This project stalled last year. The earth work contractor didn’t get to me until late fall and then it was too late for concrete, so for now we just have a big hole. The good news is we are down to ledge (bedrock) all the way around the perimeter so the footers will get pinned directly to rock. Firmed up the concrete specs with the concrete contractor this week. He said “first thing in the spring”. I’ve heard that before so we shall see. final plans, 40x36, center door is 10x12 side doors are 10x10, porch is 12x8
Dave, ledge (bedrock) is a love/hate thing. Nobody (your excavator and concrete guys) likes to work with and around it, but you're building will definitely be attached to the planet! Hopefully those guys will be rolling in the driveway in a matter of weeks.
I would not do it with no less than 12 foot side walls. Put the bucket up on the Kubota and measure the height to it. Or a skid steer if you have one. If you have a dump trailer, lift it up and measure the height. Personally, I want 14 feet to the rafters on my place if not 16 if I could get away with it.
The plans are for 10 foot walls on a 1 foot concrete curb, with top and bottom sills will be nearly 12 feet of clearance at the edges. Using scissor trusses to gain extra clearance in the center…will have 14 foot clearance for a span of 15 feet.
Footer forms going in! That’s the good news, bad news is the builder I had lined up said he can’t start till late summer, going to see if I can find someone else.
Yeah, it’s just 2x12 boards, he’s not finished yet. There is a piece of rebar drilled and epoxied into the bedrock in the middle with some metal strapping attached to the rebar and the boards to keep the form straight and to keep it from blowing out when the concrete is poured, also some “kickers” supported by rebar drilled into the rock to keep the boards straight. Gaps under the boards will be filled in to keep the concrete from flowing out. He said there will be a total of 9 different elevations for the footer pour. It’s just how he gets a flat spot to put the wall forms on because the footers need to be poured on top of bedrock as opposed to being poured in a dug hole. The high spot of the bedrock is just below final grade, the low spot is about 7 feet lower. If you just bring in a bunch of fill and bring everything up to grade and then pour a slab, and the fill moves then the slab would not be supported…bad stuff happens. The land slopes away from the site, so the fill would eventually move unless you built a retaining wall. Footers pinned to the bedrock then walls formed on top of the footers will contain the fill needed to bring the entire area of the slab up to grade, or that’s my layman understanding.
