Major Project on the Horizon

[Michael]

Wednesday the 13th of May is the start of a project that might be interesting as I am having a 38' wide by 36' long garage built on my property. The contractor has all of the needed permits and he is starting on Wednesday with site preparation for the new building.

The site chosen by the CFO (aka wife and since the money used is the CFO's I can not argue) is where the log cabin shed resides at right now. The plan is to move the shed about 50 feet to the right in the pictures and leave it on the ground instead of the piers. There it will be a garden shed. As everyone knows the best laid plans can and will go bad and if we are unsuccessful in moving the shed it will be torn down.

I figure that the Kubota is going to get some real usage as it will be used after construction to clean up the yard and I figure that the box and rear blades are going to get a work out.

 

[Mr. K]

Well looks like your project is breaking ground tomorrow. Vic has put up the odd garage himself in his day - right from leveling the site, concrete, framing, etc. all the way up to cracking a beer at the end of it all! 38' x 36' is a good size. Lotsa room to work. Something that we did in our shop recently was have insulating foam sprayed on the ceiling. Keeps everything that much warmer in the winter.

Keep us posted!

 

[dusty-t]

Hey Michael. Man you must looking forward to this.I hope everything goes as smooth as silk. And definitly keep us posted.

 

[Michael]

Well the fun part for me is when the contractor is finished and I can wire the shop. I am planning to have the center section which will house the 5th wheel trailer, this section is going to be 14 X 36 and the 5th wheel is going to be going into shock because it has never been covered except by tarps in the winter.

The 2nd section 12' X 36" is going to be for the cars and in the back I am going to put in my 4 post lift that I got a couple of months ago. I do know that the wife is going to freak out as I will have to punch holes in the concrete to put in the anchor bolts for the lift, I have just failed to inform her about that little detail .

The 3rd section I am going to wall off and I am to have storage space for the 34 years of "JUNK" that we have collected and that is going to be 12' X 16' and the front section will be my machine shop and tools that I have.

So the first step will be to wire the garage and get a electric garage door opener as the wife can not lift the doors (she has a bad back) and I do not feel like trying to get a 16' door open.

I figure to get the shop insulated before the winter and wood stove in it before this winter so I can build the store room this winter.

 

[Mr. K]

4 post lift!? Now that would come in handy... hmmm.... Vic, if we cut a hole in the roof and then just tarpped it over whenever we didn't need it we could have one too! Could work...

Sounds like a great project Michael!

 

[Michael]

The best laid plans did not expect that the sheds floor was not attached to the walls and the bottom of the shed was not strong enough. We cut all the rebar this morning at 6:30 A.M. and as the contractor was lifting the shed the bottom fell out. We were lifting the shed to put in a couple of steel beams that I had that were in my scrap pile.

Since this happened we went into the immediate and quick method of getting the shed out of the way my favorite method of getting rid of something is called the rip and tear and we proceeded.

As soon as the shed was out of the way the contractor had 16 loads of sandy pith run trucked in and he went to work with his tracked escavator.

 

[Michael]

Here are more pictures of the site prep and destruction

 

[Michael]

I guess I like to post pictures of the work, here are some more.

 

[Michael]

The site prep went as best as could be expected and we got lucky as the weather held until a few minutes ago and it is starting to rain. Hey Mr. K the rain is headed your way and the 4 post lift I got at a auction for $800.00 down in Kenmore Washington.

 

[Michael]

The neighbor behind me asked what I was going to do with the old shed. I looked at him and said "you want the pieces" He said yes and he is removing the parts a little at a time. He has already got most of the cedar shakes off it and we worked today to separate the logs so they can be hauled over to his property behind mine. Most of the logs are in good shape but full of nails that the original builder used to chink the logs. We worked most of the day and got 8 logs freed up (they were rebar together)

Most of the logs and such will remain where they are but stacked off to the side because the area is still really wet. So in a month or so the logs will be removed to his place.

This neighbor plans to use most of the logs and a tractor shed for his B6100. I told him about this site and he said he look into it.

 

[Mr. K]

$800 is a GOOD deal! Damn, I gotta keep my eyes peeled. Looks like site prep is coming along - too bad about the cabin though. At least the materials can be reused over on your neighbour's side (thanks for sending him to the site btw .

 

[Michael]

I am sorry I have not posted lately I have barely had the time to get here and see what is happening.

We did run into what I call a "gotcha" in the fact that we had call called "call before you dig but they were useless in the fact they only went from the transformer to the meter and not to the house from the meter and the contractor hit the power feed from the meter to the house. No one hurt and I ended up in the hole and splice the wires back together. I am glad I took the course offered years ago at the local college to get a electricians license.

I had the contractor dig out the hole by hand and I ran over and got a splice kit and 6 feet of wire and spliced the wires back together after the meter was pulled.

The framing is almost completed and the roofing and siding will be going next week. This weekend I will dig the trench from the building to the meter so I can wire it after the floor is pored.

 

[dusty-t]

Hey Michael, That sure looks good.That is going to be a nice shop.

 

[Michael]

I should have posted sooner but I have been really busy with everything happening and this project is complete. The builder has been excellent and finished everything as promised. It now has a sidewalk and the cars and the 5th wheel are parked inside.

I did lose out on the 4 post lift as it was sold out from under me so I will wait for the next deal to come out. I did the wiring on the shop and it passed inspection a week ago so I am happy with the results everything is done except the painting of the garage on the sides and the back but the weather has been rainthe last few days so I will wait until it stops and finsih the painting. I did get the base coat on everything but I need another coat of white and then I will do the trim.

 

[dusty-t]

Yer in heaven buddy, there is nothing like having a place to work. Too bad about the hoist.It looks great I'm green with envy.