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Finally time to pull the trigger . . . starting on the New (much anticipated) SHOP - Build

Nice progress! You’re really putting that tank barrow to work. I’m not sure if I posted this before, here’s a pic of the Merle we had; Jerzey.

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Good progress this weekend on the foundation . . .

Decided that a little help was going to be needed for this weekends workload . . .
So a tractor was decided to be the weapon of choice . . . include a backhoe too !

Had 3 truckloads (17,000 lbs) of ABC stone delivered for the foundation . . .
That's 51,000 pounds of stones to be moved this weekend . . .

First on the agenda was an area between my property and my neighbors property that always accumulated water
on heavy rains . . . cutting the grass in this area was impossible due to how soggy it got.

It has now been filled in and, as you can see, after a rain, there was only a small area of water . . .

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Cleared out all the organic material from this side, and got the stone put down in the area . . .

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Next on the agenda, was clearing out the organic material from the back part of the shop . . . after a bit of trial
and error(s) (many of them) . . . I figured out how to get it done with reasonable success . . .

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Got a collection of topsoil collecting from this part of the plan . . . . and it'll be used later too . . .

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Had an absolute blast with the backhoe - something I never used and was always curious about - and I was able
to get "fairly" decent results after only 3 days of use - here's a root I pulled out of the ground as proof . . .

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Here's the whole area in stone and somewhat graded . . . notice the wood collection in this picture . . .

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Sorry to say that my eagerness to get all the stone moved resulted in not getting a picture of 2 very large piles of
stone that were here . . . and the tractor that is now carrying the last load away . . .

The third pile was dumped a bit away as the driver got stuck and could not get up the hill to dump that load with
the rest of the loads . . . still got some cleanup to get done on that pile too . . .

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Now that it's all in place . . . guess what . . . it needs to get a 16" wide trench dug for a footer for my wall . . .
Similar to the wall on the other side . . .

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Really happy with the progress, and the way things are looking, but there's still a load that needs to get done . . .

Just need to keep pecking away at it one bit at a time . . . My neigbor stopped over to check on the progress and
his comment to me was that he was not only surprised at how MUCH I've gotten done on this project so far, but that
he's really amazed of the fact that I've done it mostly by myself . . .

Talk about a lift me up . . .

More Later . . .
 
My neigbor stopped over to check on the progress and
his comment to me was that he was not only surprised at how MUCH I've gotten done on this project so far, but that
he's really amazed of the fact that I've done it mostly by myself
I would fully agree with your neighbor - amazing the progress you have made all on your own. I think very few people could achieve the same results. WELL DONE! :thumbsup:
 
Let the trenching begin . . . digging in this ABC stone is NOT easy . . .

Now that stone is all down, now the trench for the footer needs to be dug and concrete poured.
No time like the present to get to it . . .

Got started at one end and I'll work my way down to the other end to get this thing done . . .
Last weekend the work begun . . .

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After 20' was dug, got a layer of concrete in the ground and the rebar in place . . .

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The next day, set up the form to hold the concrete, and poured the next layer . . . these are 16" wide . . .

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Of course . . . got rain and had a mess with the trench filled up with water . . .

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dug a tiny trench to the end of the foundation to help let the water drain itself out . . . that helped a ton . . .

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Set up the second pour with the forms . . . and got started . . . set the rebar in place and started mixing bags . . .

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Second pour is completed . . . and the inspector took time away from lizard hunting to check on my work again . . .
The rebar sticking up will be to help hold the slab to the footers . . .
also ran the edger on all the concrete to "soften" them - thinking this should help with out a sharp edge on them . . .

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Pour number 3 was finished up yesterday and it looks like a nice weekend so the last 2 pours should get done . . .

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After the last 2 pours get done, the back wall needs to get done and then it's the final sprint for a slab . . .
Thing are finally moving along and there might even be a shimmer of light at the end of the tunnel . . .

Also made my next order of lumber . . . as the slab going down will speed up this process drastically ! ! !

More later . . .
 
Finally got 3 days of no rain . . . and got some stuff done on the footers . . .

Finally . . . well, there was rain . . . tell you more later . . .

Continuing the trench dig down the length of the shop for my other inner wall . . .

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Loaded up on concrete mix for the next section . . . ready to go . . .

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Carnage from the last week of work on this footer . . . quite the stack of concrete bags . . .

