new shop in the works

Rob Keeble said:

Lol thats what i was thinking Peter. I thought mmmmm imagine Rob what your old NN would have done with body bags on the kerb..lol

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Thinking of it now, that could have been just the ticket for that guy. Seeing a display like that, he might have given you a wide berth thereafter !

I use my Asbestos removal gear and training for the removal of all the infested insulation ( full face mask with wrists and ankles taped to gloves and boots) . I wouldn't go under the house without it. I removed the remaining insulation out today and beefed up the floor joists at the same time. The building was built as a summer cottage so it was bare minimum to code. 2 x 8 on 2 ft centers butt jointed over a main beam. Now 1 ft centers with a 2 ft over lap. Still found more petrified rat carcasses to add to the load I already have. As for the garbage pick up. Household refuse yes this stuff means a trailer trip to the dump. I had some passer buy asking about the bags and didn't believe me they were body bags as they are not big enough for a large man. I told him I had a band saw so no problems and winked. One day my humor will get me into trouble. After the insulation nightmare I finished off the framing I was doing and sealed up the access hole to under the new addition. Some time this week I will be able to get the deep freeze out of the shop and into its new home freeing up even more space. it is nice having the shop so close as I just ran the air hose out to the nail gun. Shop is on hold for a few days till this is all done. I'm still working on getting the dust collection system installed. I know its not the shop but here are a few pictures of this little interlude from the shop. No under the house ones yet as it seems the insulation dust fibers create too much reflection of the flash on my cell phone camera.

I don't envy you having to deal with any of that, but at least the job is done. Looking good!

Hey Drew, so is that going to be the mechanical room? Did you do that foundation yourself?
That gap to the crawlspace does not look large, How cramped was it working under the house? I'm really impressed that you fit in more 2x8s. Was there no plumbing/wiring/etc in the joist bays that you had to work around?

I saw one article once where the guy fed in new joists from the outside by opening up the rim joist for access to the outside. Are you going to be adding back insulation later, or spraying?

Yes it is what we are calling the mechanical room. I do all the work myself. Years of experience in all aspects of construction. Will be plumbing and wiring it too. The crawlspasecond is just that a crawlspace under the mechanical room. Just enough to get in and turn around. The house slopes from about 16 inches to 3 ft in spots but all dirt floor under two layers of ground seal poly. Not an easy place to work but I have done similar things in tighter spots. You have to get creative and remember to keep your patience. I lost mine a few times trying to get one joist in after that it went pretty easy. I swear I am double jointed at times in tight spots but my body is not thanking me the next day.no plumbing but a few wires that had enough slack to work around them.

Yup it's really a lot of fun to work in crawl space. Don't envy you in the least. My body doesn't twist like it used to. Good job.
David

I was collecting up all the insulation that I had stacked outside the other day and stuck my head in to get some pictures. All the dust has settled now so the flash worked. One picture is of the hot water tank under the kitchen floor and about 2ish ft into the ground in a dug out dirt hole. the other is of one the post and pad that support the house. You can also see the joists that I added the other day. Just glad that mess is over now.

Is that a dedicated HW Heater for the kitchen? Very interesting. What do you use for the rest of the household hot water?

Looks about like my crawlspace. Just enough room to make you think you can get up on all fours, but really it's more of a belly crawl.

No Brent that is a hot water tank for the entire house. It is the deepest spot under the house where they could ( i am guessing) fit it in. There use to be a smaller tank in the spot ( guessing a 20 gallon) but when it died it was replaced with this 30 or 40 gallon tank. They really had to manhandled it to get it in the spot as you can see from how dented it is. I have seen tanks installed on dirt floors before but never seen one dug into the ground before. One of the reasons I am installing a new 50 gallon plastic Rheem Marathon tank in the mechanical room. These tanks come with a lifetime warranty on the tank. 6 on the rods. It looks like they ran all 3/4 inch copper line under the house as the main feeds as in the winter they will not freeze as fast ( at least that is the thinking) Code now is 3/4 line to the tank I am told.

Yea that crawl space is tight on the other side but once the tank is out I will be dragging soil in to fill it up from the areas around the crawlspace.

Wow...I dont envy you doing that work Drew. Lots there to amaze me.
I now better understand why we have basements today.
Can one still build this way today or does the general code not allow for it.
Back where came from our Geyser ( our term for hot water tank) was put in the roof. All were electric. Often there would be old geysers spring a leak and do serious damage. Once i had to change an element , what a job. Not fun for sure.

Ol Man Ol Man Ol Man, no way no how. I apprenticed as a pipe fitter , 1st job out of the army in 75. That didn't last long, 6 months. Crawl spaces and me don't get along. I have this thing about being in tight spaces. Drew You know what they say. One -n- done , get in an get out. Nice job on the build.

Rob Keeble said:

Wow...I dont envy you doing that work Drew. Lots there to amaze me.
I now better understand why we have basements today.
Can one still build this way today or does the general code not allow for it.
Back where came from our Geyser ( our term for hot water tank) was put in the roof. All were electric. Often there would be old geysers spring a leak and do serious damage. Once i had to change an element , what a job. Not fun for sure.

