Texas Saltbox Re-Do

[TheShrine]

Decided to RE-Do The Texas Saltbox thread known as "The Shrine". The PhotoBucket fiasco deleted almost all but a few of my pics! I'm going with Image Shack this time with a backup with IMGUR. Most of the original pics have been uploaded so here goes nothing......Ignore most dates on the pics. Some correct...some not!

This pic is somewhat recent.....









This is what I started with in 2008.

 

[TheShrine]

The slab was "monolithic" in design but all of the footings were above ground level. The area of build was one big slab of rock! We drilled down 22" in 15 locations within the slab's area and never got to dirt! Therefore the slab was positioned as desired and in each footing a 3/4" hole was drilled every 15" to 20" and rebar was inserted with the intention to tie the entire slab to the existing rock bed. The North East corner is less than 12" above grade. On the other hand the South East corner is just under 5 foot above grade! I knew I had "a slope" to my build site but the visual difference was disconcerting at first. Think about it....a footing 5 feet high, 20" wide attached to The Texas Hill Country lime stone and I planned to stack a 2 1/2 story structure on it!

 

[TheShrine]

The 4 X 4 square holes in my slab are where the 2 Post Lift was to be positioned. I know over kill....but I figured if I was go'n to to build that way....this was the place and time to start!




Notice there is no "screen" in the slab. I wanted to know that every part of the slab was contained within one contiguous rebar connection to the rock bed! I knew, since I am on a huge slab of rock, that there would be no (significant) cracking but I wanted to be sure that EVERYTHING was connected in the case of movement/slipping. I know....crazy over thinking but..............

 

[TheShrine]

 

[TheShrine]

 

[Riley]

Thank you for spending the time to re-do this, it's a great project!

Perhaps some good of the PB debacle is that we'll all figure out safer hosting and be cautious going forward. The down side, they really did ruin the web.....

 

[TheShrine]

Thank you for spending the time to re-do this, it's a great project!

Perhaps some good of the PB debacle is that we'll all figure out safer hosting and be cautious going forward. The down side, they really did ruin the web.....

Thanks!
It has been a time consuming, yet interesting, effort. Posting to both Image Shack and IMGUR has been a bandwidth sucking experience! I'm out in the country and my upload rate is just above a hammer and a chisel!

Studying all the build pics and keeping them in the right posting sequence has been an eye opener.....I did a lot work and planning on The Shrine! My build is a testimony to ..."you can never build a garage/shop that is too big!" I should have built bigger and mine continues to expand.

Oh, and another thing.....IMHO PB didn't ruin the 'ol InterWeb! They taught me to keep safe what is mine and be very careful who I allow to borrow what is mine! Every pic I ever take is downloaded to my Desktop HD and simultaneously loaded on to a 2 Terabyte HD for safekeeping. I don't even trust "the cloud" now! May sound like overkill but there will always be a....PhotoPhucket out there!

Thanks again!

 

[TheShrine]

Foundation is done and the "sticks" are go'n up. I know and appreciate the OSB debate so now is the time for the haters to chime in. My build is wrapped inside and out with OSB all treated with fire retardant!! The finishing touch will be 100% HardiBoard on the outside.






The "tool room" will house one of my compressors and have extra plugs for battery maintenance/charging. The walls and ceiling will be stuffed with insulation and have a solid core metal door. My expectation is to have my TV or surround system on and the compressor NOT be a problem.

 

[TheShrine]

This phase of the build I had committed to a structure and the 2 Post Lift position but I was still "Jonesing" on 110, 220 and air outlet locations.

 

[MacTexas]

Good to see you are back in business posting pictures.

 

[TheShrine]

Good to see you are back in business posting pictures.

......

 

[HOTFR8]

A shame you have to post this all over again but at least we can enjoy it x 2.

 

[TheShrine]

Framing is beginning to shape up. Slab looked huge....framing it started to make it look a bit smaller.

The "Room" upstairs is being wired to be a Theater. All of the surround sound Monster Cable, HDMI, USB cables, flat screen hanger and anything else I think of will be behind the sheet rock. It has a full bath with Kitchenette and a small fridge space. I'm thinking Theater with a beer fridge and a urinal...my Bride is thinking Guest Room with Foo Foo!!!



Extra attic storage. Soon to be filled with...junk!

 

[TheShrine]

This phase always seems to go faster than my "analism" can keep up. I'm think'n that I have time to massage my plan then ......boom, you got 4 walls up!

 

[TheShrine]

Yes...the OSB was sprayed with Fire Retardant before it was wrapped!

 

[HOTFR8]

Looks like I am the only one enjoying this for the second time.

