New garage time!

[dragoneggs]

Awesome pics... keep 'em coming FJ!

 

[fatjay]

How deep do you have to dig footers in your area?

Footers are 36 down.

 

[fatjay]

A few years back my hydraulic pump on the hoe stopped working in the middle of a job. Came to find that it's 8 spline shaft was completely worn smooth. Since I was in the middle of something and needed it to work, I just drilled a hole through shaft and coupler and dropped a spring pin in. This evening it broke. As well as on sunday. I've gotten pretty good at getting it lined up, getting the old one out, and getting the new one in. Finished the back footer and started clearing dirt when my bobcat's clutches started to give. Ordering a new set of clutches tomorrow and hope to have them by the weekend as the weather then is looking pretty crappy. Digging wasn't terrible, no big rocks, just a lot of roots.

 

[EddieWalker]

That's nice looking dirt.

 

[fatjay]

And there's a lot of it.

Finished the footer and dug a little extra at a low point to collect water.

 

[fatjay]

Learned to survey today. Got all the depth markers, put all the rebar in, welded it up, cleaned all the footers.

 

[EddieWalker]

Are you in an area where there is code and your footings will be inspected, along with your rebar?

 

[fatjay]

Are you in an area where there is code and your footings will be inspected, along with your rebar?

Everything is to code, building inspector just left and all was good. They don’t inspect the rebar but I got a guy helping me that knows how it’s done right. Concrete truck is on the way.

 

[fatjay]

Concrete trucks arrived. Pulled back, chutes out. The one guy was in training so they didn't charge us time. $100/yard and $230 truck fee came to $2600 with tax. Chutes didn't reach far enough back so we were wheeling it to the back and dumping it. Hard ground down hill, it was pretty easy. Called about 15 people looking for labor before we found someone. Who says there's an unemployment issue?

cleaned everything up and shot the block lines, then trenched the corner for water runoff as it's supposed to pour for the next 4 days.

 

[fatjay]

Bobcat was slipping pretty hard and squeeling under load, so I figured it was time to replace the clutch discs. The stick were also sticking. Pulled it into the "tiny garage".

The bobcat is a 1970ish M600 chain drive, there's 4 clutches, forward and reverse for each side. The first side i took off, it appeared perfect, so I adjusted the nuts and put the pins in and went to the other side. That side I had to pry apart. It was worn, rusted, and had clutch material stuck to the surface of the plates. I tossed the clutches and put new ones in. Scraped the plates with a razor real good so they felt smooth, and now I'm hoping. When I opened the manual, there were notes from the other side being replaced in 2004. 16 years later, I'm not able to find new parts, but I'll keep looking. Ideally I'd replace both front and rear plates on both sides. And it's something I'm completely willing to do, provided I can find the parts.

 

[EddieWalker]

Nice that you know the machine so well and you can make the repairs yourself ounce you find the parts. It's that getting to know the machine part that I struggle with.

 

[fatjay]

Nice that you know the machine so well and you can make the repairs yourself ounce you find the parts. It's that getting to know the machine part that I struggle with.

I had never done anything like that before but I’m mechanically minded. This is a relatively new addition because of the garage. I figured I’d save a lot by doing most of the work myself, so I set out to buy certain machines to make it possible. The 24” bucket for the backhoe is new, sale with bobcat and ditch witch. I made the pallet forks myself as well.

 

[fatjay]

Finished fixing the bobcat, dumped all the fluid and put all new in. The stuff that came out was pretty bad. Swapped the bad clutches, made adjustments, and got rolling. Needed to take 9 12" blocks and 3 8" blocks to each corner to build corners. I was quite nervous.

Here's the video: https://i.imgur.com/KFP8DmT.mp4

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm not familiar with this type of construction. Why not bring the concrete above grade? With the blocks starting below grade, is moisture an issue getting under the blocks? Will you dril holes for rebar to lock the blocks into position?

 

[chim]

What are those planks you're taking the SS over? Must be pretty strong.

 

[4570Man]

I'm not familiar with this type of construction. Why not bring the concrete above grade? With the blocks starting below grade, is moisture an issue getting under the blocks? Will you dril holes for rebar to lock the blocks into position?

It’s cheaper to lay block then pour concrete. The footer only needs to be about 10” thick and it’s 36” deep. It would be way more expensive to pour it 36” thick to the top of the ground.

 

[chim]

We did a project with fenced concrete pads for outdoor electrical equipment. Each contained a transfer switch, transformer and a switchboard. A couple were in locations that had substantial changes in the grade from one corner to the other. We poured stepped footers, formed foundation walls and then poured the pad to the outside dimensions of the foundation walls. Forming and pouring was a little more involved than laying block, but that's what the plans and specs called for. One handy thing was we fastened short pieces of pipe (vertically) to the inside of the foundation walls and flush with the top of the finished pad before pouring the pad. These were larger than the pipes used for the fence posts and provided sockets we could grout the fence poles into.

For buildings I've also seen poured footers with 12" block from the footer to the bottom of the concrete floor, that stepped back to 8" block for the structure above to provide bearing for the concrete floor.

 

[aczlan]

We did a project with fenced concrete pads for outdoor electrical equipment. Each contained a transfer switch, transformer and a switchboard. A couple were in locations that had substantial changes in the grade from one corner to the other. We poured stepped footers, formed foundation walls and then poured the pad to the outside dimensions of the foundation walls. Forming and pouring was a little more involved than laying block, but that's what the plans and specs called for. One handy thing was we fastened short pieces of pipe (vertically) to the inside of the foundation walls and flush with the top of the finished pad before pouring the pad. These were larger than the pipes used for the fence posts and provided sockets we could grout the fence poles into.

For buildings I've also seen poured footers with 12" block from the footer to the bottom of the concrete floor, then stepping back to 8" block for the structure above to provide bearing for the concrete floor.

We are building a new building at work and they are doing poured walls up to four feet above the finished floor height. Previous building have been done with block, they are doing poured walls this time for additional strength, because it's significantly faster than block and it's a lot less man-hours.

Aaron Z

 

[fatjay]

My block guy is 3k a week, and that's 20 yards of concrete. $500 for block that he can lay in 2 days vs a day and a half of building forms and probably 4k in concrete, for a strength difference that will likely never come into play. The footer concrete is 18" in front and 24-30" in the back and 24" wide with lots of rebar. And it's sitting on hard clay and huge rocks. Maybe if the soil wasn't so hard I'd want something beefier, but I don't think this is going to move.

 

[fatjay]

What are those planks you're taking the SS over? Must be pretty strong.

Some ramps I made for my shed now that my shed is on 4x4's and I can't drive into it easily.