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3rd section is framed and poured - with the rebar in the slab and rebar sticking up to catch the top slab . . .

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4th section of the footer is getting it's first layer of concrete . . . keeping it rough for binding of the top layer . . .

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At the back wall, took a slightly "different" approach - since all of the walking was wearing me out . . . so . . .
The truck hauled 21 bags within reach, and the white plastic barrel is full of water . . . within reach too . . .
BOY did this set up help out . . . and it was Obie approved ( not OSHA ) . . .

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Got the 5the section poured and the back wall of the shop . . . since this is only one story, it's 12" wide . . . ONLY . . .

This is where it got interesting . . . got the last of this concrete in the forms, and we were NOT supposed to get any
rain until Monday . . . and it started raining . . . so scramble time to get it all covered and protected . . . .

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Wasn't 15 minutes later and there was no rain . . . just enough to make me work to get it covered . . .
S it all got uncovered . . . and re-finished and edged . . . not perfect, but it'll ALL be covered in the end . . .

The unfinished "end" is the last 26' section of the back wall that needs to get the footer done - 16" wide . . .

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This is the other side of the shop - the offshoot - just like the other side that has already been built . . .

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Got home from work today and pulled off the forms to get a look at the results . . . and they look great . . .

One more step closer to getting this foundation done and a concrete pad poured . . .

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That was a grueling 3 days of work . . . and 2+ pallets of 80 pound bags of concrete mix . . .
42 bags in a pallet x 2 pallets . . . X 80 pounds = 6560 pounds . . . plus about 15 left over from the previous job . . .

Next, and last in line . . . 26' of 16" wide footers for the back wall . . .

More Later . . .
 
Stone pile cleanup . . . determination and perseverance . . .

This pile of stone was dumped in my backyard . . . and needs to be cleaned up.

Here's the other side of latest footer . . . looks really good . . .

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Here's the pile of stone that still needs to be cleaned up . . . what a pain . . .

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The stone that was cleaned up has been filled into the back of this part of the shop . . .

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Looking good . . . filling it in . . .

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Reining in the pile . . . getting it cleaned up - it's the tire ruts that make it difficult . . .

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Further reining in of the pile . . . making good progress . . .

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Getting close to the end of this mess . . . finally . . .

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And finally . . . this part of the mess has been cleaned up pretty well . .

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Unfortunately . . . now I get to focus on this other pile of stone and getting it cleaned up . . .

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Another step closer . . . and slowly moving along . . .

More Later . . .
 
Time to get caught up again on the progress . . . things moving forward . . .

Sorry for the delay . . . had a little trip to Florida to help my daughter move into their new house.

But progress on the building . . .

"somebody" decided that they needed to leave a reminder for me in the concrete . . .
and I was NOT about to fix it . . . so it stays . . .

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Got the last of the footers poured and completed . . . less 1 course of blocks across the back wall . . .

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Worked on grading out the existing ABC stone . . .

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Like the way it's looking so far . . .

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So - a little trip to Florida was required to help my daughter get moved into their new house . . . so . . .
Me and the inspector packed up in the truck and headed down . . . ( how he was comfortable like that ? ? ? )

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So the first most important item . . . Paint the house to her color . . . and Obie was helping me all the time ! !
( he loved to sleep on the drop cloth . . . don't know why . . . he was always there . . . )
Just come back later, when he moves and fill in the missing paint . . .

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Did all the "dad" stuff that I could, new lights, kitchen door pulls, washer/dryer hooked up and working . . .
( but wish I could have stayed for another week to help them get more done . . . )

And the trip back home . . .

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Made another trip to Ohio and picked up another load of lumber . . . here's the start of the stacking . . .
16' in the near part, and 10' under the carport out of the weather . . .

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And the stacking completed . . . this should be a majority of what is needed to build the rest of the shop . . .
All I can think I'm missing is the purlins for the metal roofing . . .

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Hoping that I'll have the foundation ready for concrete this month . . . that's what I'm working toward . . .

One step at a time . . .

More Later . . .
 
Last edited:
Time to get caught up again on the progress . . . things moving forward . . .

Sorry for the delay . . . had a little trip to Florida to help my daughter move into their new house.

But progress on the building . . .

"somebody" decided that they needed to leave a reminder for me i the concrete . . .
and I was NOT about to fix it . . . so it stays . . .

View attachment 1475105

Got the last of the footers poured and completed . . . less 1 course of blocks across the back wall . . .

