Things are about to change, new garage loading

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

A lot has happened over the last few days!!
New roof on the house, that was 2.5 days of busting ass...good for another 20-25 years.
Monday I guess we broke a local record for the most rainfall on November 6th. I sat in the house next to the fire looking out the window at the incomplete foundation...*sigh*. Rebar showed up.
Today the rebar was installed and the pex was laid. The builder put in the conduits for water line and electrical service.

Tomorrow my engineer will be out to sign off on the rebar work and the city will be by for foundation inspection.
Concrete pour scheduled for Thursday AM.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

So Thursday AM started with this mess...

But the show must go on, and the team didnt stop. 3 loads of concrete. Everything went smooth, by the time I came home the last of the power trowel work was just starting. I asked they not seal and polish the finish as I will be having an epoxy coating applied. This will save the epoxy contractor about a day of grinding to remove if sealed & polished. The slope looks nice and even to the drain. Plus the hand work at the garage door is perfect, a small scallop with a slope out the door opening.

Unfortunately I didnt get any pictures of the finished pad. I was busy throwing down extension cords for lighting as it was getting dark.
Tomorrow the builder will return to ICF and pour the curb walls. Then the slab will sit for a few days. It feels good to have something tangible built. The pace for the structure should pickup from here, plus the return to some reasonable temperatures for construction next week will help.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

The project train is in full motion now, big swings are happening. The pad cured for about 3 days, there was still warmth in the pour the Tuesday it was uncovered. We had some difficult weather to work around with this part of the build, but in the end everything came together and I am pleased with the results. I think the finish will be perfect for the epoxy crew, level with a sandpaper like finish. ICF foam on the inside of the garage curb walls isnt an ideal surface for the epoxy guys to apply up to, however the ICF forms my builder uses has solid bracing built in to affix finishes to such as sheeting, drywall or baseboards. I will be able to mount some 4-6" sheeting strips and the epoxy will be applied up the walls a few inches creating a water safe seal at the walls. It will be easy to degrease and flood these floors to clean them.

Talked to the builder about the look I was going for as he was assembling materials for the walls and roof. Lumber, sheeting, ice shield & tar paper showed up. I chose a 2 colour brown motif for the siding and trim, but the tones arent finalized.
Friday the walls went up, came together like Tetris, man these guys are good!


The front wall completed the building. Now I can really see what I had spent so much time measuring and scrutinizing. I used my old garage before I moved to compare what I had and what I wanted. Three times I measured out the footprint with survey stakes so I could walk it out and be sure it was going to be big enough and avoid conflicts with my tools & equipment. Well, in the end, this thing is the Taj Mahal. That 10x10 rollup door is colossal. Everything is looking perfect for the addition of the second bay on the north side later, all is in the right places. In my minds eye the south wall real estate was largely taken up by the solar collectors for the heating, but with the lay of the land if I grade properly, I will be able to add a lower 8' high drive shed for my tractor. That is a bonus as I was previously just going to lay a gravel pad for parking.


My wife figured I was going to hang my 50" TV, hammock and sleep out there!

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Today was another day of pure enjoyment to watch. I am in the process of burning off a few holiday days because I dont have enough to make a full week off, and I have sick days...use 'em or lose 'em. So between now and Christmas I have 4 day weeks. Perfect to watch this garage get done.
Todays focus was the trusses up and roof sheeting done.

The ice shield and tar paper for the roof are already here, I am assuming the bundles will be delivered to the roof tomorrow. I sure as hell wouldnt want to run the bundles up a ladder to this roof! Today in the "Blue Room" I switched to my winter tires and serviced the brake pins on my DD. I cant wait for this garage, I need this garage!

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Over the last few weeks things have started to wrap up. I had the framing inspector out and received approval. Man doors and windows arrived and are installed. The doors I wanted have sliders for ventilation, but are a couple weeks out. So my builder suggested to the supplier he take standard doors and install them and when the doors with sliders arrive, we will unpin the doors and swap them. That way the project dosent stall...Good call!

With a 6" wall I can fill with R20-R26 batts, add to that the foam board on the exterior (R5/inch) Ill have R30-36 walls.

Sorting out the siding and trim was a treat. Dark colours cost more, and as I wanted dark to take advantage of solar gains in the winter, I have an additional $1500 cost on the outer cladding. Wasnt interested in white, beige or grey anyways. I wish I could do a different exterior treatment, but vinyl is the cheapest, and If Im going to be adding and modifying things it seems like the best choice.

Garage door is still a week out, but that will be the last step before I settle up the last bill for the builder. At that point the rest of the work is on me. First order is insulation, vapour barrier and sheeting for the inside. Then I have to attack the electrical panel and get some heating (ala 5000W heater) so I can have the epoxy floor applied.
Hopefully I can have the Speed6 in the garage before Christmas...

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Siding was finished up yesterday, today the soffits & facia completed. Just waiting on the rollup door.

Tonight is the 1st official time the Speed6 was moved into the new garage!

I still have a lot of work ahead, but it is something.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Yesterday I went to the bank for the last draw to pay the final bill and release the builder. I paid extra for geotextile under the base aggregate and the siding I chose was of higher quality, however he covered the cost of the extra gravel he had to bring in and the cost of the slider windows I requested in the man doors. He came by for a final walk through, and now that the work was done we talked about my plans and work going forward. He gave me some advise and products to look into as well. Overall a very knowledgeable guy that does excellent work. Watching this part of the build come together was a learning experience. Ive picked up a few tricks for sure. Although I would have loved to have done a lot of the work up to this point, I am not afforded the time and not to the level of expertise of the builder.

Currently in the garage beside the Speed6 is a bundle of 7/16 OSB sheeting, 19 bags of insulation, 1500' of VB plus staples, tuck tape, acoustic sealant, door handles & locks. I also purchased 50' of #2 3c AL teck for the service. Thankfully the cold has held off and the frost hasnt set in. I grabbed the backhoe last weekend and trenched to the transformer. I am off till Jan 2 so over Christmas I hope to get the service line buried and the insulation and VB in and inspected.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Today was service cable burial day. Because I plan to add another bay I want to sink the cable deep enough to meet requirements for vehicle traffic over where the cable is laid in prep for the future. According to ESA the direct burial armoured cable (or cable in conduit) needs to be 24" below surface with 3" of sand above and below the cable & 2" at the sides. Punched out a trench to 30"+, backfilled with sand/cable/sand and topped with the course #2 crushed used for the base aggregate. I will also lay burial tape 12" below the top grade (bottom of man door). The cable is fed through the concrete pad in 2" conduit and will feed a 100A panel. I took a lot of pictures for the ESA inspector. The frost can set in now, I dont need to dig anymore this winter.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Beginning the weekend before Christmas whenever I was able, I disappeared to the garage madly insulating and putting up vapour barrier. Friday the inspector came out and approved my work. After a bit of a chat, I find out he is a local boy and knows most of my wifes family. He built a garage just like mine, only twice the size LOL.

Today I tackled sheeting the ceiling. With the help of my son and father in law we devised home built support tools and worked to raise 12 4x8 sheets before calling it quits. We effectively found the limits of our joints and abilities, but the hardest part is complete. Only 40 more sheets to go...

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Christmas and New Years happened, then the temps dropped and winter finally arrived. I was able to get some more work done in the garage. The concrete pad retained heat for a long time despite some cold nights. Finished sheeting the ceiling, installed the door locks and a complete cleanup. I have finished the corner where the electrical panel will be installed and contracted the help of a friend who is master electrician to do the panel and connect to the grid. He will take care of all the paperwork, Hydro and Electrical Safety Authority bits. When the panel goes in, he is also adding 1 switch/light circuit, 1 receptacle and connecting my 5000W heater so I can continue in comfort. I will complete the balance of the electrical (surface mounted) once I start moving in and placing equipment.

Then we had days of snowfall and I was busy clearing snow 3 hours a day. The snow kept falling or the wind would blow it around and drift. Seemed like all I did was go to work and clear snow...then I spent 6 days parked with covid and the driveway started to fill in. Nothing happened in the last couple weeks.

 

[scotman]

Is sheetrock not allowed in work sheds or storage barns? I like the fire resistance of sheetrock.i did use OSB as the wallboard 4' up from the floor only because I would destroy sheetrock wallboard in a couple of years. Nice workplace SA!

