Figured I'd start my own thead for the shop project. Get started with some pics of the iron and footings. Enjoy.
It looks like it's going to be Big! " The little Big Dig" (in your wallet ) Now you're on your way to being spoiled! Congratulations and Best wishes. ...when's the beer blast?
Nice footings. Looking for some steel next. Very good work. What cha building? Give us the little details too please, depth, width, etc.. I wish I was there to help. I keep telling myself one day I will build a building for myself, still waiting and figuring on what would meet my desires. Keep up the good work!
If that's a garage, I'm officially envious!:tong
Looking good Shimmy1 ! Steel truss building ?
Yes. Steel truss/frame. 84' x 160' 20' sidewalls. Floor will be 6" thick with rebar 18" on center. Propane boiler for floor heat. South end will have 30' and 24' overhead doors, east side will have 20' overhead, and north end will have 46' highfold hydraulic. It will also have a 15' x 53' lean on the east side for office, bath, utility rooms and full area upstairs for storage. Went with a 15' wide lean so we could have 8' ceilings on both levels of the lean.
The footings themselves are 2' deep, the pits for the pads/piers that the beams anchor to are 3' deep, 6' square. Project is projected to use about 350 yds³ of concrete. Ouch.
I absolutely love it when the concrete guys b**** about driving stakes into my pads. Makes you know you did a good job. The one guy was trying to dig out a little along the form to get a screw gun down in to fasten the form to the stakes. He was almost ready to go get a bar to chip loose the fill. Should be packed hard enough. I know they say 3 passes, but we went over it 4 different directions with the loaded scraper. They have to use an 8 pound hammer to drive the stakes. And, no, it's not still froze.
Yeah Shimmy1 , noticed the pier footings in the picture . That's going to be top notch set up .:thumbsup
Looks good Shimmy,,, but its on the wrong piece of property! My address is........
Yeah, it'll be nice. Our shop now is a 50 x 60. Probably won't know how to deal with the extra room. Well, I'm sure we could work something out. 50% mark-up of course. :naughty
That will probably hinge on what we spend to heat it this next winter. Maybe we'll wish we had only made it 60' x 80'.
Wow, that's going to be nice!!!
Yeah Shimmy1 , if you don't mind me asking what brand of building did you go with ? We looked at a Strat - O - Span model . http://strat-o-span.com/page6.php
That will be interesting to say the least. Have you considered laying out the floor heat so a smaller portion can be heated to a comfortable temperature? I considered dividing up my shop into heated and unheated, and the floor heat could be separated at any point, but a dividing wall just doesn't make sense to me yet. Of course my shop is a SMALL fraction of that area, and it's not even done.
Premier.
Already in the plans. The north 60' of the shop will be one zone, the southwest 30x100 will be another, and the southeast 54x100 will be a third. The potential will be one of those hanging curtains to divide the front (south half) from the north is necessary.
Cool ! Looks to be well built Shimmy1. http://premierbuildings.com/
We originally were going to build a 80' by 125' and have the north 45' cold storage, but after getting some prices for another wall and door, we decided to scrap that plan and just go all in. Most guys we talked to said figure out what you have to have, and add 30%. Well, we needed more storage space in addition to a bigger shop. Last winter we had one tractor sit outside, and another at a buddy's place. Not to mention the grain cart sits outside, and we'd like to keep all the trucks inside. So, here we are. We will put the combine and sprayer in the corner of the new shop, and the space in our other buildings vacated will hold the tractors and the grain cart. With all the trucks, combine, and sprayer in this new one, we will still be able to bring the planter or any tillage tool in, fold it out, and go to work. Adding the lean was kind of a luxury move, but sure will be nice not losing any floor area for office, bath, storage, or anything else.
The only issue I would be concerned about with sharing long term storage space with mechanic/fabrication space is that if you have a fire you could lose everything. The insurance industry says there are 15 fires in working space to every 1 in storage space. Just be careful. A clean shop does not catch fire as easy. Have you talked to your insurance carrier about coverage in a split use building?
Good point. However, everyone around here does it. Maybe not so many combines, but a lot of guys keep the sprayer in the shop so they don't have to winterize it.
Pay close attention to the underfloor insulation, you don't want to lose heat to the ground, avoid the tarp style insulation products unless they can prove that they can provide the r-value they claim(I've yet to see one that does). A wood/corn/other biofuel boiler may make sense depending on your exact needs and circumstances, used oil might as well if you generate a large enough amount, neither are cheap upfront.
im always impressed with the care others put in to excavations. I just did the same job last fall, my trenches looked nothing like that. Thats where experience comes in i guess.
It's getting real now. First pour. Number 1 of 4. Not counting the aprons.
How much pipe did you use for the floor heat? , What size rebar and about how many pieces? It's looking good.
Not sure on the heat pipe. Somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000'. Rebar is all ⅝ and ¾". Going to be close to 1500 sticks.
Keeping it wet. These slabs sure are thirsty when they're new.
Looking good!
Looks like a good start Shimmy1 . I really like the concrete conveyor truck . Looks like he can put the crete where it needs to be with ease .
It can reach 100'. Way more control over the mud with it.
