30x50 Mueller build (KY) thread

[quakerj]

I've been planning a 30x50 garage/shop build, have everything lined up and am breaking ground tomorrow. 2-post lift is ordered and should be delivered next week. Pre-engineered steel building kit (from Mueller in LA) is going to be picked up May 2nd. Concrete contractor lined up for mid-April.

Rented a 100hp track loader (Bobcat) for the site prep, already have some 54 tons of crushed stone on the ground for slab base. Found a fellow on FB Marketplace that was renting out the Bobcat; that saved me almost $1,000 compared with what the rental companies were charging. I did have to rent a toothed bucket for the weekend though, probably $79 well spent. That's this weekend's project is to get site prep complete and then the aggregate laid down. Then my 14 year old son can get started with the plate compactor, compacting the stone (good job for him). Still have to get footers figured out, whether I do them myself or hire it out.

Glad I pulled the trigger when I did (couple months back); costs are going up like crazy, though I'm going to eat it on a few things that I haven't purchased yet (rebar, wire mesh, vapor barrier, few other odds and ends). I'll update this thread as the work progresses. Here's some before pics I took this evening before we get to digging tomorrow. And one back when the rock was delivered.

The Bobcat for site prep had to be scheduled 3 weeks in advance, so I was taking a huge chance on weather and basically just picking a weekend on the calendar. Thankfully no rain, but will be much colder (and windier) than I'd hoped-- 46 degree high tomorrow, and 50 degrees on Sunday. Guess I'll have to tough it out.

 

[ycgoat]

Wow nice project, thats a big bucket for what looks like flat ground, you will be done in no time with that. Have fun.

 

[quakerj]

Wow nice project, thats a big bucket for what looks like flat ground, you will be done in no time with that. Have fun.

I've got a buddy that owes me a favor doing the site work-- he spec'd the equipment, probably for a reason- that he'd be done in no time, which I'm okay with!

That land it sets on has a taper to it and some shallow spots, but overall it should be pretty easy.

 

[brownbagg]

strip the topsoil off first

 

[quakerj]

strip the topsoil off first

Yep, that goes without saying. Using one of those fancy spinning laser things (exact name eludes me) & sight level, we picked the low point, dug down to virgin soil (no organic matter) and used that as the benchmark. Everything else that was higher was cut down to match. Had to dig down 10" on the highest side. I still have to level/tamp the rock, but looks like I'll have about 3.5" height of rock when I'm done after using about 30 tons.

Some pictures from today:

(who knew how much dirt could come out of a 30x50 square. I have mountains of it, at least the kids are pleased )

 

[Renegade1LI]

Looks good , off to a good start & gave the kids some dirt to play in,lol.

 

[quakerj]

Concrete contractor came out today to look at the site, he was okay with everything so far. Originally he suggested a monolithic slab-- dig footers (2' deep meets frost line requirements here x 1 foot wide) a couple days before forming and pouring, and do it all at once.

Now he seems to have changed his tune and said it would be best to dig footers and pour them first, and do the slab a few days after. He said cost was a wash, and that the footings will be tied into the slab with rebar.

My main concern is anchor bolt placement-- he said they can wet set them into the footer, then assuming there's enough projection (I'll work that out), pour the slab over top. I'll be taking a day off to work with them and verify anchor bolt placement (will be using templates screwed into the form)-- I don't want any surprises come building time.

For the concrete experts, folks that have experience with this, or have done a similar project, is there any reason to prefer a monolitic slab over doing the footers first, slab later? I don't have much experience with concrete and this part of the project.

 

[readhead]

Seems odd to me. We usually do a mono pour unless there are some requirements from the engineer. It’s more work to do two pours because you will need verts in the stem wall to bend over to tie into the slab Instead of tying to the top horizontal bar in the stem. The crew and the concrete is there. Why wouldn’t you just start and finish? Is he short on help? Does he have bad credit with the batch plant? Puzzling.

 

[quakerj]

Seems odd to me. We usually do a mono pour unless there are some requirements from the engineer. It’s more work to do two pours because you will need verts in the stem wall to bend over to tie into the slab Instead of tying to the top horizontal bar in the stem. The crew and the concrete is there. Why wouldn’t you just start and finish? Is he short on help? Does he have bad credit with the batch plant? Puzzling.

I don't think there's anything nefarious going on-- originally I was going to dig the footers myself, but felt it best left to a professional. I know my limits and I'm juggling a full time job w/ some overtime throughout this project. He gave me the name of a guy that can dig the footers / stem wall (seems people call it by different names) and have them poured. I haven't talked with that fella yet, but then the concrete guy would come out afterward and pour / finish the slab.

I think it's more scheduling on his part, so he's not waiting on me to dig footers at my leisure (which it has to be given my work schedule), then have to juggle other jobs to come in and do everything at the same time. The way I understand it is that footers should be dug a day or two before pour, with no rain in between that might wash dirt back into the hole. What I got from our conversation is that having the footers poured first gives him more flexibility as far as scheduling goes.

I don't have a preference if cost is a wash, which he suggests it will be. Is there any advantage to one method over the other as far as durability / best finished product? That's my primary concern.

I'm paying concrete COD myself, so I know it's not a credit issue on his part. He's been in business for some 40+ years in the local area and I got great references (even from ones that didn't come directly from him), so my hunch is to trust the guy.

 

[readhead]

It will work just fine. It is more work but if he will do it for the same price go for it. The main concern is the cold joint between the footing and the slab. The two need to be properly tied together with adequate re enforcement.

 

[quakerj]

It will work just fine. It is more work but if he will do it for the same price go for it. The main concern is the cold joint between the footing and the slab. The two need to be properly tied together with adequate re enforcement.

This foundation project is being done off the cuff without a foundation engineer, which would typically be required for a building of this type. Already have my permit, but the county inspector just wants to see what is typical for a stick built or pole barn building, which is all they seem to be familar with, so I'm on my own there. I'm fortunate that I work for a structural steel fabricator, so have access to a structural engineer-- the caveat is that he's not in house, we subcontract stuff to him-- so unless I hire him he won't provide sealed drawings or give firm plans, but given we have a good relationship, he has no problem giving "unofficial" guidance.

When I brought up my concrete contractor's idea of a footing poured to grade level, then a slab poured on top (which will be about 3-1/2" of rock + 5-1/2" slab above grade), with column baseplate on slab, he said no way. Basically said sandwiching a slab (thickened on edges to meet the footing) in between the column base and footing is a terrible way to go about it and opens up a whole can of potential issues. Suggested I wait until the concrete contractor has an open window (even if it takes a couple weeks) to pour it monolithically- he says it will save time/money in the long run, as doing it other way would require extra concrete and steel reinforcement, basically a whole redesign, to make the column bases resist the loads.

So as it stands I've got it worked out to do a monolithic pour, which will push concrete back a week or two, due to the concrete contractor's schedule. In a nutshell, the concrete contractor was trying to push the footing pour onto the guy who will dig the footings, because his schedule is too full. Appreciate your responses and input RH, read a lot of your others posts on other threads and you seem like you've done this a few times If you have any input to add, feel free!

 

[readhead]

We always do ours as monolithic because it is faster and less expensive. We have been on jobs where we only supplied the building and erecting and the concrete was done in three pours. It was long, tedious and complicated.
If it was up to me I would hold out for the mono pour.

 

[quakerj]

If it was up to me I would hold out for the mono pour.

That's the plan and concrete contractor is on board, I'll just have to wait till he finishes up a couple jobs he's in the middle of.

Building materials will be here the first week of May, likely before concrete has been poured/cured. Is there anything special I need to do to store it? It'll have to be out in the elements. I don't know exactly how it will come bundled from Mueller, I assume structural members and sheeting banded together separately. I plan on setting them up on 4-6" boards on a slope so water drains off. Anything special I need to do beyond that to keep everything protected? Only thing we have to worry about here is rain.

 

[readhead]

Keep everything off the ground. Don’t cover the primary and secondary steel. It will condense and cause rust. Try to keep people from walking on the columns and rafters. Try to wipe things down before you put them up.
If you don’t use up a stack of sheets put some straps around them so they don’t blow away at night.

