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  #71  
Old 01-11-2020, 11:44 PM
Lynn Lynn is offline
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Between the trenches and the sump pump, the groud was drying out pretty well. Still muddy; but I was able to get my little tractor in there with a box blade and start pulling out dirt and rocks.
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  #72  
Old 01-12-2020, 12:52 PM
Crush Crush is offline
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Originally Posted by Lynn View Post
Got the sump pump going again, and started pumping out water. The hand dug trenches and sump pump helped start drying it out a bit.

The plan was perforated drain pipe. Sherri and I eventually trenched for 380 feet of perforated drain pipe. I started with a trench down the South side of the building, to give an exit path for the water. I had to hand dig a trench down the side of the building (no room for a trencher or mini excavator) and bore a 6 inch hole in a 13 inch thick retaining wall to shed all the water. I spent 10 hours breaking out asphalt, concrete and digging clay on Memorial Day. You can see the pipe laying in the trench in the first pic below.

In the second pic below, you can see where I cut out some of the existing slab so I could run the pipe outside that South door and down the side of the building. I have it circled.

While busting out concrete and digging, I ran into an old footer for what must have been a previous structure on the site. I had to saw cut that footer and chip the pieces out one dime size piece of concrete at a time; took two days to get deep enough. I can only saw cut 4 inches deep at a time. So, I would run a bunch of cuts, chip it out the best I could, and cut some more, until I was down a full 26 inches below grade. As soon as I got that path cleared to the pipe out the side of the building, more water started migrating out the side. At this point, I am not sure if this is going to keep me young, or make an old man out of me.

My back is sore just looking at the pics! Well done!
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  #73  
Old 01-14-2020, 01:22 AM
Lynn Lynn is offline
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Finally dried out enough by late June that I could trench. Time to rent a trencher.

What a beast. Pull start motor that tended to kick back from time to time.

Because the ground was so soggy, I had to lay boards on top for the trencher to ride on. We saved the worst section for last; right by the well. I was about 1/3 of the way through, when one of the boards slipped out. The trencher immediately sunk into the wet clay about a foot on that side. It was hopelessly stuck…. Well almost. It was 9 p.m. on Sat. nite. I had been trenching since 8 a.m. Well, to be fair, I picked the trencher up at 8. Probably didn’t start using that “spawn of satan” machine for another hour or so. The trencher was tilted about 30 degrees in the mud. Trying to get it out under its own power was futile. I dug down under the sunken track, and was able to insert a 2x8 under it; Still would not pull out on its own. So, I tied several ratchet straps to it, hooked it up to the tractor that was over on concrete flooring, and gave Sherri some quick tractor driving lessons. With Sherri pulling, and me giving it all the gas and pulling for all I am worth, after three attempts, we got it moving. It took me nearly an hour at the car wash and about 25 quarters to get all the mud off of it. I finished up about midnight; had to have the trencher back to the rental place at 8 a.m. Sunday morning. How bad to I want this shop?

Sorry, but no pics of this disaster. We were both too engaged in surviving the day to stop and take pics.

All the trenches had standing water. But, they were all draining into the pipe I had laid next to the building, so we were on the right track. The next two weekends were all about lining the trenches with landscape fabric, putting in a base of 1.5 inch gravel, laying the perforated pipe, connecting all the pipes, covering with gravel, then closing in the fabric, filling with dirt, then hand tamping it all down. I also installed a permanent automatic sump pump in the well, and plumbed two inch PVC into the drainage pipes. The pump comes on about once every 15 minutes for maybe 6 seconds at a time. The drain pipe going down the South side of the building to the West of the building drained constantly (not a drip mind you, a slow continuous pouring of water 24 – 7) and the place started drying out. We got a couple more heavy rains. Sadly, there was one area that would still collect water. So, I hand dug one more trench in that area, dug up some of the previously installed pipes, and connected it all together. We had in excess of 380 foot of perforated drain pipe in all. After the next heavy rain, I was really anxious when I went down to check on things. Finally, the entire dirt floor area was dry, even after a heavy rain. There was hope.
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  #74  
Old 01-17-2020, 02:25 PM
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You can see from this shot that when the PO had the upper floor poured, they trucked in loads of sand for a base. The “solution” to keeping the sand in place was to place a lot of boards between the upper floor and the old wooden floor. MUCH of the sand had migrated out, going down under the wood floor.
We needed a retaining wall if I wanted a concrete floor on that lower level. Also, those two brick supports under the two wooden support posts were crumbling. If you look closely, you can see that we used some of the old floor joists to shore up the tilted wooden posts. The floor joists were probably overkill for this, but they were free. They are about 2 to 2.5 times as dense and heavy as modern wood, and there are no knots.
Look at the pic below. The floor joists are the darker wood. They are dead plumb. You can see how tilted the old posts are. Fortunately, the concrete pilasters at the base of each pillar (original to the building) are large enough to accommodate the extra wood.
In the second pic, I have removed the crumbling brick bases that went between the pillar and the wooden posts. I built temporary supports for that part of the building during the process. I sawed off the bottom of each post. I did not take pics, but I build new supports out of 4 inch steel posts (1/4 inch thick walls) welded to steel plates on each end. When we poured the retaining wall, we encased all the steel in concrete.
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  #75  
Old 01-17-2020, 03:25 PM
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Wow quite the project. Have enjoyed following along.
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  #76  
Old 01-17-2020, 03:33 PM
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Don't get discouraged! While my recent project is not near the same magnitude as yours, the fight between weather and contractors had me wondering WTF am I doing? It seems as it is a real struggle to spend real money sometimes.

