Finally starting an addition on our shed

[STx]

It'll be 4 or 5 years before we can build our forever house. In the meantime, we've been living in a 325 sq/ft Morgan Building and it's getting a little tight so we've decided to make a couple of addition. Today, we started drilling holes for the pier foundation. This will be a 2 story 20x20 addition for a bedroom, office, closet and bath. We're probably going to just rough in the bath as we've got a lot of stuff in the apartment in Houston that we need to get moved down here so we can downsize that to a 1 bedroom for our daughter. I'm going to pour 50# concrete wafers in the bottom of the holes with rebar stirrups in them and then pour 8x8 piers on top of those around the rebar to tie them together. It'll be a couple of weeks to finish the foundation with cure time and then things should start going fast. I like framing, siding, electrical, plumbing, etc., I hate the finish work. Fortunately, the finish work is what my wife excels at.

The TSC PTO post hole digger did a better job than I expected. I did water the area for 20 straight hours first though, we've had less than an inch of rain in the last 8 weeks so the ground is otherwise like concrete.

 

[sandman2234]

This should be interesting to watch!!
David from jax

 

[EddieWalker]

I've found that a lot of people understatement just what a great post hole auger Tractor Supply Sells. I'm not a fan of most of their stuff, but that auger is the best deal for the money out there!!!!

I'm curious why two stories? If you have the land, I've always found it cheaper, faster and a lot easier to spread out rather then go up. Plus with small square footage, stairs eat up a lot of real estate.

 

[STx]

A couple of reasons, first it does save some material in concrete and roofing so up is a little cheaper. More importantly though, my wife has a lot of joint and spinal issues and keeping her moving helps those stay lubricated, so to speak. She feels better physically when she's going up and down stairs. The view is also nicer when we get higher.

The connection of the 2nd floor to the existing building is also going to allow us to create an attic area over the existing building to house a/c ducts so we can go ahead and install central air. These window units are killing us on the power bill.

 

[EddieWalker]

Sounds like you have a good plan. I'm looking forward to following your progress. Funny thing about the view being better. Every time I'm on my roof, I think that I should build a tower so I can enjoy the view!!

 

[bspeedy]

Sounds like you have a good plan. I'm looking forward to following your progress. Funny thing about the view being better. Every time I'm on my roof, I think that I should build a tower so I can enjoy the view!!

You know, I've thought the same thing.

Been pondering an observation tower in the yard. That'd be cool.

 

[STx]

The master bedroom is going upstairs, it's going to have a 12x20 covered balcony connected to it. With French Doors upstairs, I'll be able to set furniture in the deck with the FEL and carry it right in instead of navigating stairs. The stairs are going to wrap 180 at a mid-level landing to minimize their footprint so getting furniture up them woukd suck.

 

[Deere Dude]

save some material in concrete and roofing so up is a little cheaper.... More importantly though, my wife has a lot of joint and spinal issues and keeping her moving helps those stay lubricated,...She feels better physically when she's going up and down stairs.

As you get older, stairs lose their appeal very fast.

Two levels I hear are generally a little cheaper to build per square foot. I built a nice raised ranch that took 14 steps to get to the main level. I was in my 40s so it wasn't such a problem, but now 20 years later, no way.

 

[bigtiller]

As you get older, stairs lose their appeal very fast.

Two levels I hear are generally a little cheaper to build per square foot. I built a nice raised ranch that took 14 steps to get to the main level. I was in my 40s so it wasn't such a problem, but now 20 years later, no way.

Same here, I'd gladly swap the basement for an extra 600 sq ft of my ranch style house.

 

[bspeedy]

Same here, I'd gladly swap the basement for an extra 600 sq ft of my ranch style house.

In my case, the cost to forego a basement on our house five years ago more than paid for my pole barn.

 

[sandman2234]

I don't have a chance, my house is two story, my detached garage is two story...
David from jax

 

[STx]

We've talked about the issues of stairs and agung but, she wants them so that's that. If it comes to it, I'll build an incredibly sketchy "elevator" with a hoist winch. What could possibly go wrong there?

 

[sandman2234]

Or get one of those "stair climbers"... something that won't work for me because my staircase is awfully narrow.
David from jax

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I think about adding a master bedroom to my first floor for later years, but my house is too big already.

 

[GAFarmer2]

Now this should be cool. Eagerly watching the progress...

 

[STx]

Had 12 tons of sand/aggregate premix delivered yesterday planning to get the foundation finished up but, it rained just enough to make working with bagged cement a bad idea so we'll try to get that done today.

This morning about 2/3 of the framing was delivered. I still need to figure out exact dimensions on the stairs and what I'll need for the roof but it'll be easier to do that once there's some sort of shell up.

 

[STx]

Got 1/2 the piers filled, about a yard of concrete. I'm filling them to grade and then forming the support on top of that. I was going to build the form all the way down to the concrete cookie but since I decided to go ahead and mix my own like this, it's only $59/yd and a bit of sweat so I'm just going to concrete it all to make it easy.

 

[EddieWalker]

Neat little mixer. Are you mixing at each hole and dumping it in from the mixer?

 

[STx]

Pretty much. The mixer does 6 cu ft and about 1.5 holes per batch. So I mix next to the empty hole, dump it first then roll to the previous hole and top it off. If there's any left, I start another one.

I got that mixer off Amazon on sale with free shipping. It actually came from Northern Tool, it was around $400 when I got it.

Amazon.com: Kushlan Products 6DD Unassembled Direct Drive cement Mixer: Industrial & Scientific

 

[EddieWalker]

Mine doesn't do that and seeing the wheels on yours, I can see a huge advantage to yours.