The pads are precast; I did the math on doing a pour, to include borrowing a friend's cement mixer, and I'm ahead about $600 (you read that right)to go into town and pick 'em up and yank 'em off on my end with a Bobcat. I'm 47 miles from the nearest cement truck, so you can bet I'm not calling them unless it's for a monolithic pour.

Eddy, this is called pad and post construction. The hole is backfilled 4 feet, and compacted to 1 ft above grade. Our frost line here is 6 ft; without snow it's more like 8 ft. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" /> A lot of Lower 48 construction goes by the wayside up here.

After the pads/ties are cinched together, my other hardware will be set up for leveling from time to time. I don't hit gravel in this particular spot until 8 ft. That's a LOT of dirt work for only a 28 x 36 pad.

Am leaning towards wedge anchors; with the RR ties, I'll be using threaded rod to double-nut them in. Thanks for the countersink part; was considering that too. I'm working with 5/8" stock, as we've got a seismic consideration for this. I'll have to ask the industrial hardware guys for sure about my anchor choice before I go layin' out coin. Spent one day running around lining up hardware last week.

I've got dust masks and eye gear. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> Am debating about gel gloves, but it's a comparatively small job. Bits will be new; hopefully the next project comes in the form of a GARAGE.

Thanks also for the extension cord tip. IIRC, most of what these guys have are Hilti roto hammers. I was looking for amperage on them, but only found the wattage rating. Will be running off a generator on site to smack this stuff together. Mini shop vac will also be on site for cleaning the holes. Guess I'll stop by again and look at my two choice models and google them for specs to see what I need to use.

Thanks guys! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />