The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Workshops and Garages My new shop!

We decided to add a detached 24x24 2-bay garage here at HQ with a 1-BR apartment above for visitors (we have no 2nd bedroom at HQ ... )

Thanks to what I learned working for Pat Guy (Guy Excavating), I am doing the dirt work -- basic lot prep of removing a few trees, then grading and prepping for the footers. Then, filling and spreading the gravel for the slab. After, I will take care of backfilling, final grading, seeding, etc.

To date, the footers are in and block foundation is built. Today, we've almost finished graveling the hole getting ready for the slab pour. Here are some pics.

The tree was a Hickory, not a hockory. Don't make fun -- *you* try typing with these fingers.

Looking Really GREAT. I'd assumed hockory was just a bit of High Tider English.

RonR

High Tider English??

Too bad about the hockery tree. The nuts make great BBQ smoke.

That's going to be a nice addition. Just a garage or garage/shop?

It looks to me to be a nice place to work, relax, and nice place to sleep😎. Thats the best looking all in one man cave I’ve seen! Are you sure it’s just for visitors ?

Looks outstanding John and having the pond to look out over after a day of toiling in the shop (more like having a ton of fun!) sounds like the Best Man Cave Ever!!!

Bill, The hickory is providing two good saw logs as well as a bunch of firewood for the woodstove that will heat that building. I plan to use the hickory in my furniture making, along with the cherry.

Ponch -- Yes, the upstairs will be our guest quarters.

Dan -- I don't do the "man cave" thing. The whole farm is my place of happiness. I am happiest these days lost in a woodworking project, covered with sawdust, Mozart on the stereo, pencil behind my ear, square in hand taking 45 minutes to set up the tablesaw to do a 30-second cut But speaking of mancave stuff, I do need to get around to making a shadow box for my Mameluke (real pre-ban ivory grips )

Utah -- Actually, the garage is going to be my new woodshop. The house garage here gets to return to being the home of the '49 and the truck bay. All the automotive tools will stay in here, all the woodworking stuff goes over to the new facility. The '49 is currently out in the barn ...

That all sounds great being “happiness” the key. Enjoying will not be far off.

Looks great John. How deep are your footings? Needs to be at least 42” here in Omaha. Did you rebar and slush the blocks or add a bond beam? Just curious, there’s a lot of weight against those walls.

Also, I like how you placed wider blocks to support the floor.👍

John

Having room for visitors is another "happiness" key for us. We enjoy being hospitable and have missed that here. The few folks who have visited from afar have had to go off the mountain to a hotel in Scottsboro. Not quite the same. The Guesthouse can expand some with plenty of room around the property for camping, fishing, gun stuff.

The ODSS gang that helped us move can vouch for how difficult it was with only one bathroom.

We feel truly blessed and John is having a grand time with it all.

John, Cumberland Mountain/The Cumberland Plateau is mostly a huge pile of sedimentary rock (sandstone and conglomerate). The footers are approximately 12 inches down and sitting, mostly, on ledge. We'd need to blast through rock to go any deeper there there, which may make a septic system ... challenging. Yes, the base at the corners and all along the tall wall are 12-inch block. Some rebar and the block is partially gravel filled and will have more rebar and concrete added when the slab gets poured.

Inside the foundation, it took about 50 yards of 67 gravel to fill. I'll run the plate tamper over it one more time and then we should be ready for the plumber and then the concrete.

Heated floors?

If you haven't considered that. John. Definitely do it. Nothing better for a shop.

That project makes my little16 X 50 slab floor for my shop addition look like small time effort. I have to do a little land clearing and leveling, plus a gravel base and a 6' thick reinforced concrete slab. I have 20 foot long steel bar joists for roof supports, and the 53 foot refrigerated road trailer that's been there for several years will make the outer wall. That one's got enough insulation that I can heat it with a candle and cool it with a block of ice!
Jerry

Heated floors? With the wood stove in there, I doubt lack of heat will be a problem.

