Life with Jane

[Wroughtnharv]

The goal was to have the rough in plumbing finished by tomorrow. We might make it.

I have one tie in to do and the guest bathroom and shop bathroom will haven a direct connection to the existing septic line. The master bathroom has the tricky part done. It’s tricky because the toilet in the master bath is above the old septic line to the new plumbing connection. A plumber suggested digging back far enough towards the septic tank to bring up the line to grade before the master bathroom connections. The issue of that plan for me was digging at least six feet of trench four and a half feet deep and wide enough for me to work in. That’s a couple of days work for this old man in this heat. So instead I made the transition and sent the master toilet line back over the top of the connection. It’s different but I’m comfortable with the outcome.

This afternoon we went from 20% chance of showers last night’s forecast to a hundred percent thunderstorm. I shut everything down because it was snorting and threatening. It took a couple of hours of that to pump itself up to finally coming through like a wild thing, probably only a quarter of an inch of rain but with lots of flash and banging and substantial wind gusts. The good thing about that is it will make my digging easier tomorrow.

Yesterday I decided Glenda needed some help understanding what I was doing, she’s one of those people that can only see it when they see it. So we went to a subdivision where we found three houses in different stages of the rough in plumbing phase. She’s on board now and a lot more appreciative of the work.

However, the great and late however, after looking at a model in the subdivision and talking to the real estate agent working we decided we really needed an island with the sink in the kitchen. Nothing but a thing at this point. This morning I picked up some Pex and electrical conduit so that when I’m done with the waste system I can run the lines in the same trenches after shading for the water, waste, and electrical circuits to the island from the utility room to the island. We’ve got a small kitchen planned and the island makes it tons more efficient. The sales lady did look at me funny when I mentioned I could do the granite too. Yeah, been there and done that, I can cut the material and then have the shop do the polishing and we can save a ton because I will use remnants and the granite shop is an old client of mine. He understands and appreciates my ways.

The photo is of what I faced this morning. At my feet is line from the bathrooms and away from me is the old septic line and the area for the master bathroom.

The fitting in the line will feed the utility room (washer and sink). The trench to the right is one of the concrete beam trenches.

[Wroughtnharv]

Photos are one phone so I will post them and go back to IPAD for verbiage

[Wroughtnharv]

Tomorrow I will go in and do some shaving on the trench so that I can maintain the 1/4” per foot fall required, stuff does run down hill after all. What can’t be seen in the photos is the line that is going to provide vent and waste for the island and vanities. It’s there, I just couldn’t get close with the ground wet. Once the lines in this trench are all connected then I will do some backfill. And I will need to dig the trench over the island location. I will also finish up the master toilet line and vent plus do the P trap and line for the master shower. After that it will be running hot and cold water lines from the utility room to the island along with an electrical conduit for power to the outlets and dishwasher in the island.

If that goes well then I will get serious about the backfilling and shaping the concrete beams back up. I expect a couple of days of serious rebar fabrication and installation in the beams and around the perimeter. By then hopefully the concrete contractor can give me some help finishing up the rebar and making sure all the forms are ready for the pour. I suspect that might be iffy since they’re backed up big time because of the rain. We’ll work with what we get and be appreciative.

After the pour and finish then I have a job to do that will take about a week. We’ll keep water on the slab to help with the curing during that time.

Then the fun starts.

[Franka548]

Happy. Belated birthday Harvey.
Frank & Rita

[ronjhall]

Looking good, Way too much work for me to tackle. I would need to do that work with a backhoe.

[Wroughtnharv]

Originally Posted by ronjhall

Looking good, Way too much work for me to tackle. I would need to do that work with a backhoe.

Ron it could be worse, I could be a bad back ho. (Popeye isn’t the only one with a twisted sense of humor)

[Wroughtnharv]

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, belated and otherwise. The only difference here at Thereabouts is I can’t slide in a jab about Glenda being a cougar. Now she’s just a regular gal capable of training one the way she wants him to be. She’s only a cougar March to July every year.

[Wroughtnharv]

Yesterday evening I had to run to Lowes for one 2” waste T. I had regular T’s but I wanted one that is designed for the waste system. This morning I will finish up the waste system, just have the line to the kitchen island left. Then I run the hot and cold water lines from the utility room to the island. I also have the electrical conduit from the utility room to the island to run. And there is the fresh water line from outside the slab to the utility room. Last night as we were talking about everything Glenda asked me about the breaker box. I want it in the utility room also. So now I have to trench in the 2” electrical conduit from the meter base location to the utility room. The only thing left to the utility room is the propane gas line. It can’t be in the slab so at least that can wait.

The concrete contractor came by yesterday. I get his crew Friday and Saturday, he’s off for a family holiday. We’re going to pour next week. His estimate is 100 yards, he’ll start off with eighty ordered. We’re going with the pump truck and we want to start about 4:00 am. He’ll be done by 11:00 am and then it will up to me to slow down the cure with water on the slab for four to five days. The plastic on the pad is to slow down water from the concrete being sucked into the ground and curing too early along with sealing off future moisture issues with the slab. The slabs we looked at under construction were already getting surface cracks from not slowing down the cure in this heat. Of course they’re covering the concrete with tile etc so the cracks are considered a cosmetic issue. We plan on staining the concrete so any cracks will be a real problem.

