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By the time spring winds finally calmed, our contractor was involved in the construction of another project ...but, true to his word he came back and worked our job in hopes that he could move on to other projects.
As I mentioned earlier...the city foiled our plans of using a "sprayed on foam" insulation. We were now required to use a vinyl back insulation with a minimum R/13 rating on the walls and an R/19 on the roof areas. A mistake was made here (from the contractors viewpoint) in electing to use R/19 on all areas. The R/13 material is only 3 " and easy to apply to wall areas...where as the R/19 is 6" thick and extremely difficult to press up against the perlins and screw the panels into place over the top of the material.This and the fact that he elected to use one continuous membrane from the ground on one side... over the roof trusses and down to ground level again created a lot of additonal labor for he and his crew.
The insulation rolls are ordered pre-cut and arrive on site the exact diminsion required (in this case 95' per roll in 6' widths). The rolls were huge and the weight was even more astounding (about 400 pounds a roll)...something the contractor hadn't counted on, but rather than take the easy way out by cutting the rolls down he and his crew split there gut handling these huge rolls, being extra careful not to tear the vinyl as it was passed over all the sharp cornered steel.
As I said it was a mistake on the contractors part...but the benitfits of the results has proved to be a real savings for us...even when there are 100 plus degrees outside it is rarely over 80 inside (were sure the winter will treat us as well).
As soon as the frame was set in place the walk in doors and windows were set in place, so as the "skinning" process began all the measuements were "set in stone" and the actual "skinning" went really well and actually only covered about 4 full days and maybe half of another. As you'll be able to see from the photos each roll was covered as it was streched moving from the back of the building to the front
...then skinning out the back... then front...it was an amazing thing to watch and really made us feel as tho the rest of this project was going to flow. (wrong).
As soon as the building was encased we called the plumbers back in and had the "slab Plumbing" set in place...the plumber liked the fact that the bulding was in place because it saved them from having to guess where their stuff had to go. All this was hooked up to the outside plumbing at this time in preperation for the slab to be poured.
To this point we have used approx. $33,500 of our construction loan...add this to the $30,000. we paid for the lot we're now up to $63,500. (the actual cost for the 3000 sq . ft. structure all skinned out was approx. $22,000.).
The day after the building was finished... I had scheduled the overhead door people to install the big doors and for the first time we were able to secure the building. It was a" beautiful thing".
Our next contractor to deal with was recommended by the building contractor...and we accepted him based on 3 factors ...he was available as most of his work was based on being "hooked up" and following the building contractor on to the site...he was nearly 50% less on his bid than any other bids we had aquired (mostly because we picked up the cost of material and all he had invested was labor)...He seemed knowledgable (at the time).
A big lesson was learned during the slab process (more about that later) the cement guy showed up and prepped the area for the pour the following day...when he left Pat and I went to the site and was amazed at how poorly they had done it...(I had worked in concrete at one point in my life and knew what was acceptable). So now begins the "sweat equtity", Pat and I spent the next 4 hours shoveling leveling and hauling chat (fine limestone gravel) til we were satisfied with the results. The next day the concrete crew showed up and I pulled the contractor aside and told him of our disapointment and that I expected a better result from here out and was reasured all would go well from here on out. (I knew better... but wanted to continue "on schedule") so we maintained the relationship (bruised as it was).
The followng day the city inspector shows to inspect the slab site and turns it down because the plumbing insn't insulated heavily enough (even tho the plumbing inspector had cleared it a week before...(leaving 6 guys leaning on their shovels while we wait for the plumbing contractor to dig it up and correct it) By time that was resolved it was too late to pour and was postponed til the next day. ( I love inspectors).
On the day the slab was poured it got to the high temperature of about 99 degrees.
The first half of the slab went really well but as the crew ( of six ) wore down the loads set in the truck longer than they should have and as they started on the second half they got a "cold joint" and everything was downhill from there. With all credit going to the crew they saved the pour...but left one or two sever dips in the slab (not covering a large area but not good either).
As I mentioned earlier...a big lesson was learned here...If I had it to do over I would have insisted that the slab was poured in two days (one half at a time) It would have eliminated the need to nearly kill a crew of six and it would have given us a much better slab, mostly because it would have given the crew more time for better detail work.
As you read this ...if you determine you have a need to repeat this process be sure the crew uses a vibrator around the perimeter of the building walls and base perlins to insure solid contact with the slab to the walls (we didn't) and it made for a couple of bad areas in the slab (at the edges) most of which has been covered by the interior walls ...(but I still know they are there).
As it turned out the slab is very smooth and the only true tragedy is the dip in the floor just happens to be EXACTLY where Pat works every day...(what a dumb move on the contractors part).
The following day ...the concrete cutter arrived (as sceduled) and cut the slab on 9' centers east to west and 10' centers north to south. The purpose for cutting is to make sure that when the slab cracks (and they all do) it will crack only along those lines (6 months later it has happened exactly that way).Incidently we used 4000 pound fibre reinforced concrete with no re-bar (we were reassure by at least 4 different sources this is "state of the art" but I'm still holding my breath (when I was doing it, there was no such animal as 4000 pound concrete) and rebar was "state of the art. The savings was signifcant tho and if it all works the way we've been told we will be very happy with our decisions.
This however... is the time it became real apparent that my days of production at SIGNLanguage would come to a stop til this project is finished (nearly a 3 month span in which Pat was soley responsible for keeping us afloat) both monitarily and for shoring me up mentally so I could wrestle the construction alligators every day.
Three days after the slab is poured the framing materials and sheet rock arrive and we get aquainted with our next contractor (one of the best during this entire odyssey).
Coming up next...CHAPTER 7 / INTERIOR FINISHING AND "HOUDINI"
[ October 20, 2002, 07:00 PM: Message edited by: Monte Jumper ]
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
posted
Keep it coming Monte. I'm sure a lot of us hope to fulfill that dream someday. And the rest I'm sure can identify with what an acomplishment it must be.
posted
Looks good and it appears you will love all that extra space. (till you fill it up)
I worked in the concrete biz as a driver and I know a bit about the fiber re-enforcement. Don't know what your company calls it but where I was we called it FiberMesh. We would throw the bags (1 per yard of concrete). The salesman swears by it and I guess it works. The stuff looks like woven sheets you use to fiberglass with, only they are shredded up. Myself, after seeing it can't see how it is supposed to be stronger than rebar.
I dont think you would have problems though, as long as you have good footings where you will be backing heavy trucks into the bay, you should be ok.
Looks Great!
-------------------- Tony Broussard Graphic Details Digital Media Loreauville, LA Posts: 395 | From: Loreauville, LA | Registered: Jul 1999
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We 've filled it Tony but it is working out really well...everyday we take a little time to arrange then re-arrange things and it's all falling into place.
So Far the concrete is doing exactly as expected and we're not going to worry about it.
Soon I'll have some pics up showing everthing as it is.(when it looks like it's suppose to).
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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