Iron Horse Ranch ...

[1953mercury]

I'm in the process of adding on to my old barn and turning it into my new shop. This event was initiated by my dear wife. Seems she was a little upset that she couldn't park her car in our existing 1200 sf garage as it is filled with all of my Junk, and she is absolutely right. So a big thanks to my lovely Lady.
Now on to the actual carnage. Things are coming along nicely, but I am finding that it was much easier building the first half at 40 than it is doing the second at 63. Here are a few pics. Mike

Here we are pretty much in the beginning. I have so far cut and moved approximately 600 yards of ground for the building, circle drive, and access to the old jeep trail to the top of the property. All a yard at a time with my trusty 35yr old Ford 755 backhoe.

A friend came over with his skid steer and drilled 11- 24" dia. holes for the posts.

Cut and notch 11 6x6x20 treated posts.

Can't seem to post any more pics, so guess I will try another post another day. Thanks for looking. Mike

 

[blazentrout]

Cant wait to see more. Thanks for sharing.

 

[1953mercury]

A shot of the long wall posts and header set in place. The header is made of two 11 7/8 x 1 7/8 x 44' micro-lams glued together and set in one piece using my bucket truck.

Brought in 120 yards of pit run for driveway base. Will probably let it sit for a year or two before covering with 3/4" road base.

Trusses were set in place with bucket truck also. That old truck has been put to many uses over the 8yrs I've owned it and has paid for it self quite a few times.


Well back to work while the weather holds. Thanks for following along. Mike

 

[madoc1]

pretty country. looks like your moving pretty fast also.

jim

 

[1953mercury]

pretty country. looks like your moving pretty fast also.

jim

Well there is a little time lapse involved here. These pics have been taken over
the last two months with other things going on in-between. Hoping to have it all closed in by Thanksgiving when we head south for the winter. Concrete floor and interior will have to wait until spring. A few more pics of my son giving me hand with the 5/8" ply for the roof sheeting.


All the plywood on and nailed off.

An observation for anyone going down this road. I've spent a few yrs doing this kind of work. When I started OSB wasn't even close to being on the scene. It does have it's uses, exterior wall sheeting, Interior walls if you like the look or are putting something over it like a metal wainscoting, which I think I will be doing on this one, but IMHO it does not belong on a roof. especially if you are screwing down a metal roof. It just doesn't hold screws like plywood does. More to come if the body holds up. Cheers, Mike

 

[kitdoctor]

I've always wondered what that sheeting (OSB) was.

Prompted me to goggle it. I'm not sure we have it here in Australia. Others might know.

Thanks for making me investigate!

 

[Lippyp]

Might be also called Sterling board which I think is a brand name rather than the proper name. We certainly have it in the UK.

 

[1953mercury]

Progress report. This will bring us up to current condition. Glad to answer any questions, and thanks for following. Cheers, Mike

Metal roofing completed, and glad it's done. The knee's have not been happy. Took two days off, took a ride on the Harley and got a great massage. Life is looking much better and the knee's are feeling pretty good.

Wall sections and sheeting starting to go up. This is a sort of pole/stick hybrid I guess. The slab will be poured under the treated bottom plate of the wall section, but all the load will be carried by the beam above and the poles. Wanted the 2x6 wall sections for R-19 insulation and sheet rock mounting.

 

[Sunbimmer]

Wow nice I'm interested in this, keep the pics coming please

 

[1953mercury]

A little more progress. Finished framing the long wall sections and got some more OSB up. Hung a few more sheets after these pics, and then took a few hrs to catch up on some dirt work on the back side of the building. Supposed to be 70 tomorrow so taking a bike ride with a friend. Man does not live by bread alone. Back to work Sunday. Mike

 

[jwhcars]

Nice looking, keep up the good work.

 

[Arps]

Nice. That looks like a great area to live.

 

[1953mercury]

Nice. That looks like a great area to live.