Concrete makes a lot of heat when curing?
A concrete guy I know has trouble sometimes in late fall with deer coming out of woods nearby and laying down on fresh concrete because it is warm.
I said earlier, I wish I was there. That's a lot of pipe and steel, changed my mind glad I am home. Lol. I have been around a lot of buildings for residential type jobs, I have never had a customer do such a big heavy duty slab. I bet your concrete is better than what walmart would get! Awesome! I noticed what looks like a "pipe" type concrete screed, how did that thing work. How are you doing your joints and at what distance?
The screed is a rotary. Has an engine on one end. Is turns against the way you're pulling it. The other end has to have a man holding it back with a rope. Works pretty slick. The joints are just cold joints. The rebar comes out and they just tie the next grid right to it.
Who laid tubing? If I read correctly u have three zones? Never exceed 300 ft per zone
I like it ! Never did see one until you posted the picture on the thread . In my area we see the snorkel type pump truck rigs . I have a 3/4 yard concrete bucket that I use once in awhile with the crane .
Never exceed 300' per run. Each zone has roughly 12-14 runs.
One brand of rotary screed. Never seen one in use but I like the concept. The pipe would be more rigid than a board type and it might cut a little bit of floating?+ They make different profiles for gutters and what not as well. http://www.spinscreed.com/index.php
That's it. Not the same brand, but exactly what they use. The floating issue is the why. As long as that tube is rubbing the form and/or the screed pipe, you're good. Plus, with the gas powerhead, no cords to worry about.
Sorry, 50 % of folks around here dont care for heated floors (the best thing since sliced bread) because even though they were concrete pros they didnt understand the concept and bought 500 foot rolls squeezing out every foot only to end up with heat robbing cold spots there are valves to control this but 300 is it.
Yair . . . Shimmy1 That's a beautiful looking job. Do you blokes pour those floors level or is there a bit of fall for drainage and what tolerance is allowed plus or minus . . . in other words what's theoretically the deepest puddle on the slab? Cheers.
Good question Scrub , Any floor drains Shimmy1 ?
What, In North Dakota? you just open the door and the wind blows any water out. LOL
Yes. There will be 2 in the south end. The "truck" bay will be the west 30' by 100' with a drain, (it will have a 24' door), and the next 40' by 100' has a drain (30' overhead door). There is 2" of slope on the truck drain, and 2½" on the main drain. For those of you paying attention, that leaves 14' of the width. We decided to have the 14' by 100' along the east side poured flat as this side will be where our bench, welding area, iron rack, whatever will be located. That first pour IS level. Reason being is that end is where the 46' highfold door will be, and will be the area used for storage space. After watering that floor about 20 times in the last 3 days, I don't think you could find a puddle more than an ⅛" deep. Pretty fine job by the mud guys.
Yair . . . Gotcha Shimmy1 That's pretty darn impressive, those blokes know their bickies. Cheers.
Couple more.
Took a short little video of the roller screed today. https://youtu.be/p6kvpBr0u_I
That was the last pour for the main pad. Here are some more pics.
And a few more.
Looks like they are doing a dandy job on the slabs. Thanks for posting.
Looks great so far, gee with pictures, this is going to be a great thread. What's the roof pitch going to be?
I want to say 2-12, but not 100% sure. I'm guessing whatever the standard pitch is for steel buildings.
Getting the plumbing in the dirt. Lean will be poured on Wednesday.
Subscribed! Looks like one heck of a project. I like it
Building is going up. They say 3 weeks. I say, good luck with that. But, they did this in one day. Should have the skeleton done tomorrow.
Awesomeness .....with a heated floor!
Nice to see the framework going up . Looks good !
So I thought about starting a new thread for this question, but I'll just keep it here. The guys building the shop are complaining about our concrete guys. Seems that (according to them) the anchor bolts are a little off. The center 2 piers are about 2" too narrow the rest are around 1-1½" narrow. And they claim the end wall ended up about an inch short. Solution? They are notching the holes for the side beams, and the end wall they shortened the roof purlins and redrilled holes. Also, since the slab was a little narrow, they insisted on getting some trim to hang down under the wall tin to give the illusion that things are right. That's an extra $1000, and they are claiming an extra $1500-2000 for the other stuff. My question is this. I know things should be nuts-on, but is 1-2 inches on a building that is 84' by 160' really that big of a deal? My concrete guys are livid. They've been calling other building contractors and it seems that our builder might be trying to pinch us a little. Georgia Iron, others, any thoughts?
