The NEW garage !
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Each footing/support is dug out to raw ground, decomposed granite applied and compacted and leveled. 18 bags used. Those damned 0.50 cubic foot bags of decomposed granite weigh about 60 pounds and cost about $4.50. Bulk granite is $44 per cubic yard. Nice profit, HD..................
In order to comply with Austin City Code, I must not have any one structure over 200 square feet, but multiple structures are ok. Is that stupid or what? I needed some room for a shop/storage, so there will be two structures, not touching each other to comply. Small board is temporary to hold the beam in place to secure the other end.
Thought up a way to fabricate the big beams by first assuring that the far left beam was good and straight, then screw some supports to it and some guide boards to the outside and inside, then measure and cut the "end" pieces, then "sister" the boards together laying upside down on the level surface, assuring that the top of the big beams are straight and level with each other. See pictures below.
Main beams in place but not "supported" in the middle like the one on the far right and the one on the far left. Will prepare each location for supports like the second from the right then measure the distance to the rock bed so I won't have to guess at which and how many cinder blocks of what size and thickness will be needed to finish up.
Supports are a bit unconventional, and what one may call "not pretty/symetrical" they are all significantly steady. If the entire garage section including the car amounts to 5,000 pounds, each support, theoretically will only have to support about 200 pounds per square foot, which ain't much.
Those cross members look a little crooked, and they are, since only the outside of each one is screwed to the outside member, and some of them or sagging a little on the left end. These will all be left loose until ALL the crossmembers are installed. The reason being that the long beams aren't exactly straight, so when all are in position, the big beams will be straight. So once everything is lined up and screwed together, the spacing on the shims under each support may change a little bit. Thinkin' it through.......
Beams and crossmembers done...(gotta put in sub-structure for screwing down floor- see next video) Next is to check spacers at each support point so that they all are touching.. next. I'll temporarily put on the 3/4" plywood on, and drive the 5400 pound SUV up and leave it a while , then back off, and reposition any shims to assure that the 3600 pound JUDGE won't cause any supports to settle.
VIDEO !... The garage foundation is finished... the odd spacing at some locations is so that the joints of the 4'x8' pieces and 2'x8' sections of plywood have a surface to screw down to.. Three rows of 2"x12" main beams correspond to the track width, plus a center one to accommodate centerline "jack" locations generally only at the front and rear of the car. I'm outsmarting the city code that limits a single structure to be 200 s.f., but I'm building a 300 s.f. (10'x10' shop) on the rear of the garage, but they will not be touching each other.
First roof joist... Made some cutting jigs and assembly jigs, screwed down to the temporary floor. Glued and stapled OSB supports. Decided after assembling the first two that all those angle cuts weren't worth the extra cutting, so all the rest of them will have a single piece center reinforcement piece on each side except for the ones on the ends of the building. 3/12 slope. The house is 2/12, just too flat for my liking, but will match the house pretty closely....Ends of the joists/trusses will be trimmed after being put in place for an 18" overhang.
Found 34 - 48×41 pieces of 7/16" OSB for roof decking - even a half size sheet is still about 30 lb. I would have had to cut them all in two anyway if I had gotten full sheets. That's about 600 lbs and the truck was riding on the stops all the way home. 60 bucks on Craigslist. Pretty cheap.
I bought 6 - 3/4" sheets of tongue and groove plywood off Craigslist for real cheap but they didn't want to slip together real easy, so I screwed a couple of scrap to each sheet and used my trusty ratchet straps to nestle them in place. Didn't realize that tongue and groove sheets are actually a half inch narrower then straight edge sheets which is causing a problem with lining up the two by fours with the joints.
