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Adding some Sqft

Johnnys Shop

Active member
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
25
Location
Rocky Mtn. Hse, Alberta, Canada
Hey So I plan on making the call this coming week to hopefully add 20ft to my existing work shop.

The work shop is 24x26 with 8x26 housing my office, lumber, semi finished projects, files, plans and draft table. the other 16x26 is my full time wood shop (7 days a week 14hrs + daily). It was built in 2008 with radiant floor heating and 8ft ceiling.

I would like to add 20x24 to the front. there is a 8x12ft shed on the front for lumber storage that will be removed. and it is graveled where the addition would be with left over from the foundation. and I hope the slope is gentle enough that I can just rake it flat then add sand and pack.

I live in the country so no worries of bylaws and so forth.

What I would like to do.
1 pour additional pad for the new addition. Any problems pouring right against existing pad?

2 hook up the radiant flooring system. the boiler I have is good for 4000-4500 sq-ft I think. well over 2000 anyways. So can I run lines along the ceiling and down into the new pad? as the Entrance door is on the same wall as the boiler. might I need to add a second thermostat for the new pad? any other problems that might arise? can I just add 2 more lines to the manifold as I probably should have 2 sections?

3 I want to make the additions ceiling 10' or 12' tall as I can not help but hit the ceiling with plywood or 2x4s. the Roof is shingled. I will have to cut the gable end off and either add a wall on top of the existing rafter or build a new wall flush with the existing wall minus a 8ft opening to tie into my existing shop. The shop originally had 16 foot roll up but I hardly used it. and almost impossible to keep completely sealed. So I removed the door put in a 8ft filler wall fully supporting the header and made 2 -4ft swing out doors fully insulated. So a 2x10 doubled up header already exists.

4 I would like to put a wood floor on top of the cement to help with my arthritis in the new section. I have anti fatigue mats in my current shop but makes it hard to impossible to roll tools around. So what problems might I run into? Can I rip 3/4 strips of plywood for airspace and then put the floor on that? Moisture is not a problem, my current floor is very dry no concern putting wood directly on it. I would assume the addition would be the same.


added notes.
I put down a moisture barrier and 1.5 or 2 inch Styrofoam under the cement. the cement poured on existing pad was 8-9 on the edges and around 6 in the center. way deeper then needed but only one hairline crack. it was that deep because of the forms used and the contractor did not tell me so a 1200.00 floor became 2000.00. Anyways does adding Styrofoam on the outside of the pad help? is 2 inches sufficient or is thicker required to make a difference? I am asking for personal experience here as Radiant floor heating was suppose to be super efficient it takes about 1.5x 500 gallon propane tanks to heat for the winter with a high efficiency boiler.

No Garage door, I plan on putting some windows in from the local reuse center spending all day in a shop with two tiny windows ***** and add wide or maybe double man door. It cost $19,000 to build and fully finish the original building with some of that going to a contractor who helped build. I hope the addition will be under $8000. I built a 16x16 cabin with 6ft deck for $5000 last year $8000 if you include the pellet stove.

The current shop has vinyl siding but I plan on the addition having vertical rough cut clap board that I get for free. I do not care that they do not match.
 
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Cyberbear

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Joined
Nov 23, 2013
Messages
1,524
Location
California
1. Depending on soil type, you may wish to dowel pin the two slabs together.
2. That's a judgement call on your part, but two independent sections gives more options.
3. I too found an 8' ceiling too low when handling ply. sheets, etc. 12' is what I use now.
4. You may want to think about 2 x 4's laid flat to use as floor support. Whether you choose 3/4" ply or 2x material for the actual working floor surface, will determine the 2x4 spacing. Depending on the weight of your shop equipment, you are on the right path using wood as they did back in the day. Definitely easier on the feet and joints as the years catch up with us all. Spent most of my working career standing on concrete and am paying for it now. Nice thing about wooden floors; they allow you to run electrical if you need to. If you plan on staying there for a while, you'll be happy you went the extra distance.
 
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J

Johnnys Shop

Active member
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
25
Location
Rocky Mtn. Hse, Alberta, Canada
Thank you for the reply
I thought about doing 2x4s for that very reason except for the ramp though a small one going into my existing shop.
Though your second point got my thinking why do I have to make them the same height. Sometimes you just get a certain idea in your head such as well they must be the same height because i am adding on to the existing shop.

Floor plugins would be a lot nicer then running power cords from the walls and have them laying all over the floor.
I am 27 and already have shot knees hips and several bulged discs in my back so constantly moving big machinery is not a good idea.

So I looked around at various forums on other sites and any that talk about putting a wood floor over top do not seem to have radiant floor heating. There is the mention about having to wait 6 months + before putting down the wood floor to let the moisture out of the concrete. We are coming close to winter here and having the radiant floor heating might speed the evap of moisture in the slab?


I like doing things right the first time. I could spend hours researching these things but I just do not have the time.
 
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J

Johnnys Shop

Active member
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
25
Location
Rocky Mtn. Hse, Alberta, Canada
This is actually after some clean up. 6 Pallet loads of burls and slabs were removed. I have a Industrial belt driven drill press to move and I hope I can install in new addition.
Shed Has to be removed I Hope I can keep it intact and Mount it on new addition. Trying to get a hold of a Shipping Container this week to store Materials from the Shed in. along with a few pallets of lumber temp stored in other buildings.

I am going to continue with the Slab on Grade it has worked well for the existing shop, There was the option of a Crawlspace since I am putting a wood floor over the concrete but I hate Crawlspaces, and it looked like it would cost the same to do that with the radiant floor heating and insulation.
 

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PanelDeland

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 24, 2007
Messages
184
If the grade works out, pour the new slab 2 1/2 in lower.Then when you put the wood down,you'll lose most of the ramp. Should make it easier to miss that trip hazard.
 
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Johnnys Shop

Active member
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
25
Location
Rocky Mtn. Hse, Alberta, Canada
Well after getting off the phone with the cement guys. Wow that stuff is expensive if you are not doing it yourself.

Talked with a neighbour and then with the building consultant. Going with a Crawl Space. Though I do not have the space to go underneath afterwards without it being below grade. Hence the idea of going with cement. As at most it might only be 16 inches of clearance near the end. The new plan is to drill posts on the 10' and 8' marks either cement or pt 6x6's. Build 10x8 panels put vapour barrier then pt plywood. flip them over and set them on the pilings put in roxul insulation and you can get metal hangers for the radiant that mount to the adjoining joists.
 
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