My timber frame build

[Ljohnsaw]

Well, today was sort of a bust.  I picked some smaller rocks (150-300 pounders) and placed them up on the dirt around the walls.  Looking good.  I scooped a lot of gravel with small bits of broken concrete and dumped that inside the foundation.  Maybe dumped about a dozen scoops (1/4 - 1/3 yard?).  Worked for a total of 4 hours.

Then my fork tilt ram blew a seal :-[  It started to rain hydraulic fluid.  After looking at it (6" with 2.5" rod, 24" long), I decided I need to pull it apart as it would be too heavy to take the whole thing in for repair.  The hydraulic shop rented me a big spanner-type wrench to get the end off along with a 4' long ¾" breaker bar!  Won't need a cheater bar with this thing.  I'll head up tomorrow (1 hr drive) at sun up to get it apart, come back down (1 hr) for the parts, go back up (1 hr) and install and probably return the tool the next day so I can get some work done!

[Czech_Made]

That sucks, John!  I always get disturbed when tools brake.

[Ljohnsaw]

Well, the seals had to be ordered.  They came in this morning so I headed back up at noon with the piston.  Took a good while to get it back in with the help of some big ratchet straps.  The new piston rings/seals were really snug.  Nice and dry now!

I was up and running by about 2:30 and continued to move rocks around the outside, gravel on the inside along with slab pieces.  Finished up just before 8pm tonight.

I will be moving the slabs so they are flat ready for gravel to fill the voids.

 

Every once in a while I would come across a real rock and put it up on the "retaining wall"

 

There was a rock in my driving path with the Skytrac that was annoying me.  It was up against a big pine and had fractured into nice rectangular blocks.  The bigger of these blocks is probably 250 pounds.

 

 

The light gray is the Thoroseal waterproofing.  It marks the 3' from the bottom of the footings level at the south end.  Code only requires 2' for frost.  Three feet up is the height of the interior slab so I am back filling the outside to match the inside.  The very top will be rock so the rain won't be splashing dirt up on the walls.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 7-26-2016:

In the last two weeks got up to work a little more on the foundation.  Spent 12 hours today and I think another 12 I will have the area filled in, if I don't run out of supplies.  The gravel pit:

 

The cement block wall just right of center was under about a foot of gravel that was level to the front and back.

Where my backhoe was sitting:

 

Now this area is at the finish gravel level:

 

The post supports are starting to disappear:

 

 

Another shot of where the backhoe was:

  

[fishfighter]

That is a lot of back fill.

[Ljohnsaw]

That is a lot of back fill.

Yep...  There are a couple places that need a little less than 2 feet and, on average, I'd say 1 foot all around - about 20 more yards.  I had calculated 100 yards to get the job done.  I "found" a number of large slab chunks hiding in the gravel yesterday that were a real challenge to pick up and place.  Whatever, its all fill.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 7/28/2016:

Well, a lot of wheelbarrow loads later and I called it about right - 12 more hours and here is where I'm at:

 

 

Ok, not a wheelbarrow.  But my homemade bucket on the Skytrac is taking a beating:

 

The nice thing about the Skytrac is I can reach just about anywhere inside the foundation to dump from that area where it is parked.  There are two low spots that need about a scoop each.  Then I need to add another 4" almost all around to leave room for a 4" slab.  Then I'll rent a wacker/tamper, get some vapor barrier and install the remesh.  My daughter works at ReStore/Habitat for Humanity and she let me know they have 20 sheet in (I need 40) at less than half price of Blue or Orange.  Have to pick it up tomorrow.

There is a chance of some thunder showers in the next day or two - I sure hope I get some rain, the dust is horrible.

[Jim_Rogers]

Rain will help it settle a lot.

