Above 1200 Sq/FT 50x40 Mountain Shop

[dan1554]

Hi all,

Nearing ground-breaking on my new shop and thought I'd share the progress. A little background, we moved out to the Arkansas Valley about a year and a half ago, after deciding downtown Denver wasn't for us. My wife had a pulse on a property that checked a few boxes - reasonably priced, enough bedrooms for the kids, acreage, unobstructed views and BLM as a neighbor. I have a Land Cruiser and LS powered Toyota Pickup to maintain so the lack of usable shop space for wrenching was a deal-breaker. We compromised and now I'm building my own shop!

I initially started designing it in fusion but with the arrival of our second-born, realized I had no time to spare and hired an architect. Even without the time constraints, Im happy I did.

Design constraints:

• Tall enough for a 15' two-post lift
• An office to free up a bedroom in the house
• Radiant heating, hoping solar-powered heat pump
• 28' max height due to covenants
• No water in the structure to avoid septic work and water rights issues
• Size constrained by leach field, house, and setbacks
• Must not block any major views for me or neighbors (personal requirement)
• Prefer one story for future (older) me
• To save costs, interior will remain unfinished, uninsulated and with bare-bones electric, no heat (other than radiant plumbing), will DIY the rest
• Thought about a pass-through door, but the wind out of the west is epic
• Sufficient windows for light and views

Current status: Plans are going through permitting and I should have approval any day. Builder is lined up and ready to go.

Appreciate feedback!








Heres the site:

 

[dan1554]

Heres some results from loopcad. Object in the shop is the dimensions of my 80 series Land Cruiser. Trying to keep the 2 post far back for workspace at the front of the shop, but it needs to be forward enough to clear the door and provide room for potential larger vehicles.

 

[dan1554]

Broke ground today after getting permits approved. I think this is going to go fast. Time to open up the wallet.

 

[fourmotioneer]

Nice location. Have been up there in a number of cars over the years. 40x50 is the same number I have in mind for my build here. Looking forward to following along

Edit: come to think of it, my avatar is a shot from skyline drive down in Cañon City!

 

[roger440]

Looks fantastic. Some views right there!

Who or what is "BLM"?

 

[MacTexas]

Following

 

[dan1554]

Nice location. Have been up there in a number of cars over the years. 40x50 is the same number I have in mind for my build here. Looking forward to following along

Edit: come to think of it, my avatar is a shot from skyline drive down in Cañon City!

Yeah hopefully its a good size. Looking at the dirt patch it seems small, but that might be a result of the surroundings. Just did skyline for the first time in Feb, what a beautiful drive!

Looks fantastic. Some views right there!

Who or what is "BLM"?

In this case it is the Bureau of Land Management.

Here are the rigs destined for a spot in the shop. First the HDJ81:


And the pickup. This got me in to wheeling and has seen many changes over the years. Currently it sports a 6.0 LS and a solid axle swap. Still very much a WIP.

 

[billconner]

So nice to see all the windows. A pleasant change. Cement or vinyl siding? Drawing says OSB inside and out? Blow cellulose later? Looking forward to progress photos.

 

[CombatNinja]

Jelly of your views. Should be an awesome space to work when complete.

 

[dan1554]

So nice to see all the windows. A pleasant change. Cement or vinyl siding? Drawing says OSB inside and out? Blow cellulose later? Looking forward to progress photos.

In my previous location, windows were a liability. Hoping thats never the case here, I love natural light in a shop. Exterior is cement per fire code. Interior is TBD. I think interior OSB was an artifact from early convos with the architect and won't be installed during build. Itll probably be some kind of batting for insulation. Budget will probably dictate a slow roll to completion after the builder is done with the basics. Plenty of time to figure stuff out I hope.

Jelly of your views. Should be an awesome space to work when complete.

Thank you! It still feels strange stepping out the door to these surroundings.

 

[ericm]

Most people consider being next to BLM or US Forest Service land a plus. It's not going get developed and you can wander all over it on foot. Probably nothing will happen on it in your lifetime.

The minus is that probably nothing will happen on it which is not so great if it's forest that needs thinning for fire management. But private landowners are often remiss in their fire clearing too.

 

[rixtrix1]

Very nice area, except for wind. Best wishes on the build! Did some sail plane flying at Buena Vista a lifetime ago. Collegiate Peaks make for some fantastic views, for sure!

