My work shop build in progress

[Frank Surber]

with the floor is broken into large clods but while we wait for the enzyme to arrive the decision was made to try and complete the remaining walls then stretch tarps over the door openings before turning the clods into dust in an effort to limit the amount of fill being blown out of the building before we can blend it and pack it back down
Today we closed in a section of the East wall that I was going to make into a door instead but decided to use the right opening instead of the left

 

[ovrszd]

Frank, thanks for sharing the knowledge in regards to your soil preparation. This is something I know nothing about up here in Missouri. I'm very interested in anything you share!!!

 

[Frank Surber]

Well the enzyme came in and we hired a guy with a small tractor with a tiller to try and grind up the shop floor. After about 6 hours we told him to just level it out as best he could so we could apply the agent to it. It would have probably taken him another 2 days to ever get is fully pulverized like I would have preferred it but he did a fairly good job considering how unyielding those clods were.
After leveling it out as best he could we applied the mixture then rolled it out.
My business partner is more of a desk jockey and bean counter so his conception of real world applications leaves much to be desired at times since he goes about things methodically haram-scarem His wife is some kind of molecular bio genetics engineer and thinks she knows all there is to know about how chemicals react which may be true in a laboratory when dealing with the brains of a rat.
In the real world though there are a lot more things that must be taken into account I have enough civil engineering experience to know when the strata you are trying to work with has near zero moisture content that it takes much more liquid and a lot longer time for things to properly absorb.
We applied the recommended amount of mix per sq ft then tilled it in and rolled it out. The temperature was dropping quite rapidly by the time I called it quits at 10PM that night. Not having a sheep foot roller just a probably means there are trapped voids but hopefully it will be alright in the long run.
The next morning my partner and his wife both conferred that we probably should have taken a couple more days to bring the moisture content up to some workable level to the fill would have absorbed the mix better. So what the heck with it getting a cool as it had the night before we figured the enzyme mix setting up rate had probably been retarded enough to allow us to apply a 2nd application then I spent all day rolling it out again with a 4 wheel drive pickup.
Folks it is what it is now good or bad but the floor is so hard that there is an echo in the shop when you walk across it




So while waiting for the floor to cure as much as possible I decided to make a tool rack for my combination wrenches ranging from1/4 through 2 1/2" with multiples of most

 

[bindian]

Tennis anyone?
hugs, Brandi

 

[old and tired]

Tennis anyone?
hugs, Brandi

Monty Python's reference?


{side rant} Utube has removed all video's about "Tennis Anyone" because it's bloody (bloody funny, that is...) Might as well remove Road Runner comics, too. {end rant}

 

[bindian]

Monty Python's reference?


{side rant} Utube has removed all video's about "Tennis Anyone" because it's bloody (bloody funny, that is...) Might as well remove Road Runner comics, too. {end rant}

No:thumbdown: It looks like a clay tennis court.:duh:
hugs, Brandi

 

[Frank Surber]

I closed in the East side of the shop yesterday with a section of new billboard tarp.
First off I needed to serve off the cut end of the tarp to strengthen and provide a means of hanging I, I started a few days ago by painting a 6 inch wide swath with a special vinyl tarp adhesive.
folded that over and pressed the surfaces together then once the glue had set I stretched a 3/16" braided nylon cord from end to end at the center point of the now 3" wide strip brushed this with the glue again and folded that over and pressed that together left it over night. this would become the top of the door. I repeated this process for the 2 sides once those had each cured over night I added a series of #3 sized stainless steel grommets to both sides .
I predrilled some strips of 3/16 by 3/4" flat bar on 12" spacings then hung the tarp on the flange of the header beam by clamping it between the flange and the flat bar then drilled each hole through the flange and bolted it in place using 1/4 20 bolts and nuts. Then secured the sides to the wall by the grommets with rubber tarp straps. Then used 4" nylon load straps inside and outside attached one end to the wall and welded strap winches to an angle iron on the purlins on the other side
it only takes a few minutes to release everything to open the tarp to allow passing through the door and later I will add a pipe in the pocket in the bottom of the tarp and a couple of pulleys to roll it up.
These lightweight billboard tarps are supposed to be rated for some fairly high wind loads, so I guess time will tell at any rate it makes for a simple cheap way of closing off a wide open hole in the wall for now at least.

 

[spitter]

I like the wheels on you scaffold it rolls around alot better than the regular casters.:drink:

 

[Frank Surber]

That is my mobile scaffold 2.0 , comes complete with 4 wheel drive for use in rough terrain. Can double as an observatory platform at concerts, capable of having sections added for height can be used as a deer hunters platform could be lowered to a single section height and used for hog hunters, Much easier to move around than the buss scaffold I had

 

[ovrszd]

Thanks for the updates Frank. I've been wondering about your project but been to busy to check on you!!! Anxious to hear your thoughts on the floor when it's done.