[misc_work] Operation Super Shed

[M@tt 77]

update time

 

again i've been slowly choipping away at it. I picked up my new wacker plate earlier in the week so i put it to good use the other night and compacted the base of the recess. Once nicely flattened down i gave it a thin covering of sand and then a final going over with the wacker plate. The next job was to cut and bend the matabar sheet into shape to fit the recess. After initially trying to bend it by hand and hit it with a hammer i final came up with the easy solution of using a length of 2"x4" as a lever, it made the whole process a piece of piss!!

 

To support the matabar in the middle of the concrete base you can buy special plastic "chairs" to hold them but they're are £40 a bag of 200!!! so the cheaper easier method is to use some sections of brick to support the mesh instead

 

so this is how it looks now (cross supports will be removed they were just there to maitain shape whilst the outside was wacker plated).

I just need to remove the matabar and lay the visqueen and refit the matabar then i can pour the base maybe this weekend

 

 

Tonights job was to rebuild the end of the drystone wall which had partly been dismantled. God they are like the world crapest jigsaw!! none of the pieces fit and you just have to try a million pieces and brute force before you can get it all to go together. Anyway i've pretty much finished it, it just needs the top layer cement capping into place and it's done. Unfortunately it was too dark by the time i finished (11.20pm) to get a photo so i'll have to get one tomorrow instead. (As exciting as pictures of drystone walls are!!!)

[M@tt 77]

another not terribly exciting update

 

i had some more materials delivered inthe week but due to running out of space on my drive and another delivery due the next day i had to shift 62 hollow concrete blocks by hand the other evening! they weigh more than they look!! and i managed shifting them about 11.20pm much to the amusement of the pub goers opposite my house.

 

these hollow blocks are going to form the new retainng wall and they're going to have the rebar tied through them, to bind the footing, the wall and the concrete base all together

 

 

 

the shorter sections of the smooth rebar are going to be used to tie the 3 slab pours of the concrete base together. The 3 slabs have an expansion joing btween them and these steel dowels join 2 adjacent slabs together. The black rubber sleeves you can just make out are used so that the dowels can move slightly as the pad expands/contracts

 

 

Oh and as i mentioned previusly i've pretty much finished rebuilding the end of the dry stone wall. It just neeeds the top level of stones capping(cementing) in place

 

[M@tt 77]

made some good progress today, i managed to pour the car lift base., fingers crossed none of the 47 bastard neigbourhood cats get in it!!! i've already had my cat run through it once

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[miamichris 9]

good man Matt, you're going well now, keep it up!

[M@tt 77]

managed some more this weekend

 

The first job was to repair some of the large wall capping flagstones on the right hand wall that had been loosened when the roof of the carport came crashing down. When it came down the uprights which were bolted to several of the flagstones pulled the flagstones loose. So i had to chip away the old bonding cement/mortar and re-mortar the flags to the wall.

 

Once that was done it was then onto building the single course of bricks on top of the wall. The wooden frame of the workshop will then sit on this.

 

Anyway it took me most of the afternoon to lay the bricks as I've never done it before but i took my time and it seemed to all work out OK. After about 10 or so bricks i got into a little rhythm which helped.

 

Here's a few pics of the progress

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2010 by M@tt

[M@tt 77]

over the weekend i managed to finish digging the hollow block wall footings to the correct depth and tonight i mixed and poured the concrete

 

 

 

 

 

[Atari Boy 11]

Looking good M@tt, it is going to be some garage once finished.

[edbar 6]

The reason we use plastic chairs to hold mesh is so that they dont puncture the membrane. Bricks with sharp edges will during pouring concrete undoing the work done with sanding underneath before hand. Should be ok as long as you didnt walk on the mesh or disturb it when you poured.

[edbar 6]

Also how are you tying in the recessed area to the rest of the floor? Also are the footings for a retaining wall? If so how are you tying that into the blockwork?

[M@tt 77]

Edbar> the recessed section has some lengths of matabar poking out (not pictured) that will tie into the rest of the floor. I didn't walk on the matabar whilst pouring it so it shouldn't have punctured the membrane. Also the footings are tied into the blockwork with some lengths of rebar (see last pics below)

 

right well i spent today building the hollow block wall, i'm completely kanckered!!! but its slowly taking shape

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[edbar 6]

I cant see any bar actually cast into the footings. Only bar loose in the blockwork. This would mean that if there is ever any pressure on it it will just move off the foundation. Should have mesh in the foundation with 'L' bars standing up through the concrete to tie the rebar to making it one structure once the cavity in the blockwork is then fillled with concrete.