 

[Swanny1953]

Following - good luck with build

 

[csp]

How great to have Mt. Princeton in your backyard. I spent a lot of time there as a teenager. A good friend of mine moved to Nathrop about a year ago. He and his wife bought the NAPA stores in Buena Vista and Salida.

Looking forward to seeing this one progress.

 

[dan1554]

Most people consider being next to BLM or US Forest Service land a plus. It's not going get developed and you can wander all over it on foot. Probably nothing will happen on it in your lifetime.

The minus is that probably nothing will happen on it which is not so great if it's forest that needs thinning for fire management. But private landowners are often remiss in their fire clearing too.

The forest service is pretty proactive here. This is a controlled burn that happened late last year.


A lot of people get their firewood from trees that BLM and FS thinned. Two small kids, full time employment and no trailer mean I buy mine, but one day...

Very nice area, except for wind. Best wishes on the build! Did some sail plane flying at Buena Vista a lifetime ago. Collegiate Peaks make for some fantastic views, for sure!

Thank you! Yeah I get a little jealous seeing small aircraft going up and down the valley on calm days, the views must be incredible.

How great to have Mt. Princeton in your backyard. I spent a lot of time there as a teenager. A good friend of mine moved to Nathrop about a year ago. He and his wife bought the NAPA stores in Buena Vista and Salida.

Looking forward to seeing this one progress.

Small world, wonder if I've run in to them. If not, Im sure I will. Not sure if this is the case with you, but it seems a lot of people I talk to spent time at one of the camps or as rafting guides when they were younger.

Shop update:
Looks like the excavator is booked out a couple of weeks so I get to wait around for a bit.

 

[Mr onetwo]

WOW...what a location! Good luck with the build.

 

[dan1554]

Excavators came Friday. Trenches make for good games of chase.

Lots of rock that came out. We're trying to get as much of it out of the dirt as we can for landscaping.

 

[jskicet]

Beautiful. I would run plumbing to it even if you don't use it. You may change your mind later.

 

[83Caddy]

We have similar stories. I was in the Denver Metro area for the most part since 1990. Always thought about the mountains, so we took a chance and moved away to a small town I had never heard of until we moved here in the Wet Mountains a little south of you. We bought this property in part because it had a newly built 40x50 shop. Compared to the standard two car garage it's amazing. I wish it were closer to 50x60 now that I've had some time in it. And I wish I could get a small loft in there. But I have zero complaints. I think you'll be happy with that size as long as it fits your needs.

 

[dan1554]

We have similar stories. I was in the Denver Metro area for the most part since 1990. Always thought about the mountains, so we took a chance and moved away to a small town I had never heard of until we moved here in the Wet Mountains a little south of you.

Yeah sounds like we're in similar situations. Love the Wet Mountains, that whole area is beautiful.

We bought this property in part because it had a newly built 40x50 shop. Compared to the standard two car garage it's amazing. I wish it were closer to 50x60 now that I've had some time in it. And I wish I could get a small loft in there. But I have zero complaints. I think you'll be happy with that size as long as it fits your needs.

I guess thats why they say to go with the size you want and double it. I made do in a 20x25 for a long time, but I have the feeling my needs will grow to exceed the space. Sounds like thats been your experience. Its a shame we have so much land but the shop really only works in one spot, and its a tight one.

 

[dan1554]

Footer poured and ICF going in, plus a bonus shot of a low-flying C130, guessing training for fire fighting.

Waiting another week + for the ICF pour and backfill, and then I can start the DIY radiant process.

 

[dan1554]

ICF poured. Gaping trenches and mountains of dirt and rock are gone, so that gave me room to try and figure out the lift placement.

Having the ICF as a retaining wall definitely cuts in on some of the space. I don't know if its because its not enclosed yet, but it definitely feels smaller than Id like.

The lift will be about 17' from the overhead door. 3.5' between the post and ICF wall. Its a 12' wide lift so there will be about 6.25' from the side of the land cruiser to the ICF wall. Plenty of room to pull axle shafts. The only really tight space is going to be the stairs from the top of the retaining wall. Should be about 5' of clearance with any vehicle I currently own, but could be a problem for anything longer/wider. It'll be made of wood and hopefully easy enough to remove in the off case I need more space.

Foam board insulation and wire mesh was delivered, so this week I'll be zip-tie-ing pex. The following week should bring the slab pour.

