Barns and shop layouts

[Pks]

My preference is to write equations either partially or completely parametrically. That way I can make simple and complex adjustments to the them. I can also create systems of equations that tell me where the minimums and maximums are.

As far as my driveway is considered, I guess I'll have to dig next to it to expose its edge and then measure its thickness. Once I get that, I can move forward on making the decision to let the trucks drive on the driveway or not.

If I cannot let the 60 to 70 thousand pound trucks on the drive, then I might be able to get more trucks with each one being half full. Or I might be forced to pump the cement 550 feet from the street into the backyard and up hill about 60 feet.

I wonder if a helicopter could be substituted inplace of pumping? /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

 

[pajoube]

When I had this problem during the warm summer, I pumped well water (very cold) on the driveway to cool it down prior to the truck arriving. Then when it was on site I had the rear wheels on a sheet of plywood (each side) and continued to spray cool water on the driveway under the truck.
PJ

 

[rbargeron]

When my foundation was poured (56 yards) I talked with the concrete company about my concerns. Access from some directions was soft, or steep, or wet and they factored that into their delivery plan. We had 6 trucks in all, 2 front-unloaders (3 driven axles) and 4 regular 10-wheelers. Some of them, were only carrying a few yards. It went perfectly, no trucks got stuck and every part of the formwork was evenly filled - no load-shifts, no movement.

A call to your concrete suppliers will let you know right away whether they will be tuned in on your job. Tell them you're concerned about the pavement and you don't want marks left. They'll either bring small loads, or deliver early in the morning or lay mats down.

I don't think I paid much if anything extra to have it done right. It's the business they're in - they know what to do.

 

[Pks]

Thanks. My fear is that they will quickly see that I am horribly ignorant of all this and take a negative advantage of me. I'm an engineer by training, so I can come up with questions, but I am still forced to rely upon them to supply correct answers. In this case, I won't be able to know if someone is giving me a line of bull. I prefer to do enough home-work to know the correct set of answers before I begin deliberations with the suppliers.

When it comes to supplying electricity to the barn, I'll need to consult someone there as well. I can do the labor, buy the equipment, but I don't know what hardware is correct for the job.

I'll talk to our local concrete supplier and see what they say. I need someone who is eager and responsible.

Our residential code doesn't tell me what size wire to run, underground, 250 feet, with 150 Amps, T-d into the supply side of my home's electrical panel. Things like that are hard to know unless one is trained in the field. I can supply schematics but which parts to buy is still up in the air.

 

[DavidInNH]

<font color=blue>Our residential code doesn't tell me what size wire to run, underground, 250 feet, with 150 Amps, T-d into the supply side of my home's electrical panel.</font color=blue>

I decided to run provide a completely different feed with a separate meter. My house panel is 200 A and is pretty full and I would have had to dig up a lot of yard and asphalt driveway to take a feed from there. I'm digging the trench from the new pole (on the side street) to the shop, laying the conduit and backfilling. I'm letting the builder do the terminations. He gave me a code-book from Public Service New Hampshire with the details. He said they were real sticklers about the yellow tape in the trench. You might want to check with your electric company if the town doesn't have anything. Its going to be an interesting trench path to avoid taking out some nice maples - it will look like a drunk dug it. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

-david

 

[rbargeron]

Peter: Your code may be different, but in MA the connection from your meter box to your entrance panel can't be "T'd" into. There needs to be a separate panel for every line off the meter. And it usually has to be close to the meter (like inside the building within about 10 ft) or else there needs to be a breaker at the meter for each branch and neutrals & grounds run separately.

If you've decided to run a line off your house service to the barn, it would be treated as a sub-panel, running off an appropriate-size breaker in the main panel. For sub panels, the neutrals and grounds need to be separated - so you'd run 4 conductors, and the barn panel would have an extra neutral bar, insulated from the panel box (most panels have this as a readily available option)

Wire size depends on what your barn loads are going to be. Insulation type depends on whether you have conduit. Breaker size at the main panel is governed by the wire size running to the barn (breaker trips to protect the wire from overload)

Find an electrician you can feel good about, and it'll go fine./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

What a great link---tkx
John