From Mailbox to Pompeii in Colorado

[CanuckJim]

Drake,

You'll be drilling sono holes anyway, so why not put one or two in the centre as well as the four corners?

Jim

[DrakeRemoray]

Jim, I am not pouring a bottom slab at all, so a sonotube in the center would not support anything, right? What would be the point? to support the pavestones? I am less worried about these since I have excavated a foot down and will fill with rubble...


Comments?

[DrakeRemoray]

Hi All,

Here are some photos of the stand creation. I rented forms ($35) and put down the sonotubes as described above. I got my crew together and had a "mix on site" concrete truck deliver the concrete to my house. We then basically filled up wheelbarrows and lifted each load into the form. I will remove the forms today sometime (24 hours after the pour). I mostly opted to go with this method because of the expansive soils and the freeze thaw cycle here in Colorado. Slabs crack very easily and this was actually faster and cheaper than the slab and concrete walls. I excavated last weekend (and a few nights this week on the sonotube holes), then formed and poured this weekend.

Comments welcome!

[DrakeRemoray]

Here are a few more photos of the pour, I will post some more when I remove the forms.

[DrakeRemoray]

Hi All,

Here are some pictures of the stand and insulating and structural slabs. The insulating slab (6:1 perlite to portland cement) is on top. I added a close up as well so you can see the texture.

The stand looks very much like a bunker at this point and the mess is a little distracting. Eyes on the prize!

Drake

[james]

Looks perfect to me.

Looking back, would you still form and pour the stand, vs. a block stand? What are the cost and effort trade-offs?

James

[DrakeRemoray]

Originally Posted by james

Looks perfect to me.

Looking back, would you still form and pour the stand, vs. a block stand? What are the cost and effort trade-offs?

James

Good question James,

I would still have formed and poured the walls for several reasons.

1) In Colorado, we have expansive clay soils and severe freeze thaw cycles, that make slabs very prone to cracking. The deep foundation and walls was a better choice for Colorado.

2) I was able to get the stand up 1 weekend sooner (Dig week 1, form and pour week 2) as opposed to a slab and cinderblock (dig week1, form and pour slab week2, build block walls week3)

3) I was able to rent forms for about $35 bucks. If I had to build the forms out of plywood this would have added greatly to the expense and effort.

Overall, I think it probably cost me around $50 more to do it this way, but saved me time, so I was happy.

Questions welcome.

Drake



Drake

[DrakeRemoray]

I have been working on the pavestone patio in front of the oven. Hopefully I will finish the patio this weekend and get to start on the oven proper.

Hopefully all of the pavestone cutting is good training for the oven brick work.

Here is a picture of the latest.

[redbricknick]

First question. Who owns the rights to the name "Drake Remoray"... Second question.. Has any one used a hair dryer to refire thier oven?

[jengineer]

Days of Our Lives or the follow on spinoff Friends