New Garage

[doitmyself]

Very nice project. I would have had the excavator grade the pad area to sit higher and/or develop drainage swales around the building to direct surface runoff away from the building. After 4 decades of managing poor surface drainage at my workplace, it is one of my pet peeves about building site development. It is so much easier to address it before the walls are up. My facility looks like a Corp of Engineers project with all the swale work I had to do post construction.

 

[Ausfahrt]

Very nice project. I would have had the excavator grade the pad area to sit higher and/or develop drainage swales around the building to direct surface runoff away from the building. After 4 decades of managing poor surface drainage at my workplace, it is one of my pet peeves about building site development. It is so much easier to address it before the walls are up. My facility looks like a Corp of Engineers project with all the swale work I had to do post construction.

Thanks for input. Better drainage is the main reason that the carport was moved from the left to the right side of the garage and I have had lengthy discussions with the excavator and the concrete guy and they have assured me that it will not be a problem. I also understand that they are going to tell me what I want to hear until the checks clear.

I am not a construction guy and I am new to New England with its peculiarities and challenges so at some point I really need to trust these guys who I have checked out and have good reputations in the area. I am sure that you noticed the catch can in the pictures and it drains probably 100 feet or more down the hill. The pour is now scheduled for tomorrow and here are a few more pics with the last one showing the outfeed pipe from the catch can.

 

[doitmyself]

It should be fine. It was always hammered into my head to rely on surface drainage whenever possible and use subsurface drainage as the last resort.

What happens when one gets pummeled with many feet of snow, and frozen ground, and unseasonable (more common today) freeze-thaw cycles with late winter rain? Subsurface drains require maintenance to keep them free of debris. They sometimes (rarely) can freeze up in the north country. Critters can get up there and clog them up - it's a good idea to put some kind of cover on that opening.

Again, you are correct that you should be able to trust your local contractors and you probably will be fine.

 

[Amkeer]

Looks nice! One thing about garages, they never seem to be big enough. Interesting construction techniques in the North. In Florida we do a monolithic slab with two number 5 bars in the perimeter. I would imagine yours is frame construction so they will wet stick the j-bolts or is that a rod? We use wire and fibermesh.

 

[Ausfahrt]

Looks nice! One thing about garages, they never seem to be big enough. Interesting construction techniques in the North. In Florida we do a monolithic slab with two number 5 bars in the perimeter. I would imagine yours is frame construction so they will wet stick the j-bolts or is that a rod? We use wire and fibermesh.

Haha. I just retired and moved up here from Sarasota.

It will indeed be frame construction and they are calling this an Alaskan slab which I think is the same as a monolithic slab. I don't know about J bolts.

 

[GON]

Wow, awesome. This thread is the only thread I have shared with my Wife from BITOG.

Enjoy your beautiful and peaceful home!

 

[JC1]

Trust the experts regarding the drainage. Sometimes drainage is ok for the first few years then you get some massive storms one year and there is a ton of water that needs to be dealt with on your property. Better to address that now while they have the big machinery there to do it easily.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Way to go big A. Hope your retirement years treat you kindly.You made your contribution and now you can enjoy what you worked all those years to achieve. Regards to you and your wife.

 

[Ausfahrt]

The concrete was poured today but it looks like construction is still about a month away because we are waiting on trusses. My builder has promised me that our cars will be in the garage before the first snowflake hits the ground!!

We shall see.

 

[Amkeer]

Yes they wet stuck the j-bolts. Hopefully they cut joints every 12' or less in the concrete. Typically I like them cut as soon as power trowel is finished. We would cover the slab with visqueen right after to slow the curing process. Way back in the day we used Burke curing spray and sprayed the slabs.

 

[Amkeer]

Ya I would have them dig back the area on the rear of the garage. The dirt within 3-4 of the rear looks high. Ideally you want dirt pitched from 6" below slab then a swale to divert water around as depicted above. Dirt should ALWAYS be about 6 inches from any wood to prevent decay and damage from wood destroying organisms.

I worked on a large apartment complex that was built in St. Pete sometime in the 80's. There was a courtyard with a pool in the middle. The buildings surrounded the large courtyard. When the built it they left too much dirt in the center of the courtyard which eventually caused the lower units to get water intrusion. I can't tell you how many truck loads of dirt we pulled out of the courtyard. We spent a month redoing all the vegetation, sprinkler systems, sod, fencing. I had day laborers doing hand digging for weeks to finesse the dirt.

Take care of the potential water issues now.

 

[JustinH]

Looks like a nice project. Congratulations and enjoy your retirement.

It seems like folks benefit from a change of scenery, many Yankees move to Florida to retire, you are going the opposite way.

I've been down in South Central Texas for almost 10 years now, don't miss winters one bit, but this year is the first I'm thinking of going to NM or Colorado to get some snow and ski activities.

 

[simple_gifts]

Sweet set up. Congrats. Spent two years in Plainfield NH. Make sure to check out the american precision museum in Windsor.

https://americanprecision.org/

Best thing is "Every ride is a scenic route"

 

[Ausfahrt]

Yes they wet stuck the j-bolts. Hopefully they cut joints every 12' or less in the concrete. Typically I like them cut as soon as power trowel is finished. We would cover the slab with visqueen right after to slow the curing process. Way back in the day we used Burke curing spray and sprayed the slabs.

Thanks, I think. Wanna try that again in English?

 

[Ausfahrt]

Thanks for all of the comments.
It's going to take a bit of work to get the landscape around the house looking normal again after the excavators scarred it all up.

Here's the big view.

 

[RhondaHonda]

You might want to pour an apron in front of the garage so you can work on stuff easily once the garage inevitably fills up. Plus it keeps the dirt down.

 

[Amkeer]

Thanks, I think. Wanna try that again in English?

Early morning. Actually that is normal for me at times. Enjoy the new place and the build.

 

[Driz]

Looks nice! One thing about garages, they never seem to be big enough. Interesting construction techniques in the North. In Florida we do a monolithic slab with two number 5 bars in the perimeter. I would imagine yours is frame construction so they will wet stick the j-bolts or is that a rod? We use wire and fibermesh.

It’s a whole Nother world up in the North country. If you don’t put the rebar to it you’ll live to very deeply regret it down the road. Things move around up here like you wouldn’t believe with the frost and water heaves.

 

[Driz]

considering the rather DEEP snows that happen up here I’d do one cheap thing before those walls go up. do that perimeter with 2 or 3 tiers of cinder blocks to raise the height of the walls. Not only will it give you a higher ceiling and higher walls but it will keep the bottom of your walls out of the unavoidable snowbanks that form all around it. Wood is especially gonna appreciate the extra height. Don’t ask me how I can do appreciate this

 

[Amkeer]

considering the rather DEEP snows that happen up here I’d do one cheap thing before those walls go up. do that perimeter with 2 or 3 tiers of cinder blocks to raise the height of the walls. Not only will it give you a higher ceiling and higher walls but it will keep the bottom of your walls out of the unavoidable snowbanks that form all around it. Wood is especially gonna appreciate the extra height. Don’t ask me how I can do appreciate this

I would have poured the walls. He has no rebar coming up now through slab. Who knows I tend to overbuild due to past observations like you. Another thing I don't understand is it appears no visqueen was under the wire mesh? It must be a Northern thing? We normally treat soil, visqueen, mesh, then pour. I see rock under the mesh which I believe is frost issue and movement. We used pea gravel here for areas we couldn't obtain compaction on the soil.

Keep the pictures coming!