I've been absent from the forum for a bit because I've been digging holes in my driveway.
Living in Austin, the sun can be brutal year round and there are occasional hail storms that cause major damage. Last year the BMW dealer in San Antonio had several hundred cars damaged in a major hail storm. It was a sight to see but we didn't take the opportunity to pick up any bargains.
Anyway, I've bought a large metal carport from a Canadian company and had a local engineer draw up plans for the footings. I feel that the seller should be been a bit more forthcoming about just what was needed to keep a carport of that size anchored, but having paid for and received the carport, I don't have many options except to proceed.
There are 10 posts, and in a 95 mile an hour wind, each one could have an upward pull of 2500 pounds and so needs a footer that's 3' 3'' on a side, 15" thick sunk to a depth of 4'. The post supports are 12" columns all with #4 rebar. So, since I am putting this next to the house, that means I had to jackhammer 3'x3' holes in the concrete driveway and then dig a 4' deep hole. All that needs about 15,000 pounds of concrete mix which is now sitting in my garage.
You may wonder why I don't hire this work out. Good question. I called three foundation companies who came to look at the project. Only one bothered to give me an estimate and that was for 2 1/2 times the cost of the carport itself. Or to put it another way, almost the price of the new Honda CRV sitting in the driveway waiting for its carport cover. There's a continuing construction boom in Austin and it's hard to find contractors at any price, so they get to charge what they want.
So, being a handy sort of fellow, I grabbed a shovel. I hope to be done in a few weeks with the foundations. I've got four footings poured so far. Then the assembly of the carport should be pretty straightforward. Kinda like an Erector Set, if you remember those. All bolted together. Fun!
Then I'll be back to thinking about E9 restoration....
Living in Austin, the sun can be brutal year round and there are occasional hail storms that cause major damage. Last year the BMW dealer in San Antonio had several hundred cars damaged in a major hail storm. It was a sight to see but we didn't take the opportunity to pick up any bargains.
Anyway, I've bought a large metal carport from a Canadian company and had a local engineer draw up plans for the footings. I feel that the seller should be been a bit more forthcoming about just what was needed to keep a carport of that size anchored, but having paid for and received the carport, I don't have many options except to proceed.
There are 10 posts, and in a 95 mile an hour wind, each one could have an upward pull of 2500 pounds and so needs a footer that's 3' 3'' on a side, 15" thick sunk to a depth of 4'. The post supports are 12" columns all with #4 rebar. So, since I am putting this next to the house, that means I had to jackhammer 3'x3' holes in the concrete driveway and then dig a 4' deep hole. All that needs about 15,000 pounds of concrete mix which is now sitting in my garage.
You may wonder why I don't hire this work out. Good question. I called three foundation companies who came to look at the project. Only one bothered to give me an estimate and that was for 2 1/2 times the cost of the carport itself. Or to put it another way, almost the price of the new Honda CRV sitting in the driveway waiting for its carport cover. There's a continuing construction boom in Austin and it's hard to find contractors at any price, so they get to charge what they want.
So, being a handy sort of fellow, I grabbed a shovel. I hope to be done in a few weeks with the foundations. I've got four footings poured so far. Then the assembly of the carport should be pretty straightforward. Kinda like an Erector Set, if you remember those. All bolted together. Fun!
Then I'll be back to thinking about E9 restoration....