Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT Conrad's Alpine Workshop

[Conrad]

Nice Work! Love the views. The GMT400 looks good too

When you are DIY'ng something like this does the building MFG give you instructions as to which part goes where? I.E. how do you know which piece of sheeting or which beam goes where? Or do you just lay it all out and put it together like a pizzle knowing how it is supposed to end up?

The "building system" company sent general instructions on how the framing members and metal panels should be assembled and joined; as well as construction package that was specific to my order and illustrated what pieces of steel goes where. The instructions were pretty detailed though there were a few areas that were not crystal clear, and had to be inferred from a few different sources.

* * *

Well "Labor Day" has a whole new meaning for me. I rallied a few friends and we busted *** over the long weekend and following week, the garage door guys showed up and got this 16x10 monster installed. I went with the side mount lifter and high-lift tracks to maximize overhead the space.



I'd estimate the structure is 90+% complete, I still have a ton of roof screws to run as well as assemble the mezzanine, but the heavy work is behind. I'm waiting on my electrician to install the panel which is the last hurdle to passing final inspection.

Looking at the building gives me a huge sense of relief and accomplishment; I really wasn't expecting it to be this much of a challenge there are 1 or 2 spots that aren't absolutely perfect, but overall I'm very pleased with how the building came out.







Next up is running the wiring drops, paving the dirