HOW TO BUILD and POUR a TIMBER FRAME CONCRETE FOUNDATION for a Barndo, Pole Barn, Garage, or House

Good morning everybody. Welcome to Timber Town. And yep, we are up on the site where we actually are getting ready to put in the forms for all of the concrete. Doug got his work done on time. I made a connection about getting this poured next week, but this, guys, you can see is a big giant frame. And we're actually going to have to pour this on three different sections just because the size of it, the crews that we can get to actually finish this right. But we're going to pour one monolithic pour. We're not going to dig footings and put rebar. We're already two foot underground. So we are going to build a thick, thick pad throughout this whole area right here. So this is really the layout of the entire barn. Jason and I are going to be putting in the forms of all the wood that we cut yesterday to build the forms actually for the center section, which is what we're going to pour first. So we'll show you as you go along and how we string and square this out. This is big. It is big. We said that at the same time I'm looking. It's big. It's a long way to walk over to get these giant two by 12. I want to get my steps in today. You are. All right, guys. OK, guys, we've got all of the two by 12 that Jason and I just cut here yesterday. Yeah, they're wet. They're heavy. But this is actually the size frame that we're putting together. And all we're doing is putting together a level and square two by 12 frame. Now, it would have been a little bit easier, but naturally I had to keep checking what's up. But my buddy Doug talked about this being the curvature of the earth. And I just found where the curvature starts. So this side is going to be a hair bit thicker. We're going to block it up. I'll show you what it's at. I'm not going to care. My footings, my blocks will be three or four inch thicker, but it gives me something to rib on him about. So there we go, guys. Really, what we're going to do is we got our string line perfectly set up. We've already marked our centers, marked where we need to be. We're just going to get our frame up. We're going to work on the back, get it all completely level, work side to side, get us a square box. That's really what it is. Other than being huge, it's not really that hard of a project. And this isn't the whole, this is just the center of the building. This is the center. Yeah. So on the second pores, I've got another wing that's going to go here and another wing that's on the outside of it. So this is a big building. This is all going to be flat concrete. The two outsides are actually more like carport style. So we're going to have to slope for the drainage. But this is the interior of it, the shop and whatever we decide to make of it. But we're going to be working in this bad boy. Looking at this now, look at the size of it. We can put in a giant frame in here, my friend. That's what I'm excited about. Not standing in the rain. It's going to be cold, though. There's going to be no walls. So it's all right. I'll take a roof. We'll take the roof. All right. We'll follow along as we get it up. We'll show you how it looks, how we square it. All right, here we got some gravel coming in way up the big hills and roads. We got, we got Dan over here. We're going to go around the edge and dig some turn downs for our foundation, our slab. All right. We've got some big gravel coming in and it's you've seen the roads. It's a quite a feat, but these guys are undaunted, man. They come up here. What do you say? 50,000 pounds of 20 tons. It's it's a big load. Let it go. I love it. Pretty cool. There you go. Even after the rain. Hi, folks. Here we are. We're up on the garage site up where the over here is going to be the lodge. This is the garage, which we've been showing you. And now we got Dan in here. We've actually been putting in all our forms for our slab. We've got a bunch of gravel coming in. Dan's now going around and digging out the outside of the trench so that we have our turn down for our slab. So we're going to go a little deeper, obviously, along the edges. So, yeah, it's coming along. We're making good progress. It's a beautiful day out here in Tennessee and Timbertown. There's one way to flatten things out for your concrete pour. Dan's been digging in here real close to the wall to flatten this down a little bit. A little compacting going on from the ever handy Bobcat. All right. Dan's at it here, taking our gravel and starting to level it out. We got more gravel coming, but going to start scooping this around and start leveling and moving quick on the slab here, folks. This is exciting stuff. Moving and grooving. I'm glad I don't have to shovel all this stuff. All right. Here we are up here in the evening. Dan's got this laid out pretty nice, looking really good. Looking nice and flat up here, getting smoothed out. Just be a little touch up here and there. Dan's stomping down or turning down here on the gravel. Pretty cool. Working out good. A little tender touch there. Look at that. Good stuff, folks. Looking really good. We'll get back to it. All right. Here we go, guys. This is day two. We're up here. We got the forms in place and Dan's done a great job of getting everything kind of pre-leveled. We've got some tweaking we have to do and then now comes rebar and all that and getting ready for concrete. This is going to be the first stage. So we got Jason working on shoring up the foundation for the pour. Everything is square. Everything is level. We've actually gotten all the grade flattened out and we are working on our footings over here. So this is going to be one single pour. This is just going to be one massive chunk of concrete. Now we're building it more like a commercial building, but it's going to be thick. We're pouring a six inch slab over the top of this and some of these footings are 20 inches deep. So that's