Making plans for where Cowbell will reside

[RussGW270]

We have some long term plans...the boat itself aside, I prefer to have her here vs at the coast and stacked. The towing will be a bit far, but here, I can work on her and just enjoy the boat if she is here for me to “tinker”, heh.

so, anyway...I have a 12ft gate between my barn and garage. The garage has a bit of overhang, but both it and the barn already have gutters. So, my thought was, I lose a little space due to the garage overhang, but I use 16ft 6x6 treated posts and raise the sides of the covered parking so that side overlaps the garage roof and drains onto it, and those gutters will catch the water.
Then, I can gutter the other side. That should give me about a 9-10 ft wide parking entrance and like 12ft on the sides, with a 12/3 slope, so about 15ft in the center.

Now, the numbers will change a little as I want the sides to clear the top by at least a foot, and 2ft if I can get that much. Then, I plan to install LED lights the length of the roof.

I am looking at like a 35-40ft slab, about 6in think minimum expanding to about 2ft on the back slope, rebar enforced with whatever footings needed to support up to 15,000 lbs, boat, trailer, maybe upgrade some day lol, the roof and structure etc. and about a 1ft “lip” in the back to keep the trailer from rolling too far.

So, what else am I missing? Heh.

Wish I had built a bigger barn, but never thought I would have a boat like this heh.

R

 

[DennisG01]

All sounds good, but you don't need to spend that much on the concrete - it doesn't have to be as thick as you are thinking - certainly not 2' thick. 6" is plenty. You can use the 4000psi concrete instead of the regular 3000psi - and you can also add fiber to the cement. Supposedly the fiber takes the place of the rebar, but for things like this I asked to have both put in - minimal cost difference.

You don't need "footers". Just the proper sub-base on the soil of aggregate. Lateral cuts in the proper spots should allow any cracks to naturally form in the cuts (this is good and expected!) - preserving the main sections.

Whomever you hire to do the work - prepare the soil, lay the aggregate, pour the concrete and finish it should be able to handle all of the technical stuff for you.

Also... I would say skip the concrete ledge on the back. There could be times when you may want that back edge flat so you can walk comfortably over it or roll something off the back edge like a wheel barrow. Just use a PT 4x4x10. It will stay put all by itself and is not permanently in the way. Besides, if it does move a bit, you'll notice it and can put it right back. If you want, you could put a bit of construction adhesive under it - or even just drill a few holes in the concrete to receive pins (that first go through the 4x) - but that way you still preserve a flat slab.

 

[RussGW270]

Well, this is part of a bigger project, just did not go into all that. It has to transition from the back deck to the parking area in front and back, so...a lot more to it than that. We thought about adding a slope so we can get the tractor through, easier to just widen the other gate by a foot.
Anyway, will go with what the engineer suggests. For not, step 1 is the deck replacement. Step 2 will be the boat cover, then step 3 will be a concrete pad. For now, I plan to do piers for the posts, after the deck is done, so a few months out at best.

Also, lots of sand here, hence the engineered slab. I don’t build anything cheap heh. Besides, I have a couple great options for the slab...but, deck first, so they can do it without a boom.

r

 

[ScottyCee]

I’d be happy to help if you like. I pour slabs from 3000 to 15,000 ft.² and larger for schools and government municipalities for a living as art of my projects as a commercial general contractor. I agree with other post above saying that you were looking at more depth and reinforcement than required, But anyone making comments like that with looking at your prints is speculating. I would be happy to look at your plans and give you my input if you would like to message me.

 

[RussGW270]

Guys, I am not looking at the thickness just because of the weight, it is the slope of the ground. I appreciate the input, but I have done this many times as well. I am a deck guy. Every home has a deck. This one has a wooden one that I am not a fan of because I had to hire people to help build it and they messed up (I had surgery on my feet and could not do it myself)...heh...the slope is the only reason this is not just a driveway, albeit a little thicker than the driveway heh.

add in the fact that many foundations crack in this neighborhood due to the proximity of the river and the sandy loam and clay ground, so you need engineered slabs to prevent that. Will I need thesame as the house? Nah, but I want rebar vs meah as the cost is negligible in comparison to repairs, imo.

so, do I need help? You bet. Am I overdoing it? Eh, maybe a little...but that is my schtick That being said, it only sounds like a massive pour. The only thing massive is a 18x62’ deck, 40x15 ‘pad, 16x30’ pad, 145x14’ driveway, and a 16x30’ front parking pad....all connected. So, I do not need or want any shifting...oh, and all but the driveway covered...

 

[RussGW270]

Sorry was trying to get to work.. had to type fast and on my phone. I love the input, and my fault, you guys do not have all the info/background. I will take pictures later so you can see. I have a huge concrete project and this is part of it, that was not planned into it when we started planning heh. We bought the boat AFTER we sold the main part of the ranch in order to do some concrete work and deck work around the house. So, the original plan was to have a ramp to take the tractor in and out of the large gate.. but after looking at the soil analysis, and the slope, we figured we would end up replacing a lot of the concrete as it broke off the back end so... the idea is.. we may still have some sort of slope, but we will use roadbase to sorta "merge it"... maybe crushed asphalt, which we have now, but the crushed asphalt is letting far too much grass and weeds through and we cannot spray it.... too many pets roaming, so, concrete. To make it work, we will have a little more than a drivewat in a couple areas, not a ton.. but some... and then merge them all. Starting with the deck replacment. We have a deck, 62ft wide, and 12' deep in part, 20' deep in the main area. The soil is bad enough that most folks here have house leveling issues and we did not want to under-compensate for that. We had a great engineer when we built the house and they ended up using almost 5 more trucks of concrete than they planned. We cannot add a roof to the current deck. It was not built well enough that I feel comfortable attaching it to the house, so, replacing it with concrete.. heh...then floating the roof over the deck and overlapping the house. That is stage 1.. and we pay it off in 4-6 months.. THEN.. while that is being paid off, I start the posts for the boat cover.

So, the idea is.. do the deck first... and then I set the posts for the boat cover. I can do that part myself. Once we pay off the deck, then we can fill in the boat area with a slab. It will not be a driveway slab, but not the deck either, something in between, to save costs and, you are right.. it does not need to be that thick, except for the slope, and we are still debating that...I mean, let's get real.. if I need to get to the back yard, do I really want to move the boat twice? heh... nah.. just widen the other gates 1 ft

Then, after that is done, we do the rest.. and daddy gets a place to park the rest of the schtuff...

Now, if I thought I could get it done.. lol.. I would RATHER add onto the barn a section for the boat.. but that is not near as possible as the cover.. and I really need to cover it better.

Here is the house. Boat would slide between the barn and garage.. and the roof of that would overlap the garage and the cover that will go behind the barn, for the tractor etc..

Oh! Holy cow.. Google has my boat on it now .. lol.. damn.. even Google has my boat before the coast does.. lol!

Also adding an older photo of the front of the house as the barn was going up, for reference.



R