Hokey dokey sportsfans: after a few days hiatus, the boys are back working on the pole barn.
This morning, the excavation folks arrived with their machine and began digging out the sod and topsoil down to a depth of about a foot or so. They will then lay-in about 5-6" of fine gravel/sand which was delivered by a tandem-axle dump truck earlier today. That material will be carefully leveled and tamped after the topsoil is removed.
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I am pretty happy that they aren't chewing up the lawn too badly - even though they've put a tandem axle dump truck going back and forth across it a few times. I guess we'll see how a concrete mixer truck works out....
Tomorrow, the in-floor heating chap will come and lay down 2" of styrofoam insulation on the gravel/sand surface and he will install the network of heating pipes (in three circuits or "zones") and he will also bring the natural gas service out from the house to the barn. Then he will install the boiler (it is about the size of a small coffee maker) and the circulating pump - all on a board screwed to the inside of the barn structure.. The electrician will come at the same time and put the service in from the house and he will install one duplex 110v receptacle, so that I will have some power and lights out there. I will complete the wiring myself later.
The excavation guys will come back later this week and lay a steel mesh down overtop of the heating pipes prior to placing a 4" concrete cap on the floor and power-troweling it to ensure a slight down grade out the front door for drainage. They will also pour an 8' x 8' concrete pad in front of the overhead door (
so that when I pull up on my bike and had to get off to open the door, the sidstand doesn't sink into the ground) and they will make a 2' wide sidewalk along the front and down the side of the building toward the man-door and a 4' x 4' pad in front of the man-door.
After that - the construction guys will come back and put-in a steel ceiling and I'll have insulation blown-in up there to help with the heating bill in the winter. I will also insulate the walls (myself) with fibreglas bats and I will do the inside wall panelling (not quite sure what I will use for paneling in there but I don't do drywall and I want it to be easy to install at reasonable cost and it needs to be fairly robust.
...
suggestions anyone?
I'd like to have done more of this stuff myself, but I am starting a busy new job on Thursday this week and I know that I wouldn't get it done in any sort of reasonable time.
Pete