Cape Cod Barn

[SPIKER]

bebster:

NICE looking view! mine is not bad but all the trees keeps me from seeing it! lol around here that much sand you would be considered a gravel pit! lol. our dirt is more like compacted concrete! with a foot of good top soil. I can dig to about 4' with the compact mounted back hoe I've got but it goes really slow form there as you hit a hard compacted gravel/rock layer which will quickly fill up the hole with ground water sepage... I am glad I don't have to built 4' retaining footers! mine is much easier and of average design for the area. 2 story gambrel roof with 2nd floor that is all open. had amish frame it all up and under roof. I did all site prep and hole diggine, 24" dia 4'+ down concrete pads are then dropped in holes and back filed with grade dirt. mostly Clay and I tampped it in after 6 months of natural winter spring setteling. used spud bar with 3" end lots of swinging, arm builder for sure. managed to compact the dirt about 6' down tighter and filled in more, will have more fill and concrete with foam barrier between Post and concret Floor. I've been told if you Pour concrete right onto post it will break at level to top of floor if hit by too much wind loads? not sure on that but sound possable, where as the dirt only will give some and let the post give a bit prior to shifting. once load is gone it should then come back? anyone heard of that before? just wondering

anyhow I posted in other thread a link to view mine...

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[tc35dforme]

With the value of real estate on the Cape, that sand must be worth $ 50,000 a dump truck load /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bebster]

Great idea for financing the barn! But unfortunately we're moving at a snails pace. Seems that in order to have the driveout basement for tractor / auto storage, we need 10' concrete forms. Most contractors have only 8' forms, so still looking. Don't want to add concrete block on top of an 8' wall if I can avoid it.

So I've been looking at ways to secure the timber posts to the foundation, and a friend who has a barn showed me these Simpson Stong-Tie brackets (model HD6A) which he used to tie the post to the foundation. There is a vertical rebar planted way down into the concrete wall, and a 1/2" threaded rod welded to the top which then goes up through and bolted to the bracket. With a hurricane every 10 years, and a big one every 50, don't want to risk it blowing off the foundation -- and this seems like cheap insurance.

So using the delay to good advantage to do more planning. Currently working on the design of the rebar reinforcement on the foundation wall, which at almost 10' high and 54' long and backfilled on just one side, surely needs it.

 

[tc35dforme]

When I built my latest addition we poured almost 11' walls. My form guys uses 3/4" MDO plywood for forms. The forms are held together with tie similar to the new style modular forms, but you use 2"x 4" 's running horizontaly as stiffeners. The ties use wedge shaped drive critters to snug everthing up. With this system there's no real limit to height. It makes a much cleaner wall also with only a joint every 4 feet.

Some people re-use the plywood for the deck or roof /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif. Might be a little ugly, but we are yankees

Look here to see the clips waler clip . It looks like the company is in Sandwich. Maybe you can get them to refer someone.

 

[bellweather]

Truro's a great place. I went to college with someone who lives in Truro, and had the pleasure to visit Truro a few times. My ex-classmate is an architect and he works in the Truro area. Truro's not so big, so maybe you know/heard of him - Tim Dickey.

PS - Nice spread you got there

 

[bebster]

It's been the coldest January on record for almost a century, and we've made almost no progress on the barn other than refine our drawings. Here's a photo of my tractor looking like Dr. Zhivago looking over the foundation hole and longing for a place to keep warm. It will clearly be springtime before we have a shelter built for "Harry", the JD 4410. To make things worse, the house water pipes on the N side just couldn't sustain the low temps and have sprung a leek.

Really looking forward to new technology in a new structure, but we'll be lucky at this rate to pour a foundation before March. But we're using the extra time to do additional designs and research, so the delay will not be a total loss.

Started the tractor today after a few weeks of no activity, and it started just fine, even after being outside in single digit temps for much of January. Over 300 years ago the Pilgrims stole some corn from the indians here and made it through the winter, and the area is now called "Corn Hill". I'm becoming increasingly impressed by the hardiness of our ancestors, who didn't have radiant heat, insulation, running water, diesel engines, and all our other technolgy. But I'm not complaining!

