New garage time!

[dragoneggs]

Somebody stocked up on some LED shoplights! :thumbsup:

 

[aczlan]

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.

Our building is much larger (150ish by 300ish), they have had 3 guys setting forms and they are pouring the walls in 3 sections.
They have been at it for just under 2 weeks so far. They should be done with the walls (about 6' above the footer) and footer by Friday.

Aaron Z

 

[fatjay]

Somebody stocked up on some LED shoplights! :thumbsup:

17.99 at Costco, and I’m going to need lots of them.

 

[chim]

17.99 at Costco, and I’m going to need lots of them.

Costco had some motion-detecting 4 footers on sale a while back and I bought two. They have adjustments for sensitivity, off delay, etc. There's one in each bay of the garage plugged into the outlet for the door openers. They throw enough light that the regular lights are rarely used. If they have them on sale again I'd grab a few more for other spots.

 

[dragoneggs]

17.99 at Costco, and I’m going to need lots of them.

Yeah I got 12 of them in my 24x28 garage shop. Love them! On five zones, on/off with a remote controller. They definitely light up the space and all on one circuit plus other ancillary devices.

 

[fatjay]

Got 4 corners built in 8 hours. Learning surveying pretty well and getting a lot of practice. We needed to pivot the building for clearances. Needed to move one side up 1.5", another side back 1.5". I didn't think pivoting was important so I didn't say anything.

I have a 2nd generation 40 year experience contractor guiding me as I build, I'm posing as the main contractor and he is the support. He's basically teaching me as I go.

So I didn't speak up, and he didn't notice. We got 4 corners in and measured square. When I told him we were off by 5.5" the grin left his face and said "5.5" is tear down, limit's 3". We took a few min to see if we could use various methods to get back to square, but ultimately decided to do it right. Kept one corner and shot everyone off of that. 1.5" left on the front's, 1.5" forward on the right rear.

So that's tomorrow. And I'll need to shoot level as well, again. We're off by 1-2" in every corner and the right rear corner, which has the drain, is the high corner. Go figure.

Note to self, if i know it's going to happen, run it by the pro to make sure it's ok. I'm making all the measurements, I'm good at math and geometry, we lost a half of a day because of me. And I paid for it.

 

[dragoneggs]

Pivot 1.5in for clearances? Set backs? What?

 

[fatjay]

The footer isn't perfectly square, it's a bit of a parallelogram. Which means the sides are parallel but the corners aren't an exact 90 degree angle. So when it came to laying the back row of block, it was a bit tight. The block was to close to the edge of the footer. The footer is 2' wide and hte block is 1' wide, but supposed to be centered over the footer as much as possible. Over the span of 44', it's easy to lose a couple inches, so to compensate I pivoted the right wall back 1.5" and the left wall forward 1.5". What I meant to do was pivot the entire building while keeping square. But as I am new at this, I didn't realize how important it was to keep square.

 

[chim]

You are wise to make things as near perfect as you can from the beginning. While I'm not an expert builder by any stretch, I've had leaning experiences that illustrated the importance of keeping things plumb and square. Later on you won't have to be ripping plywood from 48" on one end to 45" on the other or cutting a sheet of metal roof on a bias.

 

[747driver]

Where are your 'batter boards' ? You should have batter boards in place marking all 4 corners. Then you use those to set your string lines for square and level. I have had to tear a few corners down myself !!! You done right tearing it down and starting over......

 

[ovrszd]

You are wise to make things as near perfect as you can from the beginning. While I'm not an expert builder by any stretch, I've had leaning experiences that illustrated the importance of keeping things plumb and square. Later on you won't have to be ripping plywood from 48" on one end to 45" on the other or cutting a sheet of metal roof on a bias.

Yep. Being square and the same elevation will become extremely critical later. An error now will be chased all the way to the roof ridge cap.

 

[ovrszd]

Where are your 'batter boards' ? You should have batter boards in place marking all 4 corners. Then you use those to set your string lines for square and level. I have had to tear a few corners down myself !!! You done right tearing it down and starting over......

I think I can see them in the background? Stakes?

But now do we know they are set square?

 

[EddieWalker]

The blocks should be super easy to get square. Start with the one corner, measure your distance, place a bock, do the other direction, place a block and then the last block. Run a tape from corner to corner and adjust the blocks to give you the exact same measurement. You should be less then 1/8th of an inch accurate this way.

Or decide where you want your first corner, and build your first row the long distance of that wall. This will give you something to measure off of. They it's even easier to measure how far away the opposite wall will be and then figure square by measuring diagonally too your corners.

I never use batter boards, they just get in the way.

 

[fatjay]

I think I can see them in the background? Stakes?

But now do we know they are set square?

