40x60x16 Build - Started 4/23/15

[mcirish101]

Very nice.................

Thank you - its been a fun ride so far and it is coming together as I envisioned - we are in the final push to get everything complete by the last weekend in September

 

[mcirish101]

Haven't posted in awhile because although there has been some progress, it was small and incremental: the pics below represent...in floor heat system (finally) all the floor tile in the apartment done, appliances in, cabinets set, electric 95% complete

need to tie several loose ends together.....but all in all, very satisfied with work to date

things to complete.....shower tile for bathroom and glass enclosure, waiting to be delivered is a special order cabinet for kitchen (under counter microwave) .....front concrete approach/apron..~18x60, back patio ~15x20....stairs to loft....lift system for shop floor to loft....decent quality audiophile system for shop & apartment and Dish Network and at least two tv's

 

[bww_mnm]

Just caught your entire thread for first time. Great build and all the time with heating and insulation will payback huge in Michigan. Enjoy!

 

[mcirish101]

Just caught your entire thread for first time. Great build and all the time with heating and insulation will payback huge in Michigan. Enjoy!

Thanks bmw.....it is 54 degrees in mich currently @ 3 in the afternoon.....the thermostat is set @ 56....my sister went over there and checked on the ambient temp just moments ago...both thermometers (one in the apartment and one in the shop) both read 68

good news so far......we will things shake out when it gets REALLY cold!!!

 

[brettray15]

Let's see the rooms and bathroom! Nice job!

 

[fastbak7]

Nice place. I was thinking of using a few ceiling fans as you did to help push warm air back down because of the 16 ft height. Do you think they help much with that?

 

[mcirish101]

Nice place. I was thinking of using a few ceiling fans as you did to help push warm air back down because of the 16 ft height. Do you think they help much with that?

thank you!

as of right now, with VERY limited time up there, i cannot say if the fans do that much good - in theory they would, but i just haven't had much of real life experience yet - it is all VERY new (since early october 2015)

i was up there very briefly this weekend; the heating system and spray foam insulation work well in tandem as expected.....it was in the 40's outside.....t-stat was set @ 56...inside temp in both the shop and the apt was 58

turned up the t-stat temp to 70..(about 7pm on friday) ...worked in the shop for several hours and ran some errands friday night and it took 4 hours to rise 4-5 degrees (which i had expected because it is not like a forced air system)

went next door to the main house to sleep.....woke up at 7am and walked next door to the shop, the apartment and shop were both at 70 and felt great

i bought a Flir E5 (thermal imaging camera) so i could monitor a few heat related things in the building (very cool gadget btw)

with the fans OFF....the ceiling was still at 70 degrees working height, at 70 as well....turned the fans on......and checked temps again a few hours later....roughly the same temps at the ceiling and working height.....i just noticed the actual cool draft of the fan which was counter productive

i will be spending more time up there the next several weekends so i can try a few things with the fans running at various speeds and also shut off

Will report additional info as it gets colder

 

[bloomingtonmike]

Very awesome thread. Thanks for posting this! Very nice!

 

[86turbodsl]

Love this build. Keep up the commentary! Will you be finishing the sidewalls at all?

 

[mcirish101]

Love this build. Keep up the commentary! Will you be finishing the sidewalls at all?

Finishing the walls is not in the cards for me right now...I need to stop the $$$ hemorrhaging !!

Somewhere down the road, perhaps I will do the metal walls like you did.

Where in MI are you? I am in Hillsdale County - Bird lake

 

[jedeyeben]

Looks very nice! I would've loved to have done the floor heat in mine, seems to be working for you well.

 

[joepowe8]

If I can get my house sold, this is exactly what I want to build.

What size is the apartment, the bed rooms, and the kitchen/den area?

 

[mcirish101]

If I can get my house sold, this is exactly what I want to build.

What size is the apartment, the bed rooms, and the kitchen/den area?

hi joe,

the whole apartment portion is 550 sf - if memory serves, bedroom is 14 x 11....bathroom is 9 x7 and the kitchen/living room combo is 14 x 18.

when it was framed in, it felt REALLY small.....now that it is almost done, it feels much larger than 550 sf

when i planned this out, it was gonna be an apartment solely for guests, when it was close to completion, my fiance said "why don't we live here and let guests use the house ( a 3 br trailer that was remodeled with average quality finishes before i purchased it)

had i known then what i know now, i would have made the apartment a lil bigger and added a closet in the bedroom. it was designed with the mindset of " i want people to come up and join us at the lake, but not get TOO comfortable"

once we decided to live there, we added a few things and it had delayed completion of the apartment. I am working with my GC now to get the last few items taken care of

over the next few weeks we will be putting three boats in the shop for the winter - two 21' pontoon boats (on pontoon dollies) and my 14' RIB on its trailer

i will be up there this weekend and i will post some more pix

 

[86turbodsl]

I am a little north of you in jackson county. Just north of i94.