 

[quakerj]

Update: My concrete guy/company (local guy with a business that employs 4-5 family members) seems to have flaked out on me. Lined the schedule up in February, he said they'd fit me in mid to late April at the latest. When mid April came around, I gave him a call to see how the schedule was looking. Told me it's looking like late April because of rain delays on his other projects, which I don't blame him, we had 2 weeks of solid rain. He suggested to speed things up, to have someone else dig the footings (he recommended a guy that had free time), and have that guy pour perimeter footing and column bases to grade level (no forming required, you just dump concrete in a trench), then he'd form/pour and finish the slab on top of the footings.

That doesn't work for a steel frame red-iron building; I have two column locations that have anchor bolts embedded down about 15" -- so the anchor bolts would be set into two pieces of concrete poured separately that have a cold joint in between, not good. And I need a form (the wood perimeter they pour concrete into) to place the anchor bolts accurately before the pour. If you're going to do separate pours, you have to form the footings to top of concrete slab (that doesn't exist yet), then come in afterwards and pour the slab in between. He seems very unfamiliar with the type of building I'm putting in.

I called him back a day later and told him I'd like to do the monolithic pour we originally planned on even if I had to wait awhile. That's when phone responses started to become infrequent and now non-existent. Bummer.

So now to plan B. There's a concrete company the owner of the business I work for is pretty good friends with (they've done work for us many times), located across the street from my work. I would have talked with them initially but a guy I work with told me they only do commercial stuff and don't travel out of town (I'm about 35 miles away). How wrong he was, they travel all over and do pretty much anything with concrete, even small jobs. Soonest they can come out to look at the site and give an firm estimate is May 8th. So looks like I'll be waiting a bit.

I have a feeling they'll be more expensive, but I know they do good work and will get the job done when they say they will. They're booked like everyone else is, but being a bigger company, he said he can squeeze this "small" job in pretty quickly once they take a look at it and we settle on scope / pricing.

 

[quakerj]

Building arrived today. I arranged freight through a hotshot via a freight broker (much cheaper than Mueller's own trucks) to pick up in northern Louisiana and deliver to my work in Louisville. Since my concrete is so far behind, I thought it best to store most of the materials inside the warehouse at work out of the weather. I'll bring the materials home on a large flatbed truck when I'm ready.

Meeting with the new concrete contractor on Sunday. Crossing my fingers that his price isn't wildly expensive and that he can fit this job in quick! Getting excited, my 2-post lift is still sitting in the warehouse at work and I'm forced to look at it every day!

 

[quakerj]

Update finally-- had a huge delay on getting concrete, but wasn't my new contractor's fault. There's an area-wide cement shortage, so ready-mix companies near me are on an allotment, they can only get so much cement to make concrete; basically said get in line, could take weeks or months depending on cement availability. Even some federal and state road projects are on indefinite hold because they can't get concrete. After a lot of begging (mildly exaggerating), my contractor finally slipped me in, but had to get concrete trucked in from Louisville. I'm grateful he's a friend of a friend, because it could have taken much longer. The caveat is the ready mix company could only tie up 3 drivers per day to go this far out, so monolithic pour was not an option.

A crew of about 6-7 dug & formed footings, set rebar & anchor bolts, and poured footings first day. Second day they prepped the slab, formed all the aprons, set rebar, vapor barrier, etc. Third day (on Wednesday) was slab/apron pouring & finishing. Took about 60 yards of concrete total, split pretty equally between footings and slab/aprons. Footings ended up being 24" wide x 24" deep.

They did an excellent job on the finishing despite weather being terrible (mid to high 90's) during and the couple days after the pours. After checking top of concrete elevations with a sight level where the columns will sit, most (6 of 9) are very close to same elevation, but I have two high column locations and one low one. The high columns are about 5/16" high, while the low one is about 5/8" low, when compared to the 6 of 9 that are reasonably close to one another. So I have a difference of about 7/8" between high and low. My idea was to grind out some concrete on the high locations, and shim/grout the low column up to elevation. Anyone know what a good tolerance to hold on these is? I was thinking within a 1/4" of each other was fine, but let me know if I'm mistaken, or if there's a better way to approach this.