View attachment 1475106

Worked on grading out the existing ABC stone . . .

View attachment 1475107

Like the way it's looking so far . . .

View attachment 1475108

So - a little trip to Florida was required to help my daughter get moved into their new house . . . so . . .
Me and the inspector packed up in the truck and headed down . . . ( how he was comfortable like that ? ? ? )

View attachment 1475109

So the first most important item . . . Paint the house to her color . . . and Obie was helping me all the time ! !
( he loved to sleep on the drop cloth . . . don't know why . . . he was always there . . . )
Just come back later, when he moves and fill in the missing paint . . .

View attachment 1475110

Did all the "dad" stuff that I could, new lights, kitchen door pulls, washer/dryer hooked up and working . . .
( but wish I could have stayed for another week to help them get more done . . . )

And the trip back home . . .

View attachment 1475111

Made another trip to Ohio and picked up another load of lumber . . . here's the start of the stacking . . .
16' in the near part, and 10' under the carport out of the weather . . .

View attachment 1475112

And the stacking completed . . . this should be a majority of what is needed to build the rest of the shop . . .
All I can think I'm missing is the purlins for the metal roofing . . .

View attachment 1475113

Hoping that I'll have the foundation ready for concrete this month . . . that what I working toward . . .

One step at a time . . .

More Later . . .
With lumber costs what they are, you must have a small fortune sitting in your yard!

Glad you are continuing the progress, but the inspector looks a little bored. Looks like you need to keep him on his toes... :drinks:
 
Everyday is an adventure . . . more adventures with the "Mad Scientist" . . .

Still trying to get work done on the shop, but had an interesting ( make that VERY interesting ) last month . . .
Will work on getting the shop updates posted, but first . . . last month . . .

Had a week of rain, followed by a week in Florida helping my daughter - that turned into 2 weeks . . .

Why you might ask . . . Well . . . I'm going to tell you . . . Drove the 500 miles there and got there . . .
Next morning noticed the rear end was starting to leak, went to the parts store to get a new gasket and fluids.

On the way back to the house with the supplies . . . the truck bucked a couple times ( very odd )
- then there was the unmistakable smell of gear oil . . . and a trail of it in the road in my rear view mirror . . .
- left turn signal give me an arrow, step on the gas . . . no truck movement . . .
- got it coasted into a shopping center parking lot . . . got out and took a look . . .

By the way . . . returned the gasket and new fluids - WON'T be needing them now . . . Sheeeesh ! ! !

DON'T think that the rear end cover is supposed to look that way . . .

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And then a sight that is RARELY ever seen . . . my truck being towed ! ! ! ( this is the first time ever )

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After a week of the shop jerking me around - got my truck back ( he did not hook up the E-brake ) I'll have to do it
- wanted the cover from the old rear end - we pulled it . . .
- THIS is what the inside looked like . . . I'm sure it's NOT supposed to look that way either ! ! ! !

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The replacement rear end ( know NOTHING about it ) got me home . . . but the pinion seal is leaking
- guess who's got yet another project to work on . . .

Then there is a "new" toy at the house - that is really going to help out ! !

A Massey Ferguson tractor/backhoe !

This has been a "wish-list" item for a long time and it's finally become a reality . . . And then . . . Found this . . .
( now I know why he was selling it . . . )

Talk about a hole being wallowed out a "little bit" . . . that's what happens when you don't grease it . . .

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Cleaned up all the mushrooming metal . . .

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Wow . . . look at the wear on that pin . . . that's unreal . . . ( this one is TRASH ! )

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Clean up on the other side was not as bad, but it still was wallowed out pretty good . . .

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And now . . . my plans for fixing this mess . . . fabricated 2 inserts to go on both side . . .

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The narrower part will go INTO the wallowed out hole . . . the wider part will sit flush on the side of the boom . . .
Notice - this will greatly increase the amount of metal that the pin will be sitting on hold the weight of the boom.

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It will sit in the hole and look like this . . . now today's project . . . is to get this welded in place
No tiny task - as the whole boom really needs to be removed so I can get at and weld the other side too . . .

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Now you know a "little" of what's been happening and why posts have been few lately . . . will be back SOON !

More Later . . .
 
Good progress this weekend on the foundation . . .

Decided that a little help was going to be needed for this weekends workload . . .
So a tractor was decided to be the weapon of choice . . . include a backhoe too !

