Folks with experience with concrete

[drnickriviera]

You'd use the mud sill anchor in place of the threaded rod. There's no need to put anything on the ground before pouring.

 

[Muse]

You'd use the mud sill anchor in place of the threaded rod. There's no need to put anything on the ground before pouring.

I already installed the threaded rods. I took pics, will add the pic in a few...

Don't understand the sill anchor scenario. Doesn't that tie the beam to the pour? A concern here, as I understand it, is that the pour is onto a slab, so the integrity of the pour (in terms of not pulling off the slab) is always going to be suspect (even though I'm using concrete bonding agent). I thought that's why drilling into the slab and epoxying the threaded rod into the holes was a good idea. Besides, the 1/2" rods should bond to the pour. A concern, though, is the connection of the 4x4 pieces I'm inserting to the sill plate. Right now, all I can think of for that is toe nailing, maybe one galvanized nail into each of the four sides of the 4x4 sections. I plan to scab each 4x4 pillar from the top plate all the way down with 2x4s (each leg will have 2 pieces of 4x4, the truncated one coming down from the top plate and the PT section at the bottom, which is around 10" long).

The epoxied threaded rods seem secure this morning. I took pains to make each plumb as the glue slowly set up. The epoxy is System Three T-88 "structural" epoxy in two 4 ounce containers that I bought a few years ago, and this was the perfect time to use some of it. To measure, I used the weight measurements (1.0 A , 0.83 Hardener) instead of volume when doling out the two parts, which is just way easier and smarter than trying to eyeball an equal volume.

With the rods inserted AND straps removed:

 

[Greenman]

You're 100% at this point. I doubt the rest of the garage is as well assembled as that corner. Pour the crete.

 

[Muse]

You're 100% at this point. I doubt the rest of the garage is as well assembled as that corner. Pour the crete.

Almost there. Gotta get the form set up today. A question is whether to have the top level or not. The slab isn't level there, it slopes significantly toward the other side of the door... downward. A portion of that slab has sunken a lot for some reason. Kind of mystifies me. Well, the rods are plumb so I figure I may as well have that little sill piece (and the pour) level, no big difference. I have enough 3/4" ply around, I'll make the form today, likely pour the crete tomorrow.

 

[Muse]

You're 100% at this point. I doubt the rest of the garage is as well assembled as that corner. Pour the crete.

I'm ready now, finished the form. I had to discard all 4 of the form boards I made originally a few days ago and start over. Too tired to do the pour today, it'll be first thing tomorrow after applying the bonding adhesive and letting it dry.

Measured and have an approximation of the amount of concrete I'll need. Comes to 0.595 cubic feet, which is a half a hair under the 0.6 cubic feet the 80lb. bag of Sakrete High Strength Concrete Mix is speced at. I guess I'll mix one bag and see if it's enough and if I need more, crack the other bag. I didn't account for the rebar and theaded rods in my calculations, they take up a little room.

I rounded off the outside edge of the form boards to make a little drop at the edge of the concrete so water won't sit at the edge of the mud sill.

Making the form was a lot of work because the slab is far from level. I wanted the bottom of the boards to come pretty close to the slab, so I used a jigsaw and rasping tools to get the shapes I needed. Even used an angle grinder to whack down some imperfections in the concrete.

 

[Muse]

Just poured, smoothed. One 80lb bag wasn't enough. Had to crack open the 2nd bag, from which I made a tiny batch with 5lb mix, which was barely enough. The reciprocating saw (sans blade) was very good at shaking down/lowering the pour.

One 80lb bag wasn't enough. Had to crack open the other bag. I mixed 5lb of that and had barely enough.

 

[NutBucket]

Looks good man. If everyone did work like you houses wouldn't need repairing LOL.

 

[Greenman]

Just poured, smoothed. One 80lb bag wasn't enough. Had to crack open the 2nd bag, from which I made a tiny batch with 5lb mix, which was barely enough. The reciprocating saw (sans blade) was very good at shaking down/lowering the pour.

One 80lb bag wasn't enough. Had to crack open the other bag. I mixed 5lb of that and had barely enough.

Was the foot print an afterthought or part of the original plan?

 

[Muse]

Was the foot print an afterthought or part of the original plan?