Yair . . . Dunno Shimmy1 This is a common and potentially expensive problem and standards are different in different places. I would suggest though that two inches is right on the upper limits of what would be acceptable . . . these blokes have patented a system that gives 30mm tolerance . . . . http://www.360bolt.com/ . I have been involved in the layout of quite a few very large structures in the tropics and they all came in at under the tolerance of the stretch of a hundred foot steel tape on a hot day. What I did (if any one is interested) is make up oversized 1/2" base plates and welded them to a couple of feet of (say) six inch pipe or whatever. These were set up dead level and concreted in close to position and (say) 18" below finished level of the slab. From the structural drawings I then made up dummy column bases and drilled them exact for the specified hold downs . . . a quarter inch hole is drilled on centre. Grade 8 bolts the required length are double nutted to the plate and the bolt length adjusted exact. These are then set up on the concreted in base plates and measurements taken to the centre of the quarter hole. When every thing is set up perfect as per the drawings the heads of the bolts are tacked down, dimensions checked again and the welder is let loose to glue them all in place. We always allowed a bit of clearance . . . say 1 3/4" holes in the base plates to drop over 1 1/4" bolts. To allow for the occasional stuff up with levels we could leave nuts on under the base plates to allow for some jacking . . . if this happened a dam was built around the base and spe******ed epoxy product called "chockfast" was poured in to fill the gap. Probably a bit hard to understand my ramblings but that's how I did it in remote areas many years ago after some notable stuff ups. One hundred bucks an hour stand by time on a crane was not funny when nothing bloody fitted and it's 105 degrees in the waterbag and you're absolutely stuffed . . . nothing like picking a portal and it slips into place like a **** in a sock. (big grin) With all the fancy digital stuff these days I would have thought it would be a piece of cake. Cheers.
Shimmy, go do some measurements yourself and compare them to the blueprints, in those prints or templates, there should be a tolerance given. Scrub's also touched on a topic you need to ask about, what was used to do the measuring, a steel tape, vinyl or what, and did all the measurements get done at the same time of day, or were some done when it was cool out verses really hot, makes a difference in heat expansion and stretching and were all the measurements done with the same tape and same person doing the measuring, and it had better be a steel tape, not vinyl. Myself, I certainly wouldn't get in a twist over that little bit off, nobody will ever know except you and the one's doing the work, as for the amount that is being asked for extra, find out what tolerances are allowed first, I'd tend to agree with the concrete guys on this one. You also need to keep in mind if the concrete company used fly ash or not for a filler, and at what percentage, the higher the amount the greater degree of shrink in the concrete, so if there is some cash exchanged, don't leave out the concrete company and their portion. I know there are a lot of people going to drilling holes after the concrete is cured to eliminate this problem, then using the two part epoxy to fill the holes to cement in the bolts, myself I'd tell the building guys to quit whining and put up the building for the agreed amount, but that's me. Last question, is this a code project or just a farm building, does it have to pass an inspection by a certified inspector?
No inspection needed. It's not a commercial building.
I also do not think 2" wil be noticeable on that height building. What ever happened to elongating the hole and install a weld washer on it. (half inch plate with the bolt hole sized correctly and weld it to the plate after setting) It has been approved in the commercial industry for years. If you try to measure a large span with a tape you will need a good quality surveyors tape with the scale and temp gauge on it. A steel tape will grow like crazy in the hot sun. Personally I think your steel erector is trying to pull one on you. If this is not their first building they should expect a column or two to get adjusted. The ASI(American Steel Institute) and the concrete standards(ACI) I think) that specs are written from both have standard tolerances listed in them.
Put a tape measure on it. Still, I'm with you, Give the flexibility of the steel I doubt you'd even notice.
My guess is the concrete is a little off. But it is to be expected. I really don't like lining up bolts it is a major pain and seems to almost be impossible to get right if you want to do a job in a timely manner. I would hold the money and see how the steel guys do. Wait for a good rain and make sure you don't have any leaks, then pay them what is fair. What they are asking for to me, seems not to be to far out of line.
Ok, shop is up. Guys started doors today. I'm going to work some more on the pad. Question for everyone. I'm pondering what slope to put on the surrounding ground away from the shop. I don't want the shop to appear to be on a mountain, but I also want to make sure the water stays off. I know from experience more slope=less puddles.
Pics are terrible, I know. I'll try for some better ones tomorrow.
Shop looks great, wish I had room for one like that! Any prep work I've ever done before paving(not sue if you're paving or not) the asphalt company wants at least 2% pitch or they will not garauntee any puddling. Don't know if this helps but figured I'd pass it along....
Well, it just so happens that when I was figuring it out today, I stepped off 75' and pounded a stake in with the top at 18" below top of concrete. What do you know. It looks kind of steep, but maybe it's what I should do.
Looks great, almost big enough to hold all my toys! A little bigger and I could have an indoor test track for my motorcycles! Forget if you mentioned insulation? I suspect it gets a bit chilly in ND in the winter, that to me is one of the best return on investment items you can have. If done right lasts forever and makes you everyday, hot or cold ones!:yup
Go with as much slope as you can get and not worry about stuff rolling away, I never paid attention, did you put drain tile down along the footing and wall and drain tile in the yard under the rock so no matter the weather its dry and has good drainage? It may not be a big deal in your area but it is in mine, without that, you'd need a boat to get around the building. Are you planning on doing any flat level cement pads by the doors or along the building for parking or power washing equipment? Nice building by the way, sure wish I had one like it.
I am on the thought also of all you can get with out machines rolling when stopped. Sooner or later something will roll where it was not wanted because of some reason or another.
Pad is done, ready for gravel. Ended up with about 2" in 10' for 150', then tapered the last 50' or so off at about 4" in 10'. Matched the existing ground pretty nice.
