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32x40 Pole Barn - shop / man cave

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6th Gear

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Can I/we see a pic of the attic space? Were the attic trusses much more expensive?

I'll snap a pic of the attic... It's pretty full of stuff. After abandoning plans for a 2-story gambrel truss type pole barn (cost almost twice as much), I went to this plan which had attic trusses from the beginning - never had non-attic trusses in the quote. I definitely wanted the storage space.
 
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saceone

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That video of you guys busting your friends nuts is the reason why I think we like our garages. That video is the perfect visual representation of why we enjoy spending time in there and what it means to us . Three thumbs up
 
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Can I/we see a pic of the attic space? Were the attic trusses much more expensive?

I've got them on my phone... need to get them onto my computer & online. Not much to see up there really... just a bunch of car parts. :thumbup: I'll get them up.

In the meantime, Here's some older pics from earlier this year I forgot I had put online:

IMG_3232.jpg

I had just got the peg board up behind the workbench and started to hang some stuff.
The yellow Weatherhead storage cabinets on the far right were stacked 3 high on metal legs but I took them apart and hung them to gain floor space.

IMG_3238.jpg

Yota actually clean. I try not to drive it in the salt anymore, when possible.

IMG_3237.jpg

Metal cubicle cabinets above the pegboard.
 
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IMG_2669_stangpark.jpg

Mustang being tucked away before winter.

IMG_3234.jpg

That's a thick car cover, sheets of plastic and styrofoam sheets on top to deter the cat from jumping on the car. Pulled the cover off a month ago and she still managed to scratch up the front fender :mad:
 

extremesounds13

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I'm curious why did you use OSB on the entire outside of the pole barn, most people just use metal? I actually like the OSB idea because you were able to side it and use a shingled roof too. Do you think it would of been cheaper to stick frame it or do you think a pole barn was still cheaper? Also do you think the OSB helped insulate any better versus just metal sheeting?
 
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I'm curious why did you use OSB on the entire outside of the pole barn, most people just use metal? I actually like the OSB idea because you were able to side it and use a shingled roof too. Do you think it would of been cheaper to stick frame it or do you think a pole barn was still cheaper? Also do you think the OSB helped insulate any better versus just metal sheeting?

I went with OSB on the outside because housewrap and siding was going over it. Metal exterior is definitely cheaper, but my wife said the pole barn had to match the rest of the house (she's a city folk).

Pole barn is still cheaper for me than block foundation/stick because I would have had to go with a contractor for the stick build and they're about 1.5 to 2x as expensive as the local Amish.

The OSB vs. metal siding probably helps a little bit with insulating I'm sure, but the R19 insulation I put in the walls is what did the trick. Also there's vapor barrier and another layer of OSB on the inside, so it's very well insulated.
 
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Can I/we see a pic of the attic space? Were the attic trusses much more expensive?

Just now remembered I had this pic of the attic:

IMG_4359.jpg
I don't know the exact amount of the attic trusses, since they were part of the overall package, but they were more expensive. Not too bad, I think it was less than $1k. When I look at all of the storage I have up there, it's definitely worth it.
 
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Also, I had some comments on some of my youtube videos where viewers wanted to know more about the garage, so I made a video tour:

Part 1

Part 2

enjoy :)
 

centerpunch

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May 3, 2013
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Very nice building, congrats!

I just bought a property that has an unfinished 32 x 40 barn on it that I'm converting to garage / shop. This is the only thread I've found showing a shop that size, so I thought I'd add the layout I'm going to use so folks can see another way to use that size space.

It will have two double-width garage doors plus one single garage door. I need car storage more than work space, but still like to be able to easily walk between cars. If I have a big project, I'll just take over two storage spots.

The barn has an upstairs, so there's extensive storage space upstairs, so I can keep the downstairs relatively uncluttered.
 

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marsch

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I'm betting they will do the windows/man door with a chain saw, but also curious to see.

layout.gif

Here's how I plan on laying out the inside. I thought about diving the back half to keep the dirty area and the man area separate, but that would really limit the use of the garage in other ways. The building faces west and we have a breeze pretty much every day where we live. (only ran the air twice this year!)
So the plan is to open up the back 8' door and have a nice wind through the shop to carry through dirt, sawdust etc through and out of the back corner. On nice days, I'll roll the table saw, welder etc to the slab outside the 8x8 door and do all my dirty work outside.

I'm keeping the space as wide open as possible because I may be using it as a photography studio shooting vehicles, but not for another year or so. That's why I went with the 12' ceilings.

People say build it as big as you need, then add a little more.
32x40 is big enough for now and the near future. After seeing how big this building is, I can't imagine having gone with a 32x48'. That extra 8' would have been really nice but this size is already looking like a monster behind our house! I'm just going to have to learn how to use my available space better and actually try not to collect as much car parts (or as my wife says, junk) but that's what the attic is for! :beer:

Great looking shop, and all your projects look like fun. Looking at this build is getting me excited to start my own. If you dont mind me asking, what software did you use to draw the layout of your shop?
 

justin1795

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I'm curious why did you use OSB on the entire outside of the pole barn, most people just use metal? I actually like the OSB idea because you were able to side it and use a shingled roof too. Do you think it would of been cheaper to stick frame it or do you think a pole barn was still cheaper? Also do you think the OSB helped insulate any better versus just metal sheeting?

i did osb for similar reason. pole barn buildings with steel aren't allowed here. for me stick built didn't work because over 1,000 sq ft requires 42 inch footings in virgin ground.
 
