26'x40' shop build

[bigbadjim]

26'x46' FORD garage & shop build

I've been on here many hours watching all the garage builds and I've been very jealous of the awesome shops some of you have built. Well, its finally my turn to start my build.

Due to my towns bylaws for side/rear clearances and my families love for our backyard grass I'm limited to only 26' wide and 40' length. Me and my employee Brandyn started last week setting up the forms for the slab and are trying to get ready to pour the crete next week.

I'm planning infloor heat with boiler, a 5.5" slab with 11" thickened edge. 15mm rebar 18o.c with poly underneath. I'm estimating around 18 cubic meters of crete.

The rear end of garage will be a level surface shop area (26'x16') with side 8' roll up door facing our yard. The front end of shop (26'x24') will be used for parking toys and fixing, it will have a 14'x12' door which will extend up into the gable, I decided on the large door so I can fit my pontoon boat in for maintenance if I need to, this front area of the garage will be sloped to a drain in center.

I'm still undecided about my trusses. The plan was for room in attic trusses but town bylaws state you can't exceed the pitch of the principal building roof.
So I've been dreaming & pondering about vaulted trusses and then building a storage area up in the end over the rear shop.

I only have one picture so far but I will post as the build goes on. This was a few days ago after we got started.

 

[03protege]

That is very exciting. Are the two internal space going to be divided in some way? I often dream of my ideal shop space and it seems like having finished projects parked in there could seriously hamper the activities of your work area. No painting or grinding and things of the like.

 

[Capstone]

Good luck and we'll be watching the progress.

 

[bigbadjim]

Plans for my shop are changing daily on the fly. I am going a little bigger now with a 44' length, I parked my 2 trucks in between the forms and didn't like the amount of room I had. I also got a sweet deel on a 30' radiant heater so I changed my mind about the infloor heat and boiler unit. I figured $1500 installed was a good buddy deal so I snapped it up. Because of the length increase the front shop area will now be 26'x20'. I had some time this morning so me and Brandyn laided down the 520sq/ft shop area. My son snapped some pictures. I'm the 6'6" guy with the black touque.

 

[bigbadjim]

Oh yah, if anyone is wondering, yes that is a very fine broom finish on the floor. I stayed away from a power trowel finish cause I can't stand them. I have wiped out over a dozen times in my current garage, the wife and kids too. You get snow on your shoes and look out! Its a safety thing and frankly just my own preference.

Also, the smooth finish tapered area in the one picture is where the 8' roll up door will be located that faces the yard.

 

[gooned]

same size as mine - i'm just screwing the steel on the walls before the wet season hits

 

[Justanoldguy]

NICE to see the rebar actually off the deck.
Not seen too often.

 

[rocco]

nice start, it's a similar size to mine, you'll love it.

 

[bigbadjim]

NICE to see the rebar actually off the deck.
Not seen too often.

Yah, the rebar chairs work well. 15mm bar sinks back down like a rock if you just lift it as you go.

 

[bigbadjim]

So I decided to go a little bigger yet than earlier decided, my final shop size is now 26'x46'.
I finally had some time this morning between real work to lay down the rest of the crete. The truck showed up at 8am with 11 more cubes of crete. Me and Brandyn laided down the 26'x26' parking area of the shop. Screeding the slope went well, I'm sure water will drain towards the center just great. I welded up
a 4'x16" drain box for the center of the parking area, I had a 4 foot piece of black powder coated grate just sitting around form a recent driveway project. The drain box drains through a pipe to the edge of the garage at the moment.

It was a little windy this morning so the leaves were a ******* to float around, but a little help from a leaf blower and some hand picking and we got her all floated and fine broomed in just 2.5 hours.

 

[NUTTSGT]

If you can't use attic trusses because of the pitch, what about a knee wall, rafters and a ridge pole ?

What type of Fords are you planning on parking in there ?

 

[bigbadjim]

If you can't use attic trusses because of the pitch, what about a knee wall, rafters and a ridge pole ?

What type of Fords are you planning on parking in there ?

2 superdutys, a mustang dragcar, 72 bronco.

 

[NUTTSGT]

a mustang dragcar, 72 bronco.

More info ?

