Recent content by Saintbacon

Hi there. I have a wooden 2nd floor above my steel garage that I'm planning to use for storage for now, but hopefully build the major components to one day support an occupant. I'm looking to insulate the walls. I'm in Rhode Island so I'm hoping to achieve an R value of around 20. the 2nd...

Interesting. When I spoke to my building inspector they never mentioned it. Just that it had to go down 48" and that was that. Might just not be an option for my small town.

Wow thanks for all the replies, folks. Definitely gave me a lot to think about. Super helpful forum! I did wind up talking to my concrete guy and he says there's really no way to do it legally while having it rest in any way upon the slab itself. No amount of additional concrete will really...

Yes Exactly. It's going to be a garage/workshop. Nothing commercial about it. I used the phrase "office" because I'd like to be able to set up an area for chilling up there. Maybe a couch and a TV. Not for people to be working. I figured it was just easier to describe as "office space" but I...

I'll definitely look into the spans I can achieve with LVL Lumber. That would reduce the amount of columns I'd need. Thanks! So to be legal, I'd have to attach some stairs to the outside of the building. Got it. What's GWB? I assume it's some kind of subflooring that's fireproof? Google says...

I'm not certain, but insulating underneath the slab sounds like it would be worthwhile. It's doubtful that I will be heating the entire building for the entire winter. More likely the "shop" half. I'll look into it - thanks for the tip!

Hi there. Yeah somebody called me out earlier in this thread on the whole "That isn't a mezzanine" thing. Turns out something covering the entire floor would technically be a 2nd floor. News to me! I'm likely not going to be covering the entire thing, but because of the nature of concrete, I am...

Awesome post Vrinner. I'm likely going to be doing something similar to that so long as it's legal. Love the details here.

You're right - it's basically an entire 2nd floor. I thought the word to describe it would be Mezzanine because it's not really going to be touching the metal building itself, just sharing a foundation. However, I just looked it up, and the technical difference is that a mezzanine only covers...

Well you might be right, Wizard...though I hope it doesn't have to go that deep under my columns in the center of the building. Of course the main footer for the building will be 4ft deep with the Mezz properly fastened to it. I also appreciate the answer might be different regionally...

Music to my ears (eyes) LLWillysfan. I'm really hoping that is the case, and I appreciate the fact that your signature seems to have a lot to do with Concrete. More to come once I consult with my guy!

What a range of replies! Anywhere from "you don't need to do anything" all the way to needing equal depth footers (4 feet deep). I definitely appreciate any further replies and will provide an update once I hear back from my concrete guy. (Likely tomorrow)

You're saying there should be another 4 foot deep wall under the center of my garage to hold a mezzanine?

Thanks for all the replies, folks! Seems like I definitely need some extra concrete where I plan to support the mezzanine. I'm going to go over it with my Concrete person, but I think I might have a 3' wide strip down the center of the garage floor that goes down about 12" (instead of the...

Hi there. First time poster, but I've seen a lot of good advice and was hoping to get some too. I'm new to construction, so I'll be using simple terms to the best of my abilities. I'm building a 30'x40' garage and would like to plan the foundation to be able to support a mezzanine. It'll be...