Well, I am back....

[KevinKrey]

Glad to see you back. You gave me lots of help over on the old forum, glad to see you around again!

[tetters]

Really cool Gary. How deep do you folks in Texas have to go in order to pour a proper foundation for a building like yours? I know up here in the Great White North we have to go at least four feet deep in order to avoid any frost up heave during the winter months when pouring a foundation.

The advice I always hear from people too is that when buying a new home is to find out when the foundation has been poured. If its been poured during the fall or winter, then its probably best to steer clear of that particular home. Doubt that really applies down south.

Otherwise, very excited for you. Should be a great home for your layout!

[jbaakko]

GARY! Welcome back!

Nice looking slab you got there...

[sgtcarl1]

Gary, Good to see you again!! I'm insanely jealous of your new building, but I'm even more happy for you!! It's gonna be Gr-r-r-reat!!!

[Steamtrains]

Welcome back!
Gee...This is the ULTIMATE in layout build threads!

Nothing like building them from the ground up..!!

[nomad]

Man Gary, your living my dream.
Good Luck.

Loren

[Gary S]

Thanks again to all the new "Welcome backs".

Loren, thank you for your comments. I think I noticed awhile back that you had expanded your layout?

[Gary S]

Really cool Gary. How deep do you folks in Texas have to go in order to pour a proper foundation for a building like yours? I know up here in the Great White North we have to go at least four feet deep in order to avoid any frost up heave during the winter months when pouring a foundation.

No issues with frost heave down here. It rarely even gets below freezing, and certainly not long enough to freeze the ground. A small building with a low weight loading like this would typically need beams only about 12 inches in the ground with the top of the slab about 6 inches above grade. Since the new building will have a brick exterior, the beams are 15" in the ground, plus the slab is 15" above existing grade. The foundation is 15" above grade because every so often we get substantial flooding. About 10 years ago we had a bad flood. The water was about 6" deep in the entire area around here.... thousands of acres under 6" of water, even more in the low-lying areas.

In all, there are 28 yards of concrete in the foundation. About 11 yards is in the 4" thick slab, the other 17 is in the beams.

I'll be wrecking off forms tomorrow.

[OBJack]

Gary, How cool is this. I hope you realize that you are making a lot of people here very envious.
What a wonderful way to be able to kick start your hobby, with every mans' dream of a dedicated train room..nay house.
I look forward to be able to follow you in the times ahead as you rebuild your empire.

[tetters]

Really cool Gary. How deep do you folks in Texas have to go in order to pour a proper foundation for a building like yours? I know up here in the Great White North we have to go at least four feet deep in order to avoid any frost up heave during the winter months when pouring a foundation.

No issues with frost heave down here. It rarely even gets below freezing, and certainly not long enough to freeze the ground. A small building with a low weight loading like this would typically need beams only about 12 inches in the ground with the top of the slab about 6 inches above grade. Since the new building will have a brick exterior, the beams are 15" in the ground, plus the slab is 15" above existing grade. The foundation is 15" above grade because every so often we get substantial flooding. About 10 years ago we had a bad flood. The water was about 6" deep in the entire area around here.... thousands of acres under 6" of water, even more in the low-lying areas.

In all, there are 28 yards of concrete in the foundation. About 11 yards is in the 4" thick slab, the other 17 is in the beams.

I'll be wrecking off forms tomorrow.

Thank you for the detailed response. Good luck with the rest of the construction!

[Gary S]

Gary, How cool is this. I hope you realize that you are making a lot of people here very envious.
What a wonderful way to be able to kick start your hobby, with every mans' dream of a dedicated train room..nay house.
I look forward to be able to follow you in the times ahead as you rebuild your empire.

As I mentioned, the 2 car garage is still used for cars... and it was impossible to keep the bugs out. Spiders and dirt dobbers for the most part. After all the benchwork was complete with track and ballast finished, it dawned on me that the scenery would be a spider haven and I would have serious issues with keeping things clean. So, the layout was put on hold.

I had been thinking of a dedicated train room ever since. Finally I pulled the trigger. I'm glad to be part of The Gauge and that I am able to share.

[Gary S]

Again, I thank everyone for the responses and the welcome. It is good to hear from all the folks I remember from the old Gauge and from Zealot.

It is raining today, so I am not wrecking off the forms. I may do a little box car project instead. But first I need to clean up my workbench.

[nomad]

Yeah, I expanded and took over 3/4 of a 24x24 garage. Then I ran into the same problems you have. Plus temps have been getting below 30 all ready. And now I can't move the layout back in the house, so I have turned to virtual railroading.
Loren

[Gary S]

Yeah, I expanded and took over 3/4 of a 24x24 garage. Then I ran into the same problems you have. Plus temps have been getting below 30 all ready. And now I can't move the layout back in the house, so I have turned to virtual railroading.

So you will be a summer model railroader?

[Gary S]

Even though it was sloppy muddy out there, I did get the forms wrecked off today. It had been raining all day Friday, finally stopped this morning. Still damp and dreary out, but at least it wasn't 100 degrees in the shade. It was actually very comfortable.

The yard is a slop hole where they ran the bobcat all over the place. And I have a ton of dirt to spread around the foundation. I really should be doing that right now, but it is just sooooo muddy.