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[mcirish101]

As many of you know...progress can sometimes be slow and sometimes setbacks occur - as is the case of the tiling of my shower..(contractor doing the work, not me) ..luckily i have a house next door to shower in when i spend some fall/winter weekends up at my 2nd home

as i look at the pics, lots HAS been done, but things never go exactly as we plan!!

other than the delay on shower tiles, everything is going well - in-floor heat is outstanding...plenty of room in the shop for three boats plus 2 cars if needed - so many more things to do, just challenging since i don't live up there 100% of the time

 

[JimL]

Nice Building!

 

[86turbodsl]

Just an outstanding build. This is your second home? What do you do there? On the lake i assume.

 

[Mihlfeldl2005]

Out of curiosity, what do you have invested?

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[Sunbimmer]

Nice place and nice toys, lucky man

 

[mcirish101]

Thanks guys....what do I do there??? as lil as possible whenever possible!!

I live and work near Chicago (CFO for a mfgr) and i bought the 1/2 acre with a 1200sf modular home a few years ago on Bird lake in Osseo, MI (right across the road from my sister). They are on the channel to a smallish lake; 115 acres. i have been an avid boater since my mid 20's...and have missed being on the water since my last boat on lake Michigan in 2006.

My sister has 115' of dock space so she lets me keep my boat ******* over there all of boating season and when i was planning the garage, i wanted them to have a place to store their boat in the winter - the arrangement should work out quite well!!

I love to tinker on my boat in the winter, so now i have the ideal place to do so. I have a 14' RIB and it was kinda neat washing it and getting those hypalon tubes white again. Hooking up the indoor hose and seeing all that water heading towards the drain was nice - there was a lot of planning trying to anticipate all the uses this building would entail.

GJ has been quite helpful along the way - thanks to all of you with your suggestions and postings; I still have more to do, but it has been fun so far, with minimal frustration!!

 

[mcirish101]

I started building a 16' work bench for the shop - it will reside along the back wall and with my husky tool boxes that santa will be providing. I am thinking a laminate top 16' by 30" would be my best bet for a top, but am curious to see what you gents would recommend.

it doesn't have to be pretty, just functional.

i used some of the supports as a temporary shelf to get a bunch of stuff of the floor (in case anyone was wondering!!)

i met with a new tile guy, my GC "tried" to do the tiling in the shower but i had him cease and remove what he had done because it was turning out horrible

the new guy is a total pro and hopes to have it complete by NYE....I will provide pics when i get up there that weekend

 

[MattN03]

Awesome build, thanks for sharing!

 

[Dragfluid]

Nice build,,, looks great! Yes, it never goes as fast as we would like, but taking one's time and paying attention to detail pays off in the long run! I'm going on a year and a half with my project. I can see that there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and I know that it's not a locomotive.

Are your ceiling fans reversible? For winter time use, you should be blowing the air towards the ceiling and it will gather the warm air and force it to the floor. I was fortunate to find some industrial ones that can be wired to be controlled by a controller on the wall and select the speed and the direction.
Also, please be careful of any open flame around those walls. That foam is very flammable!! Don't forget that drywall is another option for the walls rather than steel.
Good luck and thanks for sharing!

 

[mcirish101]

Are your ceiling fans reversible? For winter time use, you should be blowing the air towards the ceiling and it will gather the warm air and force it to the floor. I was fortunate to find some industrial ones that can be wired to be controlled by a controller on the wall and select the speed and the direction.
Also, please be careful of any open flame around those walls. That foam is very flammable!! Don't forget that drywall is another option for the walls rather than steel.
Good luck and thanks for sharing!

Yes they are reversible - 72" span and also have the wall mounted remote control as well as an actual wall switch - very clever. It has 7 speeds and I currently have it on its' lowest speed. Since heat rises, I have the fans running and am watching my building temp remotely; I don't expect to see any significant anomalies.

thanks for the reminder about the foam, i appreciate that!!

I definitely want to cover the walls at some point...but it will not be in the foreseeable future.

Spent quite a bit of time working in there this past weekend, it was chilly outside, and i was working in sweats and a t-shirt; garage temp was 66 and i was actually working up a sweat. Wish I actually lived up there and could spend more time in my beloved garage!!

 

[mcirish101]

Slow and steady progress - front approach has a mix of stone/gravel and dirt, back patio concrete poured and is under a thermal blanket.

the new tile guy has started the process of un-doing what the other guy started and messed up (and slowed the whole project down considerably)

once we have the shower tiled, we can then have the inspector come and he can do his final inspection - my gc and i are calling that the end of phase two

Phase three will consist of staircase heading to the loft and a 1500lb lift system suspended from the rafters; i can then use a portion of the 14 x 40 loft for heavy storage

I am getting married this may, and i will be clearing out my house and am anxious to bring over a lot of my vintage stereo gear and crank up some serious tunes...big klipsch and tekton speakers with some newly acquired mcintosh gear - should fill up the space nicely!!

