Things are about to change, new garage loading

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

A lot has happened over the last few days!!
New roof on the house, that was 2.5 days of busting ass...good for another 20-25 years.
Monday I guess we broke a local record for the most rainfall on November 6th. I sat in the house next to the fire looking out the window at the incomplete foundation...*sigh*. Rebar showed up.
Today the rebar was installed and the pex was laid. The builder put in the conduits for water line and electrical service.

Tomorrow my engineer will be out to sign off on the rebar work and the city will be by for foundation inspection.
Concrete pour scheduled for Thursday AM.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

So Thursday AM started with this mess...

But the show must go on, and the team didnt stop. 3 loads of concrete. Everything went smooth, by the time I came home the last of the power trowel work was just starting. I asked they not seal and polish the finish as I will be having an epoxy coating applied. This will save the epoxy contractor about a day of grinding to remove if sealed & polished. The slope looks nice and even to the drain. Plus the hand work at the garage door is perfect, a small scallop with a slope out the door opening.

Unfortunately I didnt get any pictures of the finished pad. I was busy throwing down extension cords for lighting as it was getting dark.
Tomorrow the builder will return to ICF and pour the curb walls. Then the slab will sit for a few days. It feels good to have something tangible built. The pace for the structure should pickup from here, plus the return to some reasonable temperatures for construction next week will help.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

The project train is in full motion now, big swings are happening. The pad cured for about 3 days, there was still warmth in the pour the Tuesday it was uncovered. We had some difficult weather to work around with this part of the build, but in the end everything came together and I am pleased with the results. I think the finish will be perfect for the epoxy crew, level with a sandpaper like finish. ICF foam on the inside of the garage curb walls isnt an ideal surface for the epoxy guys to apply up to, however the ICF forms my builder uses has solid bracing built in to affix finishes to such as sheeting, drywall or baseboards. I will be able to mount some 4-6" sheeting strips and the epoxy will be applied up the walls a few inches creating a water safe seal at the walls. It will be easy to degrease and flood these floors to clean them.

Talked to the builder about the look I was going for as he was assembling materials for the walls and roof. Lumber, sheeting, ice shield & tar paper showed up. I chose a 2 colour brown motif for the siding and trim, but the tones arent finalized.
Friday the walls went up, came together like Tetris, man these guys are good!


The front wall completed the building. Now I can really see what I had spent so much time measuring and scrutinizing. I used my old garage before I moved to compare what I had and what I wanted. Three times I measured out the footprint with survey stakes so I could walk it out and be sure it was going to be big enough and avoid conflicts with my tools & equipment. Well, in the end, this thing is the Taj Mahal. That 10x10 rollup door is colossal. Everything is looking perfect for the addition of the second bay on the north side later, all is in the right places. In my minds eye the south wall real estate was largely taken up by the solar collectors for the heating, but with the lay of the land if I grade properly, I will be able to add a lower 8' high drive shed for my tractor. That is a bonus as I was previously just going to lay a gravel pad for parking.


My wife figured I was going to hang my 50" TV, hammock and sleep out there!

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Today was another day of pure enjoyment to watch. I am in the process of burning off a few holiday days because I dont have enough to make a full week off, and I have sick days...use 'em or lose 'em. So between now and Christmas I have 4 day weeks. Perfect to watch this garage get done.
Todays focus was the trusses up and roof sheeting done.

The ice shield and tar paper for the roof are already here, I am assuming the bundles will be delivered to the roof tomorrow. I sure as hell wouldnt want to run the bundles up a ladder to this roof! Today in the "Blue Room" I switched to my winter tires and serviced the brake pins on my DD. I cant wait for this garage, I need this garage!

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Over the last few weeks things have started to wrap up. I had the framing inspector out and received approval. Man doors and windows arrived and are installed. The doors I wanted have sliders for ventilation, but are a couple weeks out. So my builder suggested to the supplier he take standard doors and install them and when the doors with sliders arrive, we will unpin the doors and swap them. That way the project dosent stall...Good call!

With a 6" wall I can fill with R20-R26 batts, add to that the foam board on the exterior (R5/inch) Ill have R30-36 walls.

Sorting out the siding and trim was a treat. Dark colours cost more, and as I wanted dark to take advantage of solar gains in the winter, I have an additional $1500 cost on the outer cladding. Wasnt interested in white, beige or grey anyways. I wish I could do a different exterior treatment, but vinyl is the cheapest, and If Im going to be adding and modifying things it seems like the best choice.

Garage door is still a week out, but that will be the last step before I settle up the last bill for the builder. At that point the rest of the work is on me. First order is insulation, vapour barrier and sheeting for the inside. Then I have to attack the electrical panel and get some heating (ala 5000W heater) so I can have the epoxy floor applied.
Hopefully I can have the Speed6 in the garage before Christmas...

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Siding was finished up yesterday, today the soffits & facia completed. Just waiting on the rollup door.

Tonight is the 1st official time the Speed6 was moved into the new garage!

I still have a lot of work ahead, but it is something.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Yesterday I went to the bank for the last draw to pay the final bill and release the builder. I paid extra for geotextile under the base aggregate and the siding I chose was of higher quality, however he covered the cost of the extra gravel he had to bring in and the cost of the slider windows I requested in the man doors. He came by for a final walk through, and now that the work was done we talked about my plans and work going forward. He gave me some advise and products to look into as well. Overall a very knowledgeable guy that does excellent work. Watching this part of the build come together was a learning experience. Ive picked up a few tricks for sure. Although I would have loved to have done a lot of the work up to this point, I am not afforded the time and not to the level of expertise of the builder.

