CONCRETE IDEAS

After excavation, the concrete work began. Concrete is composed of Portland cement, gravel, sand, and water. When freshly poured, concrete is wet and plastic. But within hours it begins to solidify, ultimately becoming as hard as rock.

Most people call that process “drying,” but the concrete crew foreman on my job told me that’s not really the best choice of words. Concrete does not simply solidify because excess water has evaporated from the slurry. Instead, the water reacts with the cement in a chemical process known as hydration. The cement absorbs the water, causing it to harden and bond the sand and pebbles together, creating the stone-hard material we know as concrete.

FRAMING THE CONCEPT

Prior to the mid-19th century, building was an art that took many years of apprenticeship to learn. There were few if any building codes. Quality of work was based largely on the personal integrity and craftsmanship of each builder.

For 2,000 years, the most common technique for building with wood was the method called timber framing. Buildings of that era still exist; typically

they are barns and homes with huge wooden beams supporting large open spaces.

In the mid-19th century, building techniques changed. Cheap, factory-produced nails and standardized, “dimensional” lumber from sawmills allowed for a faster, more versatile method of construction called balloon framing.

Invented by Augustine Taylor of Chicago, balloon framing revolutionized building construction. It utilized long, vertical framing members called studs that ran from sill to eave, with intermediate floor structures nailed to them. What used to take a crew of experienced timber framers months to join and raise, could be constructed in a fraction of the time by a competent carpenter and a few helpers.

Over time, balloon framing evolved into the current technique known as platform framing. The Barrage Garage, like most modern buildings, is built by nailing together standard dimensional lumber — 2× 4 trusses holding the roof and 2× 6 studs forming the walls — at code-defined intervals. Then, plywood sheathing is attached to the lumber frame, and the basic structure is complete.

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