New to the forum, new 3 car pole barn

pftwhftb · Dec 4, 2014

New to the forum....glad to be here. I have looked through a lot already to get ideas for my new pole barn garage here in South Dakota.

Here is what I have done so far. I still have a ways to go till it is what I want, but it is a blank canvas.

It is 24x36x10 and enough room in the rafters for a loft. We had to have 200 tons of fill dirt and gravel brought in because our property had a 22" fall from one corner to the other. Then had to pack it all down for the pouring of the cement.

I will post all the pics in different posts because it only lets me put 7 pics at a time per post.

pftwhftb · Dec 4, 2014

More pics

Just more pics

pftwhftb · Dec 4, 2014

pics

more pics of the progress

pftwhftb · Dec 4, 2014

and more

and more pics

pftwhftb · Dec 4, 2014

and, and, and

some more

pftwhftb · Dec 4, 2014

last batch of pics

Here is the last pics of my progress. I will be adding 8 more of the LED floodlights with remote control switches. Also more cabinets, pegboard, etc

Bricen18 · Dec 4, 2014

nice work looks good whats with the wooden boardwalk?

pftwhftb · Dec 4, 2014

Thanks!

The boardwalk was to keep the mud and such out of the house. Our ground is frozen already so there is nothing else I could put down for us to walk on and not track mud and stuff all over the place. It was too late in the season to plant grass too. The day I finished the boardwalk it was 5 degrees with a minus 15 wind chill and we got 6 inches of snow coming down as I was putting the last of the screws in.

rarebreed · Dec 4, 2014

Looks great. I am probably going to end up with the same demensions, but may try to go a bit more than 24 feet deep so I have more room to get around the front and back of the cars.

pftwhftb · Dec 4, 2014

With 24' we have about 8' behind my vehicle if I pull in to the wall, but we both drive Wranglers and they are a short wheelbase. Even with my workbench I have over 4 feet of extra room behind and 2 in front.

JordanFTW · Dec 5, 2014

Looking good! Are those 10x10 doors? How much did the building run ya, and where did you pick it up at?

drivesitfar · Dec 5, 2014

PFT: awesome garage build. i'm not sure why your pictures don't enlarge and maybe one of the younger guys can help figure that out if you don't know. i do like that you are posting a lot of pictures.

in case you want to use some of that ceiling height and get some good storage i would suggest using some commercial racks because you can have benches, tool boxes, machines and other stuff that uses the floor and have some pretty heavy or big stuff up on the shelves.

i'll post a few pictures of mine if you want me to.

by the way welcome to the forum and looks like you'll be a great addition. i like vises and grinders and old tools in general so feel free to PM (private message is GJ's email type communication between members) or just ask on your thread.

pftwhftb · Dec 5, 2014

drivesitfar said:
PFT: awesome garage build. i'm not sure why your pictures don't enlarge and maybe one of the younger guys can help figure that out if you don't know. i do like that you are posting a lot of pictures.

in case you want to use some of that ceiling height and get some good storage i would suggest using some commercial racks because you can have benches, tool boxes, machines and other stuff that uses the floor and have some pretty heavy or big stuff up on the shelves.

i'll post a few pictures of mine if you want me to.

by the way welcome to the forum and looks like you'll be a great addition. i like vises and grinders and old tools in general so feel free to PM (private message is GJ's email type communication between members) or just ask on your thread.

I uploaded them with my phone and it saved them small for some reason. Only way for me to fix it is to delete and upload again. Wasn't worth it at the time.

mauris69 · Dec 5, 2014

Nice start! keep posting pics and keep us updated.

pftwhftb · Dec 5, 2014

Thanks, no they are 9x8 doors. With everything including the 100 tons of fill dirt and 100 tons of gravel that was not an expected expense we are right around $26k. My neighbor is a contractor and he got all the blueprints from Menards here in South Dakota.

I will keep posting pics for sure. It's a work in progress always.

