Breaking into the bank

[Obed]

Grading.

Did I ever mention I fear/respect what water can do? The first pic shows a road I started behind the garage to access the attic. My vision was to have an upper and lower road, upper for a perimeter road (4-wheelers, bikes, foot path) leading to a future gazebo/firepit, and the lower road for the attic access.
Additionally, I wanted to grade the roads in towards the slope to allow water to wash away from the garage. Grading is complete, exactly to my specs. Wished I would've done it sooner to get some grass down, so I'll have a muddy mess in the spring to deal with.

Frank,
The grade work looks awesome! What did you use to do the grading?
Obed

 

[Obed]

Frank,
The garage looks great. I believe you can be proud of it. I'm curious about the j-channel at the bottom of the siding.

It appears that any rain that hits that wall will all run down the j-channel and exit the j-channel at the front corner of the garage. Can that water run get behind the corner trim piece and up against any of your framing? If so, you might consider putting a piece of flashing to route the water to the outside.

Obed

 

[scoutcub]

Beautiful job on the siding Scout! Everything you've done looks great and top-quality throughout!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Thanks a lot T/A.
I've been very lucky with my subs. My BIL is EXTREMELY picky to the point of obsessive when it comes to choosing subs. He had a pole barn built and took probably 6 months designing the bldg and choosing the concrete sub. So I talked to the sub he chose and liked him, and having already seen his work, and his agreeing to discount the job for cash, it was an easy choice. I did get some other bids but they were even higher and didn't quite hit it off as well.
So my concrete sub did the garage floor, front sidewalk, rear patio, and some other jobs. When I asked him about block guys for the garage walls, he immediately mentioned my #2 sub, the block guy.....and stated he could also build the entire garage if asked.
After talking to the the 2nd guy, I felt pretty confident in his abilities. We agreed on a lower cash price (trying to do the entire garage with cash) and he's been with me ever since, doing the waterproofing, setting trusses, facia, soffet, siding, power, plumbing, everything. I'm doing as much as I can, and we often work together on various tasks.
Since I'm back at work overseas, I've given him the "bang" list to get accomplished while I'm gone.

An example of his attention to detail;

If you look at the pics of the siding on the side walls, you'll see the angle setting back into the bank up the wall of the garage. This matches the stepback angle of the landscape blocks when the wall gets laid up against the building. I thought that was pretty good!

Having good subs makes ALL the difference!

 

[scoutcub]

Seems like it would have been a good excuse, err... reason, to get a set of 3pt forks.

Never really thought about a set of 3-pt forks. I have a set of front forks, as well as bucket forks.....the front forks takes 1 hour to install. So, I figured I could've moved all the blocks quicker using the loader than switching to forks and switching back to bucket when I finished....I've been using the bucket quite a bit moving material. As for the bucket forks, I've already bent 1 bucket using them, and bent my set of forks....and they're medium-duty.
However, I did use them after I offloaded several courses of block to move 3 pallets of block. Saved myself some work anyways!

 

[scoutcub]

Frank,
The grade work looks awesome! What did you use to do the grading?
Obed

Obed -
As luck would have it, my concrete sub does some great dozer work. He did in 6 hours what would have taken me a full week. Not to mention he has no fear of slopes, and I HATE operating on slopes with equipment.....at one point he was dozing sideways up a slope and started slipping sideways down the slope....never bother him a bit. And, he's a young guy, 28....does everything by eye. Very Very talented!

 

[scoutcub]

Frank,
The garage looks great. I believe you can be proud of it. I'm curious about the j-channel at the bottom of the siding.

It appears that any rain that hits that wall will all run down the j-channel and exit the j-channel at the front corner of the garage. Can that water run get behind the corner trim piece and up against any of your framing? If so, you might consider putting a piece of flashing to route the water to the outside.

Obed

Obed -

Thanks for pointing that out! The siding was started right as I was leaving for overseas, so I will definitely check it out when I return.

Frank

 

[jake98]

If you look at the pics of the siding on the side walls, you'll see the angle setting back into the bank up the wall of the garage.
Having good subs makes ALL the difference!