Nice Shop, Looks Solid Shimmy. Slope should be good to go, 2% is recommended in my business to avoid puddling on gravel and soil pads. Looks like your 1.6%, that's close enough. You mentioned no permit on this?? Is the county tax man going to get a phone call or will you just wait till he shows up and tell him ya built it yesterday. Around here the government is broke so they are always looking for property improvements as a reason to raise taxes. Even on the farms. But then again we don't have all that gas money coming out of the ground like you lucky boys in ND. :usa
Yes, the front (the end with two doors) will have a full width apron. 30'x 99'. Ridiculous. That in itself is almost bigger than a lot of guy's shops.
Looks great Shimmy1 ! Grade looks perfect . Worst thing we see on job sites is a home or structure built to low on grade from the beginning . Turns in to a nightmare for the customer with water & draining issues . Bad as I hate to say it ........ The Dumb Ass general contractor building the home sets the grade for the concrete guy where they want the top of the basement or foundation . And .......... It's always about a foot to low . Then I get a call from the home owner to come in and move dirt or pour a retaining wall to deal with the **** up grade on the home . Totally pathetic . No excuse for it .:soapbox
Really looking good. Looking forward to some inside pictures when you get a chance.
I never have talked about the day last fall when we broke ground. My buddy and I spent about 4 hours walking around, pulling tape measure, shooting grade with the laser, discussing. I've built dozens of building sites. This one seemed to be the most challenging one ever. Probably, I suppose, because it was ours. I wish I had taken a picture of the original ground. We had a little bit of a hill to work off of. There is around 4' of fill on the front side. After we got the dirt pad built, my buddy says, "The shop is going to be 18" higher than that?" Now, when it's all finished, I think it is right where it should be. Thanks everyone for the compliments.
Looks good.... If you want to see an old man turning green with envy, I will send you a picture! Sounds like with the work you do, you deserve every inch of it. About the grade... friend of mine years ago bought some property with a stream through it, sort of a wide canyon bottom really in the rainy part of Oregon. Before he set the footings for the house he built he raised the elevation by a foot, said he though it would make the house look better on the site. Two years later we had a good snow and then rain for a week, flooded everywhere including his little acre.... the high water mark on his back steps was 10" below the door threshold... dodged a bullet. :drinkup If you happen to put a wood stove back in some corner, and a burlap sack stuffed with rags for a black lab to lay on, couple chairs that have seen better days, I'd like to stop by some time and just sit a spell. Enjoy!
No oil money here. The shop will be primarily farm use. Here in ND, farm-use is tax exempt. I might work on my scraper from time to time. LOL. BTW, I said about 2" in 10' for the grade. (smart@ss, huh) What I did was as I graded it, each pass with the 10' scraper, I clicked my GPS down 2 tenths. :beerchug I haven't shot it with the laser yet, but the GPS has never let me down before.
I have a friend that has an uncle who lives out there in your state that visits from time to time. Arne is his name. He does quite a little landscaping work. Not sure of the town, I think that it's not far from Portland though. I'm sure you could hitch a ride.
We were going to do all the work ourselves, but after a bit of head scratching and discussion, we hired a contractor friend to come and frame-up our lean project. I'm not a carpenter, neither is the other guy, and these guys are very reasonable. And they know what they're doing. Floor joists are going up today.
Joists are up. Sheeting the floor and building stairs on Monday. We're going to start running water and wire. I'm planning on running Pex and stubbing copper out of the walls to hook up to.
Started the heat beginning of October to soften the initial warm up. Set it at 55°F, November 1 we lowered it to 53°. It hasn't been that cold this winter, but with propane as cheap as it is we decided to have the tanks topped off. Any guesses how many gallons for 3 months?
76 gallons
Maybe per week........
[ [/QUOTE] :falldownlaugh Good one d9g. I did stop laughing long enough to look at your location. I am thinking with the size of Shimmys new shop, and being the first winter with it not 100% done. It could be a lot. 500 gal a month or more easy.
Hey, Farmerlund. I had a good chuckle at that, too. We have had a pretty easy winter so far though, huh? I'm pretty close to center of the state. Whereabouts are you at?
Yep, makes the winter go by a lot quicker with the temps we have had. I am at Enderlin.
Winter didn't really start until a few weeks ago. We're not too far away. Up by Carrington.
I'm going out on a limb here and thinking I may have been a little low on my guess.
That is a REALLY NICE shop.
Thanks, JD. Long way to go before it's done. We're pretty happy with the propane heat. Averaging less than 400 gallons a month to keep it at 53°F. Ordered the rest of the lights on Wednesday. Are using 6-bulb T5 light fixtures. Thought about going with LED, but the lights were over $600 each.
What are you figuring when it subzero out with a howling wind weeks on end and months before it warms to even zero out?? 1000 plus gallons a month, or what are the predictions??
For an average, or actual? We could probably stomach that for an average over 5 months (Oct-Mar), but sure are hoping for more like 800. We do have it zoned so we could hang a curtain and not keep the north 60' as warm as the rest. Figured it that way because the north end has the 46' door.