Brought the steel package home over the weekend. My kids' father's day present this year was manual labor-- Between three kids and I (my fourth kid is too young to be of much help), we had several thousand pounds of steel unloaded by hand in a few hours. While unloading the truck, I noticed Mueller missed a hole in one of the columns. Hope that's the biggest flaw I find, and I'll be doing good!

Temps this week are supposed to be high 90's consistently, so I'm gonna spend the week going through everything and studying drawings, and get my column bases all nice and level. All the structural framing members are accounted for, just need to inventory nuts, screws, bolts, clips, etc. Sheeting will have to stay at my work under a roof until I'm ready for it. I've got to juggle work, kids, wife and building this dang thing, so this project will take some time.

 

[semaj37]

Update finally-- had a huge delay on getting concrete, but wasn't my new contractor's fault. There's an area-wide cement shortage, so ready-mix companies near me are on an allotment, they can only get so much cement to make concrete; basically said get in line, could take weeks or months depending on cement availability. Even some federal and state road projects are on indefinite hold because they can't get concrete. After a lot of begging (mildly exaggerating), my contractor finally slipped me in, but had to get concrete trucked in from Louisville. I'm grateful he's a friend of a friend, because it could have taken much longer. The caveat is the ready mix company could only tie up 3 drivers per day to go this far out, so monolithic pour was not an option.

A crew of about 6-7 dug & formed footings, set rebar & anchor bolts, and poured footings first day. Second day they prepped the slab, formed all the aprons, set rebar, vapor barrier, etc. Third day (on Wednesday) was slab/apron pouring & finishing. Took about 60 yards of concrete total, split pretty equally between footings and slab/aprons. Footings ended up being 24" wide x 24" deep.

They did an excellent job on the finishing despite weather being terrible (mid to high 90's) during and the couple days after the pours. After checking top of concrete elevations with a sight level where the columns will sit, most (6 of 9) are very close to same elevation, but I have two high column locations and one low one. The high columns are about 5/16" high, while the low one is about 5/8" low, when compared to the 6 of 9 that are reasonably close to one another. So I have a difference of about 7/8" between high and low. My idea was to grind out some concrete on the high locations, and shim/grout the low column up to elevation. Anyone know what a good tolerance to hold on these is? I was thinking within a 1/4" of each other was fine, but let me know if I'm mistaken, or if there's a better way to approach this.

Brought the steel package home over the weekend. My kids' father's day present this year was manual labor-- Between three kids and I (my fourth kid is too young to be of much help), we had several thousand pounds of steel unloaded by hand in a few hours. While unloading the truck, I noticed Mueller missed a hole in one of the columns. Hope that's the biggest flaw I find, and I'll be doing good!

Temps this week are supposed to be high 90's consistently, so I'm gonna spend the week going through everything and studying drawings, and get my column bases all nice and level. All the structural framing members are accounted for, just need to inventory nuts, screws, bolts, clips, etc. Sheeting will have to stay at my work under a roof until I'm ready for it. I've got to juggle work, kids, wife and building this dang thing, so this project will take some time.

Hey QuakerJ
Looks like a nice build and I like your family involvement. Curious if you did a lot research on many different companies that build the metal buildings? I’ve seen several people that have used this company. I’m building a house with a shop in the back and have spoken with one company out of Arkansas and a local company in Memphis. Honestly I don’t know what I’m looking at. I made a post last night asking if anyone had any experience with Simpson steel in AR or the Memphis steel building company. I posted their quotes and details too. The difference I see is one uses cables and the other doesn’t. If you get a chance to look at my quotes or can offer some suggestions I’d appreciate that.

Thanks for your time.

 

[quakerj]

After a long hiatus waiting for the dog days of summer to get over (I had almost zero desire to put this up in 90+ degree heat when I spend 8 hours a day at work in it), project is finally moving along.

