Forms and Footings

My goal was to get the footings in before we leave for a multiweek trip. It was a push to get it all ready, and lots of thanks to Susan, my friend Bill, and my brother-in-laws who helped with the excavation, some grading for the cement truck to navigate around the perimeter, setting the forms and tips on extra hands for today.

I used new 2x8 PT lumber for the forms. We lubed it up good with some oil, so hopefully they'll clean up well so we can reuse the material for the deck between the house and garage.

Charlie finished the excavation Thursday night and my material for the forms showed up 7 am Friday. Bill and I got the exterior form built Friday, and the interior form ready to go together. Saturday night we finished up that formwork, and Sunday I built and placed the two boxes for the footings in the middle of the building

I ordered 5 yards of concrete to do the footings around the perimeter and two 3x3 footings in the center of the building for two posts that will support the interior girts.

Today was the pour. The five yards was probably exactly enough, though we skipped the second box when it looks short and had the driver clean up over the bank where I'm filling in missing material.

Forms basically ready for the pour.Rebar suspended from the cross-braces, forms set at 18" wide.

Footings up top for central posts for the middle two girts.

First concrete coming down the chute

Mike and I working the concrete in the forms on the east side

Mike and Lee working the concrete on the north side. 

With the excavation, we were able to fill in the big depression on the west side of the building so the concrete truck could reach three sides of the pour directly.

Footing after the pour before we set the pins for the walls

Here I am screeding the footing in the middle of the building. We'll backfill this area with stone after the walls are built next month with Fox Blocks Insulated Concrete forms, then put down 3" of rigid foam before the slab for the garage and workshop is poured.

End of the day with all the pins set for the walls. I did tie a 10' pin to the footing rebar prior to the pour for a ufer ground. 

Excavation Day One

Yesterday I received the Zoning Permit allowing me to build the workshop, and last night a friend of my nephew fired up my brother-in-law's excavator and started stripping the topsoil and leveling where the slab will be. In less than 3 hours he had things pretty well leveled out. Today we started digging for the footings and frost walls. The top of the walls to the bottom of the footings is 76", with the footings and 4' of the wall below grade and the last 20" above grade to protect the sills and bottoms of the timbers. 

Yesterday's leveling of the slab area

Excavation of the first two thirds of the foundation area. 

Quite a bit of material was removed and used to fill in a large depression in the back yard from previous sand quarrying. 

Getting Started

Several months ago we found a early 19th century hand hewn timber frame. This blog will cover the restoration and reconstruction of the frame as a workshop and garage in Southern Vermont. When it's done, I'll move on to covering woodworking projects from the workshop. 

Moving the frame into the barn for winter storage.

 The frame all tucked away - just need to cover the openings.

First shovelful of dirt to start the foundation. Foundation will be 4 foot frost walls on an 8" thick footing, with a 4" slab at grade.