Anybody have any opinion on amount of lighting? Electrician used a program to determine the number, I guess they base it on a unit called foot-candles? For 50 ft-candles it calls for 30 lights, for 62 ft-candles it calls for 40. We are intending to put up 35, and have an extra row towards the front where we work mostly, and leave a row out towards to north end. I know, and I'm one of them that is of the opinion you can never have too much light, but at $250 a fixture it gets expensive.
You're not rebuilding injection pumps in that WHOLE area. And if you're working underneath, then you need another light anyway...
shimmy very nice shop, every thing is very well thought out!!! you should be good on the foot candles, I had to install more in my shop to get the light spread I needed, my ceilings are only 14ft. one thing I did on the work shop side, is installed some 6 bulbers on the hydra swing door itself,it shines the light sideways when working on something, and also works when door is up.
also throw a wall plug or two in there also,dad leaned up against one of the bulbs and broke it other then that no problem.what boiler did you end up going with shimmy
I like that idea. Not sure we'll do much work out that end but I like it. Only reason it got that big door was so the combines could come in with the 40' headers. Hmmm.........
Trinity Lx400. http://prostar-mechanical.com/boilers/Trinity/trinity_boiler_lx.htm
Do you guys get condensation on the inside of your hydraulic doors? When we open it all the time, it seems to be worse for some reason, the only thing I can come up with is that as the door is opened it gets flash cooled and when closed it gets warmed back up and the condensation drips off the inside of the door. No other surface on the inside of the shop is ever damp or drips, just the door on the east side of the shop. Just wondering if anyone else has this issue.
Shimmy1, Have been following your shop build thread and the shop has come out great! and it looks like you have gotten it buttoned up just in time. I am guessing that "foot candles" must be a measurement of light that hits the floor? Haven't heard the term before. Looks like you have white steel on all the interior walls (super plus for reflectivity). I too am a big fan of having wall mounted florescent lights in a narrower shop...not sure if the wall lights "light" would travel fast enough in your shop to do any good? You might be done with what you had to do before the light ever got there! Thanks for taking the time to put up progress pics of the build. Regards, Bob
Randy, that sounds right with the condensation on your door, the door cools off and has warm moister air from inside rising up against it and dropping off moisture. The same thing will happen with an insulated steel house door that you leave open in zero weather, the inside and outside will get covered in condensation. Now if your door is sweating even when it's been closed for a while, then your humidity is unusually high for a shop, and/or the insulation in the door is much less than the rest of the building. Could be thermal bridging through the steel frame? or residual water in the concrete still evaporating.
We haven't had our big door open since November, and won't either until spring. I can completely agree with your idea though that the cold door is condensing the humidity in the building. Do you bring snow or ice covered machinery in a lot?
Shimmy, we do bring in a lot of cold and snow covered iron, daily we move the skid steers in and out, leaving them inside overnight to thaw out. I also have a service pit in the shop, and in that I have a 8 foot sump pit for drainage water from the tile lines under the shop and pit to drain into, all winter long it runs water, and a sump pump to pump it out set with a float switch. I'd think if I had a moisture problem in the shop, I'd have frost accumulate around the fans and fan boxes, those are the least insulated place in the whole shop, but its never been an issue there. The frost doesn't match up to the structural steel of the door where it would bleed the cold through, its usually random. As for your lights, talk to electricians who do remodel type work or large scale changeover type work, as in schools and gymnasiums, anything government run, those type of things, every school around me has changed its entire lighting needs several times over the last five years, now with LED's out, I'd imagine they'll do it again shortly, seems someone will come along and talk energy efficiency and in order to save a few thousand a year in electricity they'll spend 50k on new lights, plus installation. A buddy of mine does that type of work, he was selling new fixtures with bulbs for pennies on the dollar and less than a year old fixtures, hundreds of them, towards the end he was just tossing them into the dumpsters, saved him enough in time it wasn't worth messing with them. Every light has its drawbacks, the tube T series have tube lights and ballasts to go bad, they're great for a few years then start buying bulbs and ballasts by the truck load and time enough to change them all. Pig tail florescence at least have the ballast built into the bulb and when you screw in a new one, you just changed the ballast too for new, the one's I like the most. Led's are expensive but worth it in my opinion, no ballast to go bad and some individual LED's can go out and the fixture still works, don't know the life expectancy but as of yet, been the least hassle and most trouble free, I bought the four foot high bay led fixtures and next to the pig tail florescence the one's I like the most. I also have some led screw in units that fit a regular light socket, been good so far, just concentrate the light too much for most work. I also like the portable LED work lights. As for what spacing you want, hook a few of whatever you buy up, then wait a few days and decide from there. I hook ever other one or every third on up to different switches, that way I can keep flipping switches till I get the amount of light I want in that portion of the shop. That way I can also turn off overhead lights when I'm laying under something and looking up, nothing blinds you more than to look directly into a high bay light over your head. I also have lights on the sidewalls angled down, some pig tail florescence on the walls too and lastly, as crazy as it sounds, I hook high bay LED's and hang it from the crane, and put it exactly where I want it for lighting so I can move it exactly where its needed as long as I don't also have to use the crane at the same time.
