John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum

OMG, I can't believe it -- just wait 'til you see what I got accomplished today!

I met my buddy at the equipment rental place at about 8:15 AM so pick up the concrete saw. Rather than rent a blade for $45 plus $5 per 1000th of an inch usage, I purchased a blade for $89.

After an attempt to create a couple of plastic sheet dams to prevent water from getting to my belongings (an effort that mostly failed, by the way... ), cutting commenced. My friend operated the saw -- my job was to attempt to control the water with a pushbroom. After a couple of hours, we had two very nice cuts over 3" deep!

He then proceeded to cut the field into sections to make the subsequent break-up activity easier.

At about noon we returned to the rental place. While we were there I rented an electric impact hammer! I was not very mentally prepared for this step -- I was a bit nervous at the prospect. But, it has to be done, and the worst case would have me trying it out, deciding I wasn't up for the job, and returning it within a couple of hours.

Well, that didn't happen -- instead, I came home, had lunch with my wife, and then headed out to the garage to get acquainted with that little beast. I was expecting awkward, heavy, and nerveracking, but what I found was somewhat comfortable, somewhat heavy, and instant gratification! I'll be damned, I'm jackhammering my friggin' garage floor!!

I was pretty slow and meticulous for the first part -- the area along the cuts. I had to exercise caution so as to not chip or crack the concrete that isn't getting removed. I mostly succeeded to that end -- there are a couple of small chips along the edge (oops). I then removed the pieces and stacked them along the side yard fence. That gave me room to start breaking off larger sections along those areas.

By 8 PM I was finished breaking up about half of what needs to be done! My 24 hour rental is due shortly after noon tomorrow, so if I get started at about 8 AM, hopefully I'll be finished by then. IF not, no huge deal -- I'll just return it late and pay a few hours' extra.

I'm really pleased with myself right now -- I'm still somewhat in disbelief that this is actually happening!

Thanks to all who continue to show an interest in this, and especially to those who have encouraged and/or inspired me along the way... I'm sure you know who you are!

--Keith

Here are pictures of the breakup!

Here you can see that with the first series of chunks out of the way, I was able to more easily break up neighboring sections.

Oh, by the way, there's no wire mesh in this concrete -- which is a blessing because it makes the removal process much easier... But I'm pissed at the company that did the work -- they told me it had it!

I'm very glad I didn't attempt to rely on this floor!!

You'll see more picture tomorrow -- hopefully one that shows all of the concrete broken up!

I'll need to research my options for getting it hauled away...

--Keith

Yippee!!!

Hi Keith,
What are you replacing a concrete floor with that's going to do a better job?
Here's me wishing my floor was concrete and there's you ripping yours up!!
JohnG

My existing garage floor is 4" thick with no rebar and no wire mesh. The slab inside my home is 6" with rebar. Since my new walls will be extremely heavy, especially considering the fact that they'll be supporting a very heavy ceiling as well, I was not comfortable trusting the garage floor to hold all that weight without settling or breaking.

I will be excavating a few inches and pouring a new slab, at least 6" thick, even deeper around the perimeter where the walls will be. I'll be using rebar so it's less likely to break. Also, I'm going to isolate the slab so that it is not in firm contact with any part of the house. They'll share earth and that's it.

Read this entire thread (only 2 pages), especially Rod's comments, to see why I decided to ditch my existing floor. Seeing the quality (or lack thereof) of it now, I'm really glad I chose this route.

--Keith

Lookin' good Keithers; once all the old stuff is out, I'm assuming you'll rent a "thumper" to make sure compaction's adequate for the new slab?

Also, when you say "thicker at the edges", you're referring to a full-fledged monolithic slab with integrated footings, right? Steve

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Soooo, when a Musician dies, do they hear the white noise at the end of the tunnel??!? Hmmmm...

Congratulations, Kieth!!!!

When I rented my jack hammer (same as yours but red), I know it gave me great sense of power!!! I had a little difficulty controlling it since it weighed more than I did it seemed that my bouncing feet were breaking more concrete than the tip of the hammer! Just like in the cartoons.

Keep it going!!! I know that after I got my rough framing up I suffered a little post partition depression because right now, the cleaning up and electrical work don't seem like "progress" even though I know they are. Passing the first inspection will help I'm sure.

len

Indeed I will. I think they have electric-powered compactors for rent.

I'll post some detailed prep plans in the near future... I'll be most interested in your input.

Correct. The floor was basically 4" thick throughout the entire area, not thicker around the walls as I was told by the company that did the work originally.

Len, good luck with your inspection -- I'm looking forward to seeing you reach that milestone on your thread!

I got a couple of quotes to haul away the concrete. They range from $250 to $315. Or, for $185 I can rent an 18' x 8' x 2' container from the city, fill it up over the course of a week, and then they'll haul it away. I'll probably do the latter.

--Keith

Keith great progress!!
Can’t wait to get passed all of this paper work so I too can get started.

Thanks vair!

In other news, my license plates arrived!

Fees for the special interest plate benefit the California Tahoe Conservancy. Unfortunately, the bottom part of the plate frame covers up the words "Lake Tahoe."

Hey, ya paid yer $ to Tahoe, like the frame better anyway

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Soooo, when a Musician dies, do they hear the white noise at the end of the tunnel??!? Hmmmm...

Hey Keith, that liquid nails product you used, the LNP-903, is only available in California. Do you think the 901 stuff would work too? It's basicaly the same stuff except the 901 has a higher VOC number( not sure what that means) and a quicker dry time.

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"With God, all things are possible."

I think what I used was LNP-902. You're thinking of using LNP-901?

I would think that would be OK...

--Keith

I think you said 903 from your previous posthttp://www.liquidnails.com/datasheets/ln903ds.pdf Oh well, whatever, I don't mean to be difficult. If you think that the 901 stuff should work than that's cool. I just don't know how big of a difference there is between the various types apart from the obvious product names.

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"With God, all things are possible."