Finally building my new shop - 30x46

[Tylerb43]

Okay guys, here’s what we’ve got. I’ve been dreaming about my own shop since I was 15 working on my truck in the parent’s driveway. Blah, blah, blah….dream dream dream… I started looking for a house with space for a garage in 2004, but ended up buying a piece of property that was all trees. Got engaged, and “decided” to build the house first, knowing that it would push back the garage dream that much more, but hey, that’s what we do right? Started the house in September ’06, finished in June ’07, got married in July ’07. And finally, finally started the shop build in September 2008, and here’s that story.

Building specs and plans: 30’ x 46’. Stick-Framed on full frost-walls and footings. Hip roof structure with attic trusses for storage room. Also will have a 12x26 Lean-to off the back to house the tractor and lawn equipment. (Can’t have that stuff in my shop!) Entire design will match the house with carriage house doors and a brick and stone front. I want 2 “rooms” with a 14’ sliding door in between so I can have a more open space when I’m not doing dirty work. One room is 16’x30’, and the other is 30’x30’. The smaller space will have a 2-post lift. I already bought the lift, it’s a used Rotary I bought from the Rotary dealer, and was removed from the local Cadillac dealership. Three, 10’W x 9’H overhead doors, a/c, heat, 100amp panel, compressor upstairs.

This forum has been a HUGE help, so many ideas, opinions, etc. So thank you all very much.


Okay, on with the pictures, we all love pictures.
First, I modeled the entire thing in 3D…yeah, it’s what I do.

That’s a ’68 Mustang and a ’05 Supercrew, two future residents.

Then I drew the plans and submitted them to the building department.

Initial Clearing with my brother's backhoe, a view from the house garages.

Finally decided on a layout and started digging the footings

Footings are poured here, again- the view from the house. Because of the slope, I decided to drop the entire building 16” into the ground so the downhill side wouldn’t be so high out of the ground, this will mean more excavating and dressing on the uphill side, not to mention the “stem wall” will have a 16” step in it.

Steel and wall forms going into place.

Same day, looking back toward the house.

Walls are poured, ready for back-filling and getting ready for the slab.

more to come...

 

[Tylerb43]

Finishing the floor, this took forever to set up. 6 Mil vapor barrier fiber mix, thickened to 6” in the lift bay. The vapor barrier wouldn’t let the moisture out of the slab, so it takes a long time to cure, but is makes a stronger slab.

Starting the framing – no, they didn’t cut every board as a team…

You just can’t beat the neighborhood crane for setting trusses, he was there for about 1.5 hours. Note the attic trusses, sweet.

I was worried about the crane truck sitting on the hill….he wasn’t

Here’s a view from the road so you can see the shop’s relation to the house.

 

[Zoobee]

Great start.

Wish my brother had a backhoe.

 

[Tylerb43]

Thanks man, can't lie, it is pretty nice. He also has 4 dumptrucks, my Dad has a highlift we used, and my other brother has a nice skidsteer. So yeah, it is nice to equipment in the family, but that doesn't mean it's always free either!

More to come, getting all these pictures together takes awhile!

 

[bld movs]

Good lord what a sweet setup.

 

[cyclopsblown34]

Excellent build thread. Please keep us up to date on it.
Thanks, Chip.

 

[Tylerb43]

We were racing the cold weather to get it all closed in and made it without a problem

Brick and stone work on the front to match the house– these guys did a great job.

I added a lean-to on the back for my tractor, attachments and mower, etc.

Here you can see the temporary doors I built to keep it closed up while work continued on the inside.

 

[zombiescustoms]

What did your attic width and height end up with the 8/12 pitch trusses?

 

[Bevis]

nice looking build so far.

 

[purpony]

Great looking garage. Any rough idea on cost? That is around the size im looking to build. What are you using for a door to block off the one bay?

Is that a 2320 or 2520 JD you have? I have a 2320 and love it.

 

[Tylerb43]

"What did your attic width and height end up with the 8/12 pitch trusses?"

The attic space is 14' wide and 7' tall. I would've liked a little more height, but it's really not needed if you're just using the space for mostly storage.

 

[Tylerb43]

Great looking garage. Any rough idea on cost? That is around the size im looking to build. What are you using for a door to block off the one bay?

Is that a 2320 or 2520 JD you have? I have a 2320 and love it.

Thanks for the compliment. I knew I'd get the cost question, and all I can say is it's all relative to what you're building. You can build something for $10/sqft or make it really nice for $70/sqft. My advice is to design the building you want, get some qoutes, add 15%, and then scale down if you think you have to. I'm doing a lot of this myself, where a lot of guys hire it all out, or even get a GC and just say 'do it'. I opted to do it myself and get help where needed. So the point is, the cost of such a project can vary wildly. I hope that helped.

To block off the two bays, I'm going to build a sliding door on a track, "barn door" style. The opening is centered and 10'x14' wide, so two 7' wide doors on a track is the plan.