Wood heating still leaves one with cold feet, or if you're working under something and have to lay on the floor, a heated floor is very nice. But it's a bit hard to do heated floors with a wood fired system.

Radiant floor heat can be pretty straight forward with wood, lots of folks here in Michigan use an outdoor boiler and it can heat an air handler, domestic water, in-floor radiant, etc. If I were ever to build, it would have radiant floor heat! Like Omaha, we need at least 42" depth for footings. I have been heavily involved with our 8500 sq. ft church addition for the past few months, 40 hours a week is hard on a retired guy.

A cool floor might be nice in Alabama😎
Just sayin’

I hear you. But a radiant floor system can also be used to cool the floor, just takes some switchover components to pump cool liquid thru the tubing in the floor. Like 78buskshot said, the first time I encountered a heated floor, the guy used an outdoor wood fired boiler. We were working on a guy's truck in the winter and laid right on the concrete to work on some wiring. Also but in a different sense.

Even if you don't hook it up, putting tubing just under the slab (on a layer of insulation board) gives you the option in the future. It's kinda hard to do later.

When you go to do your feeder for power wire and your panel. Way Oversize it. especially if is going to be hidden or hard to upsize later. it is easy to add new branch circuits and breakers at a later time. A lot harder and expensive to upgrade a feeder wire and panel if you max it out with lots of tools and toys and dare i say it "large amp chargers" cough cough.

Hah, cooling floors is “simple”, it’s also complicated. Cooling your feet and staying comfortable or kneeling on a cool floor….always interesting, but condensation is a very real concern.
I have not read the entire post but a +-42” deep pit would be pretty cool in all that gravel……working under a vehicle on a mechanics rolling seat could be awesome, but thinking it thru I also suspect it may be a complex endeavor.

Thanks for all the input about the heated floor. All I have to say about that is that the ground floor/slab space in that building is planned to be my wood shop. If I'm laying on the floor, somebody better be calling 911...

Yes, a radiant heat floor would be nice ... if I lived further North. This is Alabamalama. The woodstove will do nicely for the few days each year it will be needed. As for the warm weather, I plan on opening the garage door on one end and the sliding glass dor on the other and letting the cross breeze do the trick.

This is Northeast Alabamy and we're on top of the Cumberland Plateau. I am a born and raised Northern New England/Quebec boy ... these people may think it gets cold here in the winter ... It does not. And as for the Summer, like I said, we're on a mountain and I just spent the last 25 years on the Chesapeake Bay ... These Alabamians don't have the first clue what real humidity and heat are like! This place is Heaven!

HCB -- Indeed! Point well taken!

On those days the climate is made up of "air you can wear" with humidity approaching triple digits, nothing beats a BIG fan. I've got one in my shop that's about 4 feet in diameter and moves enough air to ventilate a small coal mine!
Jerry

I added a ceiling fan to my garage a few years ago. It keeps the air moving on those hot summer days.

The slab is getting poured tomorrow. The first cement truck is scheduled to appear at 0800. I will be taking pictures and video so Peggy can see what they're doing. Whether or not I post them here as fodder for Vultures' Row is quite another story ....

Meanwhile, I continued to act as Pond Security for all my fishies -- keeping them safe from nasty snapping turtles. Used Dad's Winchester Model 70 (pre-64 ) with the vintage Kollmorgen Bear Cub glass to "unalive" a sunbathing snapping menace. Turtles: 0 John: 3

Nothing like a little overkill, there! I've got a single shot 98 Mauser chambered in .22-250 with a 26" long bull barrel and a 10X steel tube Weaver scope that shoots quarter-sized groups at 200 yards with boring regularity. I found it at a local pawn shop a few years ago, and practically stole it because of a badly deteriorated bluing job on the barrel. The gunsmith who built that one (probably in the 1960s or earlier) really knew what he was doing.
Jerry

Jerry .... there is no such thing as "overkill" when it comes to snappers. I put 5 .45ACP rounds into one once and he was still charging me. My favorite kill was the one I got leaving the shop when I was driving for Pat. I was in the 359 Pete with the 25-ton lowboy with the Case 855 track loader. The turtle was crossing the dirt lane. I got him with the driver steer tire, then both sets of d side duals on the tractor and both sets of duals on the trailer. I was in and out 2 more times that day and made sure to run him over each time. I'm fairly certain that by the end of the day, he was "unalive." But being a snapping turtle, one can't be too sure. So I kept running him over the next day, too.

