My Build: Simply a Mr. Jack Olsen inspired 1930 Auto Bunker House Geobarn Homage

[flybefree]

Thanks to everyone who has shared their build stories here, it's been a real pleasure just reading your stories. I haven't posted much, but I wanted to share what little I can to sort of give back...if nothing else to serve as a warning to others on what not to do! I'm not much of a writer or photographer, I'm not funny, I'm not a screen writer, airline pilot, blacksmith, car guy, or machinist so I really feel sorry for guys having to read this...stop now please, save yourselves from pure boredom.

I mean it...

Ok, since I can now assume just my wife is reading I will continue.

I have been reading countless build threads on this forum for years now, just like many folks planning and plotting for the day that I could build my own version of mantopia. I was going to lovingly hand craft every single piece of this masterpiece from old growth timber, include all the great ideas I have read here over a two year period, and get it done in four weeks for $14,235.24 including the pad, 200 amp three phase electric service, and the Snap-on tool chest with matching fridge. It was going to as comfortable to work in as it was stylish to behold...it was going to be so unbelievealbe sweet I would never want to leave and actually drive my all original Shelby Cobra with matching numbers/Lamborghini (good Lord I can't even fake the spelling on that one)/Porsche/All the cool cars you guys have/Honda Mini-van. (Full disclosure: I actually only own the mini-van)

I soon realized what many of you have done is really pretty hard to do...and I really don't know what I am doing here. But since I am and AmerCAN not an AmerCAN'T I refused to let the obstacles (some would say realities) and started working on my Mr. Jack Olsen (assuming it's not Sir Jack, after PM ran that article who knows what might have come out of Buckingham Palace) 1930's Auto Bunker House Geobarn Homage anyhow. I am frankly not sure when or how it will be be completed...but it is started.

UPDATE: After spending 15 minutes trying to load my first picture I now understand why I frequently read about guys having trouble adding pictures. I always thought it was because "they" were not an iPad having computer genuis such as myself. Perhaps I was wrong to be so smug...if I can find my black turtleneck I will post a photo quick so I don't get booed off the stage.

 

[flybefree]

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Building A: Cinder Block shed/shop
Building B: Old chicken coop converted to a shed
Building site below Building B and next to the grain bin...the white "beer stein" was the first location proposed.

 

[flybefree]

Wow...got one photo up. Good.

Started serious planning on the Mr. Jack Olsen inspired 1930s Auto Bunker Geobarn Homage three years ago. Using the state of the art satellite imagergy above I planned each move like a chess grand master. First, I tore down an old chicken coup marked B on your map. My brother Mike and I spend three days in the burning hot July sun tearing it apart piece by piece so we could salvage the wood and recycle what remained of the standing seam roof. The chicken coup had a low roof and was not a fitting home for my collection of exotic automobiles and automobile memorobilla...or my Honda Odyssey.

Then my wife got pregnant and I did nothing but read Build Threads here for two years...#1 Son hits the scene.

Then my wife got pregnant and I did nothing but read Build Threads Here for two years...#2 Son hits the scene.

THEN I got serious.

 

[Alabama Mike]

From your intricate drawing I see that your building will look like a beer stein. I'm subscribed to this build!

Also, you may have the chops to be a screenwriter...you should re-check your quals.

 

[flybefree]

The build site is on our farm in Ohio...I know this is the GarageJournal so I hesitate to say this...but this building will not be 100% Garage, you may in fact hear mention of tractors and other things not normally found in the best of the best builds here. The building will be about 60 x 40 x 14 plus a little bumpout for a small office. Intent is for the building to house our farm workshop, allow us to pull maintenance on our fleet, have room left for a few fun projects and a place to park the airplane. Taking the advice of many here I pushed the building size to top end of our budget...thanks for that encouragment.

 

[flybefree]

Mike,

I am still furiously typing...trying to get a respectable first post together so I don't get run out of town here...quit making me laugh.

Shaun

 

[omr]

subscribed .

 

[flybefree]

All Kidding aside, the big next step was finding a builder. The guys here were a great resource, and I really did want to build a Geobarn, they are just beautiful. And because when a yuck off the street in Ohio called George at Geobarns he was a complete gentlemen and a swell guy. Ended up going with the guy that built my friends barn next door, but I hope to build a Geobarn next.

 

[flybefree]

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[flybefree]

This was the first draft, wanted a 14' high roll up door access into the shop side and a 38' wide bi-fold to get aircraft in and out. I must of sketched out 20 different designs to include a gambrel roofed version with a second floor for office. Abandoned the gambrel roof once I saw it would end up being closer to 30' tall...which was too tall too close to the house for the wife.