For some reason it will only let me post one picture at a time now no matter what I do, so here is my album link.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=4039

drivesitfar · Dec 5, 2014

PFT: i agree on the pictures so i don't post from my cell or Ipad and wait until i can get to my laptop to post pictures.

your garage looks awesome. how are you planning on heating it? insulating? and are you setting up racks for storage or just planning on attaching cabinets to the walls?

how warm is it inside your new garage without any heat if it's zero outside?

pftwhftb · Dec 5, 2014

drivesitfar said:
PFT: i agree on the pictures so i don't post from my cell or Ipad and wait until i can get to my laptop to post pictures.

your garage looks awesome. how are you planning on heating it? insulating? and are you setting up racks for storage or just planning on attaching cabinets to the walls?

how warm is it inside your new garage without any heat if it's zero outside?

Thanks! Right now I have a little space heater aimed at me. I got it up to 40 degrees today and was sweating like crazy. The other day it was 10 outside with wind, inside it was maybe 11 lol, but no wind. I'm not sure if I will insulate it or heat it at all. The thought is there and it sounds great, but the actual execution of it takes a lot and I don't want to put a wood stove or anything that takes up space or that I have to be careful of. I know that if I heat it I would have to monitor it if I heat it all year long, and if I just do it when I'm out there it will take a while to build up temp. Just being out of the wind here is a great thing, we get 50 to 60 mph wind frequently and anything 0 and above with no wind I have no issue dealing with with proper clothing.

I'm in the process of getting some storage together for tools and basic shop stuff. There is a loft above the whole thing that I built and it has about 800 cu ft of storage. I'm going to build a power lift to take things up there easier than carrying on a ladder.
I have many projects in my head, some will happen, and some will get scratched. I'm a pretty out of the box thinker so I tend to do things that some don't think of, like my LED lights that I love.

drivesitfar · Dec 5, 2014

PFT: I've pretty much tried every type of shelving the last few years so feel free to ask if you have any questions and i'll maybe have some pictures to post if you can't find any on the threads.

as far as heat one of my neighbor heats his shop with a pellet stove and it's usually toasty in there and all he has to do is keep filling it up with bags of pellets. he says it's pretty reasonable. i'm like you that i'll just dress warmer and save the money, but it's not easy working on bare steel without any gloves or painting is impossible and doesn't get decent results if temps under 60 degrees.

your garage your call and that wind sounds like you might need to plant a few poplar trees on the one side of your property.

good luck

pftwhftb · Dec 5, 2014

drivesitfar said:
PFT: I've pretty much tried every type of shelving the last few years so feel free to ask if you have any questions and i'll maybe have some pictures to post if you can't find any on the threads.

as far as heat one of my neighbor heats his shop with a pellet stove and it's usually toasty in there and all he has to do is keep filling it up with bags of pellets. he says it's pretty reasonable. i'm like you that i'll just dress warmer and save the money, but it's not easy working on bare steel without any gloves or painting is impossible and doesn't get decent results if temps under 60 degrees.

your garage your call and that wind sounds like you might need to plant a few poplar trees on the one side of your property.

good luck

Oh yea painting and staining is out of the question, and I more than likely will someday heat it. Just not in the near future till I pay some of it off. I like pellet stoves and probably would go that route if I did heat it. Propane is too expensive and elec is too. My neighbor has a pellet stove and it stay pretty warm in there.

I wish I could plant trees that could stand up to the wind here. Wind here is wicked sometimes. I've seen 80 mph here since I've lived here, and that's a -50 windchill. Most the trees you have to stake up for years or they end up growing sideways. The shop holds up to the wind pretty good, just noisy cause there isn't much between the tin and outside. I also don't have much land between the garage and the edge of the property.
I'm going to focus on functionality first. We needed a place to wok on jeeps out of the wether, we had to protect from our horrible hail, and we needed storage. And I needed a project place so I can do those things you can't do without being under cover. It's just nice to have something that i can create from scratch.

drivesitfar · Dec 6, 2014

PFT: sounds like you have a plan and you are doing your best with the horrible weather. i'll pop over and check your thread to see if you have any questions or PM me if you might need a little help and i'll try to give some.

pftwhftb · Dec 6, 2014

drivesitfar said:
PFT: sounds like you have a plan and you are doing your best with the horrible weather. i'll pop over and check your thread to see if you have any questions or PM me if you might need a little help and i'll try to give some.

I muddle my way through lol

Appreciate it, I Might hit you up for some pointers.

nicksL98 · Dec 6, 2014

What did cement cost you per sq ft?

Flatland Dave · Dec 6, 2014

What part of the state do you live in SE?
Welcome to the forum.
Get that thing insulated and heated!
Nice place, looking forward to watching the progress.

69bigblok · Dec 6, 2014

Wow I love your space!! Those LED lights look great.

pftwhftb · Dec 6, 2014

nicksL98 said:
What did cement cost you per sq ft?

$4,800 for the whole thing in cement, 4" thick. If I figured right that's $5.55 a sq ft. It's 864 sqft.

Flatland Dave said:
What part of the state do you live in SE?
Welcome to the forum.
Get that thing insulated and heated!
Nice place, looking forward to watching the progress.

West River South Dakota. Box Elder to be exact.
Thanks I'm glad to be here. Great forum.
No heat or insulation yet. In the future probably, but right now it wasn't feasable.
Thanks. I will be doing a lot with it in time. It will he a forever project which I'm excited about. Today I start moving all the tools and stuff out of the house that has been crammed in here for 7 years since we moved in.

69bigblok said:
Wow I love your space!! Those LED lights look great.

Thanks! The LED lights are amazing. I was hoping they would be as good as I expected and they are actually better.

77thor · Dec 6, 2014

Maybe I missed it.... But where did you get those LED floods??

pftwhftb · Dec 6, 2014

77thor said:
Maybe I missed it.... But where did you get those LED floods??

I don't think I actually said...... Sorry. I ordered them off Amazon from a company called Lighting Ever. They make brighter ones. I got these for $23.99 a piece.

pftwhftb · Dec 6, 2014

Got a few more things done in the garage today.

Carried all the stuff that was inside the house that should be in a garage out and piled it up, then tried to organize somewhat, PITA!! Loaded a lot of it up into the loft area.

Got the grinder mounted, actually let my boy do it all without me micromanaging him, big step LOL

Got a shelf above the tall bench up. Will be putting puck lights under that and pegboard all over the walls.

Recycled a bathroom cabinet for storage and another bench, used some fence boards I had laying around for the top. I will sand it down later. It will be a "beating" bench that I don't have to worry about destroying the good ones.

Mounted a fire extinguisher and smoke detector.

Many more things to do.... It will be nice to get everything put into a garage like it is supposed to be.

pftwhftb · Dec 8, 2014

Added under shelf puck lighting, under bench lighting and peg board. Now it's time to get organized.

drivesitfar · Dec 8, 2014

PFT: looks like you are making progress. just so you know when you post a couple pictures showing a nice little bench lighting set up it would be great if you post more pictures from the bottom looking up at them. this is so we can see maybe how you did it or what lights you used.

also you might want to add in your posts what lights or other products you used. that way you won't always get asked the simple questions that i'm going to ask.

what kind of lights did you use. i'm looking for some lighting ideas to put on the underside of my commercial racks above my benches and yours looks like an option.

keep making progress as you can and post lots of pictures with descriptions.

cheers

pftwhftb · Dec 8, 2014

drivesitfar said:
PFT: looks like you are making progress. just so you know when you post a couple pictures showing a nice little bench lighting set up it would be great if you post more pictures from the bottom looking up at them. this is so we can see maybe how you did it or what lights you used.

also you might want to add in your posts what lights or other products you used. that way you won't always get asked the simple questions that i'm going to ask.

what kind of lights did you use. i'm looking for some lighting ideas to put on the underside of my commercial racks above my benches and yours looks like an option.

keep making progress as you can and post lots of pictures with descriptions.

cheers

Lol sorry I don't think of that. Yes im getting there with progress. I can't wait to get things actually organized.

