St. Joseph Catholic Church
Posted by texasdomes on January 11, 2008
One of Monolithic’s current projects is the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Commerce, Texas. Only for the last few years have we been building domes with block stem walls, and we really like the way they look. We are about two thirds of the way done now, and we expect to be done with the rest of it by the middle of this week.
We started with a 2′ x 18” footing. Pouring the footing was like any other, but installing the uprights took more care. We had to really try hard to get the uprights spaced correctly so they would fit into the cores. Also, pouring the footing as level as possible is important, since the first courses depend on it. 
We spent a long time getting the first course laid so that the rest would fly up. We hired masons to lay the block out, and our men would install the rebar and fill the cores with concrete. The first course we used just a regular 8″ x 16″ knock out block. We bought the knock out blocks because we figured on placing them upside down so that we could move the uprights into the right core. The only problem with that plan was that the masons said that it is against the code to put knock out blocks upside down, so that bombed.
Inside the cores, we put steel every 4 feet horizontal and vertical. The vertical steel was put in the cores after they we filled. Every 4′ high (six courses) we used knock out blocks to put horizontal steel. We filled the cores with our standard eight sack shotcrete mix, and pumped it with our GHP 2500. The next step, that we start this week, will be to form and either pour, or spray the top ring beam. The engineering specs have a 18″ x 10″ ring beam of concrete on top of the brick wall. And I will try to post more pictures sometime this next week.
Be sure to click on the pictures to go to the picture gallery.
January 21, 2008 at 7:37 pm
What are the ‘uprights’ referred to in this post?
It is interesting to note that your footing is also your foundation wall, and almost at ground hieght. Up here in Southern Ontario our footings would be approximately the same size as yours, but the top of the footing would be about 4 feet below grade. The advantage there is that it gives us about 5 - 6 courses to get the level bang on before reaching finish grade. Like shat I’m reading so far, keep it up!
January 22, 2008 at 3:21 am
The ‘uprights’ are the pieces of rebar that come out of the footing concrete and will be poured into the wall. The uprights help connect the footing to the wall.
February 4, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Mike,
I am curious. Seems like a very shallow footing. Did you have to get a geo-tech report that takes into account the expansive soil found in the Commerce area? Foundation cracking is quite common in the region.
February 4, 2008 at 11:59 pm
This particular job did have a soil test, and the architects specified that we take out a 4′ deep, 4′ wide chunk of dirt out from under the footing area and replace it with select fill. The select fill had to have a specific moisture content, and is compacted in 6 inch lifts.
Thanks for the comment.
February 5, 2008 at 4:45 pm
What size rebar is used in the dome? Are hangers for suspended ceiling attached to rebar? When spraying cement on ceiling, how do they know when the proper thickness is achieved? Is the concret spryed on the ceiling mixed differently from regular concrete?
Howard
February 5, 2008 at 7:29 pm
What size rebar is used? This dome uses #4 and #6 bars. The wall has two number 4 bars 4′ apart both ways. The Ring beam, the beam poured on top of the wall, has 5 #6 bars. The Dome will have #6 bars 6″ on center horizontally for about 6′ up the dome then #4 at 18″ on center for the rest.
Are hangers for suspended ceiling attached to rebar? No, they are installed after the concrete is sprayed, with concrete screw anchors. They are done this way so that they can be more accurately installed.
When spraying cement on ceiling, how do they know when the proper thickness is achieved? In some situations we use pieces of rebar tied in to help measure thickness, but these domes are too thin. Its actually hard for us not to put too much concrete on. By the time that we cover the rebar and get the concrete smooth, we have at least 2.5 to 3 inches
Is the concrete spryed on the ceiling mixed differently from regular concrete? Standard concrete is usually rated at 3000 psi. The concrete that we use rates out at about 5 to 6 thousand psi. The differences are that we use smaller aggregate than standard concrete, and a little more cement. For more specific information on Mix Designs, click here.
Thanks for the comment!