Should also have some 1" or 2" waste pipe int the joints of the blockwork angled downwards towards the inside to allow groundwater to come out, behind the block work you should make a french drain which is basically geo textile with pea gravel inside allowing water in but not dirt or debris.

 

 

P.s was a groundworker for 10 years so did retaining walls and concrete structures daily.

 

Hope I have helped.

Edd

[M@tt 77]

cheers for the info Ed, really helpful as you can probably guess i'm making it up as i go along

 

because i didn't know the exact positioning/spacing of the hollow blocks whilst i was pouring the footing i didn't cast the matabar into the footing in case i had it in the wrong place. Instead what i've done is drilled holes in the footing once it had set and i'd laid the first row of hollow blocks, that the matabar drops into, then what i'm going to do is infill the hollows containing the matabar with concrete as you described, that should then hopefully tie it all in together nicely.

 

With regards to the drainage do you mean the drainage pipes should be angled downwards from the inside out? ie to let any water under the base come outside into the garden?

 

Also can you explain the purpose of the drainage? I can't quite picture it's necessity

 

There is going to be a concrete base over the top of the wall so no water will be getting in from ontop or the sides.

 

Thanks again for the help

 

Matt

[edbar 6]

For your purpose drilling should be fine as I have used this method to erect steel structures over 4 stories high before ( albeit the bars are chemical epoxy anchored into the concrete ).

The pipes should be lowest inside the wall so that debris stays on the inside.

You would be surprised how much water can travel underneath ground which is why we always put a gravel drain behind retaining structures, stops ground heave etc if it has an easy route to follow and out of the pipes in the wall.

Looking at your ground from what i can see you should be ok, professionally however i would always install one as the blocks are filled with concrete it makes the wall less porous so needs an easy outlet. Like i said you might be fine though.

[M@tt 77]

Ed so do you mean something like this?

 

[edbar 6]

Yes but the pipe in the wall would be better 2" white plastic waste ( copper will stain) and angled the other way i.e lowest point in gravel.

[M@tt 77]

doesn't that mean the water will have to flow uphill to escape? or is that the idea?

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

I think technically it will push water out as the ground water rises if it went the other way, a bit like over filling a teapot will result in water coming out of the spout. Logically it will keep the ground water water level lower if it flows uphill though there is no real advantage over having it horizontal, which is probably easier to fit in between the blocks.

 

H...H

H.../----------Groundwater level flowing downhill

H..//

H.//H

H//.H

//...H

/....H

\....H----------Groundwater level flowing uphill

\\...H

H\\.H

H.\\H

H..\\

H...\

[edbar 6]

The advantage like i said is to keep the pea gravel and debris behind the wall otherwise it will come out the pipe and sometime block it. Trust me it was my job for ten years. Oh and you can always cut blocks with a hammer and chisel or disc cutter.

[M@tt 77]

right well i've made a start on the drainage section behind the wall as per edbars excellent advice . I made a big U with the geotextile sheet and started filling the middle with 10mm pea gravel. I also drilled some drain holes through the hollow blocks which will have some plastic waste pipe poked through so that the water can escape

 

hopefully it should be finished tomorrow night

 

 

[M@tt 77]

I managed to finish the drainage section today and then started to top up and compact the base to the level of the top of the hollow blocks.

 

I also shifted the 2 large bulk bags of rubble/soil and the 18 paving slabs out of the way onto my drive and again just for a change i'm completely knackered

 

 

[M@tt 77]

today i managed to finish the base, so i'm almost ready to have the concrete poured!! woohoo!!

 

 

once the base had been compacted i infilled the hollow blocks with concrete to tie the wall together and into the footing

 

 

then once that was done i coud start to rollout the rest of the visqueen sheeting

 

 

 

so the next job is to fix the shuttering onto the side of the hollow block wall as this will be the edge of the concrete base, and then concrete should be a go go!!

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

Looks like it coming on nicely Matt. Hope you don't mind me asking, what are the inside dimensions?

[M@tt 77]

its a bit of a weird shape by roughly its 10m long and 3m wide

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

Not long until you can fill it with cars again It is starting to come together now. Once it comes to erecting the shed, give me a shout as the evenings are much lighter now

[M@tt 77]

very minor update

 

managed to clear most of the rocks/rubble soil etc into a 8 tonne skip over the weekend. Not the best job for last saturday by hand when it was about 27 degrees!!. I was starting to hallucinate by the end of it!