I used kitchen puck lights for the lights that light up the pegboard and tall bench. I'll get some pics of them. For under the bench I put white rope lights. I had all these laying around from previous projects and remodels we've done in the house.

I also have all my lights including the overheads plugged into wireless remote switch recievers. That way I didn't have to wire any switches and but makes it a little more versatile.
I'll get you some pics.

pftwhftb · Dec 8, 2014

As promised. The super switch box that things are plugged into I got at Menards. It has 2 battery powered remotes that control it. I have one mounted to the bench and one by the entrance door.

the overhead/side lights are ran into a super switch too and they are all just wired with extension cords with male 110 plugs on the ends and plugged into an outlet. A few are series wired together and most are parelel wired. It depended on how long the run is. There low amp and wattage let do some unusual wiring practices.

The puck lights I probably got from Menards, they were installed in a kitchen then we remodeled and changed them. The rope lights are just white rope lights I had laying around from an old project.

drivesitfar · Dec 8, 2014

PFT: thanks for the pictures and explanation of your new lighting. how's the weather? still windy and dry or windy and a foot of snow? you said it's always windy and i'm betting it's sort of like Tulsa where an almost non windy day is 15-20 MPH?

did you get all your stuff moved out of the house and into the shop/garage?

cheers

pftwhftb · Dec 8, 2014

drivesitfar said:
PFT: thanks for the pictures and explanation of your new lighting. how's the weather? still windy and dry or windy and a foot of snow? you said it's always windy and i'm betting it's sort of like Tulsa where an almost non windy day is 15-20 MPH?

did you get all your stuff moved out of the house and into the shop/garage?

cheers

No Problem!
Our weather has actually been quite mild for us. We have had minimal wind (15-20) and the temps have been in the mid 30's in the day. Expecting 60 on Thursday !!

Yep, got 95% of everything into the garage from the house. Now comes the fun part of actually giving it a home. I actually like that part cause I've never had a shop really so this is all exciting to me. I've always worked on vehicles in the gravel in the snow or whatever temp. I'm moving into the luxuries LOL. Plus now I can do all the projects and home improvment stuff easier cause I will have a place to wood work etc

All the pegboard is up and all the drawers etc are ready, I just have to get the stuff in the right places.

drivesitfar · Dec 8, 2014

PFT: it was in the 20's about for the last half of November here in Seattle too and now it's high 50's and raining. make a good plan for all that space because it will fill up fast. don't ask me how i know says the guy with 2 car garage, 10 x 6 shed, 25 x 25 shop and 3 10 x 20 storage units.

how tall are your ceilings? i have 14 foot ceilings in my 10 x 20's and i use 12 foot racks and maximize my space. part of all this space is my gym equipment sales business and my shop i''m setting up to restore old gym equipment and tools, but still space does fill up quickly.

i keep telling you about the big racks so you still get your cars and trucks inside when you want to work on them or just keep them out of the cold and wind.

one of the members has 10 foot wide racks set up so he basically set up a loft above his cars and motorcycles in his pole barn and i'll try to find that picture and post it on your thread if you might like to see it.

pftwhftb · Dec 8, 2014

drivesitfar said:
PFT: it was in the 20's about for the last half of November here in Seattle too and now it's high 50's and raining. make a good plan for all that space because it will fill up fast. don't ask me how i know says the guy with 2 car garage, 10 x 6 shed, 25 x 25 shop and 3 10 x 20 storage units.

how tall are your ceilings? i have 14 foot ceilings in my 10 x 20's and i use 12 foot racks and maximize my space. part of all this space is my gym equipment sales business and my shop i''m setting up to restore old gym equipment and tools, but still space does fill up quickly.

i keep telling you about the big racks so you still get your cars and trucks inside when you want to work on them or just keep them out of the cold and wind.

one of the members has 10 foot wide racks set up so he basically set up a loft above his cars and motorcycles in his pole barn and i'll try to find that picture and post it on your thread if you might like to see it.