SMB

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

What!? A farmer who can afford to own his own airplane! What kind of crop are you growing, money trees? lol

Good luck on the build. Let's see your POA (Plan Of Action) and of course your 'detailed' building plans. You know the drill, you expose your 'field of dreams', we 'critique' the plans, you build the modified version(s), and then we, in our endearing manner, ask why you built it 'that' way.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

38 foot is quite marginal for door width on an hangar. You will have little to play with and run the risk of dinging a wingtip every time you go in and out. Remember, a 38 ft door has the columns that it rides up and down on, intruding 3 to 4 inches inside of that meaning your opening is something just over 37 ft. My Wilson Door aircraft dimension chart shows Navions having from 33' 3" to 34' 9" wingspan depending on model. Get a different airplane and you may have a problem. A Cessna 182 for example (a popular aircraft for farmers, its built tough like a tractor!) has a wingspan of right at 36" depending on what wingtips you have on it.

Bi-fold doors place some unusual stresses on a building, which need to be taken into consideration by whoever engineers the building. You are only allowing yourself 12 inches on each side of the door. I suspect you will need more than that. I would seriously consider bumping the width to about 45 ft to give you a little more margin for future "growth". edit: I see from the drawings that the dimensions are actually 42x64x16 but I would still look at 45 ft with a 40 ft door. If you have a 14 ft opening a bifold door will give you about 12 to 12' 6" of height, unless you use a Hi-lift brand, which will give you virtually all of the 14 ft.

Charles

 

[carlsondajj]

Subscribed. I'm guessing that your airstrip is somewhere in the dirt field toward the bottom of your first picture?

 

[Red Leader]

The vintage builds are fun and cool not only because they pay homage to a time long since past, they include (and save/preserve) many old things that most probably would have just thrown to the scrapper. Then, of course, they just look cool.

Sounds like you've probably got quite a vision and a lot of ideas from perusing the forums for so long. I think that goes a long way and helps to give a LOT of ideas that will make the finished product a lot better.

Oh, and don't worry too much about any lack of skills - you'll pick them up as you go, especially if, like me, your garage budget is whatever you have at the end of the month. You'll figure some stuff out right away, you'll make mistakes, you'll learn from them, and you'll get a lot of great help, positive feedback, and great suggestions from other members on this site. I know that I have.

Here's to a great build!!!

 

[ZRX61]

You are only allowing yourself 12 inches on each side of the door. I suspect you will need more than that.

Charles

I've moved T6's in & out of hangars with 3in clearance on each side for years with no problems... That's why ya paint a centerline on the floor...

 

[omr]

I've moved T6's in & out of hangars with 3in clearance on each side for years with no problems... That's why ya paint a centerline on the floor...

center line was my first thought

 

[flybefree]

Omphaloskeptic: Technically I am a bi-vocational agriculturalist...right now I have two jobs and I farm "on the side"...my goal is to one day soon get the farm up to the point where I can only have one job. Airplane is a 1951 Navion, like in the sig block...nothing special but I love it. I'm absolutely sure I am going to get some great feedback here...delivered with sensitivity and caring.

Charles: You were spot on...did end up going with 42' and a 38' clear span door. I did the same thing you did, checked out the wingspans of some of my dream machines and made the most cost effective comprimise...don't worry, my P-51 Mustang will still fit! I chose the builder because he had put a bifold on a similar build nearby...I share your concerns about the stress on that end of the building.

Carlson: I see you closely studied my state of the art satellite imagery...I plan on laying out a 2200' grass strip just off that shot to the bottom. I have soybeans in there right now, will not plant the grass until the hangar is completed.

Red Leader: Thanks...I am going to strive hard to add some vintage touches to what is otherwise just a plain old pole barn...the attention to detail and craftsman ship that you guys have all shown in your builds is what I have learned the most from. Budget...it all comes down to budget.

ZRX81: Nice pic in the sig block...my Navion is a Ryan built A model, but I have quite a few North American parts on her. One of my projects for the hangar will be giving her an "update" with a paint scheme similar to the one in my sig block. I think a T-6 would fit in my door too...

Omr: Centerline will surely be there...I haven't got to the decision on the floor covering yet...I have done epoxy in my garage, but I don't know.

Shaun

 

[flybefree]

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Initial sketch of the office area

 

[flybefree]

After we came up with the first design draft I was pretty happy...but then in the back of my mind I heard every single one of you who had ever built a garage say "Build it as big as you can afford" and "You can't ever build it big enough." I reviewed the budget and found that if I could wait on the finishes I could add some square footage to the initial build so I started playing around with adding a 24 x 24 office to the side of the main building...see above. If you look at the sketch of building site you can see I put the office off to the side of the main building with an 8ft porch out front.

Shaun

 

[flybefree]

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This is the building we used as the "inspiration" for our design

 

[flybefree]

Once I had decided to "stretch" the build into something a bit more than a basic building my wife saw a picture of the building above built by the gentlemen locally and decided ours should look like that one. So we pretty much just copied some of the colors and finishes...it did make it easier having a particular building in mind to use as a guide.

Shaun

 

[markviii]

Nice plans. I like the colors - your wife has good taste!

Chris

 

[Trucky]

Looking great! You might want to sneak a "Jack Olsen face" photo in there with your Porsche. If you have one If not, I'm sure any auto will do

Your typing is fine by the way. I don't think anyone expects Harvard-level writing from anyone else here.

 

[Jack Olsen]

View media item 10616
Beautiful!

 

[gabedad]

As a proud geobarn owner I can see the geobarn touches - nice Job!

