Stage_3

That's awesome Burton.
Looks like things are going your way! Good luck.

GrnT

Dude! So cool Burton. Caraoke party at Burtons.

2k7gtcs

I did not have to shim the posts but yes it is a possibility depending on the slope.

I would not worry about it. Does the manufacturer sell shims that match the bottom of the post? Surely they do.

FromZto5

LOL thanks guys... let's get the house built first. We have a loooooooong ways to go

I spoke with our project manager today who has been talking with the concrete folks. Sounds like they can do flat for my lift area, but then taper towards the front door and the rear door respectively. The 2 car area will have the garage strip and the floor around that will taper towards the drain. So hopefully, it will be completely flat by the lift, or a very slight taper which I can shim.

FromZto5

UPDATE:

Drove by the lot today and we saw the following on there:





Sounds like they are moving equipment in today and digging tomorrow!!!

Exciting times.

Today, we also did selections of certain items for the home. I won't bore you with house-specific stuff, but I will highlight a few garage specific things.

I selected my doors - Went with an R12 value for a Wayne Dalton door - chose Sonoma Ranch with the following window design:



I need to verify the size of my rear garage door, but probably going with 9x8

Stage_3

So awesome Burton!!
Now it's getting real bro.

FromZto5

Oh it's REAL! In fact, it's so real, over lunch, I drove by the place and was ecstatic to see this!!! I tried to say hi to the dude, shook his hand, but he was serious, so I let him be. LOL. Probably does thousands of these a day, so he probably was annoyed I was bugging him.


There's a HOLE in the ground! A big hole at that.

I took a couple pics also, of where the house and the garage will be. Marilyn will soon be parked in that hole! LOL.

It was a nice day today, 70 degrees... so they picked a good day for it. Pouring should be by this weekend or early next week. I can't believe this is really happening... I'm surprised I even came back after lunch. I wanted to just stay there, bring a tent, camp there, and watch the whole thing unfold. He probably would have REALLY hated me. There's just something so satisfying about big machines beating up dirt... and the fact that it's for my garage, makes it all the more satisfying!

Stage_3

So awesome Burton. Happy for you and your family.

So, how far away is this place from your current place of residence? How about work?

Mustang Freak

DarrenGT

Hurray!!!!!
Awesome to see some progress

FromZto5

Thanks GUYS!!! Progress indeed! Speaking of more progress, I came home from work and was surprised to see all this done!!! They are fast...





They got all the forms in and poured all the concrete! The 2nd pic above is the beloved garage! Since there's nothing "underneath" the garage (no basement) they kept the whole ground/earth solid. (Yes, I climbed up there and had my pic taken... LOL).

The next day, after everything solidified, I measured every single inch of that house, esp the garage. Hey, I wanna know that I am getting every inch of what I paid for, with no mistakes. I did get a scare though, I thought they were a foot off the entryway and bedroom, but turns out, I wasn't measuring off of the right edges/centerlines. Their drawings weren't clear cut. I figured it out though - all good.



I need to ask my PM what the next steps/phase of the build is. Does anyone know? Do they put concrete walls/foundation up next?

Horspla

Yes, pour the walls next, and then let the framing begin. After the walls have cured for 8-10 days they can seal/insulate them and then backfill. Looks like top shelf work to me...and you won't regret poured foundation walls.

FromZto5

Thanks John! Sorry I didn't respond to this sooner. Got busy with house and family/Turkey day stuff last week.

You are right though... for what occurred since then, they got a lot done!

They got the forms and the concrete poured! Next, they will be doing the drainage lines. Then after that, the garage floor! That's the one I want to see! lol... then after that, framing.

Here are the pics of the progress, over the span of a week, in order.









I also stood by my rear facing garage door to get a "feel" of the 3rd stall width. I love how wide I made it... perfect for the lift area.

Stage_3

That's awesome Burton.
A lot of progress there brother. Keep us posted. I love threads like this.

FromZto5

Thanks Tony! Yeah definitely awesome. I even have some new news from today

They poured the basement floor!!! They also poured the stone to fill the gaps in the garage in preparation for the concrete garage floor. I drove by there over lunch and literally caught them in-process of doing that pour and smoothing out the basement! Pretty cool to see. Would have been nice to see them actually in the process of pouring the concrete, but I missed that

I also spoke to the Concrete guy literally today - to plan out the slopes for the drain. We will be keeping the entire 3rd stall (front to back) area completely flat. Then the 2 stall area will be sloped towards my 6' strip drain. I'll be doing most of my washing in that area anyways, and most importantly keep the lift area flat.




Our basement floor - still needs smoothing.



Pouring the garage rocks before concrete!

Stage_3

Awesome.
Exciting stuff.

DarrenGT

are those actual bricks Burton, or stamped on?

GrnT

Wow Burton that's pretty amazing stuff.

carfreak666

Wow...they move quick... Exciting!!

FromZto5

Thanks a lot guys!!! They move very quick indeed. I can't wait till they pour the garage floor. I'll camp outside and eat popcorn as I watch them do it. LOL.

Darren, those are the moldings/forms for the concrete. If you look in the prior pics above, they show the forms. Kindda like Jello molds... so they make it look like brick.

Another topic - I'm thinking about my rear/front flood lights. I'm leaning towards motion sensing (defeatable to have them on/off by switch as well). I want the brightest I can find - so that I can detail outside, in the dark, etc... but also so that I can use it for my basketball court and outdoor activities with the kids. The motion sense is for security. I am also picking IP65 (weatherproofing) products to withstand harsh Iowa weather.

I'm thinking about placing 2 in the back (one in the left corner, one in the right/rear garage door corner), 1 on the left side of house, then one in the front of the house (so that I can detail there too, or play sports with the boys).

Thoughts? Anyone have these type of lights? Some of this stuff is ultra bright. They vary from 2000 lumens to up to 20,000 lumens. My neighbors will LOVE me. LOL.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...#/tab/Overview

https://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-Da...4055FWWK7EHV51

https://www.amazon.com/BYB-Equivalen...d%2Blight&th=1