That's a lot of sotrage you have!

I have 10 ft ceilings, but above them I have built an 800 cu ft storage loft. We have everything that we used to store in the house up there and it is about 1/4 of the way full. We dont have anything else to realy store. I plan on getting some new tools to inlude a table saw. I don't think we will fill it up anytime soon, but I do know how collecting stuff goes, the more space you have the more you fill it up.

We have our popup in the 3rd bay and that will be its home when we are not using it. And the onlyvehicles we drive are Jeep Wranglers and they are really short so it gives us quite a bit of extra room.

drivesitfar · Dec 8, 2014

PFT: I store my little 4 x 8 aluminum utility trailer in one of my 10 x 20 storage units and i put 3 4 x 8 x 12 foot tall racks over the top of it. I'll try to get you a picture so you have an idea of what i'm talking about.

you have a ways to go sounds like and it's not just collecting because if you are planning on using one bay as a wood shop you'll always need places to store your good wood to keep it dry. and that's just one of your hobbies.

how are you getting stuff up in and out of the loft?

pftwhftb · Dec 9, 2014

drivesitfar said:
PFT: I store my little 4 x 8 aluminum utility trailer in one of my 10 x 20 storage units and i put 3 4 x 8 x 12 foot tall racks over the top of it. I'll try to get you a picture so you have an idea of what i'm talking about.

you have a ways to go sounds like and it's not just collecting because if you are planning on using one bay as a wood shop you'll always need places to store your good wood to keep it dry. and that's just one of your hobbies.

how are you getting stuff up in and out of the loft?

For now I am laddering it up there, but I have plans for an electric hoist system that I will be installing. I just have to wait till I can afford it. It's low on the priority list.
My woodworking is more of a remodeling of the house per say type stuff. I don't plan on building furniture and such. I plan on building racks above my doors to store extra wood. I've used most of the wood left over from building the garage already by building benches and shelves. I still am going to build stools and whatever else I can think of for the garage. My main hobbies are Jeeps, camping and hunting, outdoor stuff. But I am a tinkerer and fix things and do alot of MacGyverisms, especially in the winter.

pftwhftb · Dec 10, 2014

Got a chance to check my LED lights to see what the actual watts and amps are that they pull.

The pic is of 4 lights running and it is 126 watts and 1.07 amps. From my calculations that would roughly be 31.5 watts per light which is what it is supposed to be and .267 amps per light. So needless to say they are a great energy saver along with the brightness and zero heat.

I have 10 on at a time so thats 300 watts and 10 amps, roughly. So for 300 watts I get 1,500 watts worth of lighting.

drivesitfar · Dec 10, 2014

PFT: one of these days i'm going to have to spend some time figuring out all the formulas for electricity. glad to hear everything is working as it should.

anytime you build something for your garage whether out of scraps or something you put together you might want to take a few before and after pictures with a few comments.

some of the young (and older) members are wanting to make a workbench or something that seems simple to a lot of us and they just don't have the skills yet. we all had to learn at some point and i for one and still learning.

Looking good and keep posting great pictures. if you have any cool pictures to post from around your area like Mt. Rushmore (might not be close by) or some other cool stuff please do.

i'm following threads of garages from all over the world such as this one from Norway where he works on an offshore oil/gas platform. the northern lights and some of his work pictures are probably more amazing than his garage he built this summer.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253228&highlight=norway

enjoy and thanks again for sharing your garage story

New to the forum, new 3 car pole barn

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member