 

[bigbadjim]

Fall is here, leaves are falling like crazy! Got the shop pad all stripped of the forms and the yard all cleaned up. Gonna start gathering the studs, trusses, steel, ect, to start the build in a few weeks. So excited for the new man cave...

More to come, the photos of the fords that are going inside! Doing some fall clean up today i'll snap a couple photos of the old bronco and the stang..

 

[bigbadjim]

Some of my fords...

my 1972 early bronco I picked this july and it was in dire need of repair. It has a 3spd stick with a 302v8, there was no quarters and alot of unworking parts when I purchased it, it was also a non-runner. I put 34.5" pro-comp rims and pro-comp mud extremes on, 3" lift, new quarters, wheel tubs, floor panels, tail light housings, door pillars, rockers etc, over all many hours of welding and banging tin, leather buckets went in , new dash, steering wheel, shifters, electronic ignition and distributor and a few hours tinkering and I got it all running good. I have a 6 point roll bar is the next thing to install and have the interior floor sprayed with box liner, but this will be a winter project.

 

[bigbadjim]

my 1983 mustang drag car was my high school car that I've owned now for 18 years, 393 stroked 351windsor, c4 auto, transbrake, manual valvebody, 4500 stall, 8.8" rearend with 4.30 gears, last time I had it at the track my best was a 10.5 @ 128mph.

 

[NUTTSGT]

You have a couple of nice project cars there. The last few years, I've been getting a craving for an early Bronco.

 

[bigbadjim]

You have a couple of nice project cars there. The last few years, I've been getting a craving for an early Bronco.

Thanks, I've been craving a early bronco for years, finally got this guy to part with this one, it only took 5 years of harassing!

Heres a few more photos I found.

 

[Jwestercamp]

Go with the vaulted ceiling I did that in my garage and love the extra clearance that it provides you won't regret it. One other thing I did is put outlets up high on switches so I could put up some lighted signs at s later date Good luck and enjoy

 

[Falcon67]

Nice - you are going to like that space. I did the opposite - started at 48', then 46, then the budget dictated things down to 40'. Still very good. Almost looks from the pics that you threw the dirt over into the neighbor's yard

Nice setup on the Mustang. My next is going to be a 393 steel crank internal balance setup. Sad thing is that we've spent enough on medical this year to build two short blocks.

 

[Jay_mc1]

Im anxious to see your bronco progress. I sold a 72 last year that only had two owners. I was the second. Everythign was original on it except for a fender that had been bumped into during the 80's. Keep up the great work on the cars and the garage.

 

[bigbadjim]

Go with the vaulted ceiling I did that in my garage and love the extra clearance that it provides you won't regret it. One other thing I did is put outlets up high on switches so I could put up some lighted signs at s later date Good luck and enjoy

Good idea with the outlets. I have a couple beer signs I will want to hang. I want to decorate my shop in a rustic look, old barn wood on the walls, old tools, signs, lights, antique automobile memorbilia, shelves to show off my oil cans, lanterns, cool car stuff, etc.

I also have a lot of cool old model T stuff. This is a example of how I want to decorate.

 

[bigbadjim]

I was going through my photos and thought I'd share a photo of my relatives garage. My shop will never look this good and will never have expensive cars like that, but a person can dream can't they? Its a amazing garage and this is just his small one attached to his house.

 

[bigbadjim]

I dig the checkered tiles and would like them in my shop but I'm curious how they would hold up to welding sparks & torch droppings off my welding table.

 

[Justanoldguy]

I sure he would have a separate area for all that dirty work.
Wouldn't you?

 

[bigbadjim]

It was a cold rainy sleety day here in sask so I got out to the garage and got some work done on the bronco. I sniped some aluminum out of a steel recycle bin last week. I cut the aluminum down to size and sanded it for a scuffed look. I used chunks of the old dash as templates for drilling the switch holes. Sure beats the old wood one that was in there. I don't want to reinstall the aftermarket gauges and monster tach like the previous owner had. I now have a pretty large area of the dash which is a empty slate. I'm open to ideas on how and what to fill the rest of the dash with. Maybe a stereo? a grab bar to climb in the passenger side? The original dash had a ash tray and a glove box.