So turning a snapping turtle into fish food with a soft nose .30-06 is fairly satisfying, killing a snapper with 30 tons of 18-wheeler is way more fun.

Meanwhile ... back at the shop.... looks like Antonio and his crew are just about finished.

When I was a kid we thought they were tasty. Supposedly, alligator snapping turtles can live to be 200 years old. I remember reading many years ago about one being caught in Louisiana with flint arrowheads in its shell. The biggest I recall that we caught was close to 2' in dia.. We kept trot lines out in the Saline river a free flowing small river that was about 4 miles from the house. Big flatheads were always the best followed by channel cats, but sometimes a snapping turtle would still be on when we ran em in the early mornings. I was 7 or so and Dad used a hand ax and a rope getting him back to the truck. May have towed him back, too long ago to recall. For lack of a better description rib meat, and legs were fine eating. Soup and fried turtle tenders, wish I could go back 65 years for a mess.

RonR

Very nice. 👍 I like a power troweled floor.

John

I remembered to sign in as me today Thanks John. Antonio (on the power trowel) said he would have it like glass. He was right. His crew really put a lot of effort into the job to make it good. Hector really did a very meticulous job setting my Marine Corps challenge coin into the concrete. Peggy wanted me to scratch our life verse reference (1 Thess 4:11) into the but I couldn't bring myself to do it because Hector had done such as really beautiful job of getting it nice. Besides ... That verse doesn't actually go well with the Eagle, Globe and Anchor as Leading a quiet life and minding one's own business isn't exactly what the U.S. Marine Corps is known for ...

That glass-smooth finish, plus a little bit of oil or antifreeze can be a disaster waiting to happen. Back when I was teaching high school auto mechanics, somebody got the brilliant idea to put an epoxy coating on my shop floor. That floor looked good, but when the 50-something year old lady administrator in charge of the vocational department of Metro Nashville schools slipped on it and did a very embarrassing pratfall in front of my students- - - - -the floor got recoated with a little sand in it the second time around! Later, it was discovered that the assistant principal who kept pushing for the floor coating job had received a VERY generous kickback from the contractor!
Jerry

Happened to meet with Project Manager this afternoon and John was showing him our previous house.

Just wanted to share our "ceiling fan" with you guys. I liked it because it reminds me of helicopters.

Where is the coin in relation to the overall layout of the garage? Is it right in front of a entry door or someplace noticeable?

Otto, the coin will be off your left ankle as you either lift your right foot to take the first step to go up the stairs or pivot right to go in the 1st floor door.

If that crew has a "Have trowel-will travel" policy, I might need to get in touch with them before too long! They do good work!
Jerry

Jerry ... I'll get you Antonio's contact info. Its probably not that different to go to your place as here for them. I admit that I don't know much about concrete work but I'm no stranger to a job site -- I was impressed with their work. Maybe not up to Tim's standards but then again, this is a simple 24x24 structure -- not a Sydney sky scraper...

Framing package delivered this morning!

I didn’t see any anchors for the wall sill plates. Aren’t those required where you are? Or do they just use powder driven bolts to anchor the walls? Drilling for expansion anchors is more costly that putting L anchor bolts in the wet concrete in the wall cores.

I’m sure John has a plan, but the newer type concrete screws would work as well, and no issues with alignment.

Looking good John!

My plan is to refill my coffee mug, try not to be the annoying homeowner and watch my builder's framing crew do what they know how to do. I'm assuming *they* have a plan.