 

[astrohip]

I am getting married this may, and i will be clearing out my house and am anxious to bring over a lot of my vintage stereo gear and crank up some serious tunes...big klipsch and tekton speakers with some newly acquired mcintosh gear - should fill up the space nicely!!

Forget those barns pics, let's see some stereo pics!

Back when I had hearing, I had a stereo powered by a McIntosh 2300.. Bose 901 speakers, B&O turntable (yeah, that one!), etc.

 

[mcirish101]

Will definitely post some pics of my newly acquired old gear!!! Some beautiful old k-horns and la scalas along with a mcintosh 2105 AND an mx151 that should arrive at my office tomorrow (1/6/16)

In the meantime, some pics of where I am at on the shower tile debacle - anyone have experience (good or bad) with schluter kerdi board?

 

[Blackhawks63]

Great project. I would simply hire a qualified tile guy. It's not rocket science to do a bathroom tile job. Agree that you should make it a priority to cover up that spray foam in the garage. Fire risk is the issue. Enjoy a great building.

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[Riley]

http://www.johnbridge.com/articles/showers/kerdi-showers/

The oracle speaks......

 

[wasfast]

The Schluter products are excellent, just not low cost. Provided all the seams are covered properly, that shower will never leak.

 

[mcirish101]

Thanks gents, I appreciate the feedback; my new tile guy (certified schluter installer) has been doing this a long time....i guess i need to be patient as this portion of the build has taken the longest and has been the most frustrating...he told me from the beginning that he could start the job, has worked on it two days...but had to start a job for a long time customer and was not sure exactly when he would be back.

As a customer, that is frustrating to hear, but in all actuality, there is truly no rush because it is for a 2nd home that gets much more use in the summer months.

the biggest downside is that it is holding up final inspection and the next phase of my project.

i've added a few pics my sister sent me via her cell phone (just cuz i know everyone likes pics)

I appreciate all the comments - thanks!

 

[mcirish101]

Bought 2 new toolboxes for the shop found an old one at an auction we were participating in - that i am going to clean, de-grease, restore and paint; that'll end up in my garage when i get married in May

I also laid out a 16' workbench for the new shop also - slowly but surely getting organized

Tile guy is back on my project full time until complete. S/B a busy few weeks

 

[UpNorther]

Great build and really like the apartment inside!

Out of curiosity, why did you put your electrical panel outside ? It looked like they had it trenched to the inside but you stubbed it back out.

 

[welder57]

I hope you are going to put more downspout on your gutters!!! Due to the length of gutter runs the water on the roof will flood over @ the center point and may rip the gutter off. I design steel building and you don't need that problem to mess up a great looking building. Have A GREAT day.

 

[mcirish101]

Great build and really like the apartment inside!

Out of curiosity, why did you put your electrical panel outside ? It looked like they had it trenched to the inside but you stubbed it back out.

To be honest, I never thought about it - I may have been asked back when it was installed....I truly don't remember. Perhaps its code? The electrician is REALLY good and his work has been stellar!

The area is super safe & quiet and very rural and I am asking because I don't know - what is the advantage if putting it inside? Assuming code allows it of course

 

[mcirish101]

I hope you are going to put more downspout on your gutters!!! Due to the length of gutter runs the water on the roof will flood over @ the center point and may rip the gutter off. I design steel building and you don't need that problem to mess up a great looking building. Have A GREAT day.

Yes!! That's the plan - we are going to wait until spring/summer and finalize landscaping and yard layout

Unrelated to your question, I had the gutter guy install a gutter guard type product because of the amount of trees and leaves generated from those old stately trees in the fall!!

Thanks!

 

[mcirish101]

Many of you fine forum members have brought up the flammability issue of the spray foam insulation; and I appreciate it very much.

I have my contractor pricing out steel material for the walls - roughly 2800 sf of walls to cover - I will also add rolls of fiberglass insulation for good measure. He mentioned an option of sound insulation as I will have some serious old Klipsch Khorns and LaScalas that will need to be cranked as I am working on projects - I want to minimize disturbance to my neighbors!

The long term plan is my fiance and I (when we retire) will spend the summers up there at the lake and winters in Florida

 

[86turbodsl]

Nice job on the bath/shower. Schluter makes good product. Thumbs up!

 

[mcirish101]

Thank you , its getting there!! Some cell phone pics (since you all love progress pics!!)

 

[dirtybrownracing]

cant wait to see more of this build