Jim's Pole Barn Project - hopefully

[jwstewar]

Re: Jim\'s Pole Barn Project - hopefully

I would think just walking we'd be OK, but I got to rethinking my plan any way. Why don't we go ahead and do rocks this weekend and then that'll give me a chance to get a wall framed up to install the circuit box. PM me with when you want to load the rocks and I'll be there with my truck and trailer.

 

[jwstewar]

Re: Jim\'s Pole Barn Project - hopefully

Woohoo I've got a floor!!!!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I've got pictures but I'll upload tomorrow from work vs. here at home and dial-up. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif We had originally calculated out about 23.5 yards. We ordered 25 just to be safe. Should have been enough to do the floor, three 2' aprons, and 3X4 slab by the man door. Well after Katrina went through - or I should say was on her way out as we started the pour this morning we decided we wouldn't pour the aprons/slab as the ground out there was so wet and we were afraid of ruining the finish. So had them only bring about 17 yards (2 trucks). Well that wasn't enough (knew it wouldn't be, but was just trying to judge how far it would take us) we had them bring the last 8 we had ordered. Still ended up being just over a yard shy. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Had them bring about 1.5 yards (since we had already ordered so much they didn't charge a minimum) and we ended up putting a little bit of a base in for the front 2 approaches. I'm glad we decided not to pour. The wife changed my mine about what we were going to do out front. We are now going to go clear across the front (instead of just in front of the doors) and wrap around to the man door slab. The concrete guys also persuaded me to go out about 6' and drop about 3 inches with the 3/4" drop we'll have from the floor it'll get me almost 4" closer to the driveway and considering I need go up about 20" I'll take everything I can get. Its only money right? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[jwstewar]

Re: Jim\'s Pole Barn Project - hopefully

Just finished eating lunch so now I can surf TBN and post pictures of my floor. Here is a shot looking through the left door. They used a power trowel to do the bulk of the work, but all edges were finished by hand and the final finish was done by hand. They asked what I wanted and I said smooth enough so that I could sweep it out, but not so smooth that it was slick. They said OK, we'll finish it "tight" and we won't "burn" it with the power trowel. The finish is what you see here. This is probably within about 15 minutes of them leaving. I did have them go ahead and put a sealer on it. I believe they called it Pex Seal, but don't remember for sure. They only charged my $25 to do that. I couldn't buy the materials and do it myself for that amount. That is why the floor is so shiny.

 

[jwstewar]

Re: Jim\'s Pole Barn Project - hopefully

Another shot looking through the right front door. You can see the floor drain close to the middle of the picture. You can also see little tidbits of concrete left from the troweling processing. They came back last evening and did the saw cuts. They then swept the floor to get all of the dust out and swept these little particles out as well. They also asked me to power wash it to get all of the dust out of the saw cuts.

 

[jwstewar]

Re: Jim\'s Pole Barn Project - hopefully

A shot looking through the tractor door. Again you can see the floor drain. They determined the proper height for these so that we could get decent fall. Once the drains were taken into account, there wasn't a whole lot of the floor that ended up being "flat." They did a good job at getting slope but not so much that it looks like it goes up hill.

 

[jwstewar]

Re: Jim\'s Pole Barn Project - hopefully

Another shot looking from the tractor door. This time looking forward to the front doors.

 

[jwstewar]

Re: Jim\'s Pole Barn Project - hopefully

This is what I originally had formed for the aprons. We put a little pit of the last yard that was delivered into each of these to form a base and to keep from just wasting it. After talking with the concrete guys and my wife finally piping in we are going to take the concrete from corner to corner out about 6' feet dropping about 3" and also wrapping around the corner to pick up the man door. So a little or a lot more concrete involved depending on how you want to look at it. Tractor entrance will probably stay at the 2' foot apron. I'm getting close. I might start running some of the electrical wire this weekend. Something I can do fairly easily w/o a lot of tools having to be dragged in.

 

[Spencer]

Re: Jim\'s Pole Barn Project - hopefully

Hey Hey Hey, Slow Down! A pole barn is supposed to take years to complete. You are going way too fast for me. I didn't feel so bad about you having walls, because I had concrete, but now you have both walls and a floor - Quite Impressive!

You give me no choice, I am going to have to take drastic measures in order to catch up to you. I'm going to have to quit my job so that I can find the time to work on my pole barn project. Actually I already put in my notice a couple of weeks ago. My family is tired of me traveling around the country so I really had no choice but to give up my career. I have been traveling around installing equipment for over 16 years now. I'm actually up in Maine right now waiting to catch my flight home. I gave the manufacturer that I subcontract to a ten-week notice so as not to leave them in too tight of a bind. That will bring me up to the end of October, but I hope to slow things down before then. I really don't want to go through another winter without my barn being mostly completed. I wish I had a job coming up near your location to come over and check things out. The two jobs that I have in Ohio right now are both up by Cleveland.

Good job Jim, keep up the good work.

Spence

 

[jwstewar]

Re: Jim\'s Pole Barn Project - hopefully

Hey, glad to see you are still checking in.

I was just looking at your post a week or so ago. I mentioned the number of views on it was more than the SHHHHHHH Deere post, but it later passed it and I said you needed to give us an update so that you could catch back up.

Well, I've got a floor and walls, but I still can't get my vehicles in there (well maybe the truck and tractor) and I'm still missing a door so no tools either. Might go order that tonight though. I'll see if Lowe's 10% price guarantee is good on special order items. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

BTW, my project has been going for just over 2 years now. Good luck with your next endeavor on life after Taco Bell.

 

[Bird]

Re: Jim\'s Pole Barn Project - hopefully

Spence, it's been awhile since I heard from you. Hope all's going well for you and the family.