I know that looks like a footprint, but I didn't step on it. I just looked at the bottom of my shoe and it isn't that pattern. I don't know what that is, it's an apparition!

I did some googling, also reread the Sakrete 2 page instruction sheet. Trying to figure out how to proceed with curing. Well, it was in the sun for a couple hours after I was done with it. I sprayed it a few times, especially the slab level part that is over dirt, because the soil is leaching the water out of the crete. Finally, I wet it all some including the form and put plastic over the whole thing for the night. Will remove the form about 24 hours after I started mixing the crete, probably spray if it looks dry and re-cover it with plastic. Also going to shield it from the sun with cardboard, etc.

 

[Muse]

Was the foot print an afterthought or part of the original plan?

Well, after some additional detective work I determined that my right foot was the culprit! I was down to the last bit of mixed crete, trying to finish up without having to make a 3rd mix. I just plain spaced it. The crete doesn't seem to have cracked somehow. That was the first part I laid down, so it was probably close to 2 hours since I added the water before I stepped on that crete.

Yesterday when I removed the form I realized that I'd miscalculated. Maybe didn't have to but figured I should remove up to an inch of the left side of the raised rectangle. I have had a 4" diamond blade for some years that I picked up (probably on sale) at Harbor Freight. Never used it before, but figured it was a good match for my $10 HF angle grinder. It actually did a great job removing that ~1". Not easy, but after only one day the crete wasn't too tough. The instructions with the blade say not to use it on fresh concrete, but I only noticed that today.

I think it's curing well what with the plastic I have draped over it all, plus bricks and a little duct tape. Looking to do the little things while the concrete cures. Figure to launch back into finishing that corner next Monday.

I could, I think, cut my Hardie planks with that diamond blade, but will try score and snap first. Want to limit the dust.

Concrete with form removed, just sprayed with water, after which I covered it again with plastic in an effort to cure properly. Don't see any voids.

 

[Greenman]

Cutting Hardiplank with an angle grinder will produce clouds of dust. You don't want that. Score and snap or use a sheer.

 

[Muse]

Cutting Hardiplank with an angle grinder will produce clouds of dust. You don't want that. Score and snap or use a sheer.

Yeah, I got clouds of dust actually cutting down the left 3/4" or so of that concrete block Tuesday. 1/2 the garage was coated in it. I figure I'll make do with score and snap, but haven't tried it yet. I made a temporary ~12' long kind of table in the garage to enable that. It's so neat I had thoughts I could keep it as a work surface.

 

[paperfist]

Pretty amazing that stuff cuts with a razor.

 

[Muse]

Pretty amazing that stuff cuts with a razor.

Haven't done it yet but this video is excellent and shows how a few passes with a utility knife will produce the scoring that lets you snap it over a fulcrum (in this case, the raised edge of a 12" speed square):

 

[paperfist]

Haven't done it yet but this video is excellent and shows how a few passes with a utility knife will produce the scoring that lets you snap it over a fulcrum (in this case, the raised edge of a 12" speed square):

Interesting snapping it forward. I've cut a bunch of cement board, but I do it like dry wall and snap it back and then razor it again. However with cement board making the final cut has always been iffy because once its snapped open it's a lot rougher material.

 

[Muse]

Pretty much done with the corner. Today, I'll hook up the garage door properly. May take a lot of muscle to get the spring back on.

Need to caulk, prime and paint. There will be metal flashing along the side, which I'm going to tackle this week. Rain Thurs and Fri, so I probably will be tarping those days. Gonna caulk the joint between the metal flashing and the bottom piece of tongue and groove. Figure to use this caulk.

You can see here where the concrete has settled in the section toward the right edge of the door. I don't know why it has done that. Of course, it's been that way for years, although it may have gotten worse over time, don't know. I was thinking of possibly pouring a lot of concrete in there to raise it up level with the slab section on the left but decided not to, at least not for now. There's a large plum tree in front of the garage just in front of the corner by around 8 feet or so from the corner. It's 1/2 dead and maybe some of its roots have died too, accounting for the drop in the concrete there. I have been seriously intending to get rid of that tree, which may worsen that problem.

The metal flashing at the bottom, I figure that may not be necessary since the sill is PT lumber. However, I figure to have left over metal flashing from the 30' I bought to flash the right side, which I figure to install over the next few days.