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Sheetrock is available, however I like the resilience of OSB when mounting to it. One look at sheetrock the wrong way and its compromised. OSB is not fire retardant but with a good sealer coat paint it wont be an ignition hazard. Should the garage go up, there are so many other chemicals and tools to add to the BBQ...stand back! Lol.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Havent accomplished much in the way of physical work on the garage. I have been working with my electrician trying to get the power hooked up to the garage. First off the inspector came out and OK'd the panel and the small amount of wiring I had requested.

The inspector asked if I had a welder & air compressor, then commented that I was only installing a 100A panel. I ran my old garage off 60A previously, never popped a breaker with the 5kW heater, compressor & welder all on simultaneously. Not sure what the inspector assumes Im going to be doing in this garage.
At the request of the inspector before signing off on the service connection is where we get into the shit storm. Technically the garage could be hooked up and would work fine. Of course code and requirements have changed. I have 2 options at this time.
Option 1. Upgrade to a new meter box plus disconnect. Currently we have the old school meter of days gone by, simple yet effective. If I go this route, #1 disconnect will go to the house, #2 will go to the garage and all the out buildings will be serviced from the garage panel (not much, lights and receptacles). This allows proper bonding of the systems as my garage is not fed through the house panel like most people have. Meter box with disconnect ~$1500 plus installation costs above my current $2500 estimate.
Option 2. Contact Hydro, have a site visit and consult. Well this one has expensive written all over it. They want to assign a Design Technician to create a contract and design layout and setting us up with "Central metering". This is a system commonly used for commercial service where metering every kW is not feasible. The system meters a portion of your usage and through a mathematical equation bills you for power use. In my eyes its overkill as I am not running a welding shop or mechanic business.
Through all this I have come to understand that the new requirements since 2020 can be attributed to the electrical needs for EV charging. Basically Hydro and the Electrical Safety Authority are pushing these upgrades under the assumption we are all going to be driving EVs in the future. Personally I would like to wait till I have actually purchased an EV, as by that time it will be mainstream and the government will be subsidizing hydro upgrades with bigger incentives than they are now.

So...This weekend the weather was favorable to get out and do some sheeting in the garage. I mounted 4x8 sheets at the ceiling Saturday with the help of a friend. Sunday I went out solo and worked on all the lower panels, cuts and piece work. So far Ive accomplished about half of the sheeting. Next weekend I will complete the rest.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

I admit its been a while since Ive posted. I have been checking in daily but between life, work, mental and the weather Ive had trouble getting invested. After daily duties and evening chores, I usually cant muster more than the TV and a splash of whiskey some nights.
My target milestone for a while has been the epoxy floor. All other work was hinging on when the epoxy could be laid. I had to finish sheeting the walls, which is now complete. I then had to box the ICF forms at the floor with pine boards to mount the cove for the epoxy floor, which is also complete.

On the exterior the ICF isnt UV stable and requires cover to close my building permit. Regularly ICF will be covered with parging or cement board etc. I was looking for a more temporary or non permanent solution as I am planning future additions and changes. I chose to purchase 50' rolls of 12" aluminum flashing. I think I attempted install on 2 of the worst days for wind. However despite much profanity I was successful and I am just waiting for things to dry up so I can work some backfill to cover whats left.
My sparky was back today and installed an LB to supply power to some out buildings. He put in a decent sized conduit/LB for any future upgrades. He took some measurement to build the struts for the new meter/disconnect, a junction box and Generlink. He was delayed in his work as his Father recently fell ill and passed. As long as we can get Hydro scheduled I should have power in the garage some time next week.
Epoxy floor is booked for install May 21st. As long as the power to the garage is completed before that weekend, I can start preheating the garage to warm up the concrete to accept the epoxy.
Quotes and scheduled seamless eavestrough and downspouts to be installed in a few weeks. Im thinking of diverting the downspouts through a gravel bed and into a well/cistern beside the garage to supply water needs.
I hope to be able to build benches and move in June 1st. I should put my order in for the hoist soon too. Things are moving quickly again, but as the weather improves I also have a retaining wall to build, a barn that needs leveling and 200' of driveway to profile and rehab. Summer is going to be busy!!

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

3 Day weekend north of the border! I spent about 26 hours of it painting and what was left of the holiday Monday emptying the garage for the epoxy floor install. Because I chose to sheet in OSB, I applied 2 layers of KILZ sealer/primer. I usually default to a product called Zinsser, but the Net search said the KILZ is better suited to OSB. I think it worked out well in the end, but the Zinsser probably wouldnt need to be top coated.