I also picked up a aftermarket fuse panel to run some accessories. The bronco has no where to access power from. I mounted it under the dash and grounded it to the body, I will be running a power wire to it direct from the battery, but that will have to wait, I ran out of time today.

 

[purpony]

nice bronco and mustang. Im a huge FOX fan and one day will build a nice old bronco as well!! looking forward to your builds!

 

[bigbadjim]

nice bronco and mustang. Im a huge FOX fan and one day will build a nice old bronco as well!! looking forward to your builds!

Thanks, I'm a big fox fan myself, here is my fox on a solo run at the track. One day soon I will put the car back to a stick (6 speed maybe?) so I could street drive it and enjoy it more often.

 

[bigbadjim]

Its been cold, snowing, raining and melting on and off for 4 weeks now and I've done squat for progress to the new 26'x46' garage.

I woke up this morning only to find more snow on the ground! But with the snow came my garage trusses ladders and gables. Nice!

The weather looks ok for the weekend so maybe I'll start framing the walls.
to the weekend.

 

[bigbadjim]

Update on the garage.....

Walls all framed, sheeted, wrapped and ready to errect. We have snow in the forecast for the next two days so everything got tarped today, walls, trusses, etc. Should have time on the weekend to put it up and install the trusses. Oh can't wait....

 

[NUTTSGT]

Hopefully you can get it up and closed inbefore winter is in full swing. A few days out there here and there, you can have it nicely finished inside.

 

[bigbadjim]

Update on my shop........Final size 26'x46' with 10' walls. 4/12 pitch roof. The walls went up saturday afternoon, trusses went on sunday, roof got strapped monday, wrapped the gable ends and finished some odds and ends today. getting ready to install the roof tin tomorrow. I only cut one 10' door out and the man door so far. There is two windows and two more doors to cut out. We have some snow in the forecast so I'm more interested in installing the roof then installing windows and doors.

More photos and updates as the week progresses.

 

[bigbadjim]

A few more.

 

[bigbadjim]

No installing of tin on the roof today, I installed my walk in door instead. Its warm out and they were forecasting rain so I hoarded the shop. 1/2 hour after hoarding the rain started. Its been raining for two hours now.

 

[stangman39]

Looking good. You decided to go with regular trusses if my eyes are working correctly?

 

[bigbadjim]

Looking good. You decided to go with regular trusses if my eyes are working correctly?

Yep, I wanted the room in attic trusses but the pitch would have been 8/12. My Town has a bylaw that states the roof pitch of any detached garage can't exceed the pitch of the principal building. My house has 4/12. It *****, but my hand were tied. Oh well, the trusses were $3800 cheaper. This will help my already blown budget.

 

[greenboot]

Very nice looking!
I'm wondering if you have any footing under the concrete slab? I wanted to build on top of a floating slab but the inspector wouldn't allow it. For that reason, I'm switching to a pole barn.
Tom

 

[bigbadjim]

Very nice looking!
I'm wondering if you have any footing under the concrete slab? I wanted to build on top of a floating slab but the inspector wouldn't allow it. For that reason, I'm switching to a pole barn.
Tom

Its a 5-6" slab over all, with a 12" thick edge.

 

[hmbemis]

Its a 5-6" slab over all, with a 12" thick edge.

Curious, is that typical up there?--meaning garage that just has a thick edge vs. a foundation going down to frost line?

I would have thought you'd be looking at 4' minimums for foundation for any structure like this up there... I'm reasonably sure that is required here and we get much milder winters.

 

[bigbadjim]

Curious, is that typical up there?--meaning garage that just has a thick edge vs. a foundation going down to frost line?

I would have thought you'd be looking at 4' minimums for foundation for any structure like this up there... I'm reasonably sure that is required here and we get much milder winters.

We have very sandy soil here where I live, so shifting & heaving and over all movement is very minimal, so my slab on grade (with thickened edge) is okay and was recomended by the engineer. However 10 miles to the west is the City of Regina, they have mucky duck $hit type subgrade, absolutely crappy stuff to work with, engineers would definetily recomend a grade beam type foundation on piers(piles) for this size of shop.

My shop pad doesn't have a crack at all, neither does my 20 year old driveway, nor my basement floor, so I guess were pretty blessed when it comes to movement.