Anyone know of a good contractor for getting a pad poured? My builder is putting a 20x20' pad in the very back corner of my lot, so now I am gonna farm out the big pad to someone else so I can get the in-floor heating and the like. Downside is because of the size, I need to have it 'engineered', so who knows a place that does such a thing? I'll have to have the plans for the garage engineered too, which is another problem. Just need the plans, as I'll do the actual construction of the shop.

So long story short, who can engineer and pour a 30x40 pad?

 

Well, I don't know what kind of codes there is up there and if you have to have a set of engineered plans to submit for a permit... But, usally on something like that, you can just draw out what you want to do and submit it to the township or whatever it may be up there in the north country!! But, all that should be required I would think is a 12"x 42" deep footing aroud the perimeter.. Then the slab pored on top of that, or block work first, then por inside block.. Depends on if you want to build your walls on the floor or off the block..

What kind of frost is in the ground... Is it permafrost or does the frost only go so deep??

Also, if this is like a pole barn or something, there is no footer required, around here you just do a 4''x24" ratwall to keep the rodents out and such..

 

In the old days we just did it. You need a civil engineer to draw up the drawings and do the premit. Call the city, they should have a list. I would doubt that they would approve a 30by40 shop in the city res area, but you might be able to. So who knows. I know a few by they are mostly industrial stuff, and I don't know if they would mess with stuff that would take actual work. A 30 by 40, you might even have to hire someone to do the drawing for the shop as well. On a farm you could put a barn, there are no rules on that, expect it can't be in city limits.

 

Are you going to require dirt work? And what are the local codes? I would imagine where you are, that a monolithic slab is not an option. Probably going require some significant footers, or a norweigian style slab. Most concrete guys can pour your concrete, though there are different types. I personnally became a fan of the fiber filled, eliminated the need of the mesh. What do you plan on doing with the slab? If you are building it for a shop, do you plan on putting a lift in. If so you will require 6 inches of concrete vice the normal 4 inches. And with in floor radiant heat most will tell you that a lift is not a good idea with all that tubing running through the concrete. Hopefully someone from your area can chime in and give you a specific concrete company they have worked with good luck. However, most concrete companies should be able to take your requirements and pour a slab that meets those requirements.

 

I talked to the city, they will need to see the engineers stamp on the pad (whether thats an actual stamp on the pad, or just drawings for it), and will need drawings to proceed with permit to build the garage. The pad itself doesn't need to be engineered if it were just a pad, but since there will be a permanent structure, it does.

There's no perma-frost here, and it will be done in the summer time after I take posession of the house, so that will be a non-issue.

No 24" rat wall required here, usually its just a 6" high around the perimeter to set the walls on, more for weather than rodents, I'd imagine.


Mike, bylaws in Airdrie say I can have a maximum of 15% coverage of my lot for a garage and can't be bigger than the principle residence. The latter part I can get a variance on subject to my next door neighbours not having any objections. I can have a 30x30' without anyones permission, due to my lot size, and that would be just a hair smaller than my house foot print. For a 30x30, I would still need everything engineered though, as its bigger than 592 sq.ft.


Snoyes, it will be a personal garage, and I don't plan on putting a lift in. If I have a lift, I wouldn't do the in floor as I wouldn't be laying on the floor.
Whats a monolithic and norwegian slab?

 

Hey Snoyes...Is it true that the fiber mesh crete will act like fiberglass insulation as for itchiness ?? Was curious as for use on a shop floor. I do my own crete, but stayed away from the fiber mesh so far.

 

I use fibermesh in about 90% off all our flatwork.. There are several types of fibermesh.. The most common I use is, Commercial fiber mesh for outside driveways and such, or Stealth fibermessh for inside floors that require a smoothe finish... Wire mesh is old school!!! most of the time it is never placed properly "In the center of the slab" It does not add the strengh like fibernesh does, it does hold it together well when the concrte goes way south on ya!! But, if you ever had the oppertunity to break out the two with a 20lb sledge hammer, it takes more hits to crack a slab that has fiber in it than vrs wire... trust me I know!!

Monolithic slap means pored all at once with no expansion or break points.. I Don't know what a noregan slab is.. I'm guessing poured in sections maybe??

 

I always take monolithic as referring to the pouring of the slab along with some sort of foundation. For garages some places here let you do a 4" slab poured with a 12 " wide footer 16" deep. Then again other cities want a 48" deep footer. It's all about the tax money.

 

yep i know a guy here he is very busy but i could ask when are ya looking to do the pour ? He has really good references

 

Tate, we can talk on the weekend. You are looking at about $45/sq.ft. to build what you want - as a starting point in the wonderful Alberta economy. The local officials require an Engineered foundation for buildings with any one dimension 30' or more and/or over a certain square footage. This safeguards you, especially with the total lack of inspections during the last building boom. In our soils, I would encourage you to use a piled grade beam foundation with an infill reinforced slab-on-grade for something this size. A properly designed and build raft slab this size will cost you more than the pile and grade beam option. This is standard construction for Alberta so if the contractor gives you a funny look, move on. Your typical 4" thick residential garage slab with mesh just does not work in our soils. In addition, little to no attention is paid to the subgrade so the slab is doomed from the start. The only thing the mesh does is make removing it a pain in the *** when you want to install a properly reinforced slab. In Edmonton, ballpark cost will run you about $25k for the piles, gradebeam and slab installed. The wood part is the bargin! In-floor Kytec piping is an additional cost.

 

Norweigan slab was actually a way to put a foundation in without the use of footers, much like the monolithic slab. Instead, you insulate around the 12 inch footer then radiate horizontally out for 4 feet using blue board. The theory is for frost to penetrate, it would need to travel diagonally underneath the foundation, so in essence, a 48inch horizontal insulation would provide the same protection as at least a 48 inch deep footer. I had 2 buddies build using this technique in Alaska, both with good results. Before you do this I would look up some information, as I am sure there may be more to it since this was explained to me and I haven't really bothered to look up the details on it. Done right though it worked good and saved some $$ on concrete.... I'll see if I can find some more info and post it up....

 

And I agree 100% with DNR, the fibermesh is the way to go... Way stronger, more uniform than the old wire mesh.... if that was even put in correct in the first place...

 

Here's a link:

http://www.homeconcepts.ca/miscellan...wings/FPSF.pdf

Not enough time to read it, but this is the basic idea. Frost Protected Shallow Foundation is the proper term.... You can tell I'm not in the concrete business...

 

I don't think they will allow that up here due to the frost line .specially engineered and in floor heating they use the ARX system for the footing wall alot up here


Edit very interesting... I do work for a architect i will have to show them this, I know we also have different code in different county's

 

Hmmm....

Passed code in Alaska, and we had a 10 foot frost line in Anchorage/Eagle River/Chugiak.... But every place/country will be different. Seemed to be a very interesting concept, though I never did try it....