40x80 Shop w/Apartment Build Thread

[MrMagoo]

I'm started building my shop on a totally empty 10 acre parcel in Montana.

The parcel is a perfect square, 660' per side. Power if 200' on the property on the west, the well is 475' east of the power.

The east side of the shop is 275' west of the well.

In order to build the shop we need water and power.

We started on March 13 here's the pictures and progress so far.

Let's start with a site plan.

 

[MrMagoo]

I'm doing the work with the help of friend, only subcontracting electrical and septic (as required by Montana law).

My buddy has a 35 horsepower Kubota tractor and many many years of construction experience.

I have a 50 horse Kubota tractor and attached backhoe.

The trenching began March 13.

 

[Chevy-SS]

Very nice! Fix the site plan image jpg file, it's too grainy, can't read it. Maybe reload it at a higher resolution.

Good luck and keep the pics coming..................

 

[MrMagoo]

March 19 - 275 foot 5.5' deep trench from the well to the shop completed. Started laying 1" poly pipe and installing tees for frost frees. Also installed a post for the well control box and associated load center. I went with a variable speed constant pressure well pump with the pressure tank and all components in the well head. I have a 100' well with 60 GPM and a 25' static level. I also installed a 30 AMP RV power box on the other side of the post for later use. There is one frost-free at the well head.One frost free every 100 feet thereafter.

 

[MrMagoo]

March 21 - Time to start digging the footings for the 40x80 shop. I rented a friends Hitachi EX40 excavator because it's clear that digging with the backhoe on the Kubota with an 18" bucket is to slow. I have a deadline to have a dry building before June 30. Also, my friend doesn't want to watch me dig. I continue digging trenches.

 

[MrMagoo]

March 23 - Got conduit and electric cable into the trench. Started backfilling trenches after bedding the water line and conduit in sand.

 

[MrMagoo]

March 25 - Finished the trenching to the meter base. A total of 600 feet from meter base to well. Got conduit and poly pipe in the remainder of the trench.

 

[MrMagoo]

April 2 - ICF blocks arrive/ The foundation is going to be footings, stem wall with ICF Blocks. 12" of wall above grade (top of slab). Sonotubes arrive for the 70x36 equipment shed to be built a little later in the summer. We want the tubes onsite so our extra concrete can go to good use.

 

[MrMagoo]

April 3 - Footings are dug and gravel is in the trench ready for compacting.

 

[MrMagoo]

April 4 - Weather turned nasty.

 

[MrMagoo]

April 5 - Brought in rough-cut lumber for forms for the footings. Started building the footings. I bought a CST/BERGER laser level for the project. It worked good for three weeks, then the detector died. Returned the whole works to Amazon and borrowed a laser level from a friend.

 

[MrMagoo]

April 7 - Bracing the forms. I returned the rented excavator and decided that I'm not getting enough productivity out of the backhoe on the Kubota MX5200 tractor. I like orange so I went to Missoula and test drove a Kubota KX-040 excavator. Happy with it, I had it delivered the next day. With this unit we'll make quick work of the remaining dirt work. There's another 1000 feet of water lines to put in plus the remaining work on the shop and equipment shed.

 

[MrMagoo]

April 10 - Rebar cut and in the ditch for the footings. Everything squared up and we begin backfilling with gravel. By the end of the day yesterday we are ready to pour. We're scheduled for concrete early next week. The new excavator is really working out. With the reach and speed we made quick work of the backfilling without any cave ins.

 

[thammel]

Love this story....fantastic setting for a great place to live. Jealous!! You seem to have a lot of building experience...looking good!

 

[MrMagoo]

So here's the idea for the shop & apartment:

40x80 shop
20x40 apartment (part of the 40x80)
Leaves me a usable shop for man stuff of 40x60
Scissor trusses over the apartment
Attic trusses over the shop
12" of concrete stem wall above top of slab
16' 2x6 studs for walls
R19 in walls
R38 in lid
6" slab
Propane heat
Ergo 17' interior ceiling height in shop (less drywall)
Three bays:
One 14x14
One 12x12
One 12x12 with a 12" thickened slab so I can have an Atlas or similar lift
4' work bench on rear (south - long) wall
Shelves above workbench floor to ceiling wide enough for pallets
Frost-free hydrants on each side of shop (already in ground)

I'll upload floor plans for apartment soon. Many options floating in my and SWMBO's head

 

[sickjuice]

Never seen footings poured on gravel

 

[MrMagoo]

Never seen footings poured on gravel

Our soil is ancient riverbed sand and round rock (from 1/2" to 6"). Makes it hard to get level. We dug below the bottom of the footings and put 3/4 minus in, compacted that back up the exact height of the bottom of footings for a solid, level and uniform base for the footings. Maybe its overkill but gravel is not expensive here. We've built other large shops here this way in the same area.

 

[Bruce 993 SEA]

Nice! Following...

 

[matt_i]

Man, you're moving at a rapid pace! Good to get a head of steam and get the concrete footings in before any serious rain sets in...that's where I got messed up.

