Newb w/ pics of 24'x36'

[RdRasher]

Newb w/ pics of 24'x36' aka Craigslist Garage Build

Hi all,

I just signed up & hit the intro forum already, now to post up a couple of pics of my 24'x36' red iron steel building that will be my motorcycle & atv garage.
I purchased this 4 yr old building that was never assembled but was kept in a storage container for $3,800 (orig. invoice was just under 10k).
It's my first garage build & fortunately I'm getting some help from my father in law & maybe 20 minutes of help from my ten year old, here & there......

Building waiting for the slab to be finished:



10 yr old putting in his 20 minutes of help he got pretty good at moving dirt:



Formed,base compacted,vapor barrier,rebar & mesh wire all set for concrete:

 

[RdRasher]

Slab done:



Finally the first piece is up:



Making progress in between all of the summer rains here in FL:



Getting there:

 

[JCQuick]

I just left you a howdy neighbor in your intro thread. I would love to know some more about your building. I have been looking to do the same thing here. Oh and do to the fact of what you paid for that building I will say it again "you ****" now tell me more

 

[RdRasher]

I just left you a howdy neighbor in your intro thread. I would love to know some more about your building. I have been looking to do the same thing here. Oh and do to the fact of what you paid for that building I will say it again "you ****" now tell me more

Ha Ha! Thanks JCQuick.

Well I just moved from my old house where I had a 3 car attached garage, to a house with a separated 2 car garage. Things were tight before, but now I'd have to move a bunch of atvs, & motorcycles, etc., etc., etc. outside just to be able to work on anything. I started getting estimates from builders and such, but the prices were way out of my range and I didn't want to finance a building. So, I started cruising Craigslist, and after a couple of weeks I found an ad for this building & immediately contacted the seller about checking it out. Especially when I saw the price for a complete "never erected" building! Everything was on the up & up so I rented a Uhaul, threw it all in the back & made the 3 hour drive back to my new place.

Building details:

Originally built in 2009 (but never erected)

24'x36' Freedom Steel red iron building
10' @ the walls / 12' @ the center of roof
1 walk through door
1 10'x8' roll up door
No windows
Nothing too fancy but a smokin' deal!

Now you see what a 3 car garages worth of stuff packed into a 2 car garage looks like.......



Terrible pic, but you get the idea.....

 

[JCQuick]

Yeah you got some cleaning to do Did you find that on orlandos craigslist? Can't wait to see it when its done

Freedom steel? are they local?

 

[RdRasher]

Yeah you got some cleaning to do Did you find that on orlandos craigslist? Can't wait to see it when its done

Freedom steel? are they local?

I found it on Lakeland Craigslist. The guy was down by Sebring, FL. Waaaaaaaay out in the woods in the middle of nowhere! So I was a little sketchy to have that kind of money & be without cell phone coverage for a CL deal, but I brought "backup" & everything was legit with the seller & the deal went smooth.

Freedom Steel is out of Delray, FL just south of West Palm Bch.

The building looks to be good quality, so no complaints.

You might want to do some checking into them to see what they offer. I've seen good things & bad things about them on the internet, but I was dealing with a third party so I can't say as to their reputation or business practices.

Maybe check around on GJ to see if anyone else has dealt with them in the past.

 

[RdRasher]

getting ready to start putting on the roof!

Maybe some pics later today.

 

[JCQuick]

What's this "maybe" stuff we better see some pics.

 

[m5hor]

I live in Umatilla and work in downtown Eustis. wow what a small world. maybe we could meet up sometime

 

[RdRasher]

What's this "maybe" stuff we better see some pics.

Here are a couple of cell phone pics while we were test fitting the roof panels.

By the end of the day at least I had a pavilion.

 

[zerk]

What a great idea, garage in a box! Love it. Looks like you are doing a clean job, and saving money too. Well done.

 

[JCQuick]

Looking really good.

 

[RdRasher]

Another rough day on my Craigslist Garage build!

Temps were in the mid 90's with no breeze & little cloud cover. It's taken the last 2 days to finish just the roof....... but FINALLY IT'S DONE!!!!

Thank god for my father-in-law because without his help I probably would have said forget it & hired a crew to assemble the building. I think it's turning out pretty good for just the 2 of us "rookies".

We were so glad to get the roof finished that we got a little bit of a second wind so we started to put up the back wall. What a piece of cake compared to the roof! I'd rather put up 20 walls before I do another roof!



Here's a couple of cell phone pics:





My father-in-law screwing down the last roof panel:



So here we have a pic of the screw alignment on day 1........nice & straight.



Now we have a pic of the screw alignment late afternoon on day 2........ OMG you'd think we were drinking! The heat was really messing with us.



The back wall:



Me doing my best Kilroy wuz here......The heat was getting to me & my hat!

 

[RdRasher]

We made some more progress today.

but still need to:

fully secure the short end walls
put up all the trim
close in the wall near the roll up door & walk through door
pull off the concrete forms
then start sorting out everything on the inside

I decided to stop a little after 5pm because the later it gets the more mistakes we make!







Here's a pic of the brand new (it was still in the wrapping) roll up door I picked up off Craigslist for $200. I called Freedom Steel the original mfg. of the building & they quoted me $1,650 for a door. Ummmm....... NO THANKS!

 

[justin1795]

ive been looking into steel buildings. i always asumed you needed footings under the posts. how thick is your concreate?

 

[RdRasher]

ive been looking into steel buildings. i always asumed you needed footings under the posts. how thick is your concreate?

The slab is 5" & the outer footer is 16"

 

[48windsor]

looks good . after all the hard work and sweat . It will be a great accomplishment . You can always tell a story about it. but most of all you have a place for your stuff and a place to work on it.

