Building a Shop - Gravel and Form

We thought we were going to be ready to pour this week, but things got complicated. Once they complete the rebar, though, we will be ready for our formal "106" -or- "foundation and placement" inspection. Then, they pour and we wait. What's described below took place last week and the end of the week before.

 

More Framing

Before the gravel could get poured in, another frame inside the initial frame was needed to hold the gravel out of the 1 foot footing. This inner frame is very similar to the outer frame they had done the prior week. It was just 4 inches shorter and 1 foot inside the first one. While a few guys were banging on that, Tim the front-end-loader guy prepared the landing zone in front of the farm house for the gravel by scraping the wood chips out of the way.

 

Graveling

By mid-morning 6-June, a Friday, 2 dump truck loads of gravel appeared. They first moved gravel with a muck cart (motorized tracked walk-behind that looks like a bathtub on treads). The muck cart broke at some point so they switched to the front end loader moving it. After a day of grinding, they got the inner frame filled with gravel, plus a little mound in the center to account for compacting. They had some left over in the truck, and rather than just leave with it, they laid down gravel across the end of the driveway 3 meters in, leaving a 6 by 3 meter rectangle of gravel.

 

Gravel Mop Up

marking the "graves"

The next morning, I was out there with a shovel and a garden rake, leveling the gravel on the driveway. I hosed it down and let it bake in the sun for the day. The next morning, I moved the old wood chips on top of the gravel, approximating the look of the driveway prior to their arrival. We believe the gravel bedding will help reduce mud from appearing at the end of the driveway where delivery trucks and the mail man inevitably park. This part of the driveway has always been the muddiest historically, and when our friends and family visit, it is inevitably where they park and walk. So, this is selfishly important too.

 

Framing

On Monday, 9-June, the guys were back to continue the preparation for the concrete pour. They had planned for compacting and rebar. We discovered a complication after the compacting. One of the items in the drawings from the beginning was accounting for a lift to be set down into the concrete. This required 2" PVC pipe to be run under the concrete in a few spots as well as the recesses for the 2 lift arms. I acquired the PVC over the weekend, but the guys needed to dig some trenches in the gravel after they got the compacting done. Similar to the excavation, lots of measuring and marking came first, to make sure it was where the plan said, and the right size.

Since the gravel had been compacted, this made the digging harder, but the hole retained it's form. Had they not compacted first, digging the rectangular holes for the lift would have been like digging a hole at the beach: the sides would keep caving in. Instead, they dug what looked like a pair of shallow graves. Inside the little graves, they framed in the forms and sent the 2" connecting pipe (for the hydraulics and electrical) between them. Last, they dug the trench and set in the pipe from the lift over to the future wall where the controller will be. All said, this took them the better part of the day.

 

Rebar

The guys were working on another project most of the rest of the week, coming by near the end of the day for a few hours to get after the rebar work. As I write this, there remains a few hours of fit and finish before we will be ready for inspection. The rebar is laid out in a grid with the ends near the framed forms bent down into the trench to give the walls the same stability that the floor will have.

 

The pictures above were taken before the rebar started but the rebar work is not yet complete. Also, I did not have a 2" PVC 45* angle to put at the end of the controller pipe to route into the box near the lower left hand corner of the last picture (into the south east corner of the framed-in form). That has since been remedied but it was not available locally for some reason. Anyway, at this rate, I expect a few more partial days of work by the guys and then we can schedule the inspection. For example, they were here yesterday for a couple of hours laying and tying the rebar into the footings. The actual concrete pour just keeps slipping out in time. I imagine lots of projects are like that.

 

Cars Update

On the cars front, I ordered the flywheel and clutch package for Hapy (72 VW Camperbus) so we are just waiting for production and shipping so I can start the engine/trans drop. I had hoped to do other things while the engine was down, like swapping out a bigger oil cooler or replacing the exhaust, but the longer this leans into Summer, the less I want Hapy in pieces and the more I want to be able to drive him. I may do the oil cooler swap anyway since it is really just swapping out parts, but the exhaust will have to wait. As I watch the shop form, I have increasing difficulty in containing my excitement for getting after Hapy details, Oliver's (78 MGB) final pieces, restarting the Zed project (79 Datsun 280ZX).. and, of course, starting on Nina (64 VW Beetle). I anticipate many fall weekends in there, out of the rain, off the mud, getting my wrench on. I cannot wait.

Thanks, as always, for following along. I'll post the rebar and concrete pour as they happen-