Sounds like a great design and plan!

 

[jblnut]

You're going to love that mini-hoe !! With a thumb and a cab you can't go wrong !!

Looks like this is going to be a build a lot of us will envy. Thank you for sharing.

 

[MrMagoo]

You're going to love that mini-hoe !! With a thumb and a cab you can't go wrong !!

Looks like this is going to be a build a lot of us will envy. Thank you for sharing.

I'm also loving the "6 way blade" and Rabbit mode. Thanks for following! It's an adventure for sure!

 

[davo727]

I like that, wants an excavator--- Boom! Delivered

 

[sean Buick 76]

Great project!!!

 

[rixtrix1]

Sounds great; nice looking property, too.

 

[MrMagoo]

I've been noodling on the design details of the shop/apt. Here's a couple of top down sketches, one with dimensions, one without. I'm redrawing this at architectural scale (1/4" = 1') so I can add windows and precisely lay out the doors.

The idea for the patio coming off the north side of the building is this is a patio with an open gable ridge beam covering that gives us shade in the summer, and keeps the rain and snow off in the winter. On the east side there will be a lean-to style roof attached to the side of the building with a small cantilevered section connecting the lean-to to the front patio. Underneath these roof areas is concrete.

 

[MrMagoo]

Moved all the wood and rebar out of the area where the equipment shop is to be built. I didn't gave a site plan when these materials were delivered so I ended up putting them in the WRONG SPOT.

Then we set up batter boards, checked our Pythagorean angles and squared up.

Next we dug the first sonotube! Tomorrow we do 15 more!!

 

[MrMagoo]

I made a mistake. When we laid out the batter boards for the 36x70 equipment shed we set the corner sonotubes on center. This won't work, the beams will not end up sitting on the post properly. We need to figure the outside sonotube locations "in" 2 7/8" so the beams outside edge is correct. Fortunately we have not poured yet. So we will dig two corners out tomorrow and adjust. Should go quick. It's not a mistake if you catch it, right?

 

[MrMagoo]

For the equipment shed it turns out we've been setting strings for the center of our tubes, but that isn't right for the corners. Rookie mistake. Need to bring them in so the edge of the beam / truss sits on post fully. Post is 5 3/4" thick so each corner needs to move in halve that amount in both directions.

For the shop/apartment we're calculating the corners of the string lines to be the INSIDE edge of the building so I have 40x80 useable space (less drywall thickness). It turns out when discussing this with the truss company they look at outside measurements. So, no issue but I need to order trusses for a 41'x81' building.

We pour both foundations Friday.

 

[MrMagoo]

I ordered the equipment shed trusses and beams. The front posts are spaced 14' apart, the rear posts are spaced 10' apart. The front glulam is 15.5" x 5.5" one 40' beam one 30' beam.

The rear glulam is 10.5" x 5.5" one 40' beam one 30' beam.

The end trusses have nailers.

 

[MrMagoo]

We got all the sonotubes in the ground and backfilled yesterday. Today we pour both foundations. Here's a picture of the Structu-weld boots that go into the Sonotubes and hold the posts up.

 

[Bighead38]

Would love to have a building that size with an apartment on the property upstate. Would be perfect for me right now.

 

[MrMagoo]

Today we poured two foundations. Starting at noon, except the concrete truck was two hours late and only came with 3 yards and we needed 11 yards. A few phone calls later we got it cleared up and 6 hours later we were done. All part of the fun. hehe Thanks to many friends. Clayton Vanvleet, Blaine Michelle Blackstone, Jason Peterson, Chirp, Jeff Ball, Lehua Grell Milliken Mickey and a bunch of friends who dropped by to watch.

 

[MrMagoo]

Today we got the posts up for the back 70 foot wall; the wall with the most posts.

 

[MrMagoo]

We got the front row of posts on the 36'x70' equipment shed in the ground. Tomorrow we set beams and Friday we roof it.

 

[nadogail]

Looking Good

 

[MrMagoo]

Huge day. We set the beams. Largest was 5.5"x15"x42 feet. Whew. Only took an hour. Amazing what happens when you have the right team & equipment.

 

[MrMagoo]

Installed gerts and set trusses yesterday and sheeted the roof.

 

[MrMagoo]

Trenched and backfilled 100' power line to the equipment shed from the meter base after installing conduit. I managed to NOT dig into the existing power line or water line.

 

[MrMagoo]

Today we stripped the cardboard from the Sonotubes off and cleared down to grade around the building in preparation for the metal siding to be installed tomorrow. A big storm blew in so we only worked a half day.

 

[MrMagoo]

Today we got the metal on the roof on the equipment shed.

We then went back to working on the 41x81 shop / apartment. We pulled all the forms off the footings and began placing the styrofoam forms for the stem walls into the foundations for the shop. We are quite pleased that our corners are square and we should pour concrete Friday. Lehua did a great job on the loader with forks today.