Beautiful job. Agree about the subs. It works both ways too, you get a better job when you're a good guy to work for, and you're obviously that. Curious as to how he attached the siding to the block sidewalls.. treated plywood with tap-cons? Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[dcyrilc]

Never really thought about a set of 3-pt forks. I have a set of front forks, as well as bucket forks.....the front forks takes 1 hour to install. So, I figured I could've moved all the blocks quicker using the loader than switching to forks and switching back to bucket when I finished....I've been using the bucket quite a bit moving material. As for the bucket forks, I've already bent 1 bucket using them, and bent my set of forks....and they're medium-duty.
However, I did use them after I offloaded several courses of block to move 3 pallets of block. Saved myself some work anyways!

It looked like the pallets would be too heavy for front forks which was why I mentioned 3pt forks. I always hate having to break pallets open before I'm ready to use whatever is on them. Whatever it is always seems to get damaged after the pallets have been opened.

 

[dcyrilc]

Obed -
As luck would have it, my concrete sub does some great dozer work. He did in 6 hours what would have taken me a full week. Not to mention he has no fear of slopes, and I HATE operating on slopes with equipment.....at one point he was dozing sideways up a slope and started slipping sideways down the slope....never bother him a bit. And, he's a young guy, 28....does everything by eye. Very Very talented!

I've always heard that any good dozer operator is born with a bubble up his rear.:laughing:

 

[Obed]

The guy who built our driveway used a highlift to do the grading. I was amazed that he could form the dirt so well without a blade that can tilt left or right. He said that when he first bought the highlift, he was having a tough time getting the hang of it. Then he talked to an oldtimer who told him operate the machine with his butt cheeks. What he meant was, use your butt checks to feel whether the machine is leaning to the right or to the left and how much. With that advise, my excavator was able to learn how to do gradework with his highlift.

Obed

 

[scoutcub]

Beautiful job. Agree about the subs. It works both ways too, you get a better job when you're a good guy to work for, and you're obviously that. Curious as to how he attached the siding to the block sidewalls.. treated plywood with tap-cons? Happy Thanksgiving.

Jake -

Thanks! The siding was attached to strapping, with insulation between the straps, and tap-cons were used. I wanted to get a pic of that step but must've missed it.....sorry!

 

[scoutcub]

I've always heard that any good dozer operator is born with a bubble up his rear.:laughing:

:laughing::laughing:

Well my bubble must be super sensitive cause it's like an alarm when I hit a slope!!

 

[scoutcub]

The guy who built our driveway used a highlift to do the grading. I was amazed that he could form the dirt so well without a blade that can tilt left or right. He said that when he first bought the highlift, he was having a tough time getting the hang of it. Then he talked to an oldtimer who told him operate the machine with his butt cheeks. What he meant was, use your butt checks to feel whether the machine is leaning to the right or to the left and how much. With that advise, my excavator was able to learn how to do gradework with his highlift.

Obed

Obed -

Not real sure on my terminology.....I always thought a highlift was what you get into to do roof work/trim trees, etc. I wonder if it's another one of those "regional" terms, like "excavator" and "trackhoe".....?

Frank

 

[Obed]

Obed -

Not real sure on my terminology.....I always thought a highlift was what you get into to do roof work/trim trees, etc. I wonder if it's another one of those "regional" terms, like "excavator" and "trackhoe".....?

Frank

My excavator sub called his piece of equipment a "highlift". It looks like a dozer but has a front end loader on the front instead of a dozer blade. The FEL bucket is made in two pieces so it can be used as a dozer blade or as a bucket.

 

[scoutcub]

I wanted to resurrect this thread to finish it off and put it to bed. Since my last posting we have finished the garage, and surrounding retaining wall, poured the concrete apron and driveway.


Before;

Sorrry, 1 pic posted twice...

 

[scoutcub]

During;

 

[jimmyj]

Nice! You deserve to be proud of your work!

 

[scoutcub]

After;

 

[scoutcub]

Nice! You deserve to be proud of your work!

Thanks JimmyJ!
Truth be told, I moved the blocks around a few times, but had the wall built by my block sub....he's done a good job on the rest, and I think he did a good job here as well!
I've been spending way too much time working overseas and just got extended again, so I keep shortening up my list of things to do when I get home.....:confused2::laughing:

 

[scoutcub]

Next project. Don't think I'll start a thread for this one.....:laughing:
Picture is worth a thousand words. Just wondering if I should start it in 2 weeks, or wait till spring......??