Time for some more pics. I'm sure someone is going to wonder why all the sewer stacks were moved over. After some discussion, we increased the size of the bathroom 2' from the plan. More is better, isn't it?
Drywall is up. Stairs look awesome.
Mudding almost done. Hope to be texturing by Wednesday. And, of course, the resident shop dog. I prefer blacks, but Chief is a pretty good pup.
Hope your dryer exhaust doesn't melt the water lines, lol. looks great, I'm hella jealous.
Looks great, and your right bigger is better.
What do you intend to use this part of the shop for Shimmy, quarters for workers perhaps? I hope to start on a new shed shortly, albeit on a much smaller scale, but we often have contractors work for us who camp in caravans and the like, so we're going to provide them with shower, toilet, power etc.
The pex lines are rated for 200° water, and I slightly flattened the vent pipe where the water lines pass it. There is about a 1" gap between the vent and the lines. For the few times a year that the dryer might get used I'm expecting it to be fine. The bigger room with drywall is going to be our lunchroom/break room. It'll have a full kitchen, and we're exploring the possibility of a wet bar also. The room with the stairs is going to be a tool room. As of now, we're not intending to have any living quarters. Hopefully it stays that way since it was never really designed with that in mind.
Call me paranoid, but I'd be tempted to slip a little fiberglass insulation between the vent pipe and the pex just to be sure they don't move after they have heat cycled a few times.
Going to have a "pre-planting" party in April.
Now that's a good idea
Finished hanging lights yesterday. Now I have to get proficient on wiring 3 and 4-way switches. Have hung over 500' of EMT (conduit) and pulled over 5000' of wire so far.
Put a three at each end and as many fours as you want in between, LOL.
Yep. I'm finding out it takes more pipe to run switch wires than it does outlets unless you put one switch for the whole dam shop. Four 4-way switches need 2 ¾" pipes. SMH.
X-10 relays?
Wireless light switches MIGHT be a option. Also, a motion switch beside one of your regularly used doors for initial entry lighting when pulling in equipment would be nice. I'd put motion switches in all the rooms...they are pretty cheap these days. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=tools&field-keywords=wireless+light+switch Very very nice shop. Hope to have one atleast half that nice someday.
Not sure what the relays are, but yes, we are using relays on the lights. And running them on 240 to double the number of lights on a circuit. We have 7 rows, 5 lights per row, 4 circuits. Using relays at the box to control the lights makes wiring switches a breeze. Essentially it's like all your lights are in one place in regards to switches.
Shimmy.... VERY NICE SHED!! Just the idea of getting up on a cold morning and not having to worry about and/or deal with the countless issues that can occur with the trucks and trailers sitting ouside would be worth it by itself. I basically only have room for one piece of equipment in mine and during the winter the only time the truck can get in is between other seeming more important projects. Just curous, are you putting in some sort of hoist?
We've talked about how nice it would be to have a lift. Something like this. l http://www.automotiveshopequipment.net/pages/Equipment/other.htm I wanted a pit, but everybody NOT working in our shop had an opinion, and none were good. Wasted space, too dangerous, what about groundwater, etc, etc. So, we don't have a pit. Sure would have been nice.
Service pit would have been the first thing I'd have put in, love mine, we cemented in a top lip, to lay 3x planks in when we're not using it, that way we can drive over it and its level with the floor, as for water issues, we just installed a sump pit on one end that has a sump pump in it, all the tile under the shop floor dumps into it, along with around the entire outside of the pit walls. Never had a water issue yet in the pit. We just plumbed the sump pump into the tile lines outside the shop, have it set on float switch and basically forget about it. As for your lifts, yes they do work nicely, but you have to raise and lower them slightly as you go with each one, it takes some time, but they are stable and I'd never be worried about working under them, several shops around here have them to raise semi's in the air to work on, they also raise the pickups and other trucks, bus's and even tractors. But they do cost quite a bit to buy and keep up, a service pit would have cost a fraction and has far more use's than any lift.
We have a regular 9k lb capacity auto lift in our shop, super handy, during the winter all the 1 ton and smaller trucks get cycled through and get serviced. Makes doing brakes and such much easier. Also can lift the smaller skids with it. For your operation a larger one would probably be better. It looks like this one, minus the Camaro of course http://www.autoliftmfg.com/al2-9k-ac.html
It's really starting to take shape now. Tape, texture, and painting done. Doors in, wiring basically done. Functioning bathroom, still need sinks. Right now we're looking for a good deal on kitchen cabinets.
Finished steel and electrical for one of our welding areas. Now just need to build a workbench. The last pic is all the switch wires we are going to sort out tomorrow.
That RED in the bathroom will keep employees from hanging out in there!! WOW
If those PEX pipes are in a welding area I would suggest shielding them. Those little orange weld berries like to roll across the floor I burn right through the plastic. Experience .
They're going to have a metal cover built around them, and then a bench gets built over the top. They probably should have come up somewhere else, but it's one of those deals. We weren't really planning on having this corner as a work area, but with a building this big we have discovered that multiple work areas are more important or you'll spend all your time walking around. Good observation, Twisted. Probably are going to want to find a good, fire-retardant sealer to put around the bottom between the floor and the cover to prevent some little troublemaker from getting in there.
