British Columbia 40x60 Build

[PJAS]

Hi everyone, Im new to the forum but I've been using a lot of your builds as inspiration for building my shop. I had my first post already all built and somehow managed to close the web page! Round 2, lets give it a shot.

It has been a slow go as there was endless hours of pondering, a lot of brush clearing, excavation, relocation of services, permitting.... and now finally the fun part!

The plan is a 40x60 shop. 16x40 is two story with a man cave up and a bike shop down. The 44x40 portion of the shop will be freespan trusses and 14' ceilings.

Here is the concept


Bottom Floor


Top Floor (No the pool table won't be in outer space in the actual shop)

 

[ADSR]

welcome to the forum. Looks like a good start!

 

[ZAPPER68]

Welcome aboard...where are you in BC?

 

[PJAS]

Im central Vancouver Island. I need to figure out the best way to post photos on the forum. My uploads aren't working the best!

 

[DarrenF]

i use flikr with good result. love the shop. its a really cool design.

 

[PJAS]

Thanks for the welcomes. Im just waiting on the Flickr confirmation now. Ill try uploading a few more photos for the time being.

These photos show some of the excavation that was required to get the grade down to where I wanted it. We moved just shy of 300 truck loads of dirt out of the hole. The hard pan where Im at made for tough digging but the finished product will be worth it. All the dirt went to the other side of the house and built up a bit of a front yard off the deck where it just dropped off 15' or so before. This excavation was done over a year long period as I had time off from work and had the extra funds. Perks of having friends and neighbours with equipment, there has never been a shortage of iron to move dirt. They have sure been quick and accurate. I can fly a helicopter but I sure can't run one of those excavators... very fast or precise that is.

After relocating all the buried services for the house (of course everything ran right through the middle of the shop footprint including the septic pressure line) , running a new 140' sanitary line to the shop, 100' storm line to drain to sea, 100' water line from the new cistern location, the site is finally ready for forms. More pictures to come!

 

[PJAS]

This photo shows where the 300 loads of fill went, we then contoured it back down the natural grade. I now have a nice 100'x50' flat lawn up top though.


The storm and waterline being backfilled


Sand bedding the storm


I got a bit distracted with such a nice summer. A buddy and myself both bought a couple bikes and ended up putting a pile of miles riding around BC. Im on the red Hypermotard


The existing single car garage is a little crammed now. The new shop will be welcomed.


A friend of mine was running a skydive plane in the Okanagan. A buddy and I both rode from the Island up to the Okanagan via the Crowsnest highway. We ended up in Vernon, loaded the bikes in the plane and my friend flew us back down to the island. Nice 700km day trip.


The next day all the BC wildfires started and work got busy...... shop projects came to a grinding halt.

 

[PJAS]

I decided it would be nice to have some clean areas to park this winter. My property has been looking like a complete mess. The front yard has always been humped up higher than the house, so it was time to cut it down.

I had a couple doubles of driveway chip brought in to clean things up a bit and hold me over for the winter.


The side of the house, which used to drop way off into a gulley, now filled with dirt.


I decided to get a few plants and slowly start the landscaping. Dad has been an endless help with all my projects. Him and I were placing plants in their pots to figure out where we were going to plant them.


Footing time!


I managed to stay for the pour, then a few hours later I was on a plane heading to work.


Back at work. The fire season in BC was the worst fire season on record. This was a small fire in an alpine bowl at around 7500ft on the BC Montana border south of Fernie.

 

[PJAS]

Concrete forms up for the tall walls. The tall walls allow me to backfill the side leaving access to the top of the property and also level entry through the upstairs man door. I had to pour the walls above grade, up to the floor joist level.

Pumping on a 32 degree celsius day (90F) which is quite hot for Vancouver Island


The foundation after the forms were stripped.


After damp proofing


Slowly making progress

 

[PJAS]

Sanitary PVC switching to ABS


Dad helping with the 4" perf and solid 3"


Sand bedding the sanitary line before backfill.


Perimeter drain gravelled and starting fabric before backfill.

 

[ADSR]

looking great!