View attachment 1455372

Had an absolute blast with the backhoe - something I never used and was always curious about - and I was able
to get "fairly" decent results after only 3 days of use - here's a root I pulled out of the ground as proof . . .
My first time to use a back hoe was in 84 and that thing was beyond worn out! The guy kept 'safety' chains on the back hoe so it wouldn't leak down and start dragging the ground when using the front end loader. I could go on but you get the jest of it lol At least it was good enough to get done what needed to be done.
 
What was accomplished this past weekend . . . good progress . . .

The weekend went very well . . .

First of all - got a picture of the new addition - the tractor that I've been waiting for . . .

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First problem - need the cherry picker and it's in the moved shop . . . and the garage door is non functional - YET !

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This is how the cherry picker is going to be used to hold the boom while I'm working on the connection . . .

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Yes - it's completely supported by the cherry picker - ( it moved a building, I knew it could handle this . . . )

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After this weekend . . . the garage door is NOW functional as I do not want to have to lay down the cherry picker again

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This is one of the "flaws" with this tractor that I don not like . . . the folded tab hold the pin from rotating . . .
That flat metal tab is "not" very strong . . . and it sheared off on the bottom pin that was mangled . . .

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This is my BSH Fabrication of the replacement pin for this lower pin . . .
It should NOT be able shear off a 3/4" solid metal bar stock . . . This should help a LOT from it ever happening again.

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So the weekend result . . .

- the tractor is fixed and fully functional now ( sorry about the ugly welding . . . sigh )
- the garage door on my moved shop is now fully functional . . . that's a GOOD thing . . .

More later . . .
 
Well, at least you've been busy Larry. :thumbsup:

That was a pretty nasty failure on the diff of your truck.....haven't seen one like that before.
 
Catching up on work from a month ago - then my trip to Florida . . .

Sorry for the delay, but the Florida trip kinda got in the way . . .
So now I need to try and get caught up on the progress . . . thought I was done with foundation . . .

WRONG . . .

Forgot that this additional pad was going to be needed . . . get it framed up . . .

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Get it all framed up . . . rebar set in place . . . and pour the concrete . . .
NOTICE - the rebar needed to be bent . . . 1/2" rebar . . . how ? ! ? ! ? . . . creative ideas . . .

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Had the truck in the backyard . . . and . . . I had this crazy idea . . . so . . . I gave it a shot . . .

It was the BEST idea . . . could not believe how great and easy it made bending the rebar ! ! !

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Got all of the concrete poured into the forms . . .

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Break down the forms . . . and the concrete footing that was missing is now completed . . .

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SO . . . the concrete foundation is completed . . . and the blocks need to be set . . .

Getting started on the blockwork . . . oh boy ! ! !

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Got some work that needs to be done on the building that was moved . . .
- framed in the door
- framed in the window above the door . .
- and need a header above garage door ( and will show you the reason why later . . . )

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For the header, it needs to have the 2x4s removed to insert the header . . .
- needed for this span ( 2 2x6s )
- what I'll be putting into the header 3 2x10s

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Got this side cleaned out and ready for the header . . . and there is a king stud on the outside here . . .
- then the concern . . . HOW will this header be installed ? ? ?

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Now the other side of the door need the header prep work done . . .

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Making progress on the shop building . . . and the final cleanup of the moved shop . . . and keep at it.

Still working on it and making progress, but this heat wave is brutal ! ! !

More Later
 
You're a real workaholic Larry......nice progress. :thumbsup:

I do not envy you at all with the heat you're getting hit with.
 
HOW will this header be installed ? ? ?
I'm not sure if this is rhetorical. If not, here is what I thought of:
*The face boards could be removed...the ones that would sit below the header. This would allow you to use a hand crank hoist to just lift the header in place....straight up to where it needs to be.
* Two Simpson HUC hangers can sometimes be enough to retain the header depending on size and span. One could be attached to one king stud that is left in place, the other can be attached to the other king stud cut loose at the top and tilted away. This would allow you to raise the header up using the hand crank hoist, slide it into the HUC hanger on the fixed side, then slap the other king stud over and nail everything off.
The HUC term refers to "Hanger with concealed flange"
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This allows you to attach a 6x header to a 2x6 wall. The same applies to a 4x hanger and a 2x4 wall.

Hand crank beam lifts can be rented....


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