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Rob it can still be done and I am sure it is, but as we live in an earthquake zone and are long over due for " the big one" most all construction has to meet and exceed seismic specifications. Most of what i did in wood framed condos was the seismic tie downs and the upgrading of old buildings to current standards. By no means does this make me an expert as they ( structural engineers ) continually change and modify how things are built. No one honestly knows how we will fair when it hits. Post and pads like this Might have re-bar in them but they might not. I am going with the not and building with that assumption. Kind of hard to make a silk purse out of a sows ear but I have to work with what i have. Sometimes that means pulling bunnies out of the butt.

My late aunts house in England had the gravity feed Hot water tank in the attic. Never made any sense to me as if it leaked it would create a huge problem. With my wife in insurance water issues sometimes are not covered depending on the situation. So I am building everything ( shop included ) above code.

Funny I was saying about the wood stove if its in a shop it has to be elevated. Guess they think garage and cement floor. Call it a Studio and it doesn't have to be. All how you present things.

Sorry to keep going on with this but I have opened a can of worms. Just today I had to extend the roof over the mechanical room to give an adequate over hang of the door way. The main roof is 2 ft longer than the addition roof with no small gutter so water just runs off right into the new doorway. So it had to be extended. What I am finding out is that in the original build they used 1 x 8 cedar fascia boards with a small decorative 1 x 2 added just under the roof. On the gable ends this is somewhat attractive but where gutters go its problematic as they hung the gutters off them so there was a gutter that looked like it was falling off the building ( I found they did the same all around the building and I have already removed it from the present gutters). Anyways they put it there and then when they built the addition they didn't remove it and just framed in under it. Once the roof was built on went the metal siding and to transition from one roof to the other they just removed the bottom screws on the upper roof and slid in what I can best describe as a chunk of step flashing that steps down 3/4 of an inch with 4 inches above and below. They changed the roof slope from a 4/12 to a 3/12 ish so they don't match. Now you might ask what happens with driving rain? it leaks. where they put a sky light too close to the step it leaks. I am just finding this out as I was up pressure washing the roof as the maple trees around and north facing make quite the mess. and as skylights go they get a build up above them. came in and found water everywhere on the computer desk ( under the sky light). Oh it just keeps getting better as the addition was built in sections so the rough fascia is in chunks and I had to remove and re frame lots of that, re shim the rafters to level off the fascia line so the part I am doing is done right. Posts supporting the other end is not even under a support just between two rafters. ( my head just shakes continually on this " quick fill in job"). On the positive side it is using up lots of the scrap materials that are taking up room in the shop and getting the deep freeze that much closer to getting out of the shop. Of course on the down side as I have been looking for my torch head for the plumbing I have found lots of other things that I need and the shop floor now needs one big clean up before i can get back into working in there. Also realizing ( cant beleive I am actually saying this ) I have way too many tools.

No no no Drew, you can never have too many tools. Just keep at it will end at some point and you will sleep easy when done.

Opening a can of worms happens on just about all my house projects. I feel your pain on this one. The rationale for hanging gutters from the gutter molding/rake molding/drip edge/shadow board is that it helps reduce rotting of the fascia by holding the gutters proud. I don't have them on my house, but was thinking of adding them if I have to replace my gutters.

Poorly done additions are indeed a giant pain. I helped a friend reroof some years back and it turned out that part of the house was a framed in breezeway. The walls weren't supported at the bottom at all just hung from the roof, about 15' worth.

At least you have the knowledge to fix it up!

Well things are coming along. The door I ordered last week finally arrived. needed a left hand swing and they delivered a right. Cant you just make it work they ask? yea no. Anyways it arrived today and I was able to install it . Ordered the last of the roofing I need for the Dc room on the shop as well as the last chunk on the house. Rained today so in the shop to finally clean and organize some of it. Cleaned up more of the mess I have created out side and ended sitting going through a tray of mixed nails screws and nuts. Lots of rust and bent nails and screws have been building from years of dumping out my tool belt so today was The day to start organizing and throwing out. Still lots to do to get the shop to the point i will be able to use it. But first the hot water tank to install. I was able to get the sound system up and running in the shop. It is great to not be walking over things now. still lots more to do.

Finally got around to moving the deep freeze out of the shop and into the new " mechanical room'. Moved the big tools around to their final resting places and wired them in. Wish that I had more time right now to be spending more time in the shop but have been racing against time getting the next project finished ( the wood shed) before the nasty weather sets in. Tore the old ant infested wood shed down, hand dug out a flat spot out of the bank and moved all the dirt behind the shop to fill in the excavation 2 ft deep along the entire 30 ft and then poured a 16x6 pad for the wood shed. then built a Retaining wall against the back to hold the bank back and framed in a shed roof building 8 ft back wall and 10 ft front. Got all the sheeting on before the rain started now just have to get the roof on and paper it before moving all the wood into the shed. The lower sheeting is pressure treated just an added protection against insects that eat wood.

Sorry been awhile since posting. I got the roof on the shed and have spent a good part of a week getting two trees I fell down the hill, split and I to the wood shed. Along with what I had already had from another tree. During that time digging out even more power tools for the shop. Cleaning and organizing things in the shop and hooked up tbe power to the jointer. I have been able to get some use of the new table saw and I must saw it is a huge improvement to my old saw. Motors through everything I have put at it. I really need to get on building an outfeed table for it soon. I also need to build a miter saw bench. Lots still to do.

Good to hear things are moving along.

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