Jim Rogers

[Ljohnsaw]

Never got any rain :(

I was up last Friday but didn't take any pictures.  No real noticeable change for a day's work.  I put a couple of feet of fill behind the retaining wall where the water tanks will be.  I'll still have about a 30" drop below the slab so the tanks are more in the ground than above.  I will put a false ceiling above them so I can insulate with some rigid foam to keep them from freezing in the winter.  I also put a little fill along the west wall (outside) and need to do a bit more.  I made a tamper pad for my buddy's jack hammer.  It actually was working quite well packing the gravel that will be under the slab.  I did 1/6 of it in about 30 minutes.  It was packing down between 1 and 2 inches.  It was getting late so I was packing up, but couldn't get the tool out of the jack hammer.

I brought it home and disassembled it.  I figured it would mushroom the tool rod a bit (I didn't have hardened rod and I didn't harden it).  It mushroomed it A LOT!  Oh, well.  I ground off the mushroom and put the jack hammer back together.  Time for Plan B.

I called around to see about renting a vibra-plate or jumping jack.  I could buy a used one for what it would cost to rent for 2 days.  Only no one was calling me back.  Time for Plan C.

I had an old 2hp lawn edger, a front spindle from a car, a brake rotor, some 6x6x¼ angle iron and a welder.  So I made this:

 

I had already used the top part of the handle and throttle cable on another project so I need to pick up a throttle cable.  I drilled out some ½" holes to make it unbalanced.

 

The angle iron was cut into 16" lengths.  I welded up a 12" wide "U" for the bottom from 2 lengths and stuck the remaining length inside to make the motor mount.

 

Once I put the throttle cable on tomorrow, I will take it up for work on Tuesday.  It vibrates pretty good - I had only drilled 5 holes but 10 works a lot better.  I might put some foam on the handle so I don't get too shook up.  Probably should put a cover/guard over the flywheel.  I figure the car spindle can take the beating.

[thecfarm]

I can help out with the rock supply. I have many that I can donate. Any size available,you pay shipping and handling fees.  :D
Looking good.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 8/9/2016:

When I got up to my property this morning at 7, there were a LOT of these tracks.  Any guesses? (I know, I saw them)

 
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My jitterbug tamper worked pretty well.  One weld gave out (not one of mine!) so a little repair is needed but I got the job done.

 

 

I also finished filling in where the water tanks will be in the basement.  The one there now is 330 gallons and will be used for my fire suppression system.  About 2 feet of fill on this side:

 

And about 3 feet of fill on this side:

 

Next up is to put down the vapor barrier, another 4" of clean gravel, remesh and then 4" of concrete.

[Raider Bill]

1 thing I did was after tamping everything down I ran a lawn sprinkler for several hours over everything which got the fines settled quite a bit more. I then re-tamped. I could feel the difference.

[Dave Shepard]

You can also flood an area if you can contain it. Water will do way more than a compactor will, as long as you have fines. Doesn't do anything for crushed stone.

[Ljohnsaw]

1 thing I did was after tamping everything down I ran a lawn sprinkler for several hours over everything which got the fines settled quite a bit more. I then re-tamped. I could feel the difference.

No real fines - this is ¼" up to 1½" round (pea) gravel that is supposed to self-compact but the inspector wanted me to run a tamper over it.  I would see the gravel settle about ½-¾" and then it would start to "bubble up" next to the tamper.  I took that as it was packed as much as it was gonna pack.  The gravel went down in 4-6" layers around chunks of concrete slabs.  Almost a 50-50 mix of slabs and gravel.

You can also flood an area if you can contain it. Water will do way more than a compactor will, as long as you have fines. Doesn't do anything for crushed stone.

No real fines - a small amount of dirt, though.  It would take a swimming pool to flood this area.  Plus, I do have a drain in my lower corner (I suppose I could plug it).  I would worry about blowing out my footings!

[Ljohnsaw]

Update: 8/17/2016

Spent the morning finishing up the cleanup.  I consolidated the scattered burn pile back down on the dirt exposed where I removed all the gravel (did most of it on Sunday) and then dumped the bark that was accumulated around my sawmill.

 

 

Then I laid out the 6 mil vapor barrier.

 

 

And covered it with another 4" of gravel.

 

 

I need to make a water level (long hose with the ends on stands that can be moved around) to check the gravel for level.  That will be much faster than trying to use the transit.  When I finished today, I could see a low spot that will need another bucket or two of gravel.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 8/19/2016:

Spent about 90 minutes leveling the gravel with my water level:

 

 

Level to within ¼-½" all the way around.  The staff next to the wall stayed there the whole time.  The water is low on this staff which means the base is high - hence the writing on the stick.  When you are low, the water is high, when you are high, the water is low.  When the water is off from the reference line by an inch, that means ½" of gravel needs to move so this is not super accurate, but plenty close enough to pour concrete.  It didn't show up well in the picture but I was working from the right to the left.  There is a low bank of gravel that I was scraping off to the left.

 

 
There will be an 8" form board across this opening that will form up the slab.  The slab tappers back to only 4" thick as the gravel rises up.

Spent the rest of the day placing gravel on the outside of the west wall that has very limited access at the moment.  Once I use up my blocks (adding another 6' of height to the walls) and remove a couple of trees, I can go back and finish it up.

[Magicman]

John, I stay about ¾ lost all of the time with your build, but it is interesting to follow.  :P  I know that later on I will do the forehead smack thing and say, "that is what he was doing".   :D

Keep on doing what you are doing and I will keep on watching,   

[Ljohnsaw]

It will clear up soon!

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 8/23/2016:

Spent a little time up on the property today.  I tried to be careful when we were filling the cores with concrete but there was a bit of slop that had to be cleaned off the tops so the remaining block will sit properly.  We had filled to half way up the last block (per installation instructions) and I managed to spill dirt and/or gravel in quite a few when I was moving the gravel for the slab.  Spent a couple hours cleaning that up.  I moved a little more to the burn pile and off loaded my last rebar find.  A family business had a lot of drops from orders.  I needed a variety of shorter lengths and he was able to fill my order.  I needed stuff from 3½' up to 6'.  He gathered up 144 pieces with a total of 685' for $75. 8)  I set up some scaffolding in "the pit" and put up the rebar for the final height on the east (long) wall (except for the deck buttress wall in the foreground).  Ready for the rest of the scaffolding tomorrow.

 

[thecfarm]

What made the tracks?

[Ljohnsaw]

What made the tracks?

Blue belly lizards!  There are tons of them up there from little tiny 1" long all the way up to 4 or 5".  Since it is a short summer and fairly cool, they look different then the ones down in the valley.  They are wide, heavier and almost black on top - probably to gather and retain the sun's heat.  Even in the morning, they are really fast.  The biggest ones drag their tails and the tracks show it, but the rest keep their tails in the air.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 8/24/2016:

Finished cleaning off the block for the porch support section, set up the scaffolding for the basement walls and finished up the rebar extensions to the final height.  Note that the porch walls will be two blocks lower than the basement to have the porch finished floor match the cabin floor level.

 

Start stacking block tomorrow.

[thecfarm]

Thanks for the track report and am looking forward,as you are,to see some wood on those blocks. 

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 8/25/2016:

Thanks for the track report and I'm looking forward,as you are,to see some wood on those blocks. 

Yes, but first, more blocks...

A total of 9 courses (6') of block to stack.  I moved 5 pallets of blocks (with my Skytrac) up on to the scaffolding by 11:30:

 

 

And by 4 pm placed most of them.  Three courses on the west and north walls, one full course on the east wall and started courses 2 and 3.  When the first course was set, I had to place and tie the horizontal rebar.  Every other course has rebar and that slows things down a little.

 

 

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 8/30/2016:

Spent a little time up there today.  Added 4 course of blocks on the east wall.

 
 

Where the main wall meets the porch buttress, one block before the corner in each course is trimmed to fit.  That goes pretty fast now that I've had a lot of practice...  Still have two courses for the porch and four for the cabin wall to go.  I will get most of the east wall done tomorrow but will have to frame out the front doors and the two back windows so I can run the block across the front and back.

 

I finished extending the rebar on the west wall.  There is a chance I will work on the west wall tomorrow as well.