I love *your* plan!

Phil ... I learned how to do that in the Marine Corps where my duties generally consisted of signing for stuff and standing around (coffee mug in hand) watching my Marines do all the fun stuff. After years of practice, If I may say so myself, I'm pretty talented at watching other people work.


JM

John and Peggy are pretty far from the pacific ring of fire that we have come to know and love on the West coast here.

Yeah but .... One time while we were stationed in Hawai'i ... yeah, well long story short, I am pretty sure we offended Madam Pele. So ... Peggy and I have been dodging Madam Pele for 30 years now. We live on a mountain. Not inconceivable that Madam Pele will eventually find us and turn the Cumberland Plateau into a megavolcano just to get us. To all our new neighbors here in the Deep South who will get buried in the massive pyroclastic flow ... all I can say is ... sorry.

Oh ... by the way ... The framers got pretty far today

Nice progress. Pretty exciting to see it go up. When does the elevator get installed? 😛

Utah ... Yeah ...I'm wondering if the FAA is going to make me put a blinking light on top of the roof ...

I'm surprised they started construction just 10 days after the foundation was poured.

I know it's about 70% cured at 10 days but as a belt and suspenders sort of person, it would bug me to do it before 30 days.

I was wondering the same thing as Kevin. I didn’t see any anchors in the concrete. How is the sill plate held down?

John

When we moved to Maryland, I took the '39 to my first cruise-in there. Like all resto's, the '39 was a work in progress. I pull in to a parking spot and as I am setting the parking brake (hadn't shut the engine off yet), a guy comes up to the door and introduces himself as the local chapter president of the VCCA. He then tells me he also owns a '39 half ton and then proceeds to start listing everything that was incorrect about my truck. When he stopped to take a breath, I said "Thank you very much," released the parking brake and went home. I did not renew my VCCA membership and have not been a member since.

and thats why I don`t go to truck/car shows.

I offer guys like that a job- - - - -talking to my garden- - - - -saves me a fortune on fertilizer!
Jerry

Is there the two guys or is there more ,It sure is going up fast for two guys if thats the case looks like they are hard at work and it is looking good .👍

Kevin, there's 4 of them. They are very professional and have been getting after it. Here's where they left off yesterday. I think they've started the weekend because no one is here yet today.

Wow, looking really nice. Rafters with cross-ties. Truley stick built. I love it. The covered deck will be awesome as well.

John

Amazing progress those guys know what they are doing for sure.Looks like Charlie will be coming in to be pampered soon and that will make a good photo .

That's going to be a really nice place when done!

Peggy mentioned the really big ceiling fan in the old place...I think that's the largest one I ever installed. If the roof wasn't nailed down I think we'd have "lift-off" when the fan came on...lol!

Mike B

Latest pic...

No dumpster on site yet so the Cornbolt got drafted...

I couldn't tell, but is there a back door on the bottom level?

John -- Yes -- it will have a glass slider out onto its own deck.

The cross breeze is great.

Would love to see some updated pictures.

Here's a few shots from upstairs now that rough framing is completed and all the bracing has been removed. Plumbing was the last big thing. And the stairs. I think we're waiting for a few things like the sewage grinder pump, the windows and doors and the wood stove before the next phase can kick off. On the wood stove, decided to go with a Quadrafire 2100M this time. I've heard that Vermont Casting's quality has fallen off since they sold out and gone offshore.

One other cool thing -- we're going with a tankless water heater.

Next phase for me will be digging the trenches for the power, water and septic lines once all those are ready to go. Once the woodstove chimney is in and the windows and doors are installed, they can start the siding and finish the roof. The roof will be metal.

Thanks for the update. It is looking great!

Looks great! You'll love the tankless. I love mine!

I love ours too. Just don't let it freeze. Expensive to replace. Drain it ASAP when the power goes out during freezing weather.

Roger all -- Thanks!

