Above 1200 Sq/FT Kansas Dream Shop

[philbilly20]

Where to begin!

My wife and I started to plan out our dream shop a little over 2 years ago. This summer we finally started doing prep work for the site while talking with our builder. We waited as long as we could while working with him as wood prices fell before we pulled the trigger and signed the contract.

The building has been underway for a few weeks and the site prep has been done for a few months so some of the first posts will be a “flashback” anyway, onto the shop…

I flip flopped around on sizes a lot, trying to walk the line between the size we need and budget. At the end of the day we ended up going with a 72x50x16. The main factor was making sure the 50 foot truss length was there. We can always add on down the road in length but it won’t quite look right to make any additions wider than 50 feet. Here is my rough floor plan.

The shop will have raised bottom chord trusses to gain some ceiling height. Two 10x10 doors on high lift tracks and one 18x15’3” door. 12’ deep corner porch on the northeast corner. Along the north wall there will be three rooms. The larger one will be a gym, the middle one will be a full bath, and the one on the west side will be the utility room with the boiler, electric, air compressor, etc. Above those rooms will be loft storage to help keep clutter off the walls and floors.

That was the plans we started out with, excited to see how it turns out and share with all of you.

 

[philbilly20]

Site Prep

Before we could start work on building up the foundation we had to clear the site out. When we moved to our home there was 3 rusted out grain bins and a rusted out “a frame” garage with terribly cracked concrete.



The grain bins were sold to a hunter close to St. Louis where he was going to make cabins out of them and the garage was sold on FB marketplace in less than 30 minutes! Apparently I listed it for too low but I was happy that I got something for it, it was being repurposed, and I didn’t have to tear it down.

After the structures were removed this is what I was left with

 

[philbilly20]

Site Prep Pt. 2

This is where I brought out the big guns.

On the farm I use an 850J Deere dozer to build terraces, waterways, and clear brush. The demolition company that was going to haul off the concrete rubble from the bins and garage were booked out past the date I was hoping to start working on the foundation so the concrete had to be moved offsite slightly. Luckily the dozer handled it all fairly easily except for the larger two bin pads, those things were massive!


Here is the pile of concrete after moving it

 

[philbilly20]

Site Prep Pt. 3

Now to building up the foundation. One of the things I was in charge of and was a little particular about was the foundation. I wanted the whole site lifted some and some of it had to be brought to be level. This turned into a lot of scraper loads. On our property is an abandoned railroad that I was wanting to get rid of and was also the perfect candidate for the fill.

Before I could start hauling the fill up I first had to clear it of the 70+ years of brush. Again the dozer came to save the day.

After the trees were cleared it was the scrapers turn to haul the fill to the site. I started to keep track of how many scraper loads it took but I lost track

You can also see the corn starting to mature in that picture compared to earlier ones.

While bringing up loads of fill I would spread out approximately 2 inches of fill and then pack it down with a fully loaded scraper. After almost getting to the finish grade and height that I wanted I realized I had a serious problem.

When I would bring a load to pack it the foundation would compress and then pop back out to where it was, almost like squeezing a sponge. After a lot of research I realized I was experiencing what some call hydraulic pumping caused by trying to compact when the subsoil or the fill was too wet. The only fix I could come up with was to dig it all out and spread it out to dry and try again.

Here is a picture of me fixing that mess

 

[philbilly20]

Site Prep Pt. 4

After fixing the foundation compaction issues the rest of it was smooth sailing. Getting the grade down to tolerance and hauling in some gravel to spread out on top. The pad also will have 4 months of sitting before it will be built on which will help it set up and settle down some.

The corn was really coming on in this picture, if I remember right it was harvested in the next week.

 

[MacTexas]

This looks like a build I would like to follow.

 

[philbilly20]

Constructing Pt. 1

I read somewhere that the two things you can guarantee when it comes to construction projects is that you will go over budget and it will always take longer than you think. Although it took a few months to get the crew here to build it (they’ve been swamped this summer) they’ve been incredibly fast once they got here.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving they arrived and dug the holes for the poles and laid it all out. It was too windy that day (thanks Kansas) to set the posts.