Had three helpers today (with kids as gophers) and we got the building frame up in about 6-1/2 hours. Now I need the plumb/square it all, which has been a bit tricky because the concrete guys were off a bit on anchor bolt placement in places; nothing major. Tomorrow's project if rain isn't too bad. Once that's done, tighten all the bolts, frame in man door & get to work insulating and sheeting. This coming week looks like solid good weather and I took the week off work-- hopefully will make good progress.

 

[firebirdparts]

Looking good! I would have figured the anchor bolts would be worse than “nothing major”. That is tough to do perfectly.

 

[quakerj]

Rain came in heavier than I was expecting this morning, so I'm waiting for it to subside.

Goals today are finish plumbing/squaring, lock it in with temp bracing and tighten all bolts. Then place rake angles and base angles.

I have 8 small angle braces that are supposed to hang off underneath the sidewall girts flush with the endwall columns, not sure their purpose. Mueller had a few busts in their drawings/details, this is one of them. The braces they want you to put on (and fasten with TEK screws),conflict with the bolts that hold the girt on. I have to notch these to fit around the bolts.

There were a few other Mueller screwups that caused some head scratching / delays. Areas where my girt / purlin configuration didn't match the detail, one hole that was missing on a rafter I had to drill myself, and a discrepancy on how to orient the splice plate at one of the rafters. The main drawing said one thing, the detail said something else.

 

[Smiles79]

How did you address anchors not being in the exact right position?

 

[quakerj]

How did you address anchors not being in the exact right position?

It's not that far off, just frustrating because it mostly affected the garage door columns/header, and my OCD wants to get that just right. Despite a lot of effort tweaking things with ratchet straps and come-alongs, there wasn't much I could do but split the difference and deal with it when it comes time to install the garage door, but I really don't think it'll be a big issue. One column leans in slightly, the other leans out slightly. The rest of the building plumbed up nicely.

 

[quakerj]

Update for today-- I got the walk in door installed, base angle, and while installing the top rake/sill angle I noticed a big issue. Should have noticed it before, but the pitch on the eave struts is way off-- they're formed for a much steeper roof pitch. No way I could install sidewall sheeting to it without it wrinkling the sheeting.

I sent pictures and called Mueller and they were excellent to work with. They're going to send out new eave struts but they won't be here until next Monday (week from today). I'll do what I can in the meantime, sheet and insulate the end walls, put some door trim up, but other than a few things I'm at a standstill till those eave struts come in. So looks like my week vacation isn't going to pan out, I'll probably go back to work this week, tackle the few things I can this coming weekend, and then take some time off next week to finish sheeting/roofing. I have my fingers crossed that weather is decent next week, because this week is supposed to be perfect. Back to back weeks without rain would be a real rarity here, but I'm hopeful!

 

[readhead]

For those following along, I found out early on to never set the bolts for the jambs. We always install the jambs with wedge anchors. I can’t count the number of times that the jamb bolts would be in the wrong place. Columns fine. Jambs not so much.

 

[Smiles79]

It's not that far off, just frustrating because it mostly affected the garage door columns/header, and my OCD wants to get that just right. Despite a lot of effort tweaking things with ratchet straps and come-alongs, there wasn't much I could do but split the difference and deal with it when it comes time to install the garage door, but I really don't think it'll be a big issue. One column leans in slightly, the other leans out slightly. The rest of the building plumbed up nicely.

Thanks for the reply.

Not sure when I'm going to get to mine, but I think it's going to be about exactly what yours is (dirt work/structure at least).

Not sure if it's too much to ask, but I'd definitely be interested in what you paid in concrete (can't remember if you stated that already or not) and what you paid to get the building up (if you're doing it yourself I guess that's just the price of the building). And lessons learned would be welcomed!

