You have to love the weather in Southern California. It is almost always perfect and you learn to count on it to get your outdoor activities done. This weekend was no exception. It was beautiful, mild and sunny with a slight breeze. But that is where the easy streak ended.
Best laid plans of mice and men... Let's start with the dumpster delivery. Turns out that a 4 cubic yard dumpster is not big enough to hold my excavated dirt. Oh no I need a 16 foot long container called a "Low Boy". Fine, so be it. "Please deliver it on Friday afternoon for a Saturday of digging." Will do, says the man on the other end of the line, only to call me on Friday morning to say that there was a schedule change and it will be delivered between 9-11 AM. Take it or leave it. Great, I don't like it but go with the flow and I get a chance to start digging early.
After the digging comes the gravel and framing of the foundation. A two hour trip to Home Depot and I have all the pieces of the puzzle together to finish the next step. What I didn't anticipate was the time it would take to frame the small 7x10 patch. I am placing the whole outdoor kitchen and oven on the edge of my property right up to the fence. That makes it difficult to access and maneuver around in it. The other thing I found out is that I have slope to deal with. It is ever so slight but when you use a level and check on your 90 degree corners you notice it.
I also had several surprises waiting for me under the dirt line. The fence post and patio foundation were in the way. I needed to chisel several inches of concrete away to assure a straight line for the new foundation.
Next was the rebar and wire mesh to provide the foundation with solid anchors. I wired three 4x7 pieces of mesh together and then attached the rebar to that. Since I needed to create a gravel and sand bed first I hung the mesh on the fence which allowed me to work standing up. I had purchased 1000 lbs of sand and gravel at Home Depot in 50 lbs bags. It was enough to cover the excavated area and make it level. Then I unhooked the wire mesh from the fence and dropped it on top of the sand.
Total time for this step was 11 hours of digging, framing and finish work over two days. Plus 2 hours at Home Depot. My left hand has two blisters. I almost poked my eye out on a branch from a bush right next to the site. And finally I have a 13 inch gash down my shin bone. I have no idea how that happened but when I looked down at my leg earlier today, there it was bleeding and all.
Next week my friend Frank will come over to work on the power and gas lines. He will also do the cement pour for me since it is almost 2 yards of cement and and all three things are above my level of expertise... Well, I can't smell the pizza yet but I am well on my way. Feels good to finally have started with the physical part of the project.
Nice! You are a manly man! Have you used Breven as a creative consultant?
ReplyDeleteHey Ralf,
ReplyDeleteLooks like you are off to a good start! I have a couple of comments. First, why didn't you dig a footing? The total weight of the blocks, the floating slab, the pizza oven, stucco and everything else is going to be well over a ton, maybe 2 tons. Thats a lot of weight on that slab. Footings are there to provide a more stable base to support the weight of the structure. Since all of the weight is going to be around the edges of the slab, and with earthquakes and everything, I think footings are a really good idea. 12" x 12" should do the trick.
Second, The wire mesh and rebar should be lifted off of the ground. You can buy little wire stands that you slide under the mesh to hold it off of the ground or little blocks of concrete with wire ties built in to do the same thing. The idea is that the mesh and rebar are in the middle of your slab, locking it all together. If the slab is just sitting on top of the mesh it is defeating the purpose.
I have pictures of both the foundation slab and the floating slab (where I used both the wire stands and the little blocks) here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Brevenc/MyBrickPizzaOvenOutdoorKitchen#
Breven
Hi Breven,
ReplyDeletethanks for the feedback. I thought I replied to you earlier in the week via cell phone but it didn't post.
As far as footing goes, I have rebar thoughout the wiremesh and they are on attached to the wire blocks to raise them about 3-4 inches above the gravel. The depth of the foundation and footing was a much debated topic. I got feedback from several builders and contractors and their stories all differed from 3" slab to 12" with footings. I am going middle of the road with 6" with rebar and mesh. That should do the trick. The oven weighs 1800lbs and on a 6" slab that better be enough.
Here is my question back to you about the vertical rebar for the counter walls. How many did you use? I cound 24 on mine. Every other foot? Any ideas?