 

[Junkman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Great idea for financing the barn! But unfortunately we're moving at a snails pace. Seems that in order to have the driveout basement for tractor / auto storage, we need 10' concrete forms. Most contractors have only 8' forms, so still looking. Don't want to add concrete block on top of an 8' wall if I can avoid it.)</font>

I have 10 foot cellar walls and there was no problem with the contractor doing the higher wall with his 8' forms. The forms are 2' X 8' and they just set the top form sideways for the extra 2 feet. The problem is that the form guys don't want to do anything extra in the form of work. I paid an additional 25% for the extra 2 feet and the contractor didn't mind doing the job the way that I wanted it. Just keep looking for someone that wants the work and then you will have the person that will set the forms the way I have said.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">(
So I've been looking at ways to secure the timber posts to the foundation, and a friend who has a barn showed me these Simpson Stong-Tie brackets (model HD6A) which he used to tie the post to the foundation. There is a vertical rebar planted way down into the concrete wall, and a 1/2" threaded rod welded to the top which then goes up through and bolted to the bracket. With a hurricane every 10 years, and a big one every 50, don't want to risk it blowing off the foundation -- and this seems like cheap insurance. )</font>
You can also use the Strong-Tie brackets by drilling a hole in the foundation and inserting a threaded rod that is anchored with the new fast set cements. They use it to hold machinery to concrete floors and it is as strong as putting a bolt into the concrete when it is wet. You can rent a hammer drill for a day and do all the holes that you will need. I used this method on the brackets for my deck and couldn't pull them out no matter what I tried. I had to cut it off on the one that I made the mistake on....

 

[bebster]

Junkman, you're exactly right on! I finally got a concrete contractor who will put an extra 2' form on top of the 8' for the 10' height. And because of access difficulties he'll pump the concrete and vibrate as well. Just waiting on some warmer weather now.

I've attached a sketch of how we intend to fasten the timber posts to the foundation wall using heavy-duty brackets along the lines of what you suggested. One side of the bracket will be lag-bolted to the timber post. The bottom of the bracket will be bolted to the foundation wall. To accomplish that we're going to create some templates to position a 1/2" threaded rod that will be welded to the top of a piece of rebar, which will then be set with the rest of the rebar in the forms. If we can get the alignment right it should work fine. A neighbor of mine did the same thing, and he got all but one of his to align.

 

[chim]

Don't want to reinvent your wheel, but for ease of alignment of your anchor bolts think about this. Make up templates that will lay on top of the forms. The template will have a hole for the anchor bolt. Anchor bolt can be a piece of threaded rod with a nut on the bottom that will be down in the concrete, and have the proper amount exposed for your bracket.

The template can be positioned exactly where you want it, and fastened to the top of the form. No real need to weld the bolt to the rebar, because before enough pulling force could be applied to the anchor bolt the building would be a pile of splinters..............chim

 

[bebster]

Thanks, chim -- you've given me a good description of how the template might function. Almost simulates the post positions and makes it easier to measure from the anchor to corners and other reference points.

The barn is mortise and tenon timbers and pretty stout (like 8x12 timbers). I think the timbers have a lot of holding strength and the structural panels are solidly bolted to the timbers, leaving the weak point as the foundation attachment. I only have 7 posts that I can attach using my system (where the floor joists run parallel to the post and not into them), and depending on the hurricane direction it might be only 2 posts that end up carrying all the force. We can get a 100+ mph hurricane every few decades, and I'm inclined to take out a little insurance and have these anchor bolts pretty far down in the concrete wall. That way I don't ever have to worry about concrete breakout as the point of failure. I've not seen any engineering specs on what these forces are, so for rebar at about 25 cents a foot I figured I'd spend $15 more for the insurance and make the anchors 8 feet long with a hook at the bottom under one of the horizontal rebar runs. That way the hurricane would have to lift the foundation too!