Ricky's Audio Video Barn Build Project

[Owen Smith]

Concrete does not set in freezing conditions, my dad proved this the hard way once. You just end up with a crumbly mess. I assume your contractors know how to deal with this, there are probably additives you can use.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Pour Pour Pitiful Me !
they poured the walls Friday in the snowstorm !! Brave Soldiers !! The forms will come off on Monday.

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AH, WILDERNESS!

 

[cbmmm3]

Not to mention, permits with building inspectors will happen.
This build is not being done without permits, guaranteed.

What you are referring to is electrical rough in and must be signed off. Then insulation R-13 minimum in walls, once those two inspections are completed then it is ok to drywall.
Trust me Ricky knows all this.

list of permits / inspections
Homeowners Assoc ( private development ) have to approve the house via Architectual Committee
County Health Dept has to set and approve Well and Septic and issue Permit
A Driveway Permit is required - but not here as it is a private road
Building Permit x 2 due to barn
Wall Inspection once cement forms are removed
HVAC / Plumbing / Electrical Permits
Rough In Inspection of framing / Elec / HVAC / plumbing
Final Inspection of HVAC / Plumbing and Electrical
Final - or Occupancy - Permit

 

[4-earredwonder]

list of permits / inspections
Homeowners Assoc ( private development ) have to approve the house via Architectual Committee
County Health Dept has to set and approve Well and Septic and issue Permit
A Driveway Permit is required - but not here as it is a private road
Building Permit x 2 due to barn
Wall Inspection once cement forms are removed
HVAC / Plumbing / Electrical Permits
Rough In Inspection of framing / Elec / HVAC / plumbing
Final Inspection of HVAC / Plumbing and Electrical
Final - or Occupancy - Permit

So I suppose you'll have NO time to order a boatload of Blu spec, SHM nor MQA discs from CDJapan! HORRORS!

 

[GOS]

Concrete does not set in freezing conditions, my dad proved this the hard way once. You just end up with a crumbly mess. I assume your contractors know how to deal with this, there are probably additives you can use.

If they didn't they wouldn't be in business.

 

[mandrix]

Concrete does not set in freezing conditions, my dad proved this the hard way once. You just end up with a crumbly mess. I assume your contractors know how to deal with this, there are probably additives you can use.

Yes there are. Now your average DIY guy pouring a small amount self mixed may or may not know this. These days is more of a science, which is good for the owner and good for the contractor as well. No one wants a bunch of cracked concrete, but even the best jobs will develop cracks sometimes, and the larger the area the more likely (my experience is with foundation floors, not vertical pours).

 

[ar surround]

Concrete does not set in freezing conditions, my dad proved this the hard way once. You just end up with a crumbly mess. I assume your contractors know how to deal with this, there are probably additives you can use.

Yes there are. Now your average DIY guy pouring a small amount self mixed may or may not know this. These days is more of a science, which is good for the owner and good for the contractor as well. No one wants a bunch of cracked concrete, but even the best jobs will develop cracks sometimes, and the larger the area the more likely (my experience is with foundation floors, not vertical pours).

It's called Cold Weather Concrete. Done all the time, otherwise concrete contractors would be working as ski instructors during the winter instead.

 

[mandrix]

It's called Cold Weather Concrete. Done all the time, otherwise concrete contractors would be working as ski instructors during the winter instead.

Yes Sir, I know. We don't have a great need for it down here.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

A concrete pro once told me his concrete floors were guaranteed to crack. The trick is to get them to crack in the right place.

 

[marpow]

Pour Pour Pitiful Me !
they poured the walls Friday in the snowstorm !! Brave Soldiers !! The forms will come off on Monday.

View attachment 103786View attachment 103787View attachment 103788View attachment 103789

Wow, Rickie, movin' fast. Looks like you have a great contractor.

 

[MidiMagic]

Every time I've tried to use pre-power I get mains hum pickup on the pre to power links. I've given up trying to sort it out after various experiments. Better earthing may or may not help, but most of the wiring is buried behind dry wall (plaster board as we call it) stuck to solid walls (breeze blocks) so it would be a huge amount of work to do anything with it. The sub station less than 10 metres away may not be helping. Our cable in the walls is called flat twin and earth which from what I've seen is very similar to Romex.

But yes I agree good screening and earthing of mains is a good thing.

You might have a ground loop - too many connections to ground.

How ground loops are created:

A. The components have 2-wire cords and power transformers, so the signal is not referenced to power line ground at all.

B. Using safety grounds in both power cords causes two different ground paths. A hum source can induce a large current in the very low impedance loop of the ground wires. This makes a hum due to the difference between the component grounds caused by the loop current.

DO NOT REMOVE THE SAFETY GROUND PIN FROM A POWER CORD to fix a ground loop.

C. Inserting a low resistance in the ground lead of a signal cable can stop most of the ground loop current. The hum goes away. I usually use 5 or 10 ohms.

D. Opening the shield at one end of the cable run breaks the ground loop. But unplugging the power to the source component will cause a LOUD hum in the destination component.

E. An isolation transformer breaks the ground loop. These are sold as ground loop breakers.; But don't place the isolation transformer next to a wall wart or the power transformer inside a component, or IT will pick up the field from the power transformer. A direct box has an isolation transformer.