Tore 3 corners down and worked off one good corner, so it wasn't a total loss. Pulled tape diagonal between corners and it measured 50'1.5" both pulls, so it's good. First I shot 90 based off the good corner, then measured and it was off by an inch and a half, so i measured and felt more confident with the measure. Also shot height of the block so I know i'm level on all 4 corners.

Bringing in block with the bobcat for the front now. break for lunch. Sun's out and beating on us even though it's only 65F.

 

[747driver]

The blocks should be super easy to get square. Start with the one corner, measure your distance, place a bock, do the other direction, place a block and then the last block. Run a tape from corner to corner and adjust the blocks to give you the exact same measurement. You should be less then 1/8th of an inch accurate this way.

Or decide where you want your first corner, and build your first row the long distance of that wall. This will give you something to measure off of. They it's even easier to measure how far away the opposite wall will be and then figure square by measuring diagonally too your corners.

I never use batter boards, they just get in the way.

I am old school. Grew up in the Midwest where blocks are used on many builds. You only need 2 stakes and 1 board on a diagonal for each corner, not the old way of 3 stakes and 2 boards.. Go watch R and R buildings on Youtube and see how they layout their buildings.

 

[EddieWalker]

How far off of the ground to you run your string from that board? How long does it take to set up those boards and tie the string to it, and then work on getting the string tight enough to be straight, but also loose enough to adjust so you can get it square?

If it works for you and you're comfortable doing it, then that's all that matters. For me, I'm sticking a screw driver into the dirt, pulling a steel tape out from that screw driver to where the next corner is and putting another screw driver into the ground there. I have one straight wall that's all done. Then from each of those screw drivers I measure out how far I need to go and place a screw driver there. Once I have my 4 corners, I measure diagonally for square and adjust until it's square. I set my forms off of those screw drivers and then dig my footings with the forms in place. For me, this is fast, accurate and easy.

I tried watching RR Building and might have the wrong company. I didn't last very long because it's all talk talk talk. I tried skimming through all the talking, but never found a part that they where doing anything, just talking. Why do people talk so much in youtube videos?

 

[fatjay]

With the corners in place, it's easy to pull lines. Put these on each block and run a string between them, gives you height and strait:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Marshalltown-Adjustable-Aluminum-Line-Stretchers-ALS504/100318133

Got 2 course in the front, one course on the far end. I'm dead tired. I'll move block all day but mixing that mortar mix is exhausting. A week moving 12" block, next week when I'm moving 8" block it'll be like nothing at all. Going to wait on the 3rd course of block for a bit as I won't be able to get the bobcat into it then.

 

[747driver]

How far off of the ground to you run your string from that board? How long does it take to set up those boards and tie the string to it, and then work on getting the string tight enough to be straight, but also loose enough to adjust so you can get it square?

If it works for you and you're comfortable doing it, then that's all that matters. For me, I'm sticking a screw driver into the dirt, pulling a steel tape out from that screw driver to where the next corner is and putting another screw driver into the ground there. I have one straight wall that's all done. Then from each of those screw drivers I measure out how far I need to go and place a screw driver there. Once I have my 4 corners, I measure diagonally for square and adjust until it's square. I set my forms off of those screw drivers and then dig my footings with the forms in place. For me, this is fast, accurate and easy.

I tried watching RR Building and might have the wrong company. I didn't last very long because it's all talk talk talk. I tried skimming through all the talking, but never found a part that they where doing anything, just talking. Why do people talk so much in youtube videos?

I don't use the strings to get to square. The Morton crew that built our barn used 2 tape measures. When they marked the width of the front wall they put a screw driver in each of the front 2 corners, From there they found what the diagonal of the building was. Then they pulled each of the 2 tapes to the opposite corners of the back wall until both tapes measured the same diagonal. Pretty slick i thought.

I use the batter boards to establish straight lines for setting posts ( like those in a pole barn ), for setting forms etc. I like the string lines for reference points as taught string lines don't lie.

Yes...the RR guy does talk but he explains what he is doing and why . He is pretty much a perfectionist ! The other Youtube guy i really enjoy is called Essential Craftsman. This guy is a excellent home builder and takes the time to explain what and why he is doing it.

 

[747driver]

All looks nice and straight..nice job !! Yes, laying block will make you a old man quickly. I have a Lowes mixer i use for big jobs like this. Is there any reason you didn't put re-bar in the footer sticking up to reinforce the blocks ? Keep up the good work !

 

[dragoneggs]

Yes...the RR guy does talk but he explains what he is doing and why . He is pretty much a perfectionist ! The other Youtube guy i really enjoy is called Essential Craftsman. This guy is a excellent home builder and takes the time to explain what and why he is doing it.

On the topic of YouTube craftsman, I have been following and learning from 'Next Level Carpentry'. This guy explains things well and is also a perfectionist. Great tips on cabinetry and keeping everything true and square and how to be efficient with repetition in his small and modest shop. He is not a tool ***** either which is refreshing.