Advice on new barn construction needed

[daugen]

That dirt/sand above finally got spread today as the concrete guys were waiting for the area to dry out.
I asked them where their front end loader/bobcat was and they looked at each other and said well, uh, I guess we were going to rent one, but they close by noon, and...
ok, enough hints dropped. Well perhaps you'd like me to do it with my tractor. Oh sure....
So I spread the sand after they had set up their forms and the concrete truck is due in Monday. Father and son raked it all nicely and doublechecked with a level. And asked me to check it...nice and level. They only wanted six hundred bucks more for the apron, so I said yes to a 5x20 apron on the left side, with a slope of one inch. I saw them laying it out and it just didn't look right. What's your slope? 3 inches. Oh no. One inch please. Yes sir. I have to be able to push things up that little slope..

Going to have a lot of dirt grading when this is done, concrete sits up high quite a bit, level with the bottom of the barn door/floor. plus the land slopes and I have to adjust for all that. I have a huge pile of dirt from having water diversion ditches put in so when they are all done making a big mess, I'll clean it up.

 

[EddieWalker]

Why are the branches of the surrounding trees touching your poles? Trees are extremely destructive. If they are not dropping branches, they are rubbing away on the building at the same time their roots are working their way under your slab to crack it. Other then rain, there isn't much worse for a building then a tree close by. A good rule of thumb is if you are standing next to your building and you can see anything other then ski when you look up, it will cause problems for you in the future.

 

[daugen]

agreed Eddie. The contractor was going to trim them back when he went up there; the lopper is ready.
It's a holly tree and I hate to cut the darn thing down, but I might...

 

[daugen]

I didn't get a chance to see what they got accomplished this afternoon but this morning I saw them lifting those very heavy laminated beams. I thought one would be plenty strong, but they were doubling them up, two on each side. In my opinion, totally overbuilt for what I was intending. I did question the use of that short piece holding up the outside beam; told it was temporary, guess I'll just wait and see. Said they were throughbolting the beams and I suppose into the posts.
this was an OSHA nightmare at times, these guys have little respect for safe material handling. No backup lines, one slip and the whole thing would come down on them.
This is the carpentry sub working for the GC, 40 years doing this so I assume he's made it this far...

Going to pour rain tomorrow so nothing more getting accomplished until at least Friday.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I think I'd be more concerned about them walking on the uncured concrete. And if one of those glue lams gets loose and falls, there will be cracks for sure.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've taken out more trees then I can remember. Some of them where really nice, but I have to stop and think of it to even remember it was there. I don't miss a single one, and would never keep a tree, no matter what type or how nice if it was in the way of a building, or had the potential to cause problems down the road.

 

[daugen]

I think I'd be more concerned about them walking on the uncured concrete. And if one of those glue lams gets loose and falls, there will be cracks for sure.

agreed. I had hoped they would wait one more day. And since for some reason the lumber yard is closed tomorrow, they are delivering plywood as we speak in the pouring rain. That can't be good for it...
Good thing I have lots of heavy tarps.

Eddie, my guess is the holly will be history after they finish hacking away at it. I did have the limbs on the surrounding pines cut off going way up, but pines drop crap constantly. The pine cones bouncing off my neighbor's metal shed roof makes a constant racket.

After the building is built, and during the first higher wind storm, I'm going back there to see if anything is moving around, getting close to the building. Very protected spot between the barn and the woods, inside an open area that is surrounded by woods on all four sides. So I don't see a high wind load here. The way they are building it is much heavier than I envisioned. The barn would go first in a blow...
I also mentioned my preference for screws over nails to the GC and he said this was being built mostly with screws, through bolts and lagbolts. I told him to use "lots of screws"...

 

[daugen]

making progress, getting roofing underlayment on, I did ask they extend the roof out two feet on each end to help with keeping stuff blowing in the sides. Rear is likely to be closed in but sides and front left open. They will reinforce the part sticking out past the building, and gutters are going on front and rear.

 

[daugen]

progress

more ruts to fix and a reminder to the GC that he has to pick up nails at the end of the day...

 

[RedNeckGeek]

a reminder to the GC that he has to pick up nails at the end of the day...

Good luck with that, Drew. The concrete contractor that poured the driveway here got several reminders, all of which were ignored. I ended up dragging a magnet through the dirt over the course of several days, recovering over a gallon of screws and nails that I'm still waiting to recycle.