I however chose to apply 2 coats of exterior enamel high gloss pure white for maximum light reflection and to kill a few brain cells in the process **cough**. I coated the ceiling and the top 4' of the walls. I have an industrial oil based coating for the lower 8' that I didnt get time to apply this weekend.

I will have to pickup painting after the Epoxy floor is applied, which starts tomorrow. The building inspector is going to drop by tomorrow as well for the final. This should close the building permit. Friday hydro gets hooked up. Right now I have been running power through the panel powered by my new generator originally purchased to cover power outages through the Generlink. Next weekend I hope to finish the trim woodwork and get it all painted. I have 3 8' benches to design, build and paint as well...then Im moving in!

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

The epoxy guy showed up right on time and went straight to grinding. I had to hook up a 20A circuit ahead of time for the floor grinder, and he ran his vacuum directly off the generator 15A receptacle. Because I didnt have the concrete crew seal the pad, only about 2 hours of grinding was required. Then the baseboards were sealed and the cove profiled. Tomorrow a quick cleanup and the first pour.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

TGIF. Today was a huge wrap up for second stage of the garage build. I was just as excited as when the structure was wrapped up. I do still have some trim & paint work to finish up, but Ive closed the door on some serious milestones.
The guy who did the epoxy floor did an amazing job and was a top tier contractor. He delivered the product as explained, he was there & finished when he said and was very knowledgeable about his product. The floor is good for foot traffic right now, so I can get in there and do some work this weekend. Car traffic wont be till Monday.
First pour from 2 days ago...

Final pour was yesterday, cured enough to walk on...

The texture is a no-slip compound he spreads on the floor that creates small fish eyes. Without it, add some snow or water and the floor becomes a skating rink.
My sparky, hydro and the inspector came for a party today and buttoned up the power needs...cuz I need power! Everything is all hooked up and I can backfill the trench. And when the power goes out, we can hook up the 10000W Genny to the Generlink.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

June 1st is move in day!...sort of. I still have a considerable list of projects to complete, but today I Finished up the trim work and painting. It didnt occur to me until yesterday, coincidentally I have painted the garage to match my car...white with a bit of black trim.

The future will include building work benches, electrical, heating, water service etc.
I was able to move my basic tool chests, chemicals & detailing cabinet into the garage. At least now I will be able to complete maintenance and repairs indoors. Oil change, tire rotate & front brakes due on the wife's CX5, swaybar links and bushings due on the Fbomb(my daily) and rear brakes due on my inlaws car. Plus everything needs complete in/out detail.

To christen this milestone, from inside the comforts of my new garage I washed up the Speed6 as it spent a week parked outdoors...priceless!! No bugs, no sun, no wind, no pollen...no problem!!

FYI...Epoxy floor (despite anti slip texture), soapy water & crocks = skating rink and possible death!!
Completed washing the car in my bear feet for safety!

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Short and sweet...Final inspection for the electrical is a pass. This is just for the service to the building. The interior electrical will be completed once Ive moved my equipment in and decided where I want everything.
The hoist was delivered today. Ive got holidays in 2 weeks and plan to assemble it then. Of course, monsoon rains forecasted for this weekend.
ALI cert. 4 post, 8000 lb cap., 180" runways, extra tall 80" under clearance. 220V inboard mounted motor and 3500 lb cap. bridge jack.

Looks something like this assembled...

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Spent yesterday emptying the garage and getting everything set up to install the hoist this week. I had built the 8' bench for the front wall of the garage. I wanted to get it in place along with the desk before the hoist went in. Still need to build the cabinet doors...​

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Today I unpacked the hoist and prepped to start assembly. One corner of the power unit bracket got damaged in shipping. I should be able to fix it up myself, plus I have a 90* bracket that mounts the unit inboard.​

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It took about 5 hours for 2 people to unpack & assemble the posts, cross beams, runways. Safety locks are in and cables are run. Everything still needs to be torqued and adjusted. The power unit & hydraulics need to be hooked and electrical run.​

I seriously dont know how anyone could assemble this without big equipment. I am lucky enough to have a back hoe. I even pulled out my engine hoist and a bumper jack in the process. Tomorrows forecast is rain...perfect to hide in the garage and finish up assembly.​

Damn it looks good in there!​