 

[paperfist]

Be careful with the garage door spring. I've never handled one, but have heard a lot of stories about mishandling them and causing serious injury.

 

[Muse]

Be careful with the garage door spring. I've never handled one, but have heard a lot of stories about mishandling them and causing serious injury.

Yeah. I said the same thing to myself at one point today in messing with it. Last time I dealt with it was when I completely rebuilt the door about 15 years ago. IIRC, I bought a new set of springs at Home Depot and needed a lot of strength to get the 2nd spring on. Today was a different story. In fact, muscle had nothing to do with it. Reason is I had a big 2x4 propping the door up, the same one I've used the last couple weeks to hold the door up while one spring was removed. Getting the door propped super high enabled me to attach the missing spring, no force required. However, I felt after attaching it that the springs were too loose and I tightened one by using a higher hole in the chain at the bottom. I also attached a longer but weaker S hook to the chain. Mistake because there was a loud BANG when I closed the door, WTF! The S hook was deformed and lying on the concrete floor! I had to push a metal thing back into the spring and I put it all together the original way using the full chain lengths and the original S hook. I decided the door's high enough, as high as it's designed to go, really. I'm 5'10" and my head clears by an inch or two so I won't sweat it. I've hit my head on that door a number of times but I think if I put it up good now, I won't need to worry about it.

I like a mechanical door. I read a story today about a woman who died in the Santa Rosa fire a week ago who was in her car in the garage, which is where she died. Reason appears to be that without electricity she had no way of raising the damn door! I won't be keeping my car in there, but I figure a mechanical garage door could be less trouble... I've seen so many things about automatic garage door issues. Besides, I keep emergency supplies in there. If there's an earthquake and the power's out, how would I get in the garage?

It's really neat to have the garage door functioning normally again.

Done for the day. It's 87F out there, I've rested, gonna shower and go to the gym.

PS... paperfist, I really like your sig. I've often thought that a lot of very rash things have been done by people who reacted badly to insignificant or actually rather imagined slights. Yes, even murders.

 

[Greenman]

The flashing you used is called Z bar, it's actually supposed to go behind the siding, over the bottom plate and turn down the edge of the concrete. Generally you don't caulk where siding meets Z bar because you want any moisture behind the siding to weep out at that seam.

 

[Muse]

The flashing you used is called Z bar, it's actually supposed to go behind the siding, over the bottom plate and turn down the edge of the concrete. Generally you don't caulk where siding meets Z bar because you want any moisture behind the siding to weep out at that seam.

My plan for it was (is) to be over the underlayment, under the starter strip, then over the concrete. However, there's a layer in there already which is 6" wide Protecto Wrap. So, it will all go over that. I figured that where I just put that small length of Z flashing will give additional protection to the sill there. The caulking, I figure, should keep water from seeping into the sill. I don't think any water is supposed to drain out from the tongue and groove boards above, so the caulking shouldn't prevent water escaping. Bad thinking? I can still yank out that small piece of Z flashing. It's not attached and I haven't applied the caulk yet. I plan to do so, however, before the rain expected Thursday evening/Friday morning. Also, will hang a tarp on the side wall for that rain event. Only maybe 0.15 inch is expected, but I don't want the OSB to get wet.

 

[paperfist]

Yeah. I said the same thing to myself at one point today in messing with it. Last time I dealt with it was when I completely rebuilt the door about 15 years ago. IIRC, I bought a new set of springs at Home Depot and needed a lot of strength to get the 2nd spring on. Today was a different story. In fact, muscle had nothing to do with it. Reason is I had a big 2x4 propping the door up, the same one I've used the last couple weeks to hold the door up while one spring was removed. Getting the door propped super high enabled me to attach the missing spring, no force required. However, I felt after attaching it that the springs were too loose and I tightened one by using a higher hole in the chain at the bottom. I also attached a longer but weaker S hook to the chain. Mistake because there was a loud BANG when I closed the door, WTF! The S hook was deformed and lying on the concrete floor! I had to push a metal thing back into the spring and I put it all together the original way using the full chain lengths and the original S hook. I decided the door's high enough, as high as it's designed to go, really. I'm 5'10" and my head clears by an inch or two so I won't sweat it. I've hit my head on that door a number of times but I think if I put it up good now, I won't need to worry about it.

