Barn Project | Page 2 | Construction and DIY projects | Forums

so yesterday morning the guys showed to build the pad for the mini barn, we started by marking out the corners

some final directions for the operator

and went around and marked the finished grade on the stakes

and the skidder operator started hauling in gravel

the yard was holding up okay

lol, not a half hour later

it didn't take long to build the pad though

my mini wells didn't make it through the process though

then it was just a matter of working their way out and smoothing out the ground

by the time they got to the yard it was just to wet and it was a exercise in futility, they did the best they could and we are going to let it dry out some before we attempt to fix it right

I think I'm going to need to take out that overhanging limb due to the proximity over the building site, it would suck to get it built and have a limb take out the roof

to be continued

I was able to get the slab framed out over the weekend

I pinned it and leveled it all up

So last week I went and picked up some rebar and 5x5 wire panels, holy sticker shock, man Iron has gone up in price

I laid out the rebar to figure out my overlaps

I decided to curve around the corners

I grabbed some rebar ties

And pulled the pin out of my ball hitch

and stuck the rebar through the hole

and bent the rebar at 90 degrees

And went around tying the rebar together

and ran two courses about 10 inches apart

I laid out the wire

and went around tying the panels together and to the rebar

we were ready to pour

The Next morning the pump truck showed up. I told them to bring the trailer we had used to pour the patio, instead they brought the big boom we used for the house.

He had to swing the boom up over the house, this was a little nerve racking

I was expecting him to wipe out my dads cabin

but he got it back there

the chickens were a little freaked out

We ran out the hose

and hooked it up to the boom

the cement truck backed up to the hopper

and we started pumping

I had ordered 6 yards and it was just a little short

so we hand vibrated the cement to get it to level out and screeded it

of course we poured on the only day it rained last week so we set up a tarp to keep the rain from dimpling the slab

I have been kicking around different Ideas on how I want to build, I wanted to do the slip form but finding a supply has been difficult, I have been wanting to do a earth bag for awhile, so I'm leaning towards that

J had asked me the other day how I get away with no footers with my slabs. Basically for outbuilding like this I make a large pad of good draining material (gravel). I grade around them to take water away so there is no Issue with frost heaving. I basically build the slabs on one large shallow trench foundation and float the slab on top of it. Also when I pour I use fiber reinforced cement for extra strength and I pour the slabs thick, we average around 6 inches for our slabs. If I was building a heated building like a house I would use a footing such as we did with our house. We poured the slab for my fathers cabin with this method, but instead of building up a gravel bed we poured on top of insulation which protects the slab from frost. It has worked for us so far.

So I checked my test jar yesterday, based off that I figure our clay content is between 30-40 percent which is on the high side, but there is alot of small stones in it as well which will work well for aggregate, so I went with it

with placing the bags on cement on I wanted a water barrier to keep capillary action in the cement getting the bottoms of the bags wet, I don't think it is going to be a issue, but better to be safe than sorry, so I went and picked up a roll of ic and water shield and a roll of barb wire

I rolled it out and trimmed the correct length

flipped it over and cut it along the seam on the back

pulled the backing off and flipped it over

I applied the other half on the other side of the slab

they say to check and make sure your water content is correct, you should be able to squeeze it in a ball and it should hold it's shape

to begin a bag, you put 4 to 6 inches in the bottom

and then you have to tuck the corners in on the bottom to get as smooth as a wall as possible, you tuck the corners up into the bag

I reached in and pull the tabs that are now inside out in the bag and pull them up tight and then you lightly punch down the soil in the bag to compact it to lock the corners in place

you then put in a shovel at a time punching it down till the dirt is about 6 inches from the top, leaving enough room to fold the top of the bag over like a envelope and tuck it

placing the first bag with the bottom to the outside, you want to leave about 2 inches around the bag fro the edge, because it will compact out to it

the next bag lay the folded end against the folded end of the first bag

make sure to tuck in the flaps

what up al! hope you are well