 

[philbilly20]

Constructing Pt. 2

Once the posts were set erecting it went extremely fast.


Within 3 days they had the poles set, nailers on, and the trusses on the building. It should’ve been done in one day but we had a small hiccup. The foreman of the crew was not there the first day when they dug the holes and somewhere along the process the northeast one (the one closest in the picture) was roughly six inches too far south. This changed the whole north wall as they snapped a line between the corners. Luckily when they went to put the roof on they realized there was an issue. They called me and I went over and talked over how to fix it. At the end of the day it wasn’t a hard fix but had to take the trusses off the north end and dig up all the poles and reconstruct the north wall. After the three days of labor this is what it looked like-

 

[philbilly20]

Constructing Pt. 3

After the hiccup the rest of constructing the shell was smooth sailing. The roof and some of the walls were starting to be lined and construction of the porch had started.
The windows and doors were also framed in at this point.

Here it is after the walls were starting to be lined. You can also see in this picture the hipped roof on the porch taking shape.

 

[philbilly20]

Constructing Pt. 4

One of the concerns with doing a post frame building was having wood in the dirt. I’ve only ever been around metal framed buildings and was worried about wood rot.

I saw these at a farm show and talked to my builder about them. He has actually used them a few times so we got them ordered for the posts. These are giving me a lot of confidence in having a post frame.

 

[philbilly20]

Exterior Finishing-

Haven’t posted in a while, got busy around Christmas and kind of forgot to update it until now. Hopefully everyone is still interested.

Not much was left to finish up the exterior before we could continue with concrete. Just a few sheets and at the same time we put in the soffit lights.

 

[philbilly20]

Floor Heat/Plumbing-

Before the concrete was poured I had to get the plumbing roughed in, this consisted of a toilet, two sinks, shower, one floor drain for the boiler, and all the vents. Not too bad of a job to rough in.


The next big job was installing the floor heat. I’ve helped install one before that was on foam boards and attached to wire mesh and wanted to try some of the new foam boards that interlock and have the nubs to attach the pex to and space them out. These are 1 inch panels, R-5 value, 56 psi. The company I ordered the foam, pex, and panel from also designed it for me as well. If anybody wants to know who I used feel free to DM, they’ve been nothing but excellent and easy to work with. In the one picture you can see the layout for it, 2 zones, one using ⅝ on 15 inch spacing and the other using ½ on 12 inch spacing.

 

[ybnormal]

question, I looked at the Pex layout and it looks like you're using the 1/2" for the rooms and the 5/8" for the main garage. what's the thinking behind that? I figure the larger lines for the garage so you can pump the heat out, but why not just run larger lines in the rooms also? wouldn't it warm up faster with larger Pex?

 

[philbilly20]

Concrete Pt. 1(ish?)

Big Day!! I was very nervous about this as I know you’ve got one chance to get it right and the floor heat in it would make it even harder to fix a mess up. The floor is 6 inches of concrete with ½” rebar on 18 inch spacing.

The day we were going to pour started out not good. The crew showed up at 6:15 with the pump truck supposed to arrive at 6:30. The crew got ahold of the pump truck at 6:45 where he had supposedly “lost power and his phone alarm didn’t go off”. Long story short after that the head concrete guy was upset all day and ended up not doing a good job on about a third of it. Just didn’t do a good job power troweling.

I was upset about it and worried for a few weeks before I the head contractor for the shop was able to come out and look at it. He said that it was unacceptable and that we are going to get it fixed to where both him and I are happy with it. Right now we are most likely going to grind and polish the main shop floor to fix it. Things happen, life goes on, they’re going to make it right and that’s what matters.

 

[philbilly20]

question, I looked at the Pex layout and it looks like you're using the 1/2" for the rooms and the 5/8" for the main garage. what's the thinking behind that? I figure the larger lines for the garage so you can pump the heat out, but why not just run larger lines in the rooms also? wouldn't it warm up faster with larger Pex?

I’m assuming it’s because the rooms are on 12 inch spacing and the main shop is on 15 inch spacing. The runs are also shorter in the rooms if that will make a difference, won’t have to carry as much heat before the water is back to the manifold.

 

[ybnormal]

I’m assuming it’s because the rooms are on 12 inch spacing and the main shop is on 15 inch spacing. The runs are also shorter in the rooms if that will make a difference, won’t have to carry as much heat before the water is back to the manifold.

true, but they also put it on 12" vs 15" spacing. I'm guessing it's kind of a balance thing, just enough heat has to be sucked out of the tubing at the pump speed it's running out. was just wondering

 

[PileDriver]

These photos make me miss home. I'll be following this build for sure!

 

[KansasProud]

Badass philbilly! Looks absolutely awesome! Can't wait to see the finished concrete and how the contractor will make it right for you.

 

[jbrentd]

Howdy from a neighbor to the south. Is it really ever not too windy in Kansas? That's a great looking shop so far and I look forward to seeing it get completed.

 

[philbilly20]

Howdy from a neighbor to the south. Is it really ever not too windy in Kansas? That's a great looking shop so far and I look forward to seeing it get completed.

We get windy days but nothing like other parts of Kansas. I’m closer to the Ozarks than I am to Wizard of Oz-esque Kansas.

 

[slik560]

Subscribed - because: KANSAS

 

[philbilly20]

Interior Finishing-

On some days it feels like we are so close and on others it feels like I have years of work to do. When the interior walls were framed up it felt like things were coming together. Very neat to get a feel of how the drawings on paper translated into real life. Also somehow when we got it framed up it made the garage feel bigger.


I also started trenching in my gas and water lines. This went alright other than finding where the previous owners had sewer lines as we had to cross under them once. Planted some hydrants and also when I was tying onto the water lines I put shut offs in for the house and for the garage with a manhole for access. Also got the septic tank set and all the sewer lines plumbed in.




The only gas usage as of now in the shop is the combo-boiler. 1 ¼ inch gas line would have been just big enough to run it and 1 ½ inch would definitely run it and give you some wiggle room for adding on any usage item, so between the two sizes I decided on 2 inch. I’d much rather bury plenty of capacity now than have to fix it down the road when I there is an issue. I have some dreams of adding radiant tube heaters under the porch and maybe a few gas fire pits.

 

[philbilly20]

Insulation Time-

On Monday we finally had time in the insulators schedule and good enough weather to get our spray foam on. After researching insulation options I would rather have to argue with somebody over politics or religion than insulation. Everybody has an opinion on it and they are sure theirs is the best. In the end we (and the budget helped the decision) decided on 1.5 inches of closed cell on the walls. Once I decided on that I had to choose between spraying on the tin or on house wrap. Right or wrong here is why I made these decisions. I wanted closed cell for the way it stops air movement (which is just as important to me as r value) and also the rigidity it adds to the building. I’ve been in barns that will creak and groan or rattle in the wind and loved the idea of closed cell sprayed directly onto the tin to give the whole thing more strength. I know if I have to replace a piece of tin it will be more of a pain but that will be something I will have to live with. We are doing blow in in the attic so if we get hail the roof will be easy to fix. This will also help with air movement in the attic and not let a pocket of air that could promote condensation happen in the attic.

 

[wasfast]

What's the insulation plan on the ceiling/roof?

 

[philbilly20]

What's the insulation plan on the ceiling/roof?

The whole interior is getting lined with tin so we are going to do blow in insulation in the attic.

 

[slik560]

I keep waiting to see bleachers and a hoop/backboard at each end. That is one huge building.

 

[philbilly20]

Interior finishings-

The crew showed up and was ready to line the interior out. They were nice enough to let me use their man lifts in the evening to do some wiring and light installation. If I didn’t wire up the soffit lights before they lined the ceiling I don’t know how I would’ve gotten access to do that. These lights will be connected to a timer switch so depending on the time of year for example I could have them turn on at 8:00 and off 1:00. The porch lights will also be on a similar switch






They were quick with the ceiling and after that I installed the ceiling lights with some help from my father.



