Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Building a garage-apartment with a pond view

Where is Toto when you need him ?

Sure is a shame that all your great photos have been undone by photobucket. This was an awesome thread.

Smoke, add an extension to your browser that enables photobucket pictures again and you will be all set. I can see all the pictures yet. Depending on which browser you use, you find the settings for controlling 'add-ons', then extensions then search using photobucket as a search and you likely find the extension that you need to download and add on.

Dear friend, today you have given me back my sight. I am in your debt.

I can see!!!

SECOND VERSE, SAME AS THE FIRST...

Well, it's been long enough. Time to build something. We really love the garage/apartment and use it regularly. The smaller living space is very manageable and comfortable for 2 peep's. The guest BR works great. The shop area is perfect. The garage works very well, too. The one thing we really don't have much of is storage. Also, since we brought on the compact tractor, it resides in one of the 2 garage stalls, along with the backhoe attachment. Long range, the tractor and accessories need a new home.
So...we decided we need a tractor barn. Some place to put power type toys like tractors and UTV's (maybe someday) and other related stuff. And, since we are going to do this, let's do it right!
We created the building site large enough, and located the garage apt to one side, so we could expand off to the other side of the site someday. Some day is here.
The plan is another gambrel design structure. 24' x 48' on a concrete slab. Frame walls, gambrel roof trusses, metal roof, plain siding with the option of adding battens later on if we feel it needs "the look".
Our excavator has been running in between rain storms, trying pluck trees and push a whole buncha dirt to create not only the access drive, but the proper slope and grade for the foundation. The area where it goes is uphill from the gar/apt and I want to try and keep them at the same elevation for aesthetics. That means clearing back the treeline about 75 feet and then cutting out and re-shaping the hill. It isn't ideal, but we got it shaped to keep rain run-off moving away from the slab.
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The opening at the right is the original/existing driveway into the parking area for the gar/apt. The opening on the left is the new access drive (cuts back into the woods and links up with the original drive further back). The flat dirt area between them is the septic field (been a weed field for about 4 years; time to grade and seed as yard). Looking to the left, you can get a feel for the amount of grade drop we needed when we cut into the uphill slope.



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...standing in the new access drive, looking out/down to the new slab zone

It's a disease, really - Barnbuildingitis. I think Bski caught it from me.

Worse, it's recurring. I've had four flare-ups so far.

in the 2nd picture it looks like there is some type of raised plastic structure under the rerod grid. Do you have plastic under the concrete? What is the purpose of that?

Hey Canyon,
6 mil vapor barrier covers the entire pour surface. 3" Mesh-up bar chairs support the 6x6x6/6 wire mesh and help at the edges to support the thickened edge rebar matrix.

First class as usual. High enough to easily get the tractor etc. in with out hitting anything. Rest of the plans?

Looks great Bretski but makes my back hurt to even look at the process. I just did the foundation and small utility room for my daughters smallish 900 sq ft house earlier this year (her house is right next to my sediment pond with a view of the main pond) and it about did me in. Got some step pads yet to do for her.

Hey Ewest...
It's gonna be pretty much a twin of the garage apartment, without the shed dormers. Quite simply, a classic gambrel roof barn design. The Gar/apt is a 28 x 44 footprint on a stemwall footer. The Tractor barn will be 24 x 48 slab with thickened edges. Dski and I will be building it ourselves....again. Lord, I hope this is the last big construction project! 10 foot walls, one 12 x 9 overhead door, one service door, and a few windows. Yeah, a pair of the 5 foot sliders looking out onto the pond. We are going to pay a little bit more to try and simplify the project by using full gambrel trusses. They are designed to include the bonus room upstairs; 16 x 48. We need it for the badly needed storage that we lack in the gar/apt. Standing seam metal roof, 2 foot gable soffits. Whew! I ache just thinking about it.

Dude...I feel your pain. We must love to hate it.

Took delivery of 37 gambrel roof trusses. I told them to put the 2 gable end trusses on top. We plan (hope?) to pull them down, set them in the grass, and set most all the exterior sheathing before we crane them into place.

How far are they from the pad ?

close enough to be practical for installation, but far enough to allow pulling cards from the top of the deck and maneuvering the tractor and crane in between. Maybe 60 feet or so. Any further and we would be too close to the water.

When do you start putting it all together? Pre winter I hope ! So glad you got the tractor and don't have to do it all manually.

Walls start going up this weekend. Just like the last time, it's once again Dski and me against the world. The only real diff is about 10 years wiser, and 10 years...well...older. I promised Dski that the gar/apt was the last big construction project. I guess that makes me a liar.

I'll trade you a big construction project for a bilateral inguinal hernia. Even.

gimme huevos for 50, Alex

Since it is only Dski and me, we are building the walls in 12 foot sections. The wall framing and exterior is completely done when we tilt them up, including paint; all part of the plan. The only exception is where we have to slide in a siding panel after the walls are raised. This is necessary where 2 segments meet; to weave them together (panels are ship lap edges). The 2 x 4 wall jacks come outta the moth balls and still kick butt. We use the truck weight to hold the jacks from kicking out as the wall goes up. A pool noodle on the teeth of the tractor bucket is the mar-free insurance that the panel doesn't go too far at the other end.

I don't think that means that the futon will now float.

Nice work. Would have never seen the noodle but a good idea. How you going to do the roof ?

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The roof is gambrel trusses sheathed with 5/8" CDX plywood + synthetic roofing underlayment + standing seam metal roof. For the record, I learned the advantages and wisdom of upgrading to 5/8" plywood sheathing from my good old friend, Rockytopper. He knew his architectural stuff! I still miss him.

Many of our old friends have passed. Glad there are a few left and some new ones as well to carry on the tradition. In snow country I would have thought thicker roofing would be the norm.