At some point, you have to trust your judgement in planning, your budget, your contractor, and everything else and just get to work. We reached that point a few weeks ago and began studding, wiring, plumbing, insulating, and dry walling the Atomic Industry World HQ. Much of this work is standard affair and I won’t bore you with too many of the details. There are, however, a few details on this building that need mentioning at this point.
A lot of guys stud and drywall their metal buildings and, frankly, it is not rocket science – just work. However, many metal building manufacturers use cable bracing to fight shear. These cables can often get in the way of walls you plan to install. This was the case with our building. I searched the internet and found lots of advice and even a few instances where a building had failed due to negligent contractors simply removing the cables.
More than a little concerned, I decided to call the manufacturer of my building. With a building the size of ours (40′ by 30′
, they reported back that cable bracing wasn’t necessary as the building used higher tensile and heavier 26-gauge panels to fight shear. As a result we decided to remove the cable bracing from two of our “wall” panels, but retain them on the ceiling. Still not satisfied, we also used steel diagonals along the back side of our studded walls that should also help fight shear. I’m now very comfortable with the structural integrity of the building.Another unique aspect of our building that needs mentioning is the 3′ by 9′ cantilevered window. This was a design feature that both myself and the architect really wanted to integrate into the design as we both feel that the window goes a long way towards making the building feel more like a modern structure and less like a typical metal building. It was, however, a bit of a challenge to fit in respect to the the horizontal purlin (is that what you call it?) that the window overlaps.
The idea was to leave the purlin in place, allow it to run right through the cantilevered window opening, and then wrap it in a material that will match the interior shelving we chose. In this way, the structural element becomes both an interior and an exterior design element. I’m really happy with the way it looks.
The rest of the construction at this point was pretty cut and dry – framing, wiring, plumbing, etc…You might notice in the pictures that we decided against dry walling the ceiling. I’ve seen folks do this and absolutely love the way it looks, but I simply didn’t have the budget for it. In any case, we used the standard metal building insulation secured with white straps. The look is industrial and it works well with the space.
This might also be a good time to discuss our plans for water and sewage. The building site is located out in the country – in the middle of no where if you want to be specific. And as such, we don’t have a city water line. There was a 2500 gallon water tank on the property when we bought it and we plan to use it (filled every few months) in the short term. In the long term, we will eventually install a complete rain water collection system to help keep the tank filled.
Sewage has really been the only head ache to this point. Our county is very specific and very rigid in what kind of septic system we can install. At this point the building is much further along that I’ve shown you guys, but we still don’t have an approved septic plan. It hasn’t been fun at all, but I think we are finally getting some traction. I will give you guys the full run down on the process once I see some light at the end of the tunnel.
The exciting stuff is really yet to come. I can’t wait to show you guys some of the stuff our sponsors have kicked in and how we’ve used some pretty creative ideas that you all can use in your own garages. Until then, enjoy the pictures…
And as always, a really special thanks to our sponsors…
