Final day........the building

A little "Song and Dance". The trim came in the wrong color, so, at 7 AM on Saturday morning, they are painted it the right color. This will give us a good extra coat of paint of the trim boards.

Holes are cut for the nice skylight and the large Turbo Vent

Tar paper going on over the plywood. The under side of the plywood has the radiant barrier.

Shingles are going up. The color is Amber, but they are a little lighter than I expected. Probably good, may reflect more heat.

The building is finished. The electrician will be in on Monday to do the electrical work.

The crew. Fast and efficient.

I should have closed this door during the inspection. It was open, so none of us noticed. I think they overlooked the inside trip. This picture was taken with the door shut tight. I called, and someone will be here on Monday to correct the gaps.

The door is closed here too, but lots of holes to let in dust and rain. A thunderstorm is building right now, I hope it doesn't fill up the new garage. I have to leave in 3 hours from now, and won't be back for several days. I'm very nervous about how the concrete work will turn out, but will hope for the best. We'll probably have to have a landscaper come in, since none of the other contractors will accept responsibility to clean up the mess.

Day 1, garage building

9/23/11 The guys from Dezert Door showed up early.

The had to assemble the door

Tested with an extension cord. It works nicely. After everything else is finished, I'm going to have them back and insulate the inside of the door. They take it back apart, insert 2' foam insulation, reassemble and adjust it for around $200. I should have had it done now, but didn't think about it, as it was part of the building contract. Glad it can be done later.
The construction crew got caught up in problem with some other customer today, not their fault, it was a husband and wife thing involving where to place their garage. Anyway, they will be back tomorrow to finish up.

This is what the street looked like after the cement truck was here to pour the foundation. They deny it was their truck leaking, but it had to be. Anyway, J & A Concrete that did the job (not the owner of the delivery truck) sent the Boss out to clean it up, just to save us a problem. A very good man!

Jim from J&A bought some expensive grease remover and went over the spill 3 times. Most of it is gone. 96 degrees out there, and he's doing this just because he's a good guy. The Cement supplier should have done it.

9/22/2011. A crew of 4 men brought this load of lumber and material down from Las Vegas this morning. It's 9:AM now, they are just starting to unload.

They lay out some of the pre-fab pieces. Most of the framing and trusses are cut and fit here on the site.

There was a small delay waiting for another contractor to bring the nuts to put on the studs that hold the walls to the foundation. They stayed busy doing other things while they waited.

All the workers were very fast and knew what they were doing. A good team that works together a lot.

The trusses are going up.

The plywood has a radiant barrier on one side. Tar paper will go over the plywood, then composition shingles will complete the roof.

Everything takes time, but they are moving right along.

They use a lot of metal clips for strength.

It was after 2 PM before they took about a 15 minute break.

This bike life weights around 400 pounds. The 4 of them and I was able to get it from the attached garage on the house out here to the new location in the floor. It would have been extremely difficult without their help.

A large 2 x 4 foot sky light that will go in tomorrow, as well as an over-sized Turbo vent in the roof.

This is the radiant barrier. Suppose to lower the inside temp around 15 degrees in the summer time.

5 PM on the first day. They got a lot done. The City inspector will be here in the morning to check it out so far, then they will do the finish trim. The door will be installed, and Saturday they will finish the shingles on the roof and it will be done. We're going to postpone the electrical and concrete apron and driveway until we get back from a trip to Oregon next week.

Sunup on the 17th of September

Marcus came back to remove the last  shrub.  This will all be cement soon.

Foundation, footings, slab complete

9/16/11, 5:30 AM.  J & A Concrete just finished the rebar in the bike lift inset.  It's still dark.  The pour is scheduled for 6 AM

Sun isn't up yet.  Garbage truck, cement truck, the pumper truck and the Bobcat are all in the driveway and street.

The  cement will be poured from the truck to the pumping machine.

These 4 inch pipes wil be connected to carry the cement to the forms.

Lots of activity in the street.  I'm sure the neighbors aren't real happy.  Lots of noise.

Sun isn't up yet.  The pumper man is getting the pipes set up.

Sun is about ready to pop up from behind the Music Mountains.  From our back yard.

Getting clots and air locks out of the pipe.  They are almost ready to start

The last connections are made

They drove in spikes to make a stand to keep the transfer pipe off the form

The footings are 12 inches wide and 18 inches high.  The slab will be 4 inches thick.   The forms are "overkill" they footings will be very strong.

The pouring man was very experienced and knew exactly how and where to move the discharge.

Lot bigger job than I thought it would be at first.

Everything has to be timed right to get in all in properly but not dry out too fast.  Things are different in the desert.

The footings were poured all the way around before filling the slab

The bike lift inset added a special pour.  The contractor knew exactly what he was doing, and it turned out fine

The slab is coming in.

Finishing.  Nothing is as easy as it looks!

Roses for the new garage.  Everything turned out good, even with a few minor problems along the way.  That's only normal in about any construction project.  The builder will let it sit and cure, and construction will start on Thursday the 22nd.  By this time next week, it will be mostly finished.  A crew of excellent builders will come in and had it up in about 2 days.  Then we'll deal with the electric contractor, and will finish off with the new driveway and apron to the garage.

After the rain

 Check the top of the fence.  We have visitors every afternoon.  Big fat quail taking the family for a walk, and checking for food.

 The quail are looking over the new earth.  Oh Yum!  There might be a bug to eat.  But, probably not.

 They decided to inspect the project to see if it meets their requirements.

 Checking out the steel mesh.  This will be covered with cement by Friday aftermoon.  Maybe they will leave a few foot prints before it's hard.

 The City Development in inspector will be here at 8 AM on tomorrow.  If he approves it, the pour is cement pumping is scheduled for 6 AM on Friday morning.  If he finds any problems, there will be time to fix them tomorrow afternoon.

 Most of the work was done by hand, in the mud.  It's dry already and in good shape for the pour.
The white upright piece of PVC on the bottom of this picture will have a 90 degree elbow placed on it, and new pipe will go under the apron for the driveway to water the remaining tree in the back yard.  We turned off the auto bubblers until the project is finished.

 Better picture of the pipe.  This was the main feed for 4 shrubs and 2 trees.  It will now supply just one tree. (and maybe a quail watering box)

This is the form for the inset that will house the Motorcycle lift.  26" wide, 82" long.  We carried the lift all the way from Coos Bay.  Bought the Handy Lift 25 years ago.  It's held a lot of bikes, and hopefully a few more.

 9/14/11.  Two days of rain set back the schedule, but they are back to working on the footings.  Inspection will be tomorrow, and they will pour the foundation on Friday.

The Bobcat is making a muddy mess, but it has to be done.

Filling and leveling for the slab.  After close measuring, the contractor has decided we'll need to use a pumper to pour the cement in for this part.  More money....

We were trying to separate most of the rocks from the dirt so we can re-use them later, but they are getting all mixed up. First rain for months.  At least it's suppose to be totally dry for the next couple of weeks or more.

Digging out the "inset" where the motorcycle lift will go.  The Electricial will be here later today to bury some large conduit for the wires that will go in later.