The one thing I wish I could have done a better job was adding water to the mix. the crew kept trying to push a higher slump on the top slab for workability and I kept saying no. Everything around that was a negotiation game and I am hoping it worked itself out.





views from my slab



started watering everything immediately. Holy cow that is a slippery surface.

But no mind me, I'll just enjoy the nights stars FROM MY NEW FREAKING SLAB!

 

[wannabelikemike]

Looks Awesome, I know you are happy to have progress again!

 

[jcarapet]

Thanks likemike. My wife commented on a huge difference in my mood and interaction ever since the new crew showed up. Don't realize how much mental burden you are carrying until it's over sometimes.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the shop arrived a couple weeks ago exactly as scheduled. Couple more pieces missing but should be able to ship it to me pretty quickly.



The guy running the forklift was a pro. Watching him weave between poles and tree branches reminded me of the laser evasion scene in Entrapment



27 days of concrete curing to go. Goal is to try putting it up mid November before Thanksgiving

 

[jcarapet]

Curing seems to be going well. The slab portion is looking good with the porch section getting it's fair share of surface cracks.

Rented a mini excavator to dig the rest of the electrical and gas/plumbing trenches (done with the hand dug attempts). payload was within my trusty F-150's rating, but this was the first time towing that I have felt it actually feel the load. Between that and the cam phaser issue that has recently reared it's head it makes me wonder if a 3/4 ton upgrade is in my long term future.

 

[jcarapet]

General question before I open it open it up to other sections of the forum. I'm all in on interior cladding, whether it is 3/4 ply or just another round of R-panel. Where do you route your electrical/air? I've seen some setups that are everything behind panel, just electrical behind, or everything on top. I'd prefer as much hidden as possible but realize I might need to add a circuit so curious what the real world results say.

 

[jblnut]

Just read through the thread while waiting at the end of the field for grain wagons to get filled and I really like what you're doing and am excited to see it all come together!!

I wanted a nice clean look to my walls in the shop so I ran as much as I could in the slab underground as far as electrical goes. The electrician branched out from wherever the pipes came up alongside the walls. Since I'm up in Central MN I have very well insulated walls and didn't really want anything inside them. I put 2x4's inside the poles and then regular white roof steel on the walls. I seriously debated putting 3/4" plywood on the lower 8' but didn't because I thought it'd be harder to clean. Looking back I really wish I did. At least in the welding/fab/working area. Screwing stuff to it would be soooooo much nicer than dealing with steel.

In your case with the slab done I'd do a nice EMT setup and have it all exposed. Don't let anyone tell you "bah, you'll never add stuff. I planned for it 30yrs ago and I just make it work". I've had the sparkies out here 4 times to run more circuits in the last 2.5yrs. I ran way more underground home runs than I thought I'd need but at the time conduit was cheap so I figured I may as well.

In his new houses woodshop my dad hung 3/4" plywood on the walls and put sheets of flat metal over it. The place that makes our roof steel is only a few miles away and he purchased some "unbent" stuff from them off a coil. Cut to length and everything. It turned out really well.

Looking forward to more updates !!

 

[jcarapet]

Thanks jblnut for the compliments and good advice. I planned a few dedicated conduit runs in slab for following but realizing I should have done a couple more. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that.
- pool subpanel
- AC
- Compressor (putting in secondary shed with refrigerated dryer)
- bar area and point of hot water heater.

I would have liked to run another one to where I'm putting the bathroom but I can make do with some EMT runs in the wall

Planning 3" spray foam and an additional 3-6" of batts, so won't have that much room as well. I think you might be right on external EMT runs on extra circuits. Put a couple of the major ones in the wall. It could be part of the aesthetic for

Good to know on the plywood. I wasn't sure how steel panel holds up to hanging things off of it, but that might seal the deal even with more cost. All I know is I didn't want to do drywall. I'm not kind on things and would gouge it in no time.

