Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Pole Barn

Getting slabs ready:




Worked into the night to get ready.

Poured 14 yards Saturday Morning:

1) How did you get the rebar into the center of the slab for the pour? It looks like it is laying right on top of the insulation.

2) How easy is it to get the forms off with the rebar thru them like that?

Did you opt for a type of fibermesh in the concrete? It does help with shrinkage cracks on the surface. Was the rebar run through the forms to tie into the next pour? I don't think I've seen that done before.

esshup, We pulled it up as we poured. Not being a large area it was no big deal. I wouldn't want to do it that way all the time fore sure. The rebar is 1/2" through a 5/8" hole "Hopefully" comes off easy.

And Yes sparkplug that is to pin it to the other slabs. Most of those will have 1" Insulation between heated and non heated slabs. the others will have an expansion joint.

sprkplug, Also my concrete guy is not a fan of the fiber so we didn't use it. I hear a different opinion from a lot of different concrete guys.So who knows??????

Looks good R&R looks good!!

I knew a lot of finishers who didn't like fibermesh....it is harder to work, and it leaves a "hairy" surface until it wears off. It does work however, and I wouldn't hesitate to use it if I were planning an applicable pour.

R&R

I'd use the fibers along with the rebar. I did a LOT of concrete restoration/epoxy injection work in So. Cal, and here's what the engineers said:

"The rebar in the concrete is for structural strength. The fibers are in the concrete to minimize the cracks that want to develope. Yes, the fibers are pushed as a replacement for the rebar. Don't believe it. If you want the concrete work to be crack free, use both."

Without rebar, if the concrete cracks, you loose strength in that area. The concrete that we poured, with both steel and fiber in it, didn't crack to my knowledge. We also used a plate compactor on the decomposed granite that we used for a base.

Friends here used both in their pole barn pours. 8+ years later, still no cracks.

The fibers DO make the concrete harder to finish smooth, as some of the fibers seem to poke through the concrete surface.

Scott knows his concrete! Fibermesh is definitely NOT a replacement for steel, as the two are intended for different purposes. The fibers are there to control the enevitable cracking...supposedly, all concrete will crack eventually but the fibers in the mix hold it together and make it far less noticeable.

Thanks Tony. I'm sure there are others here that know concrete much better than I.

What really pisses me off is when you are paying a contractor do to a job, you know more about the product/process than they do, and they insist on doing it not to the highest level of workmanship (that's not really the correct word, but I don't know how to say it).

A friend basically HAD to force the contractor to put steel in the concrete because the guy said the fibers were "good enough".

Dad paid a contractor to pour a 5" slab between the house and pole barn. Concrete was poured and finished when they weren't there. The contractor didn't put any expansion joints in it, nor any expansion material between the slab and the 3 1/2 car garage, nor between the slab and the 30'x40' pole barn. First summer the concrete moved enough so the service door couldn't be used because it was wedged shut.

Common sense. Garage has a footer and is backed by the house. The garage floor isn't going to move - it's tied into the footer and house foundation. Pole barn floor has a footer poured around the perimiter, and is just about as large as the concrete slab that is being poured between the pole barn and garage. That won't move either, so what's going to happen when the slab expands and contracts??

I rented a concrete saw and cut in an expansion joint 1/2" wide, and filled it with Sika Poly Sealer. I put a foam backer half way down the slab. I never hit any steel in the concrete when cutting, and the concrete varied in thickness from 5" at the edges to 3 1/4" in the center. (No fibers in the concrete either.) The bottom of the slab looked like he never compacted the base. The 2nd and 3rd year the concrete was in it developed cracks that will get to 3/16" wide and some of the slab is starting to settle on one side of the crack and not on the other.... This slab is probably 40'x40'. The problem with the service door is fixed, but I'll bet the concrete will be redone one of these years. It was poured in 2008 and I cut it in 2009.

O.K. rant off.

I've been on a lot of really large construction jobs and some engineers Spec. fiber and some Spec. DO NOT USE FIBER. One thing I've heard many times. There are two kinds of concrete. Cracked and Not Cracked.....YET. They always told me control joints are just controlled cracks.

That's it..... Concrete will crack. The trick is to get it to crack how, and where you want it to.

Gonna back up a little just to get things up to date and in perspective as to how far we've come.

The day we looked at the property for the first time. July 2010. Called the realtor on the way home and told her we were interested in making an offer.


Moved the gate and cut in a driveway. me on a borrowed skidsteer for 3 weekends. Fun for about the first 2 hours.


Summer 2011:


Electric and water ran back to future pole barn: 2011


Septic Tanks put in: fall 2012.


Lateral Field.(5) 100' Runs. A dose system with 2' cap. Pumped 320' 21' of head.



Pad for Pole barn completed as same time as septic.
Then on to planting 13,200 trees in the spring of 2013.



Which gets me back to the pole barn: Sept. 2013.
Me on that same skidsteer. 1/2 day much more fun.
http://s831.photobucket.com/user/rruttle1/media/postholedigger_zps79138497.jpg.html][/URL]

OK I got to get back to building a pole barn winter is a coming!!!!

Got the end wall next to the porch built:



And stood up:



Also caught a really nice sunrise Saturday after Thanksgiving:



Gonna try and get all the side girts on the end wall tonight and do some cleaning up to get the slab ready. Next Tuesday there calling for single digit lows after SNOW,SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN!! Starting this Friday through Monday.

Looking great! Congrats on the progress!

Still "INCHING" Along:







As you can see I'm not moving real fast. Hard to get anything done after work during the week. And this past weekend had about 3" of rain and some high winds. Even had a Tornado Warning Saturday Night. Crazy In December.

That wainscoting is going to look nice. What color will it be topped with?

The Top will be "Clay" colored. There is some laying in the pictures. Thanks

Very Nice R&R! I can't wait to get mine started later this year!

Well, Between the Flu taking me out for a couple of weeks and the extreme cold nothing much has happened on the pole barn. Finally got back at it yesterday.




Then again this morning. In the mud !!!!!



But got the back side done.








And Still made it home in time for the "BIG" Game..................Indiana vs Michigan.

Oh yea There is a Football game on later.

R&R,

What are the outside dimensions of your pole barn? Sorry if this has already been covered.

36' x 66' 10' ceiling height. 18" overhang. 12' of the 66 is porch.

Looking good R&R!

I can't wait till we have mud again

My big building project for this year is a 12' x 16' shed.

R&R, you have done an outstanding job on your project. Putting your walls on the slab is the correct method. The two tone siding is a nice touch but I am really impressed with your bracing and framing. You have had to had quite a bit of construction savvy under your belt. You will appreciate it much more knowing you built it right.