I have a ton to do between now and then. Heat advisory for today and tomorrow of 110 complicate things. I have one huge light for lighting up the slab for the pour, bud has three more so I have to set up those. Then there’s all the rebar corners and bends to do so that when the guys lay out the rebar they’re ready. If we use all of the rebar I have on hand we’ll have 8,000’ of #4 (half inch) rebar in the slab.

Needless to day we are excited as a bob tailed cat in a rest home full of wheel chairs. Nervous too, you only get one chance with the stuff under the slab to get it right. If we get lucky and have done it right...........

[ronspradley]

Know you will get it all done and all done right the first time. Looking forward to the pictures you take right before the pour. When one of my two garage apartments was re-modeled I took pictures of all of the walls the day before sheetrock was installed. And video too. Turned out useful because the sheetrock installers put sheetrock over two different electric outlets in walls and we used my pictures to locate instead of randomly poking holes in walls. Will be seeing y'all in a couple of weeks.


ron and pebbles

[Wroughtnharv]

Ron we’re looking forward to your visit. Hopefully it won’t be weather wise like today, feels like of 115. Then we have a chance of some active weather later this afternoon, oh joy.

The sanitary (waste system) is in and complete. The lines to the island are finished also. This morning I will dig the trenches and install the fresh water supply to the utility room along with the electrical power conduit from the proposed meter base to the utility room.

The feels like is already 90 degrees outside. Tomatoes don’t make new fruit if the overnight doesn’t drop into the lower seventies. Hopefully you will bring us come cool nights so we can have home grown fresh tomatoes from the garden while you’re here.

I’m overdosing on garlic to help with the mosquitoes. Last night I grilled some zucchini dipped in Slap Your Mama powder and minced garlic. All it needed was some habanero powder to be deadly delicious.

Be safe out there, this heat can kill you, at least make you feel like you’re dying.

[Curtis in TX]

Boy this saga brings back memories. Went through a lot of issues with my shop pour and build. Only we poured on a December 31st. It rained so much and was so cold we had to really juggle the calcium in the pour to make it cure.

My shop has 24" X 24 " beams full of rebar and everything on 12 inch centers. It was nuts how much rear went in it. One of my contractors accused me of building a nuclear reactor floor.

I had 2 4' x4' x 4' pits poured in the floor with the
9 inch thick floor. They were where my 2 post car lift is bolted down. The pits were related into the floor rebar.

Of and the biggest obstacles was it was muddy. They stuck the first concrete truck, full of concrete, right off the bat. My instructions were DO NOT drive any faster that 20 feet away from the slab forms, because the ground had only been packed down 20 feet and if you do, you will sink like the Titanic. So what's he do? Takes off across the back yard right where I had told him NOT to drive. We emptied him with a bucket on a skid steer then was able to get a chain on him to another truck on the hard pack to get him out.

So I called a pumper truck that just happened to be up the road from me and talked him into coming over and pumping my concrete. I had 6 concrete trucks lined up waiting to pour by the time he got there. Once he was set up they were backing in 2 at a time. 20 loads in 2 hours.
Lucky for me the pumper truck was parked at the drivers house and he was off for the holiday. I offered him cash to come pour and I'm kinda sure he's Boss never saw the money.

What a mess! But we got it done before the end of the year at $52.50 a yard. The next day the concrete would have cost me $75.50 a yard.

I contracted with the concrete company in October at my price with a large down payment to lock on the price and they had gone up a few times by the time we poured. And we're going to go up again on January 1st.

Did the same thing with the building purchase. Contracted for the 60' x 50' x 16' metal building 6 months before they delivered it and put down a large deposit to lock down the price. The delivery driver told me on the day my contractors unloaded it that he had delivered that same building the day before at twice the price I paid him for it. Steel and concrete went through the roof from the time I put down my deposits to the time they were delivered. I got lucky.

Also, I contracted with a erection company to have his workers at my house when they were shut down on other bigger commercial jobs and would be normally sitting in his shop playing cards on the clock. It took longer to get my building stood up and covered, but it saved me a ton of money.

I didn't always have the same crew from one week to the next. And some weeks they were only there for 2 to 3 days. But I got it put up right and it made all the difference in my cost by taking them when they were shut down 9n their normal high profit jobs. . They were less than 20 miles from house so the owner was happy to have someone else paying his payroll on none productive days. And i paid for his guys in cash, with a $ bonus to him for making me an "at cost" deal.

And i only have 1/2 bath out there so plumbing was easy. My electrical is all in conduit on the walls.

Oh heck, i may as well tell that story too.
I had a Grunt that used to work for me at the Power Company that had taken a retirement buyout to become an electrician contractor. And he did it for several years but never hit it big.