 

[jcarapet]

Fun weekend. I wish I could make decent money playing with diggers all day, but my work is far from something people would pay me for.

Started by running a string line and painting with marker tape to try to keep a straight line for conduits.



Running the excavator went pretty smooth after that. Even with me fumbling with the controls I had a majority of the first run dug in less than a couple hours.



There was a lot of rock in the back 30 feet, so the breaker really paid for itself. That part ate a huge amount of time.

As per usual I had my site foreman watching eagerly. He got a little carried away looking at the dirt pile and looks like he got into some booger sugar.



Time got away from me so had to finish up on Sunday. The first 75' run had to get down to 3', but the back section thankfully didn't have any rock and only needed to go down 2' for the gas line.



The Concrete crew forgot a 20 LB sledge which was helpful for breaking down forms. It was also further proof that I need to get back in the gym.

Lot of nails to pull, but thats a problem for another day.

 

[jcarapet]

Been a quiet few weeks waiting for the concrete to cure. The wife and I have been busy with a trip out to Maine, friends wedding, and an Aggie game filled with disappointment. Maine is absolutely gorgeous in the fall, and will not complain about the quality of craft beer.



Now onto the stuff people are interested in.

This week is going to be a big busy week.

- Forklift and scissor lift are scheduled to be delivered this coming Friday. Taking the next week off and have a few people lined up for assistance throughout that time. Safety safety safety will be the fun part.
- Propane is scheduled to be installed on Friday as well. Woot!
- Ordered Ghostshield earlier this week and it already arrived. Color me impressed. I might see what I can get started with the 4500 densifier to be ready to put down the 8510 quickly.
- Was able to put in the conduit for the run from meter to shop electrical. Have an electrician ready to run the wire and may end up paying him to do a bit more as my plate is getting pretty full. I have the trench partially buried and am going to run my gas line from tank -> pool about 12" above the conduit on the opposite side.



To be ready to go I started moving a couple of the beams to their proper place. I also have a large pile of road fill left from the previous useless concrete crew that I had to dig a ramp for the equipment on friday. Thankfully that will be highly useful for building out the driveway and a couple smaller pads.

 

[Juiced06GTO]

Looking good man! Hope fully you got to try some Maine Beer Company "Lunch" while you were up this way. It is by far my favorite IPA.

 

[jcarapet]

Looking good man! Hope fully you got to try some Maine Beer Company "Lunch" while you were up this way. It is by far my favorite IPA.

Thank you! We went there and that venue is gorgeous. And I certainly did have a "lunch" among several others. Second dinner and Mean Old Tom were quite good as well. It's nice to have a designated driver for a bit.

 

[jcarapet]

With the shop slab finally cured enough, I took last week to finally start assembling it. Fair warning this is a big photo dump.

The day before we received probably 3 inches of rain which made conditions nasty for the start of everything.

Here I found out that the fill wasn't as compact as it needed to be after the rain. Whoops.



Also earlier in the week I did get the propane tank delivered and lines run in my trench. Filling it is coming at a later date.

 

[jcarapet]

Day one started crisp but was thankfully sunny. Lot's of lessons in the process of putting things up. You can look at the plans carefully and watch a million Youtube videos, but no excuse for good experience onsite. It was a bit slow going but the name of the game was safety so not that big an issue.

 

[jcarapet]

Day two we started getting into more of a rythm. I also had a friend join me who had done a barn assembly years ago and helped speed up the process. Had another friend the day before, but unfortunately we were all trying to figure it out at the same time as instructing him.

don't have many photos from the day, but here is one where we are setting one of the sidewall beams. Upside down... That burned a bit of time to fix.



End of day was a pretty good progress point to hopefully setup the rest of the week for success.

 

[jcarapet]

We were making progress a good chunk of the week, but unfortunately the weather was not on our side for a good chunk of it. I would say we lost the better chunk of 3 days due to rain. I truthfully don't understand how you northerners can work in the kind of cold conditions. I can handle cold and I can handle wet. I cannot for the life of me handle a combo of the two.