 

[jd_1138]

I love the shop! Beautiful shade of blue, too.

 

[RdRasher]

looks good . after all the hard work and sweat . It will be a great accomplishment . You can always tell a story about it. but most of all you have a place for your stuff and a place to work on it.

Thanks Windsor

At least now I won't mind hearing/telling the story over & over. Kind of like my father-in-laws same 5 stories that I can finish for him after 22 yrs!

 

[RdRasher]

I love the shop! Beautiful shade of blue, too.

Thanks JD

I wasn't too keen on the blue at first when I bought the building, but it was such a smokin' deal I couldn't say no. Now that it's up I'm starting to really like it.

 

[RdRasher]

Last week my in-laws sent me my first sign for the new garage........

 

[Xporter]

Looking good.

 

[RdRasher]

Looking good.

Thanks Xporter

 

[RdRasher]

A little more progress......

I would have made more, but I took a break while it rained & then went back out, only to have wet sandy shoes & slip half way down the ladder(landed on my feet at least) & jammed my back.

The walls are finally up, now to start working on the trim tomorrow....... maybe

 

[JCQuick]

get use to the rain yankee sorry to hear about the ladder, but get back at it asap

 

[JCQuick]

any updates here.

 

[RdRasher]

any updates here.

Actually I just finished up the outside of the garage really late today & had to rush off to take my son to his hockey game. So tomorrow I'll take some pics inside & out & post 'em up.

 

[RdRasher]

Here's a couple of quick cell phone pics now that the outside is finished up. They aren't very good due to the fact that I don't have any electricity installed or cleaned up yet.

My buddy keeps busting my chops & says that without any windows or anything the building looks like an igloo cooler.

I agree that it lacks some character so far.

 

[JCQuick]

Looking good. are you going to insulate the roof and walls?

 

[RdRasher]

Looking good. are you going to insulate the roof and walls?

I'm going to insulate the building with spray foam on the walls & roof.

Now that I have the building up I can get some estimates on the insulation & electrical.

 

[RdRasher]

Well it's been a while since I did anything with the new shop. Recently I managed to finish all the trim & small stuff. Today I etched the concrete & will be sealing it soon & purchased (8) 4' T5 HO fixtures & bulbs. Also waiting on electrical estimate to come back from local electrician tomorrow.

But the biggest news today is the deal I got on metal workbenches.......

He was asking $20 each(with electrical outlets already installed), I worked him down to 6 for a $100, I couldn't build benches for that!

They're not new or anything but still have a lot of life left in them. With a little elbow grease & tightening up I should have a solid setup.

If you're in the Orlando FL area there are a few more benches left over for sale.

Here's the CL ad if anyone's interested:

http://orlando.craigslist.org/tls/4129291375.html

 

[sunsation288]

Wow nice setup sir !!
Keep the picture coming !

 

[RdRasher]

Here's a couple of cell phone pics of the floor that I just finished sealing the other day. Nothing fancy, just a clear coat on the concrete.

Now to get the electrician to set up the power, etc. & start moving in the tools & equipment!

 

[RdRasher]

Well I finally got back out to the "Craigslist Garage" to fix up the workbenches I bought a couple weeks ago.

Initially I did a thorough cleaning of the workbench top to get rid of years worth of grime, glue, tape, etc. & reversed the legs so that the back of the bench top is now the front which is in nicer condition than the original front. Then I adjusted the legs to their highest setting but that only raised the bench top to about 34", but I'm looking for around 38"-40" high to make it comfortable when standing & not hunched over while working. I decided to cut & stack some old 2x4's that I had lying around to raise the bench top roughly 5" to get the desired height. I disassembled one of the "spare parts" tables (bought 4 tables to use & 2 tables as parts) for its legs, then used them to add a center set of legs to support the middle of the bench top since it's sagging a little in the middle. Then I adjusted the electrical wiring & mounted a power strip to the front. Now the bench top sits at 39". If I find that I want it a little lower I can always take out a row of 2x4's, but it should work out fine. Now to do the other three benches & I will have 24' x 3' of workbench space across the back wall when I'm done. As a bonus, the sides of the benches are able to be bolted to each other & tap-con the legs to the floor, so that should make them even more sturdy than they are now.

So far I've only got a $100 into these 6 benches. Since I'm a bit of a packrat, I've been able to "repurpose" some 2x4's, 4" wood screws & nuts-n-bolts from previous projects.

Here's some cell phone pics:

 

[RdRasher]

Wow nice setup sir !!
Keep the picture coming !

Thanks Sunsation, your garage ain't too shabby either!

 

[RdRasher]

Got the all the benches finished up and did a quick test fit. 24' x 3' of counter space. Tomorrow the electrician comes!

Here's a couple of not so great cell pics (old phone no flash):

 

[RdRasher]

The electrician got power to the shop today & I started hanging some of the lights in preparation for hook up tomorrow.

Hopefully I didn't go overboard with the lights.

 

[RdRasher]

Finally!!!!

We got all 15 lights ( 6 on the entry side & 9 on the work side ) wired up & working.

It's definitely brighter than my **** cell pic makes it look........

 

[RdRasher]

Started moving in yesterday....... sort of.

We started clearing out the storage unit of all the tools & equipment. Of course it was raining all day . By the time we got back to my house we just started shoving stuff in just to get it off the trailer & out of the rain. Now to get the rest of my stuff out of the garage at home & into the shop. Start setting up & get working on the 3 motorcycle projects that have been patiently waiting while I've been getting the shop built.

 

[JCQuick]

looking good, I need to know your craiglist secret. Are you planing on insulation you will need it come summer time