 

[jake1086]

what exactly is a "geo barn" ? I'm about to build a shop/loft home and am looking at different ideas. Sorry If I'm side tracking not my intent.

 

[gabedad]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84405

www.geobarns.com

 

[flybefree]

Chris: Thanks, my wife does have good taste. One change we did make from the "inspiration" design was to have a green roof vs. dark brown. The green is sort of a light "Mr. Jack Olsen" green. I have spent many hours reading about your wonderful project, I only hope ours turns out 1/2 nice.

Mr. Olsen: Thanks, that is the building we used as our inspiration. We changed to roof color and changed some of the layout, but the over all look will be pretty much the same including the porch which I am really excited about. Sitting on the porch in the country is one of my favorite sports.

Gabedad: Thanks, one thing in particular I am thinking bout is using the wood I salvaged from the demo(s) to use as an interior wall treatment of some sort. I hope to add at least some sort of vintage charm this way. I have a good amount of wood so I think it will work. I love your barn, simply classic.

Jake 1086: If you have any interest in Geobarns call George, he is really a gentlemen and will kindly answer any questions. We have a Walters and Morton building on our property and I shopped around to about 3 other local and national building companies before deciding on who to go with. Geobarns were more expensive, but for a building like Gabedad made they are not all that much more. The only part of this process that I think I handled well was picking a builder and a building style.

Shaun

 

[flybefree]

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[flybefree]

So we added the 24 x 24 office off to the east of the main shop with the porch facing the house. Decided to have the roll up door face in towards the barnyard and the hangar door facing out towards the field. Picked the colors then ordered the building in April this year. The build started, will catch up and add the play by play. Decided on final dimension of 14'8" for the eave height on the main building with a high clearance truss design to allow for the 14' roll up door.

HVAC: This has been a tougher decision. I had my heart set on in-floor radiant heat...if I had the time to do it myself I would have tried it, but gentlemen you can't believe how much the lowest bid was to just put the pex into the slab. The price was just too much to bear on the budget. I have decided to go with radiant tubes in the shop and I am still thinking about what to do with the office for heat. Suggestions there would be welcomed. The one bit of advice I did take from you all was to not skip on insulation...R-19/30 and putting 2" blue board down to insulate the pad.

Floor: Putting down a 12 inch concrete slab with 2" rebar sitting on 3 3/4" high carbide chairs....well, actually 5 inches of fibermix, but I had you thinking there for a second "My GAWD that's HOW you should pour a pad... course it will probably crack because you went cheap and skipped the 13th inch of pad"....this is my Bunker garage shout out by the way, that place will survive the zombie appoxyclypse. Speaking of which we should have a fighting chance as well since we have such wonderful fields of fire towards to the road.

Electrical: planning on 200amp service..220 drop right at the grain bin west of the build.

Lighting: Still working the plan...

Another serious question...epoxy for a farm shop/garage/hangar?

I feel like I should have all of this figured out already, I hope that I am not the only guy to ever break ground with only the 75% solution on paper...I could be hosed.

Shaun

 

[nkachur]

I broke ground yesterday and I think the 75% solution has me beat by about 25% or maybe 40%.

Have you broken ground yet?

 

[neutral]

I are JEALOUS!!!

 

[flybefree]

Nkachur, yep we broke ground...things are going well. The only part of the basic construction the concerns me is the concrete...if it doesn't turn out well I will probably cry like a little girl.

Smb

 

[flybefree]

Trucky: my car is so boring I don't even have a picture....2005 Scion xb...that's right men, 85 hp wheter you want them or not. The nice car in our family is the Honda minivan...silver, really makes a statement at the car shows/drag strip. Says I have kids and I value reliable transportation.

Smb

 

[Trucky]

Trucky: my car is so boring I don't even have a picture....2005 Scion xb...that's right men, 85 hp wheter you want them or not. The nice car in our family is the Honda minivan...silver, really makes a statement at the car shows/drag strip. Says I have kids and I value reliable transportation.

Smb

Hey, those make from 130 to 248 horses depending on how old it is Nothing wrong with a budget box either, they do get the job done. I have a Grand Am... woo 150 horsepower -_- I'm not running 10s at the strip either lol

 

[Red Leader]

I want to see the plane

 

[flybefree]

View media item 10639
First step in building....dig a really big hole.

 

[flybefree]

View media item 10651
Step 2: Send 40 inch fan club into said hole and watch him have a blast getting D-I-R-T-Y

 

[flybefree]

Nothing too special about the site prep. We put the borrow pit behind the silo west of the build site behind the barn. Second pic shows my 40 inch fan-club for scale, it was a pretty deep hole. Daniel is my oldest and loved watching all the construction...he's my number one helper. Allis-Chalmers D-15 in the background is one of my Dad's restorations...great little tractor...we planted the last of the late sweet corn the same weekend.

 

[flybefree]

View media item 10652
1951 Ryan Navion...named "Jenny" for my wife...but you have to say it with that familiar stilted drawl made famous by Forrest Gump and of course my spot on impersonation of the same..."Jeahnnie"