jafo

I would go 6" minimum. Both of my Miracle buildings are 8" heated and insulated slabs- 5/8" rebar on 12" centers (no mesh). The one here at home is now 15 years old without a single hairline crack anywhere. The same guy (45 years in the concrete biz) did our pool deck with rebar 21 years ago, right after we bought the house- not a single crack anywhere. That's pretty damnn good for our climate.

Only bad thing of doing it this method would be for the poor baastard that has to take those slabs out- he'd better bring a lot of acetylene.....

skaterdave

you guys are confusing yourselves. the rebar is the main factor for the guy above plus he's 8" thick. 5/8" bar would be close to what most contractors use for a concrete footer for a house. something like 3-5 pices of 5/8" bar running lenght wise in a 2' wide by 1' deep footer. 5/8" rebar (#10) is way over kill for a garage slab. don't get me wrong, i think its the way to go for strenght and if you have the extra $$$$ but you still might get cracks. cracks happen in most cases either with or with out rebar or some kind of reinforcement. what ever you use for reinforcement just helps hold the slab together. I've seen hairline cracks in post tension slab and deck which were merely cosmetic. sometimes the cracking is due to cure time, mix, temperture and the finisher. plus prices for steel (rebar) and concrete have gone way up from 20 yrs ago.

plus it depends on how you prepped the soil (base). when you doug footer and back filled was it compacted? or did you just rent a bobcat and grade things level? Is there base rock or stone over the dirt? theres alot more to it than just making the slab thicker and throwing rebar at it.

Wobble

I built and compacted the pad over a year before I was ready to start my shop as I had access to a 330 trackhoe, a dump truck and a D5H at the time which we used for Hurricane IKE cleanup in the neighbourhood.

My concrete was designed to support a 48,000 lb bus, 5.5 to 6" with beams around the perimeter and across the middle with a lot of engineered rebar sections.

I have no doubt that it will be there long after I'm gone.

skaterdave

as with every other thread on here, this has turned into a "look at me" stroke fest. with little info as to the orginal questions.

Robertjr

What are those colors on the sides, trim? They are nice neutral and blend in to the surrondings well. ..........................................Rjr..... ......................

Sydwayz

iTrader: (1)

OK, just to entertain this post, briefly; although I don't agree:

Looking at the OP's location, and knowing he won't have to stop in the driveway to wash salt off the boat and/or flush the engines too often...

I recommend roll up or conventional overhead doors vs, overhead airplane hanger doors or sliding barn style doors. Reason: It's really nice to back up to the building hit the button, and back the boat right inside; especially if it's raining.

As for backing up in the dark or shadow of the building...

I put back up lights on my trailer; and also have two pieces of 4"x4" about 12" long as my 'stops' in the barn. They blocks are painted with reflective florescent yellow paint. As long as they start to disappear when I am backing in (by being covered up by the tires) I know I am on my mark. Also make note of the truck's position when backing in. Put a mark on the ground or wall or tree to know that when your driver's door handle or steering wheel reaches X spot, you're in. Another member here put a long stripe down his floor and apron that he backs his driver side tires down directly beside so he does not have to watch both sides of the boat when backing his big cat in his tight barn.

You could also go real fancy and wire your lights to come on with the garage door opener, and/or with a separate remote.

I really do like the idea of a door opposite the same door you back into for flushing the boat and even adding light to the transom area when you want to work back there. Very smart. You could get trick and put a slope/pan in the concrete floor and never even have to move to the boat to do this, as the water would just drain out.

My one biggest bit of advice that I was given and I didn't take, regretfully...

Make the building long enough to back the boat AND truck in together; hitched up.

WHY:

1) It's much easier and cheaper to go with length vs. width. Look at the prices on the Pioneer web site and see how much cheaper a 30' wide building is vs. a 40' wide building. (30' wide is plenty for a standard 8'6" V-bottom and a second 'bay'. Cat/Tunnel/Wider boat; I can't speak for that, but might want to go 35' or 40'.)

2) It would be really nice when I get home late and don't want to do anything with the boat to just back it in and close the door, however, I have to unhitch, pull the truck out, and stick it in the other bay. The next day when I want to wash or whatever with the boat, I have to re-hitch, pull the boat out, etc. It's a time waster. (Eventually I will pick up a tractor with a three-point-hitch, but that's down the road.)

3) It really frees up a lot of space just keeping the truck in front of the boat. In my case, my truck takes up about 2/5s of the other bay in my building. If I had gone just 10' longer, I could keep the boat/truck together on one bay, and had a LOT more room to play with on the other side. If your truck is just used for hauling like I do with mine most of the time, the less you have to start it and move it, the longer it will last.

Sydwayz

iTrader: (1)

Wainscoting is the term when you have two colors on the side of the building, often darker on the bottom. It really can help to blend into the rest of the buildings on a property and make the building less industrial looking.

Wobble

I suppose it is, but then that's what much of this site is about. If you dont care for the content you know what you can do.


Back to the original subject.

I was encouraged to post some pics by a friend and rather than start my own thread I thought this would be a good place to contribute some of my thoughts, I have been planning my shop for 5 years and would have had it done long ago if it had not been for the losses I incurred during the Katrina and Rita hurricanes.

There are a lot of things that should be considered before the slab is poured.

Plumbing, electrical, alarm wiring and even Internet can all be routed through conduit in the slab leaving the sides of the building clean.

I also added a 1" cvpc line so that I could move my air compressor outside but forgot the conduit to supply power for same. DOH!

I am moving the tank for my water well inside and put cvpc pipe in the slab for in and out.

I also went and got the correct pipe to run propane through the slab for a future heater.

I did remember to put basic plumbing in for a bathroom should I decide to build one, but totally forgot to allow for power or venting a sewar lift station to transfer to the main septic system for the house.

skaterdave

actually wobble thats about 90% of this site. and yes i know waht i can do. I can call BS lame azz posts the offer no constructive points.

now look at at your last post. there's good informative info there that actually would help make decisions for putting up a building.

Wobble

You are going to have to learn to sift through the posts here, after all it is an open forum and everyone is equally entitled to offer their input.

I have studied every thread regarding buildings since I was unable to go forward. Regardless the source there are always things worth noting.

Some examples:

It's better to add some extra cement to the mix and pay for extra polishing time than to try and paint the floor after the fact.

In my case there were twelve guys on the finishing crew. An extra $300 + a fried chicken dinner and plenty of cold beer got me a finish that looks polished when its clean.

Dont let them form a small step behind the doors as many will, it's just as easy to form a slight ramp which is much easier to deal with when you are rolling an engine stand with motor in or out.

Planning is everything when concrete is involved.