Passed final inspection

All electric was finished today. The building is finished. The cement is complete. All that's left is the epoxy floor that's going inside the garage.

The cement is 2 days old and still drying. Won't drive on it for a couple more days. It didn't turn out quite like we expected, due to the UN-expected rain showers that started just as the pour was down. It will take a while for it to cure. Ended up with 35 yards counting the foundation, slab, driveway, and extra walk to the patio in back. After the epoxy sets up, next will be to assemble the white cabinets from Home Depot.

Rain!

The rain came just as they finished the pour. It's partly worked, but still a ways to go before it's all finished off. Waiting for the rain storm to pass.

Wouldn't you know! An unusual storm, followed by drizzling rain. If it dried out too much before they can finish working it, don't know what they will do. This is not a good thing.

10/4/11. All the cement should be finished off today. They started pouring at 1st light.

10 yards wasn't enough to finish up the driveway. The truck had to go get more. Looks like the total will be 35 yards for the whole job.

That's it! Now, they will finish it off. Expansion cuts will be made in the new cement between the house and the block wall, then can't get the long handled tool in to make the grooves.

Rain water inside the new garage. The manager was out already this morning, they will be doing several things on the building that wasn't done correctly the first time. With a 5 year warranty, I think they will get it all right in time.

Still see light around the door. This is after they told me they came and fixed it while we were gone.

The left side is the worst. Looks like the frame needs to be adjusted, then some caulking added.

Finished on this part. There was just a hard rain shower a few minutes ago, and it looks like it didn't do any damage to the fresh cement.

There was a lot of water on the floor. I ddn't think to take a picture until it was all dried up.

We added a foot to the walk wat to the patio. I thought 3' would be wide enough, but after seeing the form, decided to go with 4 feet from the man door to the house. It's not finished yet, rained on the fresh pour, but dried out enough to make a nice finish before we had another storm pass through.

About 5" thick on the average. Strongest pour we could get, with glass fibers added to make it even stronger. Don't want it to crack when I ride the Harley up the drive way.

Finishing cement is hard work. These guys deserve a break. Because of the rain shower, it added more time and effort to get it looking right.

Surveying the back lot.

The finish wasn't done yet here, but the cement is about ready for it now. The electricity is in and working, only think left there is a switch I wanted to add, will be done tomorrow. The door needs to be re-set, that's tomorrow too. And, they will make the last pour in the morning on the drive. Total of around 33 yards for the whole job. Only a few more days and it will be wrapped up. Last thing will be the landscaper coming in to clean up everything and make it look good from the street.

Almost finished

The electric come in from a trench dug from the house.

The lift will be leveled as soon as the driveway is finished. We have 5 double 4foot florescent light fixtures, and the large 2 by 4 foot skylight. 8 inside outlets and one weather proof one on the outside.

This will be poured and finished off by the end of the week. Then, the inside floor will be covered with epoxy. When thats done, I'll assemble and install some Black & Decker cabinets, and storage units. Tool boxes, work bench, a computer desk, Satellite Radio, etc. will finish it off. Also will add shelves for items like nut and bolt cabinets, and cleaning chemicals. Last will be a landscaper to clean up and make everything look nice.

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.