That's a 2320, ('07) absolutely love it. It wasn't cheap, and my brothers' and Dad make fun of it because they all have huge field tractors, but man this little thing has been awesome. Very glad I have it around.

Thanks again guys for the comments and compliments, much appreciated.

 

[purpony]

thanks for the info. Ya, i know what you mean about costs. I would be building it mostly myself as well.

I bought my 2320 in 07 as well and its great. I was really looking at the 2520 but the 2320 has been perfect. I use it alot for mowing my 2 acre lawn and the weight of it is just right. My dad was making fun of my as well cause he has a farm and we have big equipment as well, bigger tractors, jd 850 dozer, and an excavator, but he loves my little 2320 and wants a 2520 for himself now... haha.

Good luck with the garage, looks fantastic and i can wait to build one soon.

 

[Tylerb43]

Here's some more pictures for you guys.

I did some of the electrical on my house, but with the shop I mounted and wired the panel, even pulled the feeder from the meter myself. I think it turned out pretty good. Inspector had no issues with it at all. I think this picture is before it was completely finished - still had to wrap the 220 whites with black tape and run the compressor circuit I think.

Here's a good look at the 14' opening between the two "bays"

We framed in a 4'x5' opening in the ceiling to facilitate an electric hoist to move large items (hoods, fenders, compressor, etc. into the attic room to get them out of the way. I know the truss designers and worked with them to compensate for the extra loading and spacing.

Here's the lean-to finished, I decided to put a metal roof out here because it's only a 3/12 pitch. You can see I'm just using 2 through-the-wall a/c units to cool the place. The walls are 2x6, 12' tall on top of stem walls. Making a ceiling height of 12'4.5" to 12'6" - (1.5" of slope)

I had to build a little retaining wall at the man door because of the fact we lowered the building the 16" I mentioned before.

more to come...

 

[T VETTE]

Very well done!!

 

[mrstang69]

nice looking build so far. need more pics

 

[Tylerb43]

Thanks guys, it's been a long, exhausting road, but it's getting there. I've completed the insulation and drywall. Just did R19 batts in the walls, R38 will get blown in the ceiling.

I designed the walls to be 12' 1/2" tall so I could fit 3 48" sheets vertical with the 1/2" gap at the bottom from the stem wall. I did the whole thing myself with 4x10 sheets. The top row was a bear, climbing a ladder with a 10' sheet of drywall and getting it screwed where you want it isn't fun. In the lift bay, I decided to use 1/2" plywood (actually 15/32) on the bottom 4' for durability. I had the taper tape that joint and it came out great, you can barely tell there's a change in material.

And here's some pics for ya

 

[Tylerb43]

Taping is finished, painting is nearly finished. I borrowed my brother's airless sprayer, put one good coat of primer on the whole thing and then a top coat of white on the top 5' or so. (ran out of time on a Friday night, and it was enough to start the ceiling the next day)

I decided to put white metal on the ceiling, it's gloss white, I think it looks awesome.

Doors are in! 10x9's high-lift tracks. CHI Carriage House. Foam insulated R15.4 value.

NOW, I'm getting excited, gotta get all the lights up, outlets in, painting finished.. Yeah - this is the fun stuff!

 

[zombiescustoms]

Looking good, I just started on a 40x32 with an 8/12 pitch, I like the metal you used on the ceiling, who makes it, and what was the cost difference as compared to sheetrock?

 

[TRC51]

Nice work....


Hmmm... mental note... white metal ceiling. I like it!

 

[Tylerb43]

zombie - I'm not sure of the manufacturer, but any building supply or lumber yard could help you out. The initial cost is quite a bit more than sheetrock, but once it's up, you're done. No taping, mudding, and painting costs. It's sold in 3' wide sheets, any length you want (I ordered some that was 188 1/4") Prices range from $1.70-$2.25 per linear foot, depending on gauge and style. Hope that helps.

Good luck with your build, got a thread started yet?

 

[zombiescustoms]

Thanks, yes here is the thread: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43121

 

[tdkkart]

Looking good, I just started on a 40x32 with an 8/12 pitch, I like the metal you used on the ceiling, who makes it, and what was the cost difference as compared to sheetrock?

I'm in the process of installing the same stuff on the walls and celing of my pole building. It's available from Menards here, they stock it in 8,10,12ft sheets, or it is available custom cut in 1" increments.
Cost is considerably higher than sheetrock, right now it's approx. $52/100sq/ft, which is alot lower than it was a year ago. Expensive, but way less labor, screw it on and it's done, no other fnishing.

 

[Tylerb43]

Hey guys the ceiling is finished and all the lights are up and working. I'll get some pics added tomorrow. In the 30'x30' bay, I used 10 - 8' quad bulb fixtures with 6500k T8bulbs. In the 30x16 bay, I used 10 - 4' dual bulb fixtures with 6500k T8's. So all together I've got 60, 32w bulbs, so that's like 1.4 watts/sq ft. And the best part is with all those lights on, it's only drawing 14 amps. It's pretty sweet and that glossy white ceiling really lights up nice.