I like a mechanical door. I read a story today about a woman who died in the Santa Rosa fire a week ago who was in her car in the garage, which is where she died. Reason appears to be that without electricity she had no way of raising the damn door! I won't be keeping my car in there, but I figure a mechanical garage door could be less trouble... I've seen so many things about automatic garage door issues. Besides, I keep emergency supplies in there. If there's an earthquake and the power's out, how would I get in the garage?

It's really neat to have the garage door functioning normally again.

Done for the day. It's 87F out there, I've rested, gonna shower and go to the gym.

PS... paperfist, I really like your sig. I've often thought that a lot of very rash things have been done by people who reacted badly to insignificant or actually rather imagined slights. Yes, even murders.

Chinese made S hook? Glad you didn't get injured!

Wow what a way to die, poor lady Yeah I guess it's a trade off, convenience with power and not so much without it. Doesn't your garage have a side door? All the ones around here have them in addition to the overhead. The one I'm planing to build after I win some scratch off tickets will have 3 entry doors.

Thanks. It's really kind of amazing if you think about it, those philosophers from times of old had a lot of the stuff we struggle with today already figured out. For me it's the same thing, it takes me a while to get angry, but when I do it gets the best of me and rational thinking goes out the door. lol actually Yoda said it well too, anger leads hate.

 

[Muse]

Chinese made S hook? Glad you didn't get injured!

Wow what a way to die, poor lady Yeah I guess it's a trade off, convenience with power and not so much without it. Doesn't your garage have a side door? All the ones around here have them in addition to the overhead. The one I'm planing to build after I win some scratch off tickets will have 3 entry doors.

Thanks. It's really kind of amazing if you think about it, those philosophers from times of old had a lot of the stuff we struggle with today already figured out. For me it's the same thing, it takes me a while to get angry, but when I do it gets the best of me and rational thinking goes out the door. lol actually Yoda said it well too, anger leads hate.

That story really grabbed me: California wildfires victim Dr. Carmen McReynolds was a ‘Western gal’

Concerning "anger leads hate" -- One of my all time favorite artist/visionaries said "The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God." -- William Blake

But like the saying said, you don't want to relinquish control. You need some!

Actually, it's funny you mention side doors. This garage had one at one time, obviously. I think the history, based on what I saw there was that they had cinder blocks on the left and back and on the right side it was wooden. They had foundation there, 1/2 of it was cinder blocks and the other 1/2 was a raised concrete section about 5 inches high. At some point they tore out enough of the cinder block portion to install a door. There were a couple of fairly big windows, too. It was utterly decrepit and dilapidated when I moved in and it only got worse. The door had long been gone and they'd nailed up anything they could find to keep the rain out. Plywood, old doors, anything you could drive a nail through. I had to tear all that off several months ago as the first step in fixing the wall. This was after I contracted out the roof fix. To me it seemed weird to have a side door, but maybe it's not so weird. But windows? Seems dumb to have that ... it would let a vagrant see into the garage and maybe result in a break in/theft, something I really don't need. I don't want anyone wandering into my yard to be able to see into the garage. On occasion people have gone back there looking for things to steal and I've lost some things. It still stings.

I used to rent here. We didn't have access to the garage, the owner had stuff in there and we didn't know what. When I bought the house, the owner had died and passed ownership to his niece. I didn't have the key to the garage door. I had to break in through the dilapidated side wall, which wasn't difficult to do. Now the only way in will be the manual garage door. Not the most convenient, but it seemed like way too much trouble to build a door into the rebuilt right side, so it's just a solid wall now (after I apply the Hardie Planks to the OSB).

 

[WilliamM2]

I have windows in my garage for light. You have windows in your home I assume, curtains work on garage windows too.

 

[Greenman]

Every garage door with an opener I've ever seen has a manual release. You pull the little rope that hangs from the traveler and it disengages from the drive.

 

[Muse]

Every garage door with an opener I've ever seen has a manual release. You pull the little rope that hangs from the traveler and it disengages from the drive.

That does make sense. The newspaper story indicated the woman was trapped due to loss of power. They may be wrong or maybe she wasn't aware of the release.