One of our "time saving" ideas was to place all the purlins for a length up at once. That was not a good use of time when you have a scissor lift that can do it faster than you can navigate it around. The view from up top was nice. Whomever gets to stay in the mezzanine apartment I will eventually build will have a nice view.



Started setting the porch columns but found our first mistake. The plans accounted for a 1.5" drop from shop slab to the porch. The assumption that I missed was that they expected the porch to be completely flat as well. I had the concrete people add a 1/8th inch slope to point to a linear drain. I figured it would be necessary to account for any water from the pool. Unfortunately it mean that my columns were a bit off. Not a big deal, have them temporarily set and will be welding the bases in place once we have the height laser set in.

 

[jcarapet]

Most of the rest of the week was little stuff like getting the structure square and little eaves set. We were bogged down in that minutiae for a bit longer than I would have liked considering. Both my dad and I are active, but a desk job, inexperience, and us getting older had us moving slow by the end of the week.

On a (slightly positive), the pool company finally decided to get someone to pour the pool deck they had promised.



It's done, but I am pretty pissed off by the quality of work that they did. What makes me even more angry is that it's all details that I called out, had the foreman come onsite, and said address this before the pour. He looked me in the eye and said "trust the process" for that. Well, I never did but I let it happen anyway. Now I get to permanently stare at your laziness and lack of care to detail. We paid A level pool money, but I think unfortunately we just picked a B to C level pool installer. Lesson learned for everybody that if they say it will get addressed before, make sure it is before it's permanent.

 

[jcarapet]

It's now monday and i'm losing my help back to real job and holiday week. Current standing.

- All heavy pieces of the frame are up
- Structure is plum and squared up for sheet
- 2/3 doors are hung. The third would have been, but we didn't realize until after that for our 10' wide X 8' tall opening they sent us an 8' wide x 10' tall opening. Going to send us a replacement on Wednesday.
- organized and unpacked all the sheet and trim. Going to try to sneak in a couple days this week before family time for the holidays.
- giant mess of cardboard and plastic trash filling up my cans.

Overall I have been pretty happy and impressed with the shop delivered. minus the 1 door mishap (them) and the porch columns being the wrong height (me) it has gone pretty smoothly. I had to field cut 2 pieces on the bolt holes, but think that was a result of the pour, not them. Of all the pieces, the most I saw one out of measurement was a 24 foot piece and it was off by 1/16th of an inch.

Hoping I can steal some time away to start putting sheet up.

 

[jcarapet]

Thanksgiving was good. Went down to San Antonio to hang out at the sisters place and family. Wife has a heck of a cook in her husband.

Meant to get started on throwing up some sheet today, but the 15-20 MPH winds were not helping at all in putting things up safely so had to postpone. Shame as wife and I sold our Aggie tickets today to try to focus on the shop. Oh well, i'm currently getting to watch on TV and not get chilly.

 

[loganb]

Just found this build and played catch up...going to be an awesome space for the entire family!

 

[jcarapet]

Thanks! It's going to take a lot of time to get it "complete", but getting it done in phases will help me better craft it to my needs.

Sunday was a much better day in terms of progress on wall sheets. The wainscot adds a nice "pop" to the building aesthetic, but greatly adds to the time in putting it together. Probably could have been done with all the walls by now if they were a single piece. Once we got the system figured out it went up pretty quickly.



Don't have help again until this weekend, so going to take what daylight hours I have this week to install the man doors and try to fill up the trench so we don't have to position the ladder around it. I'm sure my neighbors will also appreciate reducing some of the mess as well.

 

[Weldman]

No control cuts in the slab Yes concrete cracks, but best to control where it goes.

 

[jcarapet]

Yeah, a little peeved about that one. I told concrete guy I wanted saw cuts and he said his guy was coming next day. Never showed up. By then it was too late.