 

[Okie]

I've subscribed to your build looks great. Any updated pics of your ceiling?

 

[Tylerb43]

Hey Okie, thanks, I was wondering if anyone was even still interested to be honest. It's easy to think that way I guess when you see all the "bottomless budget" garages on here, oh well.

I do have some updated pics and I will really try to put them on here over the weekend. I got a bandwidth warning from photobucket - anyone know what that's about? (is that because I'm linking instead of attaching?)

There's a lot of clean up to do on the shop this weekend, I think my brother is coming over to help me. There's a ton of drywall scraps and empty boxes from the lights. I need to get the in-ceiling speakers installed so I can get the ceiling instulation blown-in. I may even start painting my stripes this weekend to test out some colors, it may get just that crazy!

Every weekend I put more on my plate than I could possibly do in 4 weekends, I know this, but I still continue to do it. so we'll see.

Thanks for subscribing and stay tuned!

 

[yellow2000S/R]

I'm interested... otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the e-mail notification from being subscribed!

 

[Tylerb43]

Really sorry for the slow updates guys, but things happen, this is one of about 10 things going on right now. I'm sure you all understand. Here are some pictures of the latest, sorry about the complete mess. One of my brother's dumptrucks is at my place, so I plan to fill it with construction trash this week.

Anyway, I've got all the lights up and working. I used 10- 8' fixtures in the main area and 10- 4' fixtures in the "lift bay", with a total of 60, 32w T8's. The light is great and I'm very happy with it, I could do surgery in there. I also got the lights on the outside as well to match the house. These look really cool at night, I'll have to get a picture of that to show you guys too. Enjoy!

 

[zombiescustoms]

That ceiling is definitely something I'm going to do, But I dont have a Menards here, and the people at home depot and lowes look at me like I have 4 heads when I asked about it, any Idea of the manufacturer??

 

[D KRAGER]

That ceiling is definitely something I'm going to do, But I dont have a Menards here, and the people at home depot and lowes look at me like I have 4 heads when I asked about it, any Idea of the manufacturer??

You surely have someone in the area that builds pole barns don't you??? You can order it from them, they also make it in stronger guages to span up to 8' rafters (pole barn construction).

 

[rktolds]

If no one knows or remembers maybe you can google Menard's and call'em. I like the ceiling too. I bet it reflects a ton of light. Nice build.

Matt

 

[Tylerb43]

Zombie - forget Lowes and HD, and I don't even know what Menards is. Surely there are lumber yards near you, and they can help. I'm sure builder's don't buy their material and trusses from Lowes, so a lumber yard (did a quick search around Harrisburg and found plenty) is your best bet. It's not usually used on ceilings mind you, so if you say 'I need some ceiling metal', you will likely get "the look." Roofing metal, roofing tin, at a lumber yard, builder's supply company will get a decent response. (mine is 29 gauge)

Good luck with the metal and the build - looks great!

 

[nathank]

That ceiling is definitely something I'm going to do, But I dont have a Menards here, and the people at home depot and lowes look at me like I have 4 heads when I asked about it, any Idea of the manufacturer??

Search for "metal building supply".

 

[Motown 454]

Nice build . The ceiling looks great.

 

[Tylerb43]

Small update, I finally got the concrete poured in front of the garage, along with the rest of the driveway. We were waiting to make sure all the "heavy traffic" was done before we did it. I've very happy with it, love it. I still have a ton of work to do on the inside, but that's what cold weather is for, and it's coming! It was 72 in St. Louis on Saturday, so I'm trying to do everything outside while I can. I put the gas line in the ground last weekend, next step is to get the heater hooked up. Cheers!

 

[Tylerb43]

Few more pictures of the finished driveway...

 

[bluesman2a]

That looks REALLY good!!!
Having been there/done that, I can tell you're getting tired of paying for concrete, aren't you?

 

[bry@n]

This build is awesome. I love the brick work.

Did you do the brick work yourself or did you sub it out? Whatr was the cost if you don't mind me asking?

Looks great!

 

[Tylerb43]

Thanks guys for the compliments, it sure keeps a guy motivated!

Bluesman - You know it, between the house, shop, and driveway, that's a buttload of concrete, the driveway took 96 yards alone. But like you said, you've been there - nice shop btw!

bryan - thanks. I didn't do the brickwork, but I did design the layout. I hired it done, there's no way I could do it with the same level of detail these guys produce, very happy with their work. I designed it in detail on the house and presented it to the bricklayers and they said "no problem". So when it came time to do the shop it was easy to match the same design. And please don't make me go look how much I wrote that check for, I might get depressed!

Shots from the house build brickwork:

 

[bluesman2a]

Bluesman - You know it, between the house, shop, and driveway, that's a buttload of concrete, the driveway took 96 yards alone. But like you said, you've been there - nice shop btw!

Thank you sir, it's coming along... In fact I just added another 10 yards to my total today....