 

[smalltown]

I'm curious how for instance do they get the cement/concrete walkway to look so smooth where the walkway wraps around the building, and the opening I assume is for plantings(4th photo in post #5). If I did something like that you would see all sorts of stones etc.

I'd like to be able to do something similar, with bags using a mixer.

 

[Striker-7]

Following along for the 1st time. Nice build!

 

[bbqandbrew]

This looks like my kind of build. Thanks for posting again.

 

[scraejtp]

Following for the first time as well. What is the size of the structure? Any drawings?

I am in the Hill country and building a pretty similar garage right now. Salt box roof (although not as extreme as yours) with a living area above. Framing will start this week. I will share when the project gets a little further along.

 

[TheShrine]

Looks like I am the only one enjoying this for the second time.

There's a few look'n...not many posting. Sometimes it's better to just look and not talk...dunno!

Glad you R enjoying it!

 

[TheShrine]

I'm curious how for instance do they get the cement/concrete walkway to look so smooth where the walkway wraps around the building, and the opening I assume is for plantings(4th photo in post #5). If I did something like that you would see all sorts of stones etc.

I'd like to be able to do something similar, with bags using a mixer.

Good question! You gotta plan ahead for the clean look with some extra time with a Concrete ********. It's very common in my area but if you know where you'll have exposed concrete sides you merely spend a little more time in that area with a ******** to settle out the particulars and you'll get a nice smooth surface.

In this area, the 2nd pour, up front of the structure, I knew I'd have some exposed walkways ( the rounded area) and we vibrated that area a little more. Make note of the corner from the 1st pour (the slab) just in back of the rounded walkway you'll see some uneven surface with exposed rock. That could have been eliminated by a little more vibrating.



These sides, in the 2nd pour, are the result of vibrating with a purpose. There were 3 pours...1) slab, 2) walkways, 3) driveways.



These back sides were difficult. They are about 5 feet in height but we did pretty good getting it all smooth. We knew it would all be exposed so more time was spent vibrating. I remember the contractor repeating several times..."But it is the back"!

Still..................



Later on, when I get to that part, I built a carport. We did not vibrate that slab because the ******** broke mid job. We couldn't stop mid pour so we forged on with Plan B. There was rocks and gaps on the surface and was....unsightly! While the integrity was there..I did not like the final product so I had them "Skim Coat" over the ugly and it turned out nice.

Before the skimming......



After the skimming....


Hope this helps!

Also go here for an affordable ********... that didn't sound right!!

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-...MI7cCms5jQ1wIVDGZ-Ch2RYwgtEAkYAyABEgLcMPD_BwE

 

[TheShrine]

Following along for the 1st time. Nice build!

This looks like my kind of build. Thanks for posting again.

You are welcome!

Enjoy and ask questions.....There's no way I could go back to the original thread and apply the pics to the postings so.....

This is a handful already.

 

[TheShrine]

Following for the first time as well. What is the size of the structure? Any drawings?

I am in the Hill country and building a pretty similar garage right now. Salt box roof (although not as extreme as yours) with a living area above. Framing will start this week. I will share when the project gets a little further along.

Thanks for following! I'm assuming you mean The Texas Hill Country? It's a 30 X 37 heated/cooled space. 1,110 sq. ft. of shop and garage space and 510 sq. ft. of living space and kitchenette w/ full bath upstairs. It also has 515 sq. ft. of outside lighted/covered storage for yard equipment. I recently added on a 20 X 14 car port for doing the "dirty work. It's been in 4 magazines for various reasons/topics but I've grown tired of always being clean for the photographers. So I don't entertain them any more.

As for plans....yes, but I couldn't get that size of an architectural drawing to post here. With that said, ask away.......I'm full of....answers!

 

[scraejtp]

Thanks for following! I'm assuming you mean The Texas Hill Country? It's a 30 X 37 heated/cooled space. 1,110 sq. ft. of shop and garage space and 510 sq. ft. of living space and kitchenette w/ full bath upstairs.

Yes, NW of San Antonio for me. Mine is a little smaller at 31x27 and has exterior stairs, but the living space is about the same as my saltbox style roof does not start from the garage.

Was already toying with the idea of the lean-to carport on the side like you have added there. It may be some future project for me.

 

[TheShrine]

Yes, NW of San Antonio for me. Mine is a little smaller at 31x27 and has exterior stairs, but the living space is about the same as my saltbox style roof does not start from the garage.

Was already toying with the idea of the lean-to carport on the side like you have added there. It may be some future project for me.

Garage space, no matter how you plan it, is usually too small when it is all said and done. Stand alone metal type shop space can be a whole different animal. When you're "standing sticks"...it' gets expensive!

I also put one set of stairs on the outside. Didn't want the space taken inside on one set of stairs. The other, although inside, is unique in that they are electric/motorized so that I can still have access to upstairs but they have no permanent footprint in the shop.

