A couple of pics of my Fox and 100LS in the new garage
 

<center><img src="http://home.comcast.net/~robpetschke/ch22.JPG"></center><p>Three new pictures in the link...<ul><li><a href="http://home.comcast.net/~robpetschke/carriagehousepictures5.html">http://home.comcast.net/~robpetschke/carriagehousepictures5.html</a</li></ul>

Get out of my head!!!! ;-)
 

Robert,
I was running a plate tamper last night on the garage subgrade until 9pm.....walking in circles with earmuffs on leads to daydreaming....I kept picturing your cars in your garage....your finished garage...argh. Maybe I was just tired....
Looks great, but there's not enough room to store my cars in there too while mine is being built ;-)
Cheers!

Well, if yours takes much longer....
 

My next one will be either a post and beam barn (much larger), or another just a bit larger, but with higher ceiling height. I am going to put in a mid-rise lift in this one, but if the first floor ceiling was about 3' higher I could actually put in a couple (four?!) of four post storage lifts to store cars over/under other cars!


If yours isn't finished by then, maybe I'll have room!

Keep us/me posted. I'm excited for you.

-Rob

Heh...I thought you were going to say I could build it out of snow....
 

<center><img src="http://www.audi4000.com/albums/85-4kq-girl/HPIM0947.sized.jpg"></center><p>looks like our plumber has walked...that makes 3 trades that have walked off our project.
I think the next trade we hire I'm going to say..."Nice to meet you, I'm Steve, now pack up your $h!+...you're fired!" Maybe I'll have my "stunt double" do that for me (pic)
The place is looking a bit more presentable, though last night the front was done in pink Code board....thought I was in a John Cougar Mellencamp video....
Pics to follow, none as nice as yours, though.
Cheers!

I wish I had an action figure....
 

....how about posting some pictures of your Juniors?

You mentioned tamping the ground....is it staying as "earth", or is there going to be a slab? If a slab, how much of a foundation (4' frost walls, more, less, monolithic pour?)? If it hasn't been done yet, you should really consider having a roller (heavy power equpment) do the compacting. A hand tamper isn't going to do much.

Dirt is my life......
 

Actually, in the case of the silty sand/sandy silt soils at my place, the large roller compactor could be more of a detriment than a smaller one, as the soil has a very high capiliary potential (like a Bounty towel) and will wick water up and turn into a virtual waterbed in very short order. It would take a long time for the excess pore water to dissipate. Smaller lift thicknesses and a smaller compactor are the way to go.

We raised the grade at the garage by a foot or so to eliminate stairs from the existing house to the garage level (4 foot difference between main floor and pre-construction driveway level). The garage foundations are down about 5', (2x 15M bars in the footing and the top of wall) and the backfilling of the walls was done in 12-18" lifts and compacted with a heavy Bomag diesel walk-behind plate tamper. When the excavation was backfilled, the entire subgrade (excavation was for footings only) was compacted and 1"-minus crushed limestone was placed and compacted 6-12" deep (to give a decent working surface for the framing crew). Even the diesel plate tamper was enough to wick the water up in some places, requiring the removal of some wet soil and replacement with more crushed stone. The other night I was compacting the 6-12" of clear stone ("seating", actually, since there's little you can compact with clear stone) with a small plate tamper (rented from Home Despot) in preparation for final grading (we still need to plumb the floor drains, following which I'll be renting the plate tamper again to "seat"). The floor system will be laid on top of 2" Styrofoam SM (Styrofoam HI-60 to be used beside the doors and in the area of the 4-post hoist) - the 5 1/2" concrete floor (30 MPa, fibre-reinforced) will contain a layer of thin-gauge welded wire mesh tied to the pipes for in-floor heat, above which will be 6 gauge 6x6 welded wire mesh - a number of 15M bars will be placed in the vicinity of the garage doors and around the floor drains. Not decided whether we will be using Zip Strips or saw cuts - I've told the contractor that saw cuts _must_ be made within 24 hours of concrete placement, and we will keep the cars out of the garage for about a month following the pour during which we will be wet-curing the slab. I noticed that Home Despot has Rustoleum Epoxy Shield on sale last night. Hmmm....
Cheers!

Junior Picture...returning from last year at Carlisle...
 

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/23847/dkw1a.jpg"></center><p>As requested ;-)
Taken from Frank DeKat's urQ "chase vehicle"...nothing like a convoy.
Cheers!

GRAVEL or crushed stone was what I wanted to hear!
 

I've heard of REALLY BAD JOBS done with slabs right over junk dirt. I know of some that cracked within days (hours!) of the pour!

Our code required 4" slab....I also did 5.5" to be safe. It sounds like you're making real progress!

-Rob

Some pictures of construction equipment....NAC.....
 

Backfilling of the footings in the interior....taken last May (sigh...)
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/23847/scoop.jpg">
Plate tamper compacting a lift....note the "sheen" of moisture wicking up in the soil
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/23847/plate.jpg">
A spliced view of the project taken last week:
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/23847/latest.jpg">
I'll post soon where my construction blog will be so I'm not accused of posting "heavy construction equipment" porn on Audiworld ;-)
Cheers!

I didn't realize that it was part of a new house.....or is it?...
 

Is it a new house, or is the house just undergoing MAJOR changes?

If it is a new house, HOW DID I MISS THAT DETAIL????!!!!