[ponyakr]

Yeah, it was pretty warm today. But actually a little below average, I think. At around noon, we got some cloud cover, and a breeze kicked up. Looked like it was gonna rain. But, the clouds went away, without a drop.

Speaking of weather, I think we had one of the coolest Junes I can remember. Had real good weather for berry pickin. Didn't get up past 90° very many times. Lots of days it stayed in the low 80's. Hey, the record temps are well over 100° for most every day in June. I remember our weather man saying the record was something like 108°, for one June day. With our humidity, that's HOT--downright dangerous !

Just checked the record high temps for June, in Monroe. They are indeed all 100° or higher, with the June 26 record being the highest, @ 108°.

https://www.wunderground.com/history...ic=&reqdb.wmo=

A lot of the records are from 2011. I don't remember that as a particularly hot June. But, obviously it was.

[ponyakr]

Well, there's another chapter to my Pontiac story. Because the policies of our new President were so good for the stock market, TJ's 401 K did real good last year. So, she decided to buy me a new shop, for a combination birthday/anniversary gift. This year will mark our 40th.

So, I must thank God, President Trump, and my wife TJ, for "Speed Barn 3" !!!

It's called Speed Barn 3, because my 1st shop was called the Speed Barn. Then, the old cow barn I've used for a shop, since I sold the Speed Barn, we called Speed Barn 2. So, this new one can't be anything else but Speed Barn 3. TJ will probably make me a sign with that name on it, to hang inside.

Since I haven't had much Pontiac news lately, I decided to do this as a sort of "build thread". The building is not nearly as big as Speed Barn #1 was. It's just a small 2-car shop. Was gonna make it a little bigger. But, due to the price of the concrete, we had to downsize, in order to come in under budget. But, it'll be all I need.

I realize that most here will not be interested in this, at all. But, there might be a few low budget guys that find it interesting. So, here goes.

I took lots of pics, during the building process. I'll post more as TJ gets 'em sorted out & edited, as needed.

For this 1st post, I'll show the slab. It's all we saw of the shop for nearly a month. It's 20 x 25. The building is called 20 x 26, allowing for the roof overhang on each end.

The pic also shows the hay we took out of TJ's horse barn to cover the foundation dirt. The day after the slab was poured, we got a big rain, that washed away some of the dirt. So, I used my tractor & front end loader to add a lot more dirt, all around the slab. Then we covered it with hay, before the next rain came. Worked great. No erosion at all.

To be continued

[ponyakr]

Note: This is strictly a low budget build. I'd much rather have a bigger, nicer building, with hydraulic lifts, insulation, A/C, etc. So most will not be interested in this series at all. But, for the low budget guys that can handle a $10k budget build, some of this info may be helpful.


Well, you gotta start somewhere. So, we picked a plot in the field to the West of our house. Decided to line the South wall of the building up with the outside of the columns on our front porch. So I tied a long string to the 3rd column from the building site, then used the string to mark the location of the South wall. Drove a stake(old broom handle) where I wanted the SE corner of the building, plus another stake in line with the columns & corner stake, and 20ft from it, to mark the SW corner.

I didn't do any squaring up, for the 2 stakes on the North end. Just measured 25' North, then 20' West. I left the squaring up, for the concrete guys, working off the South wall I'd established.

So, that's how it looked when the concrete guys got there, on Monday morning, which I believe was March 26. They went right to work, gettin it squared up, & driving their own stakes. The main concrete guy also did the slab under the house we live in, back in 2003. His son is now old enuff to work with him.

One thing I regret is that I failed to take any pics of the dump truck that brought the foundation dirt. It belonged to Mr. JT Allen. He has been in the sand/dirt/gravel business for a long time. He hauled the dirt for my 1st shop, back in 1975, and he hauled the dirt for our house, in 2003. So, I think it's pretty cool that he could also haul the dirt for this shop. I think he is around 80 years old now. Said he can't pass the physical to get his CDL to drive heavy trucks. So, he has a smaller single axle truck he can legally drive. I think 26000# is the max legal weight, without a CDL. Anyhow, sorry I didn't think to take any pics of the dump truck.

Pics below show how the foundation work started. I took lots of pics, but will not try to post 'em all here.

[ponyakr]

Note: This is strictly a low budget build. I'd much rather have a bigger, nicer building, with hydraulic lifts, insulation, A/C, etc. So most will not be interested in this series at all. But, for the low budget guys that can handle a $10k budget build, some of this info may be helpful.


So, the crew finished up the dirt work & started the pour, on Tuesday about noon.

[ponyakr]

Note: This is strictly a low budget build. I'd much rather have a bigger, nicer building, with hydraulic lifts, insulation, A/C, etc. So most will not be interested in this series at all. But, for the low budget guys that can handle a $10k budget build, some of this info may be helpful.


Concrete is really expensive nowadays. And our local concrete plant shut down. So, the truck had to come from West Monroe, about 40 miles from us. So the concrete guy ordered just barely enuff to make the pour, with VERY little left over. I was hopping to have enuff left to bust up and use for rocks in some of the potholes in our driveway/road. But I didn't get much.

[ponyakr]

Note: This is strictly a low budget build. I'd much rather have a bigger, nicer building, with hydraulic lifts, insulation, A/C, etc. So most will not be interested in this series at all. But, for the low budget guys that can handle a $10k budget build, some of this info may be helpful.


I had them put a "broom finish" on the concrete. That makes the surface a bit rougher, so that you'll be less likely to slip on the inevitable oil spills, water or whatever.

There was rain in the forecast, so the concrete guy said they'd come back in a few days to clean everything up, which they did.

[ponyakr]

Note: This is strictly a low budget build. I'd much rather have a bigger, nicer building, with hydraulic lifts, insulation, A/C, etc. So most will not be interested in this series at all. But, for the low budget guys that can handle a $10k budget build, some of this info may be helpful.

We had a hard rain, which washed away much of the dirt around the slab.