Outside with a small deck (Old pic, that deck is covered now. I'll get to it eventually....) and over my lawn tractor storage.....



Inside....I'll get that part of the build eventually......






I am forced to be organized in that corner now so the stairs can always be lowered, with out obstruction, from the 2nd floor. Before the stairs were installed it was the Corner of Shame! It is away from easy sight and collected...stuff!



BTW...if you are NW of SA...we're probably neighbors! I'm on Hwy 16 between Kerrville and Bandera.

 

[HOTFR8]

There's a few look'n...not many posting. Sometimes it's better to just look and not talk...dunno!

Glad you R enjoying it!

True. Sometimes though it is nice to post just a simple reply as that help steers what you post and often the direction of the topic.

I never noticed the interior steps before so that interests me as to how you have that set up.

 

[TheShrine]

True. Sometimes though it is nice to post just a simple reply as that help steers what you post and often the direction of the topic.

I never noticed the interior steps before so that interests me as to how you have that set up.

The electric stairs were never posted. After PhotoBucket screwed my threads up I just stopped posting. They had been in the original build plan but I couldn't find an affordable set so "other" projects took precedence. I mentioned/posted my search for the stairs early on because they were integral to the placing of the 2 Post Lift.

Anyway, I found a set, they are in and I'll be posting the install soon.

Thanks for the interest!!

 

[HOTFR8]

I take it that means you raise and lower them with an winch?

 

[smalltown]

TheShrine thanks for that info. That walkway I imagine is about 6" thick does that take a special ******** ? I'm picturing in my mind long vibrators that cement workers use to stick down into the cement forms for a foundation. So I can't imagine what a ******** would look like for a ~6' slab.

 

[TheShrine]

TheShrine thanks for that info. That walkway I imagine is about 6" thick does that take a special ******** ? I'm picturing in my mind long vibrators that cement workers use to stick down into the cement forms for a foundation. So I can't imagine what a ******** would look like for a ~6' slab.

I'm sure there are different sizes and types of vibrators....we used the same one for my entire project. The guy that seemed to have that job did that exclusively. While others were shoveling, spreading, leveling and....what ever, he operated a stand alone compressor, the same one used to drive this Jack Hammer, and went all over the slab concentrating on the footings and the 4' X 4' X 2' 2 Post Lift foundations (shown earlier), spending more time on the exterior footings. He did the same on the second and third pourings manipulating the ******** in a more horizontal for the thinner pours than he did for the thicker pours. One of my driveways is approx. 20" deep next to the slab. It is in the front and has a very even smooth side surface. I thought we might have to skim coat it but the ******** did it's job there as well.

The compressor used for the ******** was at my site for days! It was used initially to vibrate the pours and then to beat down the rock base in between the three pours. This pic shows the location of the second driveway. There were some rock peaks above the level of the initial pour that had to be jack hammered down to get a decent drive-able thickness. Once the slab was poured and we were planning out the two driveways we noticed that the East driveway, once poured and cured, would have acted like an aqueduct on rainy days and filled the shop with water. This pic shows how the rock had to be " encouraged" to be lower than the slab so the drive could be poured with a sideways (Left to right) slant for drainage as well as a "dip" about 10' before the slab...again, to allow the water to go somewhere other than in the shop!



This pic shows the dip 10' out and the slant in the East driveway.



This pic shows this drive/corner today. It has proven to be a challenge but no water in the shop....yet!



Some of the rocks were....difficult!

 

[smalltown]

TheShrine thanks for taking time to explain it to me I can readily see know the difference when concrete is vibrated and not. You photo with the "ugly" was exactly how mine were coming out without vibrating. The entire project looks well thought out and executed !

 

[TheShrine]

I take it that means you raise and lower them with an winch?

Yes sir! I used the same winch concept that I use to pull my camper to the top of the ceiling, 22 feet, and out of the way. I'm up on The Hill by myself, and handicapped, therefore I incorporate any mechanical helpers when I can. I'll get more into the design and implementation of both but here are a few pics of the camper lift set up and the recent stairs (a mix of old and recent pics)....




This is the same camper I just had it painted to match the new truck. Make note of the space between the lift and the wall and how it aligns with the upper floor step through with the STOP sign in it. This allows me to swing the stairs up out of the way...



This pic shows how the same camper set up holds my tool box when the camper is on the truck. I just switch them out. Both/either are up and out of the way....



The stairs are the same set up as the camper/tool box with a winch that I have extended the remote control so both floors can operate. The stairs are the same 12' rolling stairs you see in the big box stores with all of the "elevated support stuff" removed......



I used the 2 Post Lift upper bracing (Another project not posted yet!) to hang the new winch from.....