going to be strong enough to hold up any timber frame. We're doing a little bit of the plumbing work. We're going to try to get this wrapped up, flattened out, and get this project under being poured. All right. We've got all the plumbing in. Jay's got all of the bracing done for the foundation pour so that we don't have a blowout right there. He's just finishing up the last end. But there we go. We have to put the final grade on this thing, throw some steel onto it, and I guess wait for the concrete finishing, guys. Or guys. Who knows? I hope somebody comes. But there we go. We've made quite a bit of progress. It's a big pour. It's happening, Jay. I'm coming for the little checkout today. I'm down here working on the slab. He comes back. Back up on the hill and Dougie is now working on the utility road that we need. So, yep. We're up here getting ready to pour. The inspector thought I was absolutely crazy pouring that thick of a footing to this building. Cracking some branches. We were down that road the other day. Piece of cake. 1500 feet. Multitasking. Multitasking. Getting the slab ready. Okay, guys. We're getting ready to pour right now. We have the termite treating company in getting our slab prepped, bug proof, so that our timber frame lasts forever. So, this is just the last step before we get to pour. Over here, this is the boss. You see hands in his pockets. Yep. That's how it goes. This is the worker right there pumping it on. Pump that stuff on, Terry. Pump it on. Yep. You guys are seeing it. First casualty of the job site. Smash toolbox. Not that big a deal. But yeah, lots of breaks coming up this hill. Not a pretty sight. We're getting back after it. We're going to pour this pad one way or another. Okay. Yeah, guys. It's cement pouring day. And believe it or not, it's not just two guys today. We got our buddies coming that are actually going to pour and finish the concrete for us. Jason and I finished all of the metal work, got everything prepped, forms all ready. I'm just happy to see these guys here today. So, there you go. Take a look at what you got going on. All the steel that we put in. We put in wire mesh. This is going to be a six inch thick pour. Right now, what they're doing is actually just setting up the grade stakes to make sure that everything is going to stay flat, level. We're trying to stay out of their way because they don't come by very much. But look, tons of steel, tons of footing. Here, by the end of the day, this thing will be all poured out. I feel like we did a pretty good job. I think we did a great job, buddy. I even sent the extra wire picture to the inspector, who already thinks I'm crazy. We're kind of robust here. That's good, though. It's a big pad. It's a big pad, and that's only part of it. I don't know. That ground seems pretty hard. Must have been two guys who put that pad together. Did it all without a shovel or a rake. Well, Jay used a shovel and a rake. Yeah, you didn't use a shovel or a rake. I moved it around with the machine a little bit. That's why I don't know how to use the machine. I have to use the shovel. Listen, you're the Tukahatchee driver. You notice I don't get in that little roly-poly thing. Excavator's got a whole other level of movement. I'm just trying to get the lumber off the truck, buddy. Without tipping it. Well, the good part about it, with the trucks being late, the sun will probably be out of the little hole there. I think by 11, we got a lot more shade already by 11. Buddy, we put it in one inch at a time. We compact it one inch, compact it. I'm actually feeling happy that you can't get that three-eighths bar in there until you hit that clay right there. Here we go. First truck getting poured. It's Tennessee. We were supposed to start at 10 o'clock. It's 3 p.m. So yeah, we're going to be out here all night with lights finishing this, but it's getting poured now. Circle that one. If you want to get in the state, like right there it is. Strike man will know where to go. Gotta trust your strike man. Tuck him to death, or they keep it too high. It looks like you got a nice flow going. Thanks for the tip, Brian. Okay, I got the tip done. There's always a way. The right way. What am I on now? In the night. Dan, tell us what's going on. What is going on? It is 11 o'clock at night, and we are still here. Just like everything in Tennessee. Yeah, our mud came five hours late. So here we are power traveling in the middle of the night. I got every machine we've got out here running, and I gotta tell you, Jay and I are tired. We've been out here for 14 hours. Most of it standing around doing nothing, waiting, but here we go. We don't do. It was more tiring doing nothing. We could have caught wood while we were waiting, but thank God trucks came in. My boy's gonna be here for another few hours. We got life until we leave. Yep, still after it, Jay. I figure when we get here in the morning, he'll still be doing the same thing. We'll get some video in the daylight. Well, here it is. Good morning. Hard to tell exactly. It looks really good to me, but I mean, you have to get down and inspect it, I'm sure, but there it is. All right, guys. Main pad is all poured. We got that done last week. Jason and I put up the forms. We got Brian. We got Brian here today pouring. What, what? All right, we only have one truck stuck in the mud. Yeah, always something. So we had a pretty bad brainstorm here last night. We almost canceled the pour, but it looks like he's gonna go both sides. We do have one truck already down. Before I even got here. Surprised me early. I was waiting for another big delay. About first ten's down. Next truck's on the way. My boy here is giving a nice edge finish to it. All right, we're getting ready for the next pour. I'm actually gonna spread out some gavel, make out this road so this truck doesn't get stuck in the next round. Had a little hiccup today. Apparently the truck down below, the cement truck coming up the hill blew a driveshaft, so they were able to get this one side done. And now if you see over here, Dan's actually in the Takahuchi, and he's coming up bucket at a time. The truck's stuck down on the hill, and he's bringing up one bucket at a time so these guys can fill this in. So we're gonna have to come back tomorrow, I guess, and finish up this other section when the trucks can get up here. Brian, it just can't be easy, can it? I mean, what the hell? No, no, I mean, keeps things interesting. Tricky hill. All right, so we got Dan coming in at the Takahuchi. It's one bucket at a time, and I think they're pretty small buckets just because this stuff is so heavy. So he's coming in one bucket at a time. Still has a good attitude today, though. He's still smiling. Everybody smile. Learn how to do concrete. 