Recent content by JPrato

One good looking barn!

I put 2 10x10 overhead doors in my pole barn shop. I went with steel commercial doors that had a R-12 rating and no windows. They have have steel on both sides with foam in between and are pretty stout. Along with the usual rubber flap seal on the outside I put two strips of foam bead gaskets...

It sounds like a neat idea but I think you have already uncovered the weak links in the chain. Liability would be my main concern. Sooner or later somebody is going to catch a car on fire and then there is trouble. My neighbor just burned his whole house down while welding on his demolition...

Insulation and sealing of doors is your best bet for keeping the shop above freezing even if the heat is off. My new 32x45x16 pole barn in upstate NY has R-21 in the walls, R-40 in the ceiling, R-7 under the slab and R-12 commercial overhead doors double sealed. I use an overhead 50k BTU propane...

I built a heated 32x45x16 steel skinned pole barn garage last year in Western NY. Because it was heated, it had to meet the same standards as a house for insulation, door and window U factor. I had no windows so that was easy. The three man doors were insulated steel like you would use in a...

I had that old tubing in my rental mobile home. I think I used something like a Watts Plastic O.D. x O.D. Coupling at Home Depot. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Watts-Quick-Connect-1-2-in-x-1-2-in-Plastic-OD-Coupling-PL-3030/100118014?N=5yc1vZbux3 I eventually ripped out all the old grey tubing and...

I find my local lumber/hardware store cheaper on a lot of things. For instance Lowes wanted $11.83 for a bale of Green Fiber Cellulose blown in insulation where as the local yard was getting $8.75 for the exact same product. I couldn't believe the difference.

I've got an 8n too. Good for skidding trees, simple grading with loose materials, hauling stuff around with a wagon and that's about it. Excavation and grading can add up. I just put in a 350' x 10' drive, 52'x45' pad for a garage, water and electric trenches (about 200') that ran me about...

As mentioned the perk test is important but what you might want to do is put together a rough site plan for the property. I did what you are thinking of 15 years ago in Victor, NY. They had restrictions on the grade of the driveway. It was a challenge to layout the driveway. That influenced the...

I'm just finishing a 32x45 shop with 16' ceilings in upstate NY. About 23k cubic feet. R21 in the walls, R38 in the ceiling, two 10x10 overhead doors (r-12), no windows and three insulated steel man doors. I installed a SunStar 50k BTU radiant tube heater down the middle. It will heat the shop...

watts equals volts x amps. A same size heater would use half the amps on 240V then on 120V but consume the same wattage of electricity. You power meter wouldn't know the difference.

You might look into using the material that is used on basement walls. It has a white plastic skin and about 4 inches of fiberglass insulation. You could tape up sections to cover the overhead door and tack it off on the sides/top...

What did you pay for your tank? Size? I looked into buying a 100 gal tank new from Northern Tool and it was almost $700, add a regulator (that must be replaced every 12 years) and I'm not sure I could save enough to pay for it. I might just be ahead pre-buying at summer time prices in August...

Stop all work now, that is way off. I would fire them and not let them touch another thing. That is pretty basic stuff and carpentry 101. It will only multiply when they put up the rest of the building. Nothing will be right and your pride and joy garage will look like the fun house at the local...