Kind of a "form before function" thing. It's a little crazy, but there are some JD guys around here that are as well. We wanted an International theme just for those guys, and we kind of like it.
Here's a good poster you need to hang on that wall, just to tick them off a little more!
I think you are making a wise decision on having multiple work areas. A couple of years ago a neighbor built a new shop that is smaller than yours but not by alot. I was in it when it was nearly finished. I remember standing in there looking around with envy when I suddenly realized that a shop that size could be a time consuming nightmare if there was a lack of sufficient planning and organization.
Organization is key. I designed assembly lines and production areas for a couple of factories in the area. I would study the old process then work on a better work flow design. Non-value added time is a killer even for a one or two man operation.
I guess my simple mind had never given it much thought. Probably simply because our current shop is a 'one piece of equip at a time' size shop. Basically i can roll out from under a dozer and within 30 seconds be down rolling back under it. In my neighbors shop it would take that long at a fast pace just to get to the toolbox. I know there are simple solutions to this one being like shimmy is doing and making multiple work stations. But, I could for see a downside to that of needing to doule/triple up on alot of tools also.
Looks nice!! What are you going to use for floor coverings? Tile or maybe some industrial strength linoleum?
Epoxy it all?
Been asked that question many times already. It's going to stay concrete for now. Tile has been suggested, but that would be a hell of a job, and keeping it clean and the grout looking nice would be tough. I have looked at the epoxy option, I kind of like it. Anybody have any experience with the epoxy??
We used to do a lot of epoxy floors in mechanical rooms in the hospitals we built as they were tough and could handle any chemical dropped on them. The last few jobs I felt that they were degraded somewhat due to the environmental laws but the high expense never went down. There are some good concrete hardeners out there that are mopped on after the concrete has cured. I don't remember the name but one that looked like milk and broomed on heavy totally soaked in looking like hard troweled concrete really worked well. It was tough as nails and cleaned up well. Oil and the like never penetrated and cleaned like glass. Maybe somebody here knows the name of it. A concrete accesories supply house such as Brock White would know.
We had the concrete guys seal the main floor. Some crazy expensive stuff with it's primary purpose as salt resistance. It was like $300 per 5 gallon. Used 8 cans. We didn't seal the lean because we weren't sure what we wanted, and you can't lay tile if it's sealed.
The Deere dealer I worked for made an enclosed single shop bay into a used machine teardown room, this would have been early 90's... they mopped on a light grey water activated covering, Urethane maybe? It was self levelling and stayed tacky liquid until they sprayed it with a fine water mist from a garden hose which kicked off the chemical reaction. I don't recall the exact procedure but something was done to create some texture for grip. I do remember the crew that installed it walking on some small wood rectangles strapped to their shoes with nail points on the bottom, minimal disturbance and it levelled back out as they walked back out of the area. Cured up overnight, hardest stuff I have ever seen, you could pound on it with a ball peen and not leave a mark unless you really worked at it. The light gray really helped with the lighting too. Just FYI.....
Sounds like the stuff the county put in our fire stations about then, worked great, except that they skipped that whole, "texture for some grip", part. It was great, until you got water on it. And, really, who would think a fire station floor would ever get wet. All we did was park a few tankers and pumper-tankers on it, probably not more than 7-8000 gallons of water per station. We complained and they ignored us, until one guy slipped running to answer the phone. He broke both bones in his lower leg, and was out for most of a year. I think they ended up having to use 9" grinders with knot style wire wheels and heavy pressure to get it up, in 9 fire stations. We got a new station about 5 years later, but paint never did stick to that floor afterwards.
Lots of options but as has been mentioned, be careful so it doesn't get slippery. Most of the products out there have no grit to them and will finish like glass. There are some latex products out there but I wouldn't recommend them anywhere out of the office area. I used to do some concrete repair jobs with epoxy. I always mixed in either fine or medium sand blasting abrasive to give it some surface bite. Sikadur was the brand of product that gave me the best results, and highest costs.
Sounds like you done good.
Hey Shimmy, any more updates or pictures?
Nothing yet. At the beginning of March we started getting ready for spring's work, and after farming it's been a few small dirt jobs and some farm projects since it's slow in the construction end. We are hosting a crop tour banquet this week and were hoping to get cupboards and countertops in lunchroom, sink in bathroom, and finish tinning the upstairs, but didn't get time. That will probably all happen next winter since harvest is only about 2 weeks off, and construction is beginning to pick up. Sorry to disappoint.
I see. Harvest in 2 weeks? Whatcha picking, wheat?
Field peas. After peas, which should take about a week, the durum should be about ready to go. We got a terrible hailstorm last night, wiped out about 900 acres. :Banghead. That ought to make things "interesting", if you know what I mean.
Thats interesting about the peas, do you pick those with a regular combine or does it need a special harvester?
Regular combine with flex head. Cut them just like wheat or soybeans.