Another choice is to use a balanced line. Hum pickup on one wire is subtracted from hum pickup on the other wire. Usually the shield is connected at only one end.

 

[MidiMagic]

Midimagic's room is what I was referring to, sounds like it could be a remodel.

I am not planning to do anything to the house itself. That mistake I made in the current house. I put all the speaker and TV wiring in the walls.

That TV wiring is now obsolete because the government changed the TV system.
One of the speaker lines has a break in one lead and no longer works.
Also, there are no wires installed that could be used for Atmos.
I built it in 1993 when the only 3-D audio was a short-lived version of Dolby Stereo that used SQ RB modulation for a height channel.

In the US, these are called class 2 wiring, and normally do not require government approval to be run. They must be kept certain distances away from heat sources and power wiring.

I want to use cable trays, so I can add and replace audio wiring as I need to. I got the idea from the labs I was the engineer for. We used to run new cables in the trays for new experiments all the time.

I have pulled wires in conduit. It is not a fun job. The hardest part is trying to add a new cable to an existing conduit with wires already in it.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

I am not planning to do anything to the house itself. That mistake I made in the current house. I put all the speaker and TV wiring in the walls.

That TV wiring is now obsolete because the government changed the TV system.
One of the speaker lines has a break in one lead and no longer works.
Also, there are no wires installed that could be used for Atmos.
I built it in 1993 when the only 3-D audio was a short-lived version of Dolby Stereo that used SQ RB modulation for a height channel.

In the US, these are called class 2 wiring, and normally do not require government approval to be run. They must be kept certain distances away from heat sources and power wiring.

I want to use cable trays, so I can add and replace audio wiring as I need to. I got the idea from the labs I was the engineer for. We used to run new cables in the trays for new experiments

Deleted.

 

[Owen Smith]

You might have a ground loop - too many connections to ground.

D. Opening the shield at one end of the cable run breaks the ground loop. But unplugging the power to the source component will cause a LOUD hum in the destination component.

I tried opening the shield on entry to the power amp, it made no difference.

These days life is made easier by many amps not having a ground connection to the mains.

 

[cbmmm3]

Wow, Rickie, movin' fast. Looks like you have a great contractor.

the general contractor is a complete ass. Jerk. trust me

I am the GC on this. Ive built a lot of homes over the years but this is only the second time Ive built one for me and Mrs cbmmm3

side note - lookie - its a 4:20 post !! Doobie bro, my 4200 post !! lol

 

[mandrix]

the general contractor is a complete ass. Jerk. trust me

I am the GC on this. Ive built a lot of homes over the years but this is only the second time Ive built one for me and Mrs cbmmm3

side note - lookie - its a 4:20 post !! Doobie bro, my 4200 post !! lol

Well at least you know who's ass to kick when things don't go as expected!

 

[ar surround]

the general contractor is a complete ass. Jerk. trust me

Paraphrased dialog from a radio show some years ago:

Caller: "I tried to reason with the builder..."
(Gets cut off by the radio show host.)
Host: "You can't reason with him! He's crazy! That's why he's a builder."

I'll never forget that sequence.

 

[Owen Smith]

I want to use cable trays, so I can add and replace audio wiring as I need to. I got the idea from the labs I was the engineer for. We used to run new cables in the trays for new experiments all the time.

Cable trays don't look good in a domestic environment, and they collect dust like crazy.

I have pulled wires in conduit. It is not a fun job. The hardest part is trying to add a new cable to an existing conduit with wires already in it.

Did you use a lubricant like Hellermans? It needs to be something that doesn't degrade the cable sheath.

 

[audiomaster]

Well then today you are about to find out how good your concrete crew is. When they pull the forms, there will be several hundred "wall ties" in the concrete. These are usually flat bars that hold the forms spacing. They will knock them off with a hammer or pliers. That's fine. But if they are good, they will pick up every knocked off tab and remove from the foundation. If not, they will just bury them in the back fill. But you don't want that rusting metal in your fill.
At 3 days, the walls are still very weak and subject to freezing damage. I wouldn't back fill for at least a week and keep the concrete moist with a hose.
Your land looks flat. I would be sure you have good drainage gravel and pipes around the outside of the walls, and under the floor when they pour that. And I'd rough in a pit for a sump pump below the slab somewhere out of the way.

 

[cbmmm3]

Well then today you are about to find out how good your concrete crew is. When they pull the forms, there will be several hundred "wall ties" in the concrete. These are usually flat bars that hold the forms spacing. They will knock them off with a hammer or pliers. That's fine. But if they are good, they will pick up every knocked off tab and remove from the foundation. If not, they will just bury them in the back fill. But you don't want that rusting metal in your fill.
At 3 days, the walls are still very weak and subject to freezing damage. I wouldn't back fill for at least a week and keep the concrete moist with a hose.
Your land looks flat. I would be sure you have good drainage gravel and pipes around the outside of the walls, and under the floor when they pour that. And I'd rough in a pit for a sump pump below the slab somewhere out of the way.

a ha ---fellow GC ?
I let my walls set 2 weeks before backfill. The walls will be moistened for cure by Mom N as we have rain tonite, tomorrow aft, wed morn, fri nite.
I sump crock every house . Footing and foundation drain every house. EVERY HOUSE. No if ands or buts. Pea stone every ground level opening.
I adhere to the 'over engineer' build process. Adds cost but also adds piece of mind