Thanks, we like it. Seems the older I get the less I need to go to town. Pretty happy just staying home. Here are a few more pics. Got a lot of ground moved
and pretty much have everything where I want it. Just a little drainage work to
do on the back side and try to get some grass seed down before the snow comes for real. Thanks, Mike
Rear entrance after some cut and fill work.

A little light snow this morning. Supposed to be nice for the next 5-6 days.

 

[1953mercury]

Got close to finishing the dirt work between the the shop and the house, still need to spread a little topsoil before seeding. About 4 hrs work with the hoe from the first pic to the next including moving the cut material to the far side of the bridge.


Finished up the last of the drainage grading on the backside of the shop and added some more useable space with the ground removed. Back to work on the shop tomorrow. Mike

 

[64coupedeluxe]

Looks great, love the style.

 

[sean Buick 76]

Very cool, I like your property!

 

[vonhef]

I like what your doing... thanks for sharing!

 

[jesse72]

Awesome house and shop build!

 

[BSAschields]

Looking forward to the next installment ... Subscribed!

 

[1953mercury]

Thanks for the nice comments guys, much appreciated. The plan was to go back to work on the shop today, but my 18 yr old helper slipped on some ice coming out his front door last week and messed up his back. To his credit he showed up for work the next day, but after one look at him I told him to go home and see a chiropractor. He was going to come back today, but called this morning and asked for one more day. Seems I remember being indestructible at 18. Probably just the coloring of time makes it seem that way. Anyway went back to doing dirt work and I'm alllllmost done. Every time I think I'm done I see something else that needs attention. Spread some topsoil and evened things up a little between the house and barn, and hauled the last of the fill down to the far side of the bridge.

 

[1953mercury]

These pics will give some idea of the amount of ground that's been moved.


A shot of the area I finished today from early on.

This guy was in the shop to greet me this morning.

 

[Need more space]

Love the work, however love your land more!! Beautiful

 

[1953mercury]

Finished the last of the framing sections on the two end walls today. Should have it all sheathed and the siding started by the end of the week. Taking the morning off to have breakfast with the kids. Cheers, Mike

 

[1953mercury]

Took a half day off today. Rained all morning and the sun came out around noon. So reenforced with coffee, a big breakfast, and time with family it was back to the barn. Cut up the north end drop truss for an access door for storage area. Have walk through headroom up there and room for a slightly elevated floor space (2x6's directly above 2x4 bottom chord for clearance for the 9" insulation) 7'w x 43' long. The space narrows as it goes up, but still a lot of space to keep things out of the work area below. Also room for 30" inch shelf to the right of the opening at waist level for the full length. Plan on 5/8" ply for the floor and shelf. Trusses are on 2' centers and the added framework should actually stiffen the trusses.
Oops, swore I took a pic of the opening, but I guess not. Will post tomorrow.
In it's place a gratuitous shot of my burn off of all the sage and brush dug up during the excavation phase. Good wet day to do the deed. Mike
Fire was about twice this high initially, But it didn't occur to me to take a pic until after it had burned down some.

Fire brought the neighbor over for a look see and a beer.

Two for the price of one. Shot of double rainbow from the deck. We occasionally get triples.

 

[blazentrout]

1953mercury, i love those pics of the of the rainbows and the hill sides, just breath taking.

 

[Outlander]

Wow, very nice place to live and work. If you did get any unwanted visitors, they would never hear you yell 'get off my lawn'! You did a great job on the build, keep us informed of how it shapes up to work in.

 

[CoopVA]

Very cool place to be. Thanks for sharing!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[1953mercury]

Here are the pics of the overhead storage access opening framed into the drop truss. Used a section of micro-lam for the header. Nasty out today so staying inside to work on my taxes. Not much fun, but has to be done. Mike

 

[madoc1]

looking great. what is the small structure up above your shop? on the hill.

jim

 

[1953mercury]

looking great. what is the small structure up above your shop? on the hill.

jim

I get asked that a lot. It is a fort/playhouse my son and I built for him when he was 6 yrs old (he's 28 now). It has two stories and a covered porch. I still go up there from time to time to contemplate the universe. There's a nice view from the deck. Mike
A closer shot from the back side.