 

[dan1554]

Bit of a delay on getting the surface prepped and foam laid. Waiting on an inspection before I can start laying pex.

Its gotta be the optical illusion of the wire grid, but suddenly it looks much larger!

 

[dan1554]

Well the pex install is done with a few caveats. I had to go back and re-work my loop cad drawing to incorporate the icf wall thickness and some added buffer around the garage doors. This brought my loop lengths down around the 200ft area, which I adhered to until I got to the last loop which ended up being closer to 300ft. Oops. No way am I starting over again so Im hoping an adjustable manifold will do the trick. Also the rolls I bought were all 300 ft, so I have leftover PEX A coming out of my ears.

The current issue is that Im not that great at expanding tubing. I bought a manual expander and apparently wasn't rotating enough (at least I hope thats the problem) and have a few leaks in my makeshift pressure-testing manifold. I didn't leave a lot of room between fittings so I may have to replace most of it to fix just a few leaks. Im going to check it again tomorrow to see if it healed itself.

This is what you call a learning experience. Lucky me the concrete is a couple weeks out again so I can try to sneak a fix in between kid wrangling and starting a new work contract.

 

[BWWgarage]

Beautiful house and site and I’m enjoying your build

 

[dan1554]

I went shopping for new pex a fittings without luck (not a whole lot of options out here), and while doing that came to the realization I was waaaay overthinking things. Came back and threw a few hose clamps on it. Ill have to perfect my hose-expansion skills before I install a proper manifold. My makeshift manifold has been locked in ~75 psi for nearly 24 hours now. Here it is in all its glory.

 

[dan1554]

Slab is in. 4" 4000 psi with fiber, burnished finish. Relief cuts will happen tomorrow.

Rain started as the crew was packing up. I was a little concerned but it seems to be holding up well. On the upside, I havent had to apply any water today.

 

[rixtrix1]

Did you have any trouble adjusting to living at the higher altitude there, about 8400'? We moved from 4,000' western NE to 1170' Phoenix 39 years ago. Tried to spend a weekend in Winter Park with friends a few years back and didn't make it 24 hours for lack of breath. Had to drop down to Denver and spend time with relatives. Funny, didn't bother my asthma skiing all over CO and WYO in my teens and 20's.

 

[dan1554]

@rixtrix1 Thats quite an elevation change. The only difficulty I had was mouth-breathing at night and dehydration. Nasal strips and a nalgene mostly fixed those problems. That cpap my mother-in-law has is starting to look good.

 

[Mr onetwo]

Good looking radiant layout and slab. Now the fun can start Good luck!

 

[dan1554]

Thanks @Mr onetwo. The fun is starting. All the material is here and trusses came today. Framing starts thurs. Enjoying some time with the kids at the grandparents in the meantime.

 

[BWWgarage]

Any progress? Truck looks a little loaded with those trusses?!

 

[dan1554]

Yes the truss guys said they had "fun" making those @50' spans and multiple ceiling step-downs. I thought they'd do the office trusses separately but its all one unit. Framers were a day behind and just came today. Progress is going quickly though. 16' is a tall wall! Really glad I took the extra effort/money to taper the roof line down away from the house. I'll post more after they're done for the day. Trying to stay out of the way.

 

[BWWgarage]

Looking good!

 

[dan1554]

Sheathing is going up and Im finally starting to wrap my mind around the dimensions. Its going to be a nice space. Should have plenty of vertical room for storage (and of course the lift). Hoping for truss install tomorrow.

 

[dan1554]

More progress. Starting to get a little self-conscious on the size. No neighbors showing up with pitch forks, yet. Hoping the siding, doors and maybe some trees planted in front will cut down on the eyesore factor. Thats definitely damping my excitement a bit. LOVE the space when standing inside though!

 

[BWWgarage]

Nice that it appears lower than garage/building on left!

 

[dan1554]

Believe it or not, my wife is the one who says it should clean up well.

 

[thammel]

It will be great! Only reason neighbors will show up is because they will be envious!

 

[dan1554]

I really need to adopt that optimism! Thankfully the neighbors have been supportive so far.

Trusses installed and roof decking is in. Swept out some of the nails and sawdust for my 3yo to ride around. Been getting a lot of rain lately so Ill be happy to have some shingles. Knowing this Mennonite crew, the roof'll probably be done tomorrow. They're a case study in work ethic.