 

[quakerj]

Expect price of the concrete to equal the cost of the building, possibly more depending on your local area. Beware of concrete contractors that come in and say "all you need is a 4" slab, simple 1' wide footing to frost line depth and wedge anchor to it" because I had a couple of those I had to root through. Your local permit office might require a foundation plan from an engineer, which is probably a good investment to make sure it's done right. Mine didn't but I went through a lot of trouble finding a concrete contractor that knew something about these buildings-- most local outfits around here only know pole barns and stick built, which have wildly different concrete requirements. The red iron buildings are typically engineered to a minimum amount of steel (to be price competitive). Because these buildings are rather lightweight the foundation needs to account for uplift (i.e wanting to pull the foundation out of the ground instead of vice versa) which is usually done by large footings with extra steel reinforcement.

My costs went something like this:

Site work: 54 tons of #57 rock = $900 (I have quite a bit left over I'll use for driveway), skid steer rental + fuel = $1000 (labor done myself with some help)
Building kit rounded up was $18K plus $1,500 for a hotshot to deliver it from Louisiana to KY
Concrete was about $19K, but that includes a 50x9' apron on the side and 39x4' apron on front, also sealer. This was for 5" slab (probably more like 4-1/2"), 2' wide x 2' deep trench footing around the perimeter, and beefier than that under the main columns. Also had it dug down where my lift is going so there's like 10" concrete in a large square in those two locations.
Insulation: $2400

Then there was miscellaneous costs like PVC electrical conduit for stub-ups, anchor bolts, floor drain, few tools I needed,etc. which was fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

I was able to borrow equipment and tools I don't have (forklift, scissor lift, hammer drill, etc.) from work to erect the building myself with some friends and family, so really had no costs in the erection (so far). The only other cost I'm anticipating is the garage door and electric when the time comes.

I did the majority of this at the worst possible time (2022 = bad year for construction) when fuel was $5/gal and material/labor shortages were endless. That'd be my only advice is wait until the storm subsides a little!

 

[Smiles79]

Thanks for all of the information!

 

[jcarapet]

Looking good there, hoping the sheetmetal is smooth sailing. My Mueller got delivered this afternoon (33 x 60 x 16 with 12 x 60 porch).

And you aren't kidding about concrete contractors. I'm having endless problems with mine right now.

 

[quakerj]

Looking good there, hoping the sheetmetal is smooth sailing. My Mueller got delivered this afternoon (33 x 60 x 16 with 12 x 60 porch).

And you aren't kidding about concrete contractors. I'm having endless problems with mine right now.

Yep, concrete was the worst part of my project by far. I ended up using a more expensive company that does mostly commerical work and had to travel a good distance-- only one I could get to show up, and if I hadn't, I might still not have concrete. Even then, I have reservations about the workmanship.

Good luck with your building! My Mueller frame went together super easy, I hope the sheeting/insulation goes smooth. They might deliver the replacement eave struts this weekend, their driver has to make a 9-1/2 hour drive to get them here. That will get me an earlier jump on sheeting, and I'll be able to take advantage of really good (but too hot) weather. Had the eave struts not been made wrong I'd probably be finished by now, but they wasted no time shipping new ones (customer service was excellent), even though my building kit was delivered in early May.

 

[ed_v]

I'm pretty sure I know where you are located. I lived just outside of Irvington (Bewellyville) for about 6 years. I'm now down near Leitchfield in Grayson County. Nice sized building.

Ed

 

[quakerj]

I'm pretty sure I know where you are located. I lived just outside of Irvington (Bewellyville) for about 6 years. I'm now down near Leitchfield in Grayson County. Nice sized building.

Ed

Hey neighbor! I'm about 10 minutes west of Radcliff, right past the Meade/Hardin county line off KY-313. I actually tried hard to find a house in Breckinridge county closer to Irvington, to get a little ways further out of town. Had no luck, the housing market was crazy nuts around here 2-3 years ago and still is. I settled on a house without an outbuilding or decent sized garage, so now I'm fixing that problem.

Wife and I moved here from Colorado about 5-6 years ago and we love it. I've lived all over the country and this area of KY is a gem-- close enough to city (I work in Louisville) but still that rural feel. That said, most folks I meet that have grown up/lived here their whole life can't wait to get out. Go figure.

 

[quakerj]

Driver from Mueller called me this morning and he's leaving this evening and should be here late tomorrow (Sun) morning, so replacement eave struts will be here a day earlier than expected.