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marsch, I used Adobe Illustrator to do those drawings. Not ideal unless you're already familiar with it. I use it every day for work, so it didn't take too long.
 

Stryker124

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It warms my heart to see the two valve covers from my 92' Integra on your wall. :) Looks like you have built an amazing place there my friend.
 
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It warms my heart to see the two valve covers from my 92' Integra on your wall. :) Looks like you have built an amazing place there my friend.

Glad I could give them a good home! Eventually, I'd like to refinish most of them. Yours were some of the nicer ones. :thumbup:
 

ikubi

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Jun 2, 2015
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I noticed 3 problems

1 - Missing a car lift, they only cost $2.5k now days

2 & 3- last I knew its 2015 and everyone has flat screens and plasmas yet you have a old as tv and a old ***:lol_hitti PC
 

ikubi

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Jun 2, 2015
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Also, civic missing a stabilizer bar, between the struts...... Why? sooo supped up soo pretty but not quite
 
OP
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I noticed 3 problems

1 - Missing a car lift, they only cost $2.5k now days

2 & 3- last I knew its 2015 and everyone has flat screens and plasmas yet you have a old as tv and a old ***:lol_hitti PC

1- I'm cheap.

2 & 3- I'm cheap. (If I really want to watch tv or use a fast computer, I go in the house.)

Civic does have an aftermarket strut tower bar somewhere in the attic... I took it off when I put the turbo on and never got around to putting it back on because it made minimal difference.
 
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ikubi

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You said your "cheap". Yet that radiant heating was a waste and cost $$ Considering it takes 6 hours to heat up the floor, what if in the winter you want to go in and change just the oil in a car? You gotta wait 6 hours to pre-heat the garage......

I would place baseboard all around the perimeter double layer, one at bottom other 4ft from floor, pump on 30 min later 75+ degrees.

It would also be more efficient if it was set up as primary/secondary loop then the returning water can circulate on one loop(secondary) and hot water injection as primary as needed.

Right now you have all returning water going through the water heater
 
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You leave radiant on all the time, not just when you go into the garage. It's very efficient.
I waited until we ran natural gas to the house to get the water heater hooked up. With the house and the garage heated with NG, it's about 1/4 of what we used to pay heating just the house with propane.
 

marsch

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Is radiant heat a still good option if the only option is electric? The place I am building doesnt offer natural gas.
 

marsch

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Great little big truck you got there. Thats one hell of a bday present. Maybe I can talk myself into getting a present like that for my car.
 
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Is radiant heat a still good option if the only option is electric? The place I am building doesnt offer natural gas.


You could do an electric water heater, but I've read that it's going to cost more to run than a gas heater. Electric rates are ridiculous where we live, so I didn't even consider it.
 

marsch

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You could do an electric water heater, but I've read that it's going to cost more to run than a gas heater. Electric rates are ridiculous where we live, so I didn't even consider it.
More than likely I'll stay away from it. Just thought I'd ask since its all new to me. Thanks for the info.
 

On-Wheel

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The garage,man cave and truck paint job look great! I found this thread google image search,metal garage ceiling.lol
 
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What size garage doors do you have? What is the spacing across the 32'?

The front garage doors are 10x10. There's 5' on the outsides and 2' between the doors. (That's measuring the structure. On the inside of the building, I lose 6" at each corner for wall thickness.
 
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I found some old files on my hard drive.. some early plans I had for the garage that were shot down because of cost. It was still fun to design them :D

plan-loft.jpg

I started out with a loft idea, because I had an upstairs loft at my old apt and it was nice. But then I thought twice about having my dirty area and my man cave in the same space... not to mention the cost. If I was going to have a second floor, it might as well span the whole area:

plan-2story.jpg


Now I'm thinking that's a lot of space, but it's going to be kind of dark up stairs... even with the 4 skylights, not much air flow.

plan-2story-dormers.jpg

So I added dormers on both sides.
Then I got a price quote back from the amish on the version w/o the dormers and it was $38k. So that helped me decide on the single open floor plan real quick :D

Another plan you should see is the radiant heat layout:

radiant-heat-layout_old.jpg

That was version 1. It wasn't as efficient because the return from the loops would have been cold, going right by every 180° turn of all 4 loops while taking the 'cold' water back to the heater. That might have prematurely cooled some of the 'hot' water going through the loops.

So here's the final:
radiant-heat-layout.jpg


it was 9° outside earlier today and I was sitting in the middle of the floor doing drum brakes (ugh) and I wasn't even upset because my bum was so warm :)
 
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I used adobe illustrator. There's probably better programs out there for that kind of stuff, but I already had Illustrator and am familiar with it.
 
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