 

[1953mercury]

A little more progress. Finished the garage door framing, and most of the sheathing on outside walls. Installed my two windows on the long wall. Ran into a layout error on the south wall that I will correct tomorrow. Must have been something I did before 11am, which is generally when my small brain starts firing on all 8 cylinders. Getting down to the wire, just 2 weeks left before I have to start shutting down the house and head south. Mike

 

[hoho98925]

Beautiful land and view you have.

 

[1953mercury]

Beautiful land and view you have.

Thanks hoho. We've been here over 30yrs and still love it. Getting away in the winter helps keep the romance alive. It's been a really nice fall, but I think winter is here to stay and I doubt I will get as far as I would have liked by the time we leave, but I'm going to give it my best shot. Finished sheathing the last wall. Still have to frame and sheet the small two story compressor area on the out side wall in this pic. Mike

 

[1953mercury]

Finished building the compressor enclosure. Added an owl house in the top section for are feathered friend. The perch is just temporary. We are hoping he will take up residence as they have been wintering in the the old section of the building for quite a few years now. Mike

 

[1953mercury]

Well, another year has flown by. They seem to go much faster than they used to. Had a very busy summer, maintenance on my rentals, two visits to my dads in Wisc, one in Oct. for his 91st birthday, and all the little chores that life presents, but I did manage to get some work done on the barn as my wife has taken to calling it. Made it down to our winter place a week ago and have a little more free time to play on the computer so here is one of a few updates I will be making on the project. To me the biggest milestone was probably getting the concrete in. 35.5 cu. yards, and around 2000 l.f. of rebar. I brought in the gravel, did the grading, built and set the trench drain along with three other smaller floor drains and plumbed in drain and vent for a future shop sink and bathroom. Formed up around the building perimeter and a few other areas, then cut & tied most of the steel. I hired a friend and crew to do the finishing. I've come to the conclusion I'm just too old for flat work and it's never been one of my favorite jobs. Here are a few pics, and thanks for following along. Cheers, Mike

 

[1953mercury]

It was all clear and clean for a few days, but we all know that never lasts. Saw some nice cedar vents at the local lumber supply $130 each. i had a bunch of 1x4 cedar that had been up stored up in the trusses of the old half of the building for 25yrs, so I built my own. Total investment for 4 was about $10 for screen material. Thanks for looking. Mike
Got some insulation and blocking in. Putting in the first garage door, and hung five of the fourteen T-5HO fixtures for temporary light. Thanks for looking. Mike

 

[1953mercury]

Here's a shot of the vents installed and the first of the cedar siding to go up. The propane tank in the foreground I scored off of Craigs list for $300. Completely stripped and repainted. It was a lot more work than I anticipated but came out pretty nice. Thanks for looking. Mike

 

[1953mercury]

A few pics of some interior framing. The area with the large window opening will be a dedicated clean room for engine/transmission assembly. I got some free doors and windows off of Craigs List and will be using one of the metal clad sliding doors horizontally in the opening so it won't feel too claustrophobic working in there. The entry door on the 45deg wall will be all glass also. I did the 45 to make getting vehicles in and out of work area adjacent to the clean room easier. The other room will be a small office area. The area above I cantilevered out over the walls to gain a little sf and to add a little character. That area will be primarily for the consumption of adult beverages and shooting pool. Yup! right here in River City. The door exiting the second level will be going out to a covered 10x13 deck. Merry Christmas, Mike

 

[1/2 Cup]

Looking fantastic and thank you for sharing.

 

[captain14]

Where do you park all your equipment during the winter while you are down south? Inside the building or do you have another equipment shed?

Beautiful property in the photos you have shared here.