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shop/slab questions

To: shop-talk@autox.team.net
Subject: shop/slab questions
From: Eric Murray <ericm@lne.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 08:20:39 -0800
My place was a working farm of some sort at the turn of the century.
We're currently restoring the barn whose foundation had cracked along
one side.  The old concrete was easy to break up- it was cement and
sand, no gravel, and the concrete has softened a little in some places
or wasn't all that 'rich' a mixture to begin with.

Behind the barn is a foundation and slab that's about 32'x32'.  I scraped
off most of about 80 years of leaves and soil that was on it this
last weekend.  It looks like it's got a pretty good foundation around
the outside of the slab, but some of the the concrete in the middle is
crap- you can dig into it with a shovel.  Some other parts look good,
but are uneven.  It looks like it was poured in small sections and at
different times.  I don't think that it's settled or cracked.  It's on a
flat carved out of a slope, with a small retaining wall on one side and
part of the back, and a slope falling away from it on the other side.
It's also about 2' taller than the ground behind the barn, with a dirt
ramp leading up to it.

I'd like to build a shop there.  It's the best spot I've got unless I
want to bring in a D9 and move a few hundred cubic yards of overburden.
I was thinking of just putting up a metal building, since it's
hidden behind the barn I don't really care if it's not all that pretty
on the exterior, but I'd like it nice inside.
There's enough room to put in a driveway around the barn to get to the shop.


Ascii art:


    4' retaining wall
     |
     v
    --------..........
   |                 .  -> steep downhill 
   |                 .
   |                 .  ->
   |                 .
   |      slab       .  -> steep downhill 
   |                 .
 ->|                 .  ->
 | ...................  
 | ssssssssssssssssss <- 2' slope
 |
 |
 |
 |     flat area
 |
 |
 |
 retaining wall (1' here, 4' in corner)

   -------------------------
  |                        |   r
  |                        |   o
  |                        |   a
  |        barn            |   d


The slab isn't good enough for a shop- too uneven and too crumbly in spots.


So, here's the questions (you knew this was coming):  Can I
pour a new slab over the old one?  Is that to code?  How do I
find out what code is?

Also, how much space should I leave around the metal building on each side?
If I want a 3' walkway on both sides, that'll leave 26' in width.
That's ok, but I'd like wider.

The garage floor being 2' higher than the driveway will be a bit of a
problem for low-slung cars (but not for bikes, other than needing a bit
of momentum to push a bigger bike up the slope).  I'll probably work
on cars some but mostly on bikes, but I'd like it to appeal to car people
also for when (if) we sell the place.  Should I just spend the extra $$
to have the old slab/foundation ripped out and make it level with the
driveway? (and build new higher retaining walls)  Given that I live
just outside Silicon Valley where construction labor is 2-3x what it
is in the rest of the country?

Finally, any recommendations for metal buildings which can be insulated
and finished nicely inside would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading this far!

-- 
  Eric Murray           Consulting Security Architect         SecureDesign LLC
  http://www.securedesignllc.com                            PGP keyid:E03F65E5

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