Concrete Questions for Garage Construction.....

[Solomon_Man]

All, I am working on adding two garages on my property. The larger is a

24X32 and the smaller one is 14X20. My father was in construction and I have done about everything in-home construction, except, major concrete. I have done sidewalks, patios, etc but nothing major. This is where my questions originate.

I have read a few books and gotten my permits. I marked out the location of the new garages and squared them up over last week after work. Then last weekend, I broke ground with an excavator and a large bobcat. Knowing that I would be better off (concrete savings) having a professional dig the actual footer, I hired a friend of a friend to dig my footer and I operated the bobcat. Things went as expected and my figures for stone and supplies came out. I am preparing for inspection and this morning I cleared out the roots from a few trees that sit in the back 30 feet of my property. I am planning on pouring the footer then the finished slab.

The one thing that I am concerned about is during the excavation we ran into two leach fields (at 3 feet down), an old septic leach bed and a leach bed from an old gray water system (at 2 feet down). I am positive that these systems are both no longer used and the main tanks are filled with sand. I know this for certain because I did this and the new sewer line to the house (120 feet)with my dad when the city sewer came to our area about 10 years ago. The septic system was original with the house (50 years old) and was about 200 gallons (very very small) and the leach field was only 120 feet in a Y. The gray water system ran the washing machine and dishwasher only and was 110 gallons and had only a 45 feet leach system but had a very large diameter.

How is something like this normally handled?

I have, so far, crushed and removed them from the footer entirely and have filled them with foam and packed the ends with dirt and stone tightly. There was no water in either system as expected.

Are these pipes even a concern at this point?

My next question is concerning the next steps in the concrete process.

My plans, and please correct me if I am wrong, is the following;

1) I will get approval from the city that my footer and stone etc is good. I assume they are mostly concerned with depth, width, and straightness of the footer and the stone is 4 inch or better. 2) I will rebar the footer 3) I will bring in the concrete and pour the footer to the bottom of the stone. (stone started 4 inches below earth grade) 4) I will then place my forms (2X8s) and make sure everything is of correct size and square up the forms. 5) I will place my 6X6 10 Gauge wire mesh to the footer 6) I will then have the concrete brought in and will pour and level out with a Bull float/screeds/maybe even a power trowel. 7) I will then place the garage bolts for the sill board 8) Spray on curing agent

Now, I am considering having the above done after I get approval from the city inspection. As I have a friend who has a friend that does this for a living. I have seen his work and I think it looks decent. So everyone knows, this is very against my grain as I hire very few things out. My main concern is the man power behind this and the skill to do the final level/finish but I know getting to this point is a very big step.

Now what should I expect to pay outside the cost of materials to have him do this? What is the norm? I have been told he will bring in 4 guys at $250 a day for the actual pour. What should form, rebar and mesh placement cost me?

I have another option to finish this concrete which is decent as well. I personally have a long time friend that is in the heavy machine operating trade (40 + years) and has done a lot of large scale concrete/masonry in his life. I have seen his work and it is decent.

Any opinions or suggestions?

Sorry for the rambling.

Thanks, Chris Solomon_Man

[hallerb]

If its a wood garage on a concrete slab I would make it a raised curb perimeter to elminate all wood rot issues

On the drain fileld I would dig it ALL out under the buildings and backfill with ALL gravel

[Solomon_Man]

All, The tile for the leach field for the septic system is a orange ceramic

- 3 or 4inch (very small) and the gray water system is a 8 inch pipe that is coming up to the front right corner of the garage. I was able to use a knife and cut the 8 inch pipe, with a pocket knife, one foot back completely away from the garage and its footer. The pipe is a thin black pipe very flexible with what seems to be clothe surrounding it. The 8 inch pipe was also at the end of its run and lucky for me ran till its end in my footer which of course I completely removed. The 8 inch pipe is not under the garage nor is it, at least in my opinion, a in the way problem. If the 8 inch is a problem I would prefer to remove it after the footer is poured as it goes back I am guessing 20 or so feet to the tank to avoid screwing up my footer walls and using excess concrete. The ceramic pipe is 3 feet down and my area soil is thick dark clay. The ceramic is somewhat of a concern but to remove it would require a complete diagonal cut across my 24X32 garage at three foot. Before I would consider digging it up, I would look at options of filling it with solid concrete as it would only be a additional 1/2 yard (max) according to my figures.

Just some more information.

Thanks, Chris Solomon_Man

[EXT]

Check your building department, I think (I don't know) that they would only require removal of the weeping tiles and possibly the contaminated gravel from under your footers/foundation and not from under the floor.

Remember to add any c>> >>

[John Grabowski]

I don't know about concrete work, but if you plan on adding an electrical circuit breaker panel to each garage you should connect a #4 bare solid (Not stranded) copper wire to the rebar using an approved connector. Run the wire to the location of the panel. This will provide an excellent grounding conductor for your panel. Even if you are not planning to install power to the garages it would be a good idea to have the #4 bonded to the rebar for lightning protection.

[Solomon_Man]

All, The inspector came out and inspected, I got approved.

He said the pipes are no big deal as the tanks are sanded. Rebar and mesh are not required but I am still going to do it to avoid the cement from pulling apart if I ever have a problem.

The question now in my head is to do it myself or have someone do it. The inspector said to do it myself. He said you did a fine job (depth,width,straightness,stone,layout) on the excavation and that is where most people screw up. So I now understand the process even more after talking to the inspector, so I am thinking more about doing it myself to save the cash. I dunno, I will price it out and make the final decision.

I plan to put electrical in and will install what is necessary for that in the concrete before I pour. I will not actually do electrical till next year as the whole property will be upgraded.

Thanks for the help.

Chris

[Chris Lewis]

According to Solomon_Man :

I think you'll find that the labor costs of a good crew to do a floor slab isn't very much (compared to the cost of the concrete), and it'll be easier in the long run to hire it. Or at least until you've seen it done once. You don't want to be partway thru the pour and find out that you have the wrong tools or not enough bodies.