Carl Simmons, the Charleston County Building Inspections Director, was gracious enough to meet Studio V at the shop today to look over our contruction so we can obtain our building permit on Sweetgrass’ site. After completing the overview of our project and flipping through our CD’s, we showed Carl around the shop to show our different (and sometimes unique) methods of construction and how the GAP shed will be put together once we transfer it on site.
The two main components we had to sell to the inspector were the roof to beam connections and the method of laying foundations. The walls supporting the beams have steel plates nestled in them where the steel extends beyond the top of the walls. The beams then were made to sandwich plywood sheets, leaving spaces for the steel plates to fit into. Lag bolts will then be used for the connection joints. Once the beams are in place, then the rafters are connected to the beams using steel angles.
The foundations were crafted after a model we have been studing recently. They are essentially rectangular concrete molds with four tubular holes driven at an angle through the concrete mold. Once we transport the molds to the site, we will sink the molds down into the ground about 10 inches, allowing for around 3 inches to rest above the ground. Then we will drive four steel pipes into the tubular molds and the ground below. These unique concrete foundations essentially allow for zero uplift to occur and also will naturally transfer the weight of the shed into the ground. Also, this allows for the least amount of scarring on the land!
Tomorrow we will continue to build, though we are nearing the end of off-site construction. We still have sink and rail systems we are still configuring, but the time has come to resolve our designs and put our concepts into action. Working on-site is just two days away, and we are almost ready for the transition!