We stay friends and telling him about my new shop i just had stood up and he tells me he's closing his electrical business down and has a LOT of stuff in a warehouse he's paying rent on. Tells me if I'll store his business stock in my shop for 6 months he will let me have what ever i need to wire my shop. If i wire the shop myself. So he unloads several truck loads of wire, conduits, boxes, lighting fixtures and tools (with scaffolding) in my shop.

I ran conduit everywhere i could think i would ever possibly want it at. Wired every outlet, but a few, with 240 volt lines. And put in outlets ever 5 feet around the walls. I went nuts! The only thing i had to buy were the actual outlets and face plates. Everything else but the 200 amp and 100 amp sub panels was free. Including the breakers.
I did all the electrical work by myself, which really saved me a boatload of cash. No permits were required where i live. And being a retired lineman i even ran my own service up the pole and tied in the meterbase. All the Co Op had to do was plug on the meter and put a seal on it.

All wires were oversized for the loads i was expecting to need, so i have latitude to run any tool i could ever want anywhere.

He eventually came to get what was left and never batted an eye. But it only took one small u haul truck to take what was left after i got through. He wrote it all off anyway. But i sure miss that man lift scaffold some days. He sold that!

Heck of a deal.
All that to say, knowing how the game is played can save a person a lot of money.
I'll have to ride up there while Ron is there and we'll got grab some lunch. I'd like to see your shop someday.

My apologies for the Hijack, but i thought my story might help somebody figure some cost cutting measures on their shop build.

Can't believe I typed all that with one finger.

[Brob]

I am a general contractor, and I happen to do a fair amount of polished concrete as the finished floor. One thing we do when using the slab as the finished floor is burnish the slab with the power trowel several times during the initial set; often 3 times more than what a concrete finisher would consider 'done'. This really closes up the surface and provides what is considered a honed finish. Many people like this as the final finish with no additional polishing required. It gives the slab a character similar to cultured marble and creates a beautiful look when stained. I typically use a lithium silicate densifier on the slab after the stain. It really strengthens the surface and continues to get shinier the more it is cleaned.

One thing to remember is that ALL concrete cracks, no matter how carefully you baby it during the cure. We use curing blankets to keep the slab hydrated as much as possible, but invariably there will be some small cracks here and there. They often add to the character of the finished floor, and some will appear months down the road. Concrete cures to approximately 90% in the first 28 days; it takes more than 90 years for it to fully cure.

The cracks can be filled with a grout, and if you hit it early enough, that grout will cure into the green concrete. We either make a grout with Portland cement and fine silica, or use a tile grout that complements the floor finish. Either method carries on with the stone look and becomes a beautiful part of the finished product.

If you don't get the finish you desire during the pour, you can always polish the concrete in the same way stone is polished using diamond abrasive pads of successive grit. It can be a bit pricey to get it polished, which is why I typically try to get the finish desired during the pour with the power trowel.

[Wroughtnharv]

Originally Posted by Brob

I am a general contractor, and I happen to do a fair amount of polished concrete as the finished floor. One thing we do when using the slab as the finished floor is burnish the slab with the power trowel several times during the initial set; often 3 times more than what a concrete finisher would consider 'done'. This really closes up the surface and provides what is considered a honed finish. Many people like this as the final finish with no additional polishing required. It gives the slab a character similar to cultured marble and creates a beautiful look when stained. I typically use a lithium silicate densifier on the slab after the stain. It really strengthens the surface and continues to get shinier the more it is cleaned.

One thing to remember is that ALL concrete cracks, no matter how carefully you baby it during the cure. We use curing blankets to keep the slab hydrated as much as possible, but invariably there will be some small cracks here and there. They often add to the character of the finished floor, and some will appear months down the road. Concrete cures to approximately 90% in the first 28 days; it takes more than 90 years for it to fully cure.

The cracks can be filled with a grout, and if you hit it early enough, that grout will cure into the green concrete. We either make a grout with Portland cement and fine silica, or use a tile grout that complements the floor finish. Either method carries on with the stone look and becomes a beautiful part of the finished product.

If you don't get the finish you desire during the pour, you can always polish the concrete in the same way stone is polished using diamond abrasive pads of successive grit. It can be a bit pricey to get it polished, which is why I typically try to get the finish desired during the pour with the power trowel.

I’ve read this at least six times. I’m going to work on the contractor to burnish at least the living areas. This sounds exactly what I wanted but didn’t have a clue it was available, much less how it was done. I can’t thank you enough.

Yesterday I got the trenching and installation done for the electrical from the proposed meter base to the utility room. I also got the fresh water supply trenched in and installed. This morning it will be all about getting all the utility trenches backfilled so that tomorrow the crew can do what they do best.

It looks like the tropical storm/hurricane is going to stay east of us and early next week we’ll have cooler and drier temperatures. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

[Wroughtnharv]

I’ve had to go to the phone for photos.

Neighbor has a Cardinal nest next to her deck.