That was a cold evening, by the time I had installed 6 lights my coffee had ice on the top ½ inch of it. Ended up installing 16 fixtures that hold four four foot T8 fixtures, I don’t remember the lumen output but using the lighting calculator I found online I should have enough light you might need to wear sunglasses inside. Those lights will only be installed over the shop area and I’ll install recessed can lights over the loft area.



I also had an exciting mail delivery. The control panel for the floor heat arrived. I wish it wasn’t going to be mounted in the utility room as I think it looks sweet!

 

[slik560]

Those radiant heat systems are a game-changer for garages - especially the BIG ones. That control unit is indeed a work of art.

 

[jbrentd]

That would be a shame to hide in some closet. I'm really liking how the inside is coming along.

 

[philbilly20]

Let There Be Light!-

Sorry I haven’t been the most active on this thread. Between actually working on the garage and not just posting about it and gearing up for and starting planting corn it has been a busy last month and a half.

The next step in trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel was getting electric ran to the garage. The service I have ran now is only temporary as we are waiting on the electric company to bury our power lines on the property. They’ve been waiting on transformers for over 2 months and still don’t know when they will be getting one in.

Anyway, let’s see some lights!








I got all of the main shop area lights wired in and working as well as the exterior lights excluding the porch ones. There are lights in the loft area but I didn’t get a picture with them on. The soffit lights are on a timer and the rest of the exterior lights are switched with the north and south ones having dusk to dawn capabilities. I had to turn off the dusk to dawn sensor as the soffit lights were making them think it was day time




In the picture above you can see the light spread from the motion sensor lights. Those 8 lights are on a motion sensor so when you come in to get into a vehicle and leave you can have light and not have to worry about shutting any off when you leave. It also will turn on whenever you pull a vehicle into the garage so you can see what you’re doing.

I also started running some conduit so now the doors have power and can operate by themselves. Will get some pictures once I’ve ran some more.

Also! If anybody has some insight or advice that they’d like to pour into this thread on concrete grinding, polishing, and sealing please go ahead. The only way to fix the issues that were mentioned previously is going to be to grind and polish and I want to make sure I don’t create another problem trying to fix the one I have.

My better half and I have also been working on the important stuff of narrowing down a potential name for the shop as well, if only we had it before I named the thread!

 

[philbilly20]

We also had the very exciting “first car parked in the garage” moment. I’m sure it’s on par with children being born, saying your wedding vows, and other similar life events

 

[K5/TBSS]

Wow that is a BIG shop! Loving the progress man. Funny you are from SEK, I was born & raised in Coffeyville.

 

[jbrentd]

Nice job on the lighting and good thinking on the motion sensors.

Couple things...

You might give Ramcrete a call. They did my floor polishing and I would recommend them, since we're not too far from you.

And you can go back and rename your thread if you edit the first post. It allows you to change the title too.

 

[j p smith]

Wow, your shop is coming along super nice

 

[philbilly20]

Nice job on the lighting and good thinking on the motion sensors.

Couple things...

You might give Ramcrete a call. They did my floor polishing and I would recommend them, since we're not too far from you.

And you can go back and rename your thread if you edit the first post. It allows you to change the title too.

I will do that, looks like they’re about 2 hours away which for work like that may not be too far.

 

[ybnormal]

man, that shop is huge! I think I now know how 'too big' is! probably do a 60x40 myself. fill it up with your stuff to give us some true sense of the proportions

 

[slik560]

Looking good. Fingers crossed for your electric service - that's a big loose end. If it weren't for the doors, the building could almost be mistaken for an airplane hanger.

 

[ovscrider]

terrific shop

 

[Jarch]

shop is looking great! really like the motion sensors i have on on my door opener and while minor, is super nice for when you just need to get a beer from the fridge or dog food and pulling in. added it in to my workbench lighting too so i dont leave it on anymore, have that one set to vacancy as opposed to occupancy though.

on the transformer i had to get a new one for my machine at work and it took every bit of two months for a very small one. im in central AR, also have a friend in the electric supply industry and he said that's common everywhere hopefully it comes in soon!

 

[slik560]

Any further updates or glamour pics? Or is it 100% done?

Hope all is well down there!!!