Currently in the garage beside the Speed6 is a bundle of 7/16 OSB sheeting, 19 bags of insulation, 1500' of VB plus staples, tuck tape, acoustic sealant, door handles & locks. I also purchased 50' of #2 3c AL teck for the service. Thankfully the cold has held off and the frost hasnt set in. I grabbed the backhoe last weekend and trenched to the transformer. I am off till Jan 2 so over Christmas I hope to get the service line buried and the insulation and VB in and inspected.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Today was service cable burial day. Because I plan to add another bay I want to sink the cable deep enough to meet requirements for vehicle traffic over where the cable is laid in prep for the future. According to ESA the direct burial armoured cable (or cable in conduit) needs to be 24" below surface with 3" of sand above and below the cable & 2" at the sides. Punched out a trench to 30"+, backfilled with sand/cable/sand and topped with the course #2 crushed used for the base aggregate. I will also lay burial tape 12" below the top grade (bottom of man door). The cable is fed through the concrete pad in 2" conduit and will feed a 100A panel. I took a lot of pictures for the ESA inspector. The frost can set in now, I dont need to dig anymore this winter.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Beginning the weekend before Christmas whenever I was able, I disappeared to the garage madly insulating and putting up vapour barrier. Friday the inspector came out and approved my work. After a bit of a chat, I find out he is a local boy and knows most of my wifes family. He built a garage just like mine, only twice the size LOL.

Today I tackled sheeting the ceiling. With the help of my son and father in law we devised home built support tools and worked to raise 12 4x8 sheets before calling it quits. We effectively found the limits of our joints and abilities, but the hardest part is complete. Only 40 more sheets to go...

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Christmas and New Years happened, then the temps dropped and winter finally arrived. I was able to get some more work done in the garage. The concrete pad retained heat for a long time despite some cold nights. Finished sheeting the ceiling, installed the door locks and a complete cleanup. I have finished the corner where the electrical panel will be installed and contracted the help of a friend who is master electrician to do the panel and connect to the grid. He will take care of all the paperwork, Hydro and Electrical Safety Authority bits. When the panel goes in, he is also adding 1 switch/light circuit, 1 receptacle and connecting my 5000W heater so I can continue in comfort. I will complete the balance of the electrical (surface mounted) once I start moving in and placing equipment.

Then we had days of snowfall and I was busy clearing snow 3 hours a day. The snow kept falling or the wind would blow it around and drift. Seemed like all I did was go to work and clear snow...then I spent 6 days parked with covid and the driveway started to fill in. Nothing happened in the last couple weeks.

 

[scotman]

Is sheetrock not allowed in work sheds or storage barns? I like the fire resistance of sheetrock.i did use OSB as the wallboard 4' up from the floor only because I would destroy sheetrock wallboard in a couple of years. Nice workplace SA!

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Sheetrock is available, however I like the resilience of OSB when mounting to it. One look at sheetrock the wrong way and its compromised. OSB is not fire retardant but with a good sealer coat paint it wont be an ignition hazard. Should the garage go up, there are so many other chemicals and tools to add to the BBQ...stand back! Lol.

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

Havent accomplished much in the way of physical work on the garage. I have been working with my electrician trying to get the power hooked up to the garage. First off the inspector came out and OK'd the panel and the small amount of wiring I had requested.

The inspector asked if I had a welder & air compressor, then commented that I was only installing a 100A panel. I ran my old garage off 60A previously, never popped a breaker with the 5kW heater, compressor & welder all on simultaneously. Not sure what the inspector assumes Im going to be doing in this garage.
At the request of the inspector before signing off on the service connection is where we get into the shit storm. Technically the garage could be hooked up and would work fine. Of course code and requirements have changed. I have 2 options at this time.
Option 1. Upgrade to a new meter box plus disconnect. Currently we have the old school meter of days gone by, simple yet effective. If I go this route, #1 disconnect will go to the house, #2 will go to the garage and all the out buildings will be serviced from the garage panel (not much, lights and receptacles). This allows proper bonding of the systems as my garage is not fed through the house panel like most people have. Meter box with disconnect ~$1500 plus installation costs above my current $2500 estimate.
Option 2. Contact Hydro, have a site visit and consult. Well this one has expensive written all over it. They want to assign a Design Technician to create a contract and design layout and setting us up with "Central metering". This is a system commonly used for commercial service where metering every kW is not feasible. The system meters a portion of your usage and through a mathematical equation bills you for power use. In my eyes its overkill as I am not running a welding shop or mechanic business.
Through all this I have come to understand that the new requirements since 2020 can be attributed to the electrical needs for EV charging. Basically Hydro and the Electrical Safety Authority are pushing these upgrades under the assumption we are all going to be driving EVs in the future. Personally I would like to wait till I have actually purchased an EV, as by that time it will be mainstream and the government will be subsidizing hydro upgrades with bigger incentives than they are now.

So...This weekend the weather was favorable to get out and do some sheeting in the garage. I mounted 4x8 sheets at the ceiling Saturday with the help of a friend. Sunday I went out solo and worked on all the lower panels, cuts and piece work. So far Ive accomplished about half of the sheeting. Next weekend I will complete the rest.