Looks like the building will have some real character when it's done. That's something you will never get from a pole shed!

Tim
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Old 01-18-2020, 12:31 AM
Lynn Lynn is offline
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We built a frame to hold a concrete retaining wall using ¾ inch plywood and a bunch of 2x4 stiff backs. After hand tamping a ton of 1 inch gravel in the bottom, I lined it with a boat load of 5/8 rebar. You can see some of the framework below, but I did not get a pic of the completed form. I ran a string line across and made certain it was dead level before forming. I had 2 x 4 and 2 x 6 struts running to 2 x 4 stakes. There was a strut every 16 inches.
We rented a pumper and pumped in 9.5 yards of concrete. The wall is 45 feet long, 18 inches thick, and about 24 inches high. If you do the math, you will see that doesn’t even come close to requiring 9.5 yards. Where did all the extra concrete go? We pumped it under the existing upper slab.
This job went really fast. Gotta love the pumper. Beat the hell out of wheeling it in.
That wall will be the base for a non load bearing wall between the upper and lower levels. Even though “J” bolts were not required for an interior non load bearing wall, I put a bunch in there. Upper level is just for storage. That way, I only need to heat the lower level. Getting that wall in was a real turning point for me. I was finally believing we could get this done.
I had one small area that bowed out maybe a half inch. No one notices but me.
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Old 01-18-2020, 12:56 AM
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Nice job. I certainly think that under-pinned section (depending on the re-bar pattern used) would be able to support a heavy load. While you're at it put in a concrete underground tornado shelter in time for spring twisters!
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Old 01-18-2020, 01:16 AM
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Looks great Lynn
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Old 01-18-2020, 02:16 PM
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By September, things were looking pretty good. I used a 50+ pound tamper to pound in the ground over all of the trenches. I ran some conduit into the well so I could run an extension cord in there for the sump pump. As stated earlier, the sump pump is plumbed into the drainage system, so I wouldn’t need an external hose running across the floor. There is ALWAYS water coming out of the drain to the West of the building.

When I dug the last trench, and plumbed it into the other drainage pipe, I put a little floor drain in right where it all comes together. I went ahead and concreted around that floor drain. I am putting up a sign over it to indicate “no waste” as it drains to a waterway. You can see that 2x2 pad with the drain in one of the pictures below.

Sherri and I built a 6 foot by 6 foot frame around the well. The top of that frame is perfectly level, and the plan was to pour concrete right up to it. After the slab was poured, then I would take care of concreting around the well. I normally do my own concrete work, but a 45 x 25 slab was more than I am equipped to do. Sherri pleaded with me to hire it out, and I have to tell you, it didn’t take much convincing. Both of my shoulders are worn out. I have no cartilage in either one. Doing all this work with shoulder joints that are bone on bone is taking a toll. I still wasn’t willing to give up control of the work around the well. I did some research on man hole covers, and decided to treat it the same as if it were a giant man hole.

I contracted with a local firm. I talked to an acquaintance that owns the largest independent auto repair shop in the area. He had to relocate a few years ago because of new road construction. They took his old building by Eminent Domain. I looked at the floor in his new shop, and was impressed with the quality. So I hired the same guys he used.

I bought a roll of fabric underlay. This is the thick woven geotextile you see them placing under the gravel base on new interstate highways. I also bought a roll of 15 mil vapor barrier, along with the necessary tape to seal the joints in the vapor barrier. If we ever get 10 inches of rain again, I wanted the vapor barrier to force the water down into my drainage system, rather than have it wick up through the concrete .

I had them excavate (there wasn’t a LOT of dirt left to come out) to a uniform depth of 8 inches. Then they laid down the woven geo textile; then 3 inches of gravel. Compact the gravel. Then lay on the vapor barrier and seal every joint with tape. Finally, re-mesh, and pour concrete 5 inches thick. It was kind of a pain, but they did a good job. You can see a flap of the green vapor barrier sticking out from under that little 2 x 2 pad I poured around the drain. They had to join that part to the main part. They also had to extend the vapor barrier under my 6 x 6 frame. If you look closely, there are no external stakes on that frame. The closest stake is at least 4 inches inboard. I suspended the whole thing from the inside, so they could tuck enough of the vapor barrier underneath, and I could tape to it when I did the concrete inside. I did not want this system to fail. Even if the sump pump were to fail, there is a safety outlet for water to get into the drainage system before it gets to the top of the well.
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