Attached the winch cable to the bottom of the stairs and up they go....

 

[HOTFR8]

Yes sir! I used the same winch concept that I use to pull my camper to the top of the ceiling, 22 feet, and out of the way. I'm up on The Hill by myself, and handicapped, therefore I incorporate any mechanical helpers when I can.

Even with handicaps I can agree with anything that makes life easier for us.

 

[TheShrine]

Time to put up the HardiBoard. I chose true Board and Batten style. I used HardiBoard Battens rather than Cedar. The inside is covered in OSB with Cedar trim between each sheet. The exterior is also wrapped in OSB and the entire outside is clad and trimmed in HardiBoard. I did, several years later, incorporate Cedar on the exterior between the rock wainscot and the HardiBoard. I also built the entire carport out of Cedar,corrugated aluminum.

I'm trying to post pics as the building went up but I'm finding that challenging!.......













Time to pull power to the structure....

 

[TheShrine]

I mentioned earlier that I am on a rock base. In fact not just the slab location is on rock but the entire area of construction! I had to rent tractor mounted rock saw to get ANYTHING down below 4" to 5". I decided since I had rented the saw for the day I'd just trench for an additional power line and sprinkler system. Make note of the dust and white powder. I spent days on my knees gathering up the small rocks that were the end product of the rock saw....DAYS!!!









These poor electrician "helpers" dug, picked and sweated for 2 days before I rented the rock saw. They still had some picking since the rock saw could get only so close to the walkway and the power pole....

 

[TheShrine]

Get'n the roof on. Way too steep and high for me! Little did I know that a hail storm would take it out a few months later! Nothing special....20 year Asphalt. The 20 year shingle is usually good for 10 in Texas. I considered metal but our over sized sized hail destroys that stuff as well. The build finished in '08 and now in 2017 the roof has been replaced 3 times....all hail related. It actually hailed between the tar paper under layment and the shingle install. Had to replace some tar paper before the shingles could be put down. You won't fully understand it until you've been through it!









After the hail beat down!!

 

[TheShrine]

HardiBoard up and sealed. Now the painting begins. Back in 08, during the initial build, there were significant posts concerning by decision to use 12" X 20' HardiBoard rather than an 8' X 4' sheet w/ cedar battens. I was committed to true "Board and Batten" design/application and to 100% HardiBoard. Grant it, using a 4 X 8 HardiBoard sheet with cedar battens would have been easier and cheaper....I just did not go the easier/cheaper route. With that said, it took a truck load of Silicone and several extra days to seal the structure but it is what I wanted.











IF I made a mistake in this build....it was here!!

 

[TheShrine]

Back inside for some electrical, plumbing and air. Yes, I'm one of those that used PEX for the air! The electrical was stressful in that although the locations were clearly indicated on the drawings I wouldn't allow any junction boxes to be installed until I personally "marked the spot". The drawing was one thing but the true application/need didn't manifest itself until I could walk the area and imagine a car or a project in place and how the plugs would/could be used. Example = didn't consider the plugs up high for my neon signs. Several of those are 10 feet up. I hadn't yet picked out an auto lift...2 Post or 4 Post or exactly where it would be placed and where the 220 power need would be. So...I put 220 on each side of where I knew the lift would be...one side installed down low and the other up about 9 feet. Since I was using PEX, I knew I wanted drop downs for in-line moister in between the 6 legs. I just had to explain/describe the drop downs location and use and that was that. With that said.....I have never gotten any moisture (from the drop downs) from my PEX system!!! I do drain my tanks (Got 2 in series.) regularly but I have never "pushed" any moisture into the lines and no moisture has formed in the lines either. It may be my design, or that the structure is heated and cooled, or that the Texas Hill Country is low humidity...all I know is that if I set a beer on one of my clean unmarked counter tops it'll sweat all over it!!......but no moisture in my lines! The PEX once set up held 180 PSI for 4 days and hasn't leaked to this day. What does leak are those cheap Harbor Freight connectors that I shouldn't buy!!











This is the wall in the upstairs Theater that eventually had all of the Monster Speaker Cables, USB and HDMI cables. Power was pulled in high and low for the Flat Scree above and the "other stuff" down below. I'll try to find a pre-sheet rock pic...it was a Bee's nest! OH...also, there was 220 up high for the Split Air/Heat System.


























I almost forgot...I had to run 2 X 220 lines for the Split Air Systems. Those power locations changed significantly from the initial drawing. It was not unusual for what I thought I had planned out in my head to not work in application. The AC units ended up having to be 12 to 14 feet off of the ground....didn't plan on that!

 

[Finallygotit]

I'm not sure how I missed this the first go-around but I'm in it now.

Good stuff!!