101 good lesson to learn is when you're striking one direction, you bull float the opposite direction so you get a flatter slab. Because if you strike this way and then you bull float the same way, then you're going to get rollies in your slab, which is what you do not want. So every time you get a chance to hit a different angle as you're bull floating, you always want to do because it's going to get you a flatter slab in the final product. I love it. That's a great tip. Thanks, man. Come on over here. Give us a better idea. Stay in school. Hey, you in the wheelbarrow, get back to class. When you're striking, if you'll stretch out every once in a while and check your grade, that also helps you keep a good flat pad. If you're just striking one spot constantly, you don't know what your elevations is out there. All right, here comes Dan down the hill, coming down one bucket at a time. Come down here and get filled up, turn it around and take it back up and rinse and repeat. Still smiling, Dan. Still smiling. I appreciate that you're still smiling, Dan. We're going on vacation, buddy. It's getting boring. I love it. All right, guys. So here, because the truck's going to have extra in it, we're trying to get as much out of the truck before it has to dump its load because we don't have enough. We're not going to be able to get enough in here with the Takuuchi today, so we're going to have to do the port tomorrow, like we said. So they're going in here and filling in the base of some of the footings, which is great, so we can use some of the material that way. So that's all good. You got to let the concrete harden, and then what you want to do is you got to wet your bristles because if you don't, it won't leave no texture into it. And sometimes you got to scrub a little bit or you'll still see lines. Like see right there, that first view, it's like I didn't even broom. So you got to scrub, forward, scrub, forward, scrub, and then your final stroke, then you just come back real nice and slow, and it gives it a nice, fine texture and a beautiful looking broom. That looks really nice. You're a natural at this. You should start timber framing. You want to be three guys? Yeah, three guys timber framing. That's right, plumbing, electric. Let me ask you a question. When I did meet up with them, they told me somebody was going to meet with me about where the placement of the meter is. Is that you? I think you've been taken care of already. I love being in the middle of the old boys club. Let it be me. And the reason why I'm stopping where I'm stopping is because this pour with way after that pour, there's a line right through there, and this part is extremely wet versus that part you can just about walk on. That's what we call a good old-fashioned cold joint. After every broom, you want to clean your bristles because if not, it'll leave dough balls everywhere. Dough balls is like that right there. All those little balls through there, and if you leave them, most times they'll break off, but there is a chance they could actually bond to the concrete, and it looks nasty later. So dough balls are only good in cooking, not in the... Hey, Dan. Hey, buddy. What's up all the way over there? I know. Believe it or not, it's been inside two weeks, and we're getting the slab done, and Jason and I are going on vacation tomorrow, so it's happening. Actually, tomorrow afternoon, and we'll show you why, but I'm happy to have the whole slab done, and this morning, we were able to get at least one side of a carport area done. As we showed you, we had some concrete issues. We had another problem with that big hill. Hate to say it, but this project's getting started, and yeah, I spent a lot of time wheeling concrete up that hill all day, but you got to do what you got to do. So we really basically... That's what we were able to get poured. The trucks were blocking the road, so we were shut down. So we basically got lucky enough to have at least one where we were going to have a control joint, so we're really all set. Tomorrow morning, these guys are going to come and finish. This project is done. Noontime. Jay and I are out of here, but guys, this is how you can build your own cement pad. I mean, we really did it. I had guys come help us with the finished concrete because this is big. Think about if it's a shed. Small. So I'm just showing you in big scale, you can shrink this down to a little chicken coop, and you got to do the same thing. So guys, I really appreciate you watching. I'm super, super excited. We're going to finish the carriage house. I know we got some interior work, but right after the new year, Jay and I are going to be pounding on the mill. Timber framing. So thanks, guys. Thanks for watching. A chicken coop? That would be a nice chicken coop. That would be a nice chicken coop. With a big slab. Monolithic pour for a chicken coop. But I guess you could. Hey, you know, if you guys want to grow big chickens, you know, you got to have cement. You know, Jay, we're always a couple inches thicker than we should be. There's some heavy chickens.