Earlier this week I installed the man door, and tomorrow I need to hurry up and get trim installed in preparation for sheeting. Looking at the photo of the walk in door, I'm noticing my girts don't line up, need to look into that and might raise the lefthand girt some.

Few more photos of the framing from last weekend, and also our color combination. Goal was to match sheeting to the house (which I call duct tape grey) and a dark blue trim. I think I got close, though I wish there was a bit more contrast between the wall panels and trim. While going through trim today, I noticed that Mueller included base drip ledge trim colored same as wall sheeting-- pretty sure I read that was an extra cost option on their website (that I didn't opt for), but it's here.

 

[losdudes]

looking good

 

[quakerj]

New eave struts got here yesterday morning, installed them yesterday afternoon.

Still bent at too steep a pitch, but these ones are workable. Had to fight with them, but a few strategical placed 2x4's as shoring in places plumbed up the outside closer and I'll have to live with the roof slope that's a little off. I think it's the way they nest them for shipping and strap them that worsens the bend-- I suspect they were 1:12 before they left the factory...

Getting pretty close to throwing up insulation and sidewall sheeting.

 

[quakerj]

Got wall sheeting started on the sidewall that doesn't face the wind. Figure I'll do the sidewalls first to sort of lock the building in, since this building uses the sheeting for diaphragm bracing, instead of rods or cables. Since neither of the sidewalls really see wind where I live, I figured that would lock the building in some before I sheet the wind facing sides (gables). Maybe it makes no difference, but I just have ratchet straps for temporary bracing, so erring on the side of caution here.

So far so good. Insulation and wall sheeting were fairly easy to figure out using online tuturials/Youtube, and Mueller's help videos. Had to take a break, the 92 degree heat, humidity and sunshine was burning me up. Sunburn + fiberglass particles = no fun. I'm about to get back at it.

 

[buzzworth]

Got wall sheeting started on the sidewall that doesn't face the wind. Figure I'll do the sidewalls first to sort of lock the building in, since this building uses the sheeting for diaphragm bracing, instead of rods or cables. Since neither of the sidewalls really see wind where I live, I figured that would lock the building in some before I sheet the wind facing sides (gables). Maybe it makes no difference, but I just have ratchet straps for temporary bracing, so erring on the side of caution here.

So far so good. Insulation and wall sheeting were fairly easy to figure out using online tuturials/Youtube, and Mueller's help videos. Had to take a break, the 92 degree heat, humidity and sunshine was burning me up. Sunburn + fiberglass particles = no fun. I'm about to get back at it.

Great build. I'm nearby, in Louisville. Tomorrow 96* and Thursday a high of 71*. Gotta love it here.

 

[quakerj]

Great build. I'm nearby, in Louisville. Tomorrow 96* and Thursday a high of 71*. Gotta love it here.

Yep, tomorrow is the day I'm going to dread, but I made it through today with lots of water and probably a few too many rest breaks. Tomorrow will likely be no different. I'll take low 90's (usually a couple-few degrees cooler here than Louisville) over all day rain though when putting up insulation. I noticed today that the more wall panels I get up, the more shade I have in places-- great motivation

My worst fear with this big temperature swing is that a storm or serious wind usually comes with it, but checking weather forecasts it seems to be a pretty calm transition-- I'll gladly take it.

 

[MattN03]

Great build. I'm nearby, in Louisville. Tomorrow 96* and Thursday a high of 71*. Gotta love it here.

I'm just south of Lexington and Thursday & 71* can't get here quick enough...lol

 

[quakerj]

The invisible roof (extra cost option) leaks just a little, still need to fix that. All walls done. Vinyl insulation facing could have come out with less wrinkles, but if there's a 2-man crew out there battling 20mph wind that can do better, send me their number, because that part of the job *****! But we did take the time to lap it and fold over the edges top and bottom properly, which a lot of installers skip. Will be just fine for a workshop. Photos do a real good job of picking up imperfections that I'll fix in due time, but you can't tell looking at it in person. I'm super grateful for all the help I've gotten from various friends! Lots of work left to be done.