Anyone know a place to source Tri-boro shelf posts? Bought a couple lots at an auction with enough posts for about 20 complete shelves, and enough extra shelves for about another 50. The ones from Global Industrial are ok, just pricey for the quality. They need to look like this, 85" tall. http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/s...1-2-inch-x-1-7-8-inch-x-7ft1-inch-h-dark-gray
Ok, guys. Need some suggestions on how to mount hose reels to the wall. Two reels are easy, we're just going to bolt them directly to the beam. Other two, not so much. The purlins are horizontal, 4' apart, and only about 2" wide. I have an idea, but wanting to hear what you guys would do.
Here's what we have up so far. Went with 1" Fastpipe from RapidAir.
3/4" plywood 7 1/2" x48-50" screwed to two purlins as a base for the hose reel. Or 50" 2x8.
I'd take two short angle irons, 3x3 or similar, weld them back to back to form an offset with holes drilled in them, use lag bolts to bolt to the purlins, then take a 6-8 inch channel iron 50 inches long and bolt to the brackets you made and then bolt the hose reel on the channel iron flipped so the channel is to the wall and gives you over 4 feet of flat space to mount it wherever you want to and if its offset off the wall, you can get your hands behind the channel to put nuts on bolts to hold the reel on with. Also gives a place to weld or bolt hooks onto to hang blow guns, air tips or whatever else is needed so its handy beside the air reel. If you decide later you want to move it, just unbolt it and put it wherever you want, having it recessed off the wall, it won't damage the tin at all and it should give enough room off the wall to actually spin the hose reel and not have your knuckles hit the wall if its a manual reel, if its a auto retractable reel, that might not be a big deal. With the angle iron and channel iron, those should be rigid enough construction to not wiggle much as you pull on the hose. Otherwise, why not just bolt the reel to one of those support beams, most are spaced about 20 feet apart, run an air feed line to those and your done??
There aren't any exposed beams on the end walls. Thanks for the responses, guys. I was pretty sure that we needed to design a way to hang from 2 purlins, and both of you said as much. I was originally thinking something along the lines of Randy's suggestion (steel), but now I don't know. Sure would be easy to screw down an oak 2x8 and be done, Delmer. Decisions, decisions.
Your shop is steel construction so I'd go that route simply for consistency. A 2x8 should fit between the ribs and be super simple. I'd rather fab something from metal than wood. Either would be plenty sturdy. I plumbed my shop addition with 1" PEX tubing. I think it was about $.70/ft and the fittings are super cheap. I get wholesale price on all of it. I run 140psi and have zero issues or leaks.
Overkill or nah?? Edit: I'm not referring to the visegrips holding the reel up. That was temporary to figure out plumbing, LOL.
Shimmy, not sure how many your going to mount, but the reel I like the most, we have a simple pipe bracket made for it and also the other half of the bracket is welded onto our steel rack at both ends and in the middle, multiple brackets bolted to the walls around the shop, its a pipe inside a pipe design, that way, I can just pick it up and move it around the shop as I need it, so if I have stuff parked long term in the shop, I can just lift it out and move it to where its handy when I need it. We ran an inch and a quarter steel line on both sides of the shop, full length, and full length of the service pit, with quick couplers set every 20 feet on the pipe, that way I'm only about 10-15 feet of whip hose to my reel anywhere on any shop wall, or in the pit, makes life a whole lot easier and also handier. If its in the way, we just snap a quick coupler on the whip hose, lift off the reel assembly and move it to where we are working. The brackets don't really take up any room, don't really stick out much or are in the way and saves buying a dozen hose reels with hose on them. But most important, saves stumbling over the hose all the time, we try to keep it as short a distance as possible to the closest air line and bracket on the wall and we love our setup. Just tossing out suggestions, as they say, options and ideas at times could be a good thing. Best of luck on what you decide.
We are going to have 4 to start with, eventually 5. We have three 50', and one 100', all 1/2". The three 50 footers are within 50' of each other, and the 100' is on the other side, about in the middle of the shop. The south half, where we do 99% of the work, we will be able to get 2 hoses to any place we chose, and three to 75% of it. The movable reel is a good idea, but we won't have to worry about that. In addition, we will have a hookup for a 3/4" hose at every reel as well, so we are pretty much unlimited as to where we can park a truck, trailer, whatever that might need the 3/4" or 1" impact.
I like the system your using, mine is all black pipe. Nothing like that available when mine was done. Ed
Things are coming along nicely.
How is that blue pipe to use? I was thinking about using biggish PEX but I'm now curious.
Pretty easy. It's light, rigid, easily bendable with a conduit bender, and cuts with a tubing cutter. I've actually made a couple 90° turns, even though it says max of 15°. My electrician friend has hung a fair bit of it, and bent it like conduit with no problems. I like how true and straight it looks after it's up. We bought a master kit, http://shop.rapidairproducts.com/1-fastpipe-235-ft-master-kit/ along with 100' extra pipe, an extra drop, and various extra fittings. Another good thing is the rigid pipe holds things in place pretty well, a bonus when installing it on steel walls with nothing behind the tin.
Two reels up.
Posh. (= very very nice) I have some airline envy to deal with now. That looks like a nice set up Shimmy1.