Little Stud Barn

Mistakes like this are easily done.

 

From the drawing it looks like the top of the cellcore needs to be level with the top of the foundations, so there may be a fair bit of infill to make up.

31 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

Mistakes like this are easily done.

 

From the drawing it looks like the top of the cellcore needs to be level with the top of the foundations, so there may be a fair bit of infill to make up.

there was, but at least for that we had huge amounts of crushed concrete.
I felt more sorry for hubby having dug it out by hand in the first place.

 

Well done for sharing. 

 

 

More in a couple of months.

 

I suggest you don't leave it that long.

 

Preparing a suspended slab that isn't supported on the structure is a bit of a biggy, and there must be either a lack of clear information or a major misunderstanding.

 

How will the shear links be fixed? Steel fixing isn't easy to do properly, and general builders tend to be a bit casual about it.

 

39 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

there may be a fair bit of infill to make up.

good point.   what is the plan? it presumably only has to be level, not strong.

24 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

Well done for sharing. 

 

 

More in a couple of months.

 

I suggest you don't leave it that long.

 

Preparing a suspended slab that isn't supported on the structure is a bit of a biggy, and there must be either a lack of clear information or a major misunderstanding.

 

How will the shear links be fixed? Steel fixing isn't easy to do properly, and general builders tend to be a bit casual about it.

 

good point.   what is the plan? it presumably only has to be level, not strong.

First time DIY self building and my fault to be honest.  Hubby knows how to build, but not really how to read plans, he's used to be told, do this, do that and then do the other.

Plans are down to me and I've been so busy at work that I didn't stop long enough to even think.  Not again, I've spent this time going over everything again to check, double check and then do it again.

This wall was also supposed to be under-pinned, but when we took out the floor as per the plans the walls turned out to not be attached to the existing foundation and after one fell down it became clear that this bit of the build needed to be done from scratch.

This also necessitated involving the LPA as the existing plans were for single skin and EWI not a cavity wall, which is why there wasn't enough bearing space.

 

The other option given us by SE was to put in secondary foundation inside what we had poured, but then that had to be attached with horizontal rebar and vertical mesh as well as the existing mesh.  So, knocking down the cavity wall up to damp proof was a much easier option.

The shear links are attached with metal ties, bit like cable ties, but metal in the middle of each mesh, so that side is 100mm so shear links are also 100mm.

There are also 'foam' expansion sheets around the wall at 20mm thick to allow for any movement of the slab / mesh.

 

Barn conversions are definitely much more tricky than new builds.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by LSB

Have you steel bar spacers  for supporting the top layer of mesh off the bottom one, and tying them together?

 

All the work has to be top class. You get away with a lot if it is ground bearing, but this is a proper structural slab and will need care.

eg when the concrete goes in it must be consolidated (I'd say hire a vibrating poker).  and no added water.

 

 

keep the pictures coming. Can we see the whole of your slab design drawings?

 

17 minutes ago, LSB said:

Barn conversions are definitely much more tricky than new builds.

That's why professional builders seldom do them as developers, and self builders can buy them.

14 hours ago, saveasteading said:

Have you steel bar spacers  for supporting the top layer of mesh off the bottom one, and tying them together?

 

All the work has to be top class. You get away with a lot if it is ground bearing, but this is a proper structural slab and will need care.

eg when the concrete goes in it must be consolidated (I'd say hire a vibrating poker).  and no added water.

 

 

keep the pictures coming. Can we see the whole of your slab design drawings?

 

That's why professional builders seldom do them as developers, and self builders can buy them.

I don't have the updated whole slab drawings, our SE just sent us through what I've posted, a bit bigger, but no more details.

The rest was left as the original without the shear links.

You are right about the spacers, we do have those, just didn't mention.

 

Thanks re the vibration, we will do that and not add any water.

 

The barn is on our land which we've owned for 30+ years and was used for storage of tractors, hay etc. so was never on the open market

There are times when I wish we hadn't bothered 🙂

 

 

 

If you have any more floors like this to do, then there are other possible constructions that will be more user- friendly.

 

On the bright side. The land was free and you've got PP.

You are willing to learn.

The concrete hadn't gone in.

 

Sharing more on here will help, but make your blog less interesting.

2 hours ago, saveasteading said:

If you have any more floors like this to do, then there are other possible constructions that will be more user- friendly.

 

On the bright side. The land was free and you've got PP.

You are willing to learn.

The concrete hadn't gone in.

 

Sharing more on here will help, but make your blog less interesting.

the rest of the floors aren't like this, this bit of the barn was like an 'add-on' and is an independent structure with its own roof.

We are building this first to then use as storage as the rest of the barn is where we store things at the moment.

thanks for your help