The latest ... The plumbing team got the septic wrapped up today. I got the trenches in a couple of days ago for the water in and the grinder pump feed line back up to the septic tank. HVAC guys installed most of that stuff today, as well. Doubling as both Homeowner and the excavating sub had me pretty busy most of the day But I got to play in the dirt with big toys

That little rock might make a nice bench to sit on.

Why the grinder pump? Is the septic system uphill from the building? Are you sharing one septic for both the house and your shop? If so, what size tank did you go with? Just curious.

John

Utah, that's what I said!! Now to figure an "all natural" picnic table.

Perhaps you have a few smaller basketball size rocks for legs.

John -- Yes, the existing septic system is uphill from this facility. We're pumping up to an existing 2-chamber tank (I'm assuming, based on the outline*, that its a standard 1,000 gallon tank). The existing system is designed for 4 people, two bathrooms. Our house only has one bathroom and one bedroom. So we're essentially completing the original system. As the apartment is not intended for full-time occupation, merely occasional guests, even if we have 4 people in there, plus an RV dumping into the system, we're not likely to have problems... as long as guests don't introduce any unauthorized items into the system... Judging by what I say when we opened the hatch on the tank, the system is currently working optimally. Having worked for Pat on many septic repairs over the last few years, I know what a failed/failing system looks like and I didn't see that so I'm assuming that if it doesn't look like that then it must be "good."

* Irma Bombeck obviously didn't know anything about septic systems when she titled her book "The grass is always greener over the septic tank." Because the concrete of the tank tends to draw moisture from the soil, the brownish patch of drier grass is a dead giveaway as to the spetic tank's location. I've found quite a few septic tanks just by looking for the brown rectangle in the lawn.

It's the drain field that should be greener.

Siding going on today.

Nice, Very!!

RonR

Looking great and I see you've got the metal roof knocked out.

Still planning on installing gutters/downspouts to control run-off around the foundation?

Siding is looking great! Now, if there was something to fill up some of those empty spaces. 🙂

That's funny John. Once this place is done, the new spot will be the woodshop and the garage at the house will go back to being a garage. Currently, Charlie, the garage tools and the woodshop tools are in there. To say it's crowded is an understatement. The Stovebolt flag is in the house garage. Plus a bunch of other Stovebolt related hoo-ya.

Nice color choice and I really like the generous overhang. Looking great.👍

John

Is that a serious question?

A little bit more site work. Improving the view of the pond. Previously, from the upper deck, all you got was a nice view of the canopy of these trees. Now you can actually see the pond. 3 sweet gums, a maple and a cherry. The gums went straight to the burn pile. The maple is getting cut and split for firewood. The cherry is getting milled.

The trees were all leaning towards the water so I used the big machine to keep them from going for a swim My neighbor, George, did the cutting whilst I operated "Triple Nickel" George's cutting was expertly done and we lined the trees all up neatly on dry ground (and not on the machine )

I'm leaving the stumps because I didn't want to disturb the pond bank. Probably turn 'em into benches.

Yes sir. Just my personal experience and opinion, but diverting the run off through gutters and downspouts away from the perimeter of the structure is advisable. It will help reduce potential foundation and slab and maybe drive from shifting, sinking and/or heaving over the years that can be caused by the concentrated run off landing in the same localized area. Thinking long-term here.

I'd also want to prevent the roof run off from landing on the entry stairs and landing. The treated wood can tolerate regular rainfall directly, but the concentrated run off from the roof is likely to speed up decay of the wood (yes even though it's treated) and could increase slippery conditions on the stairs. It could also affect the footings on the stair support posts.

It's your place and absolutely your call, but if I were doing the same build myself I'd add them for my own peace of mind.

I do really like what you have going!

Dan, I only asked that because your reasons stated above are exactly why it never even entered my thought process to consider *not* putting gutters and down spouts. So that's why I thought you were giving me a hard time.



This is the look I give when I'm asked questions like that. :P