bfarroo
Well-known member
I'm in the process of planning the build on a new pole building. I'm looking to build something in the 5000 sq ft area. I Live in Green Bay WI. I've been reading on GJ for a few months now on and off to get ideas and answer some question. Some things have been helpful, some just created more questions so I'm starting this post to hopefully get some of them answered. I'm hoping to get started this spring once everything thaws and dries out. So here are a few of the questions I have.
1. I've talked with one builder in the area and he said they typically pour the slab with a thicker edge rather than a typical footing. Something in the 10x10 - 12x12 size to support the load of the building. This is how my fathers building was done and he hasn't had any issues with it thus far but his building is not insulated and for storage only. I plan to put in PEX for infloor heat through the entire building, dividing the building down the middle into two zones. I plan to partition the building off down the center making a workshop on one side and cold storage on the other with the option to insulate and heat the cold side in the future. My question is on insulating the slab edges. With the way the concrete is poured I would assume that I won't want to have the insulation under the section that will be supporting the weight of the building. What is the best way to reduce the heat loss in this area? Am I over thinking it and just need to insulate the outside of the slab as best as i can after they remove the forms and call it good enough? Should I be looking into having a traditional footing poured? Also since I'll be sectioning off the two halves how should I install a insulation barrier between the two halves. There will be an overhead door between the two.
2. Boiler/Heat Source location. With how I want to setup the building, I'm assuming the best place to locate the heating source would be in the center of the building against the wall to minimize the long runs in the future if I ever decide to heat the second half of the building. I haven't put a great deal of thought into it but that may not be the best place for how I want to layout the shop area. Would it be extremely detrimental to have the heat source in a back corner and run a feed and return line from the heat source area to the manifolds? This would keep the loop lengths the same but allow the placement of the heat source where ever it is convenient for the shop layout. I'm also going to price adding a 15x30 or so office area onto one side where I could have a mechanical room to house things like the boiler, water tank/ water heater, air compressor ect. A small living room/kitchen/bathroom/office area would be built in the rest of the space.
3. Overhead door placement. With the layout of our lot (4 acres aprox 300 Wide x 600 deep) I'm leaning toward placing the building to the left edge of the lot leaving room for the house on the right half. With the size of the building I can only see situating it so that the face of the building is toward the road (52 wide side). With how I want to section the shop off into storage and a workshop makes placing the doors somewhat difficult. The most traffic is probably going the be in and out of the workshop section but I will still need easy access in and out of the cold storage section. I'd also like to be able to pull my truck and car trailer in and out as one. Planning for the house on the right side of the shop I have to determine how the drive way would be setup. This makes me think that i need to have the doors on the right side of the building instead of the ends. Having them on the ends would require access to both sides of the building which I think would be somewhat awkward in both function and aesthetics. I've seen some building setup with the doors on the sides and was wondering how that affects the placement of the main poles and trusses? I'd like to have wider doors to allow easily pulling in the truck with trailer and would guess 12-14' would be the minimum width. 12' On center is the max width I see for most pole placement so with the wider door would this require headers to be placed across the door opening? I could possibly do the large door on the front end of the building so the truck/trailer could be pulled in there and then do smaller doors on the one side for entrance into the shop area.
4. In floor insulation. XPS vs EPS. I've tried researching the two and haven't found a definitive answer between using one over the other. From what I've found as long as the pressure rating is the same the EPS will perform as well as the XPS for a much lower cost. Are there any major disadvantages to the EPS?
Side wall height. I'm leaning toward 16' side walls. I've read that with infloor heat the sidewall height doesn't have as large of an effect on the heat load as compared to forced air because the heat is coming from the floor so you ultimately feel warmer. Would the 16' walls add that much to the heating cost or is it a small fraction of the overall heat load. I like the idea of being able to add a usable loft area and it would be rather low ceiling heights with 14' walls. Also if I don't add a office area on the side then it will probably be sectioned into the shop area. so the added ceiling height would add room for that also.
I'm sure I'll have many more questions but these should get me started. Thank you all for your help.
1. I've talked with one builder in the area and he said they typically pour the slab with a thicker edge rather than a typical footing. Something in the 10x10 - 12x12 size to support the load of the building. This is how my fathers building was done and he hasn't had any issues with it thus far but his building is not insulated and for storage only. I plan to put in PEX for infloor heat through the entire building, dividing the building down the middle into two zones. I plan to partition the building off down the center making a workshop on one side and cold storage on the other with the option to insulate and heat the cold side in the future. My question is on insulating the slab edges. With the way the concrete is poured I would assume that I won't want to have the insulation under the section that will be supporting the weight of the building. What is the best way to reduce the heat loss in this area? Am I over thinking it and just need to insulate the outside of the slab as best as i can after they remove the forms and call it good enough? Should I be looking into having a traditional footing poured? Also since I'll be sectioning off the two halves how should I install a insulation barrier between the two halves. There will be an overhead door between the two.
2. Boiler/Heat Source location. With how I want to setup the building, I'm assuming the best place to locate the heating source would be in the center of the building against the wall to minimize the long runs in the future if I ever decide to heat the second half of the building. I haven't put a great deal of thought into it but that may not be the best place for how I want to layout the shop area. Would it be extremely detrimental to have the heat source in a back corner and run a feed and return line from the heat source area to the manifolds? This would keep the loop lengths the same but allow the placement of the heat source where ever it is convenient for the shop layout. I'm also going to price adding a 15x30 or so office area onto one side where I could have a mechanical room to house things like the boiler, water tank/ water heater, air compressor ect. A small living room/kitchen/bathroom/office area would be built in the rest of the space.
3. Overhead door placement. With the layout of our lot (4 acres aprox 300 Wide x 600 deep) I'm leaning toward placing the building to the left edge of the lot leaving room for the house on the right half. With the size of the building I can only see situating it so that the face of the building is toward the road (52 wide side). With how I want to section the shop off into storage and a workshop makes placing the doors somewhat difficult. The most traffic is probably going the be in and out of the workshop section but I will still need easy access in and out of the cold storage section. I'd also like to be able to pull my truck and car trailer in and out as one. Planning for the house on the right side of the shop I have to determine how the drive way would be setup. This makes me think that i need to have the doors on the right side of the building instead of the ends. Having them on the ends would require access to both sides of the building which I think would be somewhat awkward in both function and aesthetics. I've seen some building setup with the doors on the sides and was wondering how that affects the placement of the main poles and trusses? I'd like to have wider doors to allow easily pulling in the truck with trailer and would guess 12-14' would be the minimum width. 12' On center is the max width I see for most pole placement so with the wider door would this require headers to be placed across the door opening? I could possibly do the large door on the front end of the building so the truck/trailer could be pulled in there and then do smaller doors on the one side for entrance into the shop area.
4. In floor insulation. XPS vs EPS. I've tried researching the two and haven't found a definitive answer between using one over the other. From what I've found as long as the pressure rating is the same the EPS will perform as well as the XPS for a much lower cost. Are there any major disadvantages to the EPS?
Side wall height. I'm leaning toward 16' side walls. I've read that with infloor heat the sidewall height doesn't have as large of an effect on the heat load as compared to forced air because the heat is coming from the floor so you ultimately feel warmer. Would the 16' walls add that much to the heating cost or is it a small fraction of the overall heat load. I like the idea of being able to add a usable loft area and it would be rather low ceiling heights with 14' walls. Also if I don't add a office area on the side then it will probably be sectioned into the shop area. so the added ceiling height would add room for that also.
I'm sure I'll have many more questions but these should get me started. Thank you all for your help.