colterphoto1 Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 It looks like this as of Friday night. What we have is a slope about 2 feet from front to rear. We excavated pure Indiana topsoil to the tops of the footers after getting the block in place. A back driveway was excavated, providing 4" thick chunks of 30 year old blacktop, a mountain of 58 to dust limestone, and some larger gravel base. We broke up the asphalt into manageable sized chunks and laid it out over a bed of gravel, then 3" gravel over it, and tamped. Then added more of the coarse gravel/limestone mix and tamped again. Then a tri-axle of fresh #58-dust was spread about 3" thick and tamped again. Finally we spread 2" of 'flume sand' over the top, finished grade and tamped this down. Next will be 6 mil vapor barrier, 2" polystyrene, wire mesh, and PEX tubing. Then 5" of 4000 PSI 'bag mix' concrete will be poured and hand troweled. The crew will not cut stress lines with saw, but will hand finish them with grooving tool to protect the PEX. It feels like concrete already. This is gonna be awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted October 11, 2008 Moderators Share Posted October 11, 2008 Looking good, I can almost hear the music already. [Y] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H. Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Michael, I know you gave the size, but WOW when you see the Picture it looks Larger than your Present Garage................Looking Great ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 Basically its a reconfigured 5 car garage footprint- 1500 ft2, bigger than my first house! 10 foot ceilings so I can put in track lighting and still have room to swing a full sheet of plywood around. To the left side is a 16 foot double garage door for boat and truck. There is 12 feet of storage at the front end of that. You know what goes there! Right now my speaker collection and tools take up the entire two car attached garage. Take the tools and some PA away and it'll fit here. The other half of the building is 32x24 workshop space, about like a typical two car garage with adjacent storage/shop space. And my driveway will be cleared off for my friends parking, and I'll have a turnaround now. Plus the area in back between the shop and house (where the hot tub is) will form a nice natural patio area, away from the hustle and noise of the steet. Next is to try to visualize the layout of the workshop itself. I've decided to put the water heater for the radiant heat system at the back center of the building where it will be entirely out of the way. This will make tubing layout simpler today also. Here's the stuff that has to fit in some kind of logical order: table saw, drill press, work bench, LSI stacks, space for gardening tools, router table, electronics shop, parts storage, party space, veneering table, small spray booth space, Exmark mower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 I got a 200 pound vibrator. let the jokes begin... (anxiously awaiting Fini's response)That would also be called a compactor. (Of the vibrating type). I've used one a very small bit and it does really vibrate. A lot. Yet, on that job site, we also used more of what I could call a hydraulic compactor - more like an oversized jack hammer with a compacting plate. Didn't get to try that one ... one of the guys named it sweetie and kept her, I mean it to himself. [:S] Got Starbucks and an Arturo Fuente- this is a HIGH CLASS construction site baby - yeah! And on Sunday, assuming the jobsite's a bit noisy with compacting and Bobcat maneuvering, it will be THE BEST SOUNDING construction site in America. And somewhere down the line, I think you're going to really appreciate the PEX tubing. Maybe a little geo thermal assisted solar? No I don't mean a geothermal heat pump, but just a simple loop 6' and under long enough to do some pre-heating.... (wrote this really early late Saturday night and forgot to post) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 200 pound?? Wow, you can service the whole neighborhood! You might develop some shaky relationships, though.Man, I'm jealous! It looks like you live in a friggin' park! Your progress is great, Michael!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 And on Sunday, assuming the jobsite's a bit noisy with compacting and Bobcat maneuvering, it will be THE BEST SOUNDING construction site in America. what I meant by this was there was probably too much noise on Saturday for the tunes to be enjoyed or appreciated or possibly even bothered with. Fini - Michaels home is on a nice big (corner?) lot in a nice residential neighborhood. I live in the country but don't have that nice a building lot - I think it's actually a named subdivision with homes around the corner of the field - maybe plans for more? I hope not - I much prefer the corn / bean field behind our home rather than a bunch of houses too close together. Michael - looking very good and very good progress. A lot better quality than the twit who built our garage [:@] (whoever that was) and probably our house too. Our former neighbor was told by a local kitchen and bath remodeler doing from work for them that our house was the first house he had built ... I think, but I'll have to verify, this is the company he fired or taking too many shortcuts.[:@][:@] Back to my entry door replacement in BSam's Garage of Crap (literally, figuratively, in multiple ways) Wish I could've made it ... sounds like fun and it'd be nice to see things been done correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 Many many thanks to my good friends Roger, Steve P, and Trey. They all stopped by today and 18 man-hours later we have the tubing down. I need to check all the ty-raps tomorrow and get the tubes 90-degree curved out of the slab area and tied together properly for the manifold system. We ran tubes every 12" and used 5.5 rolls at 250 feet each. I think it looks good. The gang was a great help today and stayed until we were finished. The little 'whoop-de-doos' are from where we were trying to utilize all the PEX in a roll and had to run shorter than full loops at the end of a run. Hey the Colts even won today- it was a GREAT day! Tuesday we pour the floor. Greg, I have a couple questions on how to tie things together at the manifold area, I have 12 pipes coming off the wire mesh and it's pretty messy. Need help getting it all organized. I think I should proabably have all the 'sends' situated together and all the 'returns' together, is this correct? How's it look now? A big Thanks to Greg928S for all the advice and phone calls and keeping at me until I did this right. It's going to be AWESOME and it's been fun and educational along the way. All told I have about $2,000 extra in the floor system, and better than half of that was insulation and wire mesh, both of which are good ideas anyway! [8-|] [Y] Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 Here's where the ends come out of the slab. Greg, do you have some detailed shots of how this should look once I put the 90-degree helpers in? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 Many many thanks to my good friends Roger, Steve P, and Trey. They all stopped by today and 18 man-hours later we have the tubing down. I need to check all the ty-raps tomorrow and get the tubes 90-degree curved out of the slab area and tied together properly for the manifold system. We ran tubes every 12" and used 5.5 rolls at 250 feet each. I think it looks good. The gang was a great help today and stayed until we were finished. Hey the Colts even won today- it was a GREAT day! Tuesday we pour the floor. Greg, I have a couple questions on how to tie things together at the manifold area, I have 12 pipes coming off the wire mesh and it's pretty messy. Need help getting it all organized. I think I should proabably have all the 'sends' situated together and all the 'returns' together, is this correct? Michael Sounds like a productive day. Make sure the tubing is all tied down good and won't float up. Also, check the ties to make sure they are not sticking up. Either bend them down or cut them off. The tubing ends at the manifold location should come up in pairs. One send, one return, one send, one return, one send, one return, etc... When you hook up the manifolds, you'll set one five-gang manifold up with all the sends, then in front of that manifold, another five-gang for the returns. As long as the pairs are fairly close together and you've got a couple of feet of tubing sticking up out of the concrete, you'll be able to bend the tubes a little to hook them up to the manifolds. I would normally tell you to hook up the manifolds and pressure test them with air before and during the pour of concrete, but this may be too much to do before your concrete guy gets there to pour. I wouldn't worry too much, as long as you were fairly careful laying it down I'm sure it didn't get damaged, and it's very unlikely that you'll have any kind of leak. I'm very excited for you Michael, you're going to love having that shop space. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 I just saw the pictures. Very neat job of laying the tubing out. Bring the ends closer together where they come up to the manifolds. You remember how close the branches are on the manifolds right? Probably like 1.5" or so, maybe even closer. So bring the ends right together in pairs like I stated before. If you've lost track of the sends and returns you can blow in one end to feel the air come out the other. If you have certain loops running to certain areas, now is the time to note those locations on a piece of paper, maybe number each loop for future reference. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 INCREDIBLE job, MC, and you should be feeling super-blessed to have such good friends as Steve, Trey, Roger, and especially Greg! Seriously, dude, (and I know you already know this) your friendliness and willingness to help newbies and ol' regulars alike is paying off....BIG TIME! Are you making sure to include a guest room for ol' fini in that place??[] As far as the tubes coming up @ the manifold location, I'd suggest strapping the tubes to a 2X4 or such, in the location (and layout) of the manifold. It's looking great, bud! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I think Fini has a good idea Michael. I have the manablock system for my water in my house with the same plastic tubing. It is awesome.. I was glad to help when I could. I think you Trey and Steve had the harder stuff. The barrier and pink stuff was easy to do with 2, 3 sets of hands and twisting tying the wire..had to be a pain in the A$$ .. Glad to help out anytime buddy. That's what friends do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 Poured the floor today, and it's gorgeous! Nice and flat, no bumps at the stress joints, no bump on the apron. I ordered $3900 worth of framing lumber today and realized something. I'm building a workshop that's larger than my first home! I guess the quality of my problems continues to improve. Here's a photo of the final tie-down of the PEX tubing at the manifold location. I labeled them 1S, 1R (supply/return)... 6S, 6R. Tied them in pairs and in order, and strapped them to a little holder I fashioned and pegged through the 2" polystyrene foam per Greg's (and Fini's) instructions. It was like wrestling an octapus.. M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Looking good Michael! You had asked me about my roof joists they are 24" on center. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Phenomenal job, Michael and all your great helpers! Unbelievable, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted October 16, 2008 Moderators Share Posted October 16, 2008 ? Don't just leave us hanging ! [] ...................Watching cement dry ? your burning daylight, or should I say fall, don't want to be building in a Indiana blizzard . [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 I guess the quality of my problems continues to improve. Yes, life is good. Could be better but overall pretty good. Hopefully things will continue to improve. [H] No pictures of the Shop of Klipsch floor? Quit torturing us MC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted October 16, 2008 Author Share Posted October 16, 2008 Framing all walls today. Pix to follow. It's a beautiful day in Indianapolis! [H] Go back up a couple posts to see the PEX tubing routed together for the manifold system. Getting the floor smooth was a HUGE DEAL for me since I use a lot of dollys for my speaker cabinets. I did not want the typical 'step down' of 1" from the garage doors to the apron, so Carlos put in a slight ramp there instead. From there it will be 2' apron, then a drain system, angling upward 8" to the other drive 22 feet away. We had to build this building slightly lower due to height constraints. The floor in the workshop area is completely level and flat, the only sloping section is where the boat and truck will be parked, and that slopes 2" from back to front.Three guys finished this 1500 ft2 by HAND, that's right, no machinery was used to finish this surface. I'm very happy with their craftsmanship. Due to the PEX tubing, stress relief cuts could not be made in the concrete with target saw so Carlos used a divider tool to make the grooves by hand. He was very careful to hand trowel out the edges so the finish would be without any bumps or bulges. Klipsch speakers will glide smoothly across the floor and out either door for easy loading! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Framing all walls today. Pix to follow. It's a beautiful day in Indianapolis! [Y] I think this is a Kodak moment.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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