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joasis

My new superintendent: We went over this evening so my other half could take pics for the portfolio, and I thought I would share a few more. If all goes well, pouring will be Frday, now that the weather may give us a break. The last picture is a closeup of the window bucks...I used two 2X4 instead of a 2X12 solid with holes.....I saw another guy do this and it worked great.

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joasis

Here is a visable detail of how I did the window and door bucks...I cut a 20 degree bevel to create a dovetail for the concrete to fill, and lock the bucks in place. They are faced with ACQ 3/4 plywood on 3 sides, and open as the above pic shows on the bottom to allow full placement of concrete. The last pic is the inspector, checking my walls!

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woodmagman

Looking good...are you adding to the inside and out on the 2x4 to keep the form from blowing out. The hydrostatic pressure on the form at those points are real high when your vibarating the mix.
Man I miss sunshine, it is snowing here today!!!!!

concretemasonry

Don't worry even if you get Canadian weather on Friday.

You will not have to cover the construction with insulation and heat to prevent freezing. - Your only problem will be hot weather if they run out of ice at the R/M plant.

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Dick

Engineer, designer and consultant recently active domestically and internationally on construction and design in about 35 countries.

woodmagman

Thats the truth, a little calcium and we are good to go even on some colder days...

TimNJ

Jay, not to make you nervous but are you bracing the inside as well as the outside of the forms? Also, maybe a few more braces than what you have.
As stated previously, the amount of pressure is a lot.
I used a pumper and had a good operator who knew to take it easy. We filled one course at a time and just kept going round and round.
Back when I did mine ('92) nobody had formed corners and they had to be miter cut and braced.
The hooks are a good idea. Tie the top course tight so it wont float.

joasis

The braces shown are about half of what is going...they sccrew into the wet set course, and every course above to prevent float...but thatnks for the heads up. We will run this one in 4 runs around, plus the safe room which gets a 6 inch cap poured in place.

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concretemasonry

A couple of questions about the safe room or safe cell - its a great idea for a clost or bath to multi-pupose. Everyone loves a neighbor with a safe cell!

1. I may have missed a photo. Did you use ICFs to form or just use reinforced block or reinforced concrete since the insulation was not needed and may have gotten in the way?

2. Did you use the FEMA recommendations (thickness, reinforcement, anchorage) for the safe cell? - The testing (in Texas, I believe) for the cell standard was done by shooting a 12' 2x4 out of an air cannon at 125+ mph and looks like great fun. No pentration is permitted, so that is why wood/reinforced plywood is not accepatable.

3. Did you go the whole safe cell route with the air vents and door specs?

I have even seen some safe cells built in basements and used as storage rooms. There they installed the vent, but went with a heavy metal door and frame in the reinforced block wall. These were not required by code, but by owners preference, so they could make some minor variations.

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Dick

Engineer, designer and consultant recently active domestically and internationally on construction and design in about 35 countries.

JasontheMason

See the cannon on the front page, that is what it used for. http://www.spudtech.com/
http://www.spudtech.com/detail.asp?id=50
http://www.spudtech.com/detail.asp?id=53
And you can buy it for like $2000 and the funny thing is I can make it for around $700

And nice job on the house!

concretemasonry

I've been there and saw that or something similar at a few years ago at a university in Texas (I think).

I think it would be a great job to shoot the 2x4s at walls and watch them get destroyed.

It goes through just about anything. Fiberglass reinforced plywood did not stop it before I was there. I don't know if Kevlar would help plywood or not, but who would pay and how would you put it together?

I understand the research was part of the information used for the hurricane standards for Florida. Hurricanes don't have the velocity, but they last longer.

I think the window tests are similar, but not as severe or as much fun.

After that, I can believe the stories about straw penetrating wood.

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Dick

Engineer, designer and consultant recently active domestically and internationally on construction and design in about 35 countries.

joasis

The safe room is formed from the same blocks and a 6 inch cap was poured. the door is FEMA approved, and the only catch is they must swing in for egress in case of blockage by debris. 6 inches of concrete exceded the FEMA requrements by 2 inches, and the venting is not standard in this case....I used a 6 inch pvc pipe placed in the cap and an air duct for hvac will attach...my reasoning is that if the roof lifts off during a tornado, the duct work will leave with it, leaving the 6 inch vent, which is all FEMA requires.

We poured today, and I will post some pics...glad it is over!

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woodmagman

Little bit stressful was it......

joasis

Here are a few shots from yesterday:

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woodmagman

Time for the roof and windows now....

TimNJ

Ok, now after a couple days of it sinking in...in hindsight it wasn't THAT bad was it? A little learning curve and you are ready to do another one, right

joasis

Beautiful day today...after a slow start, trusses finally going up. My old Lull forklift does double duty with a 25 foot long stinger at times like this.

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woodmagman

It looks like you have some vaults going into the back rooms...

joasis

Here is today and progress so far. Roof is nearly done, ready for trim, interior framing nearly complete, hvac and electricians moved in today.....

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woodmagman

LOOKING GOOD An electric chain saw (with a depth gauge)does a great job for installing the wire into the ICF (for the horizontal runs cut along the ICF seam to avoid the plastic brackets), then use the spray foam glue rather then foam insulation to fill the groove left for the wire. The boxes can be foam in this way too.

Diesel65

Joasis, please excuse my ignorance, but what kind of uplift and "R" rating do you get with that roof system, I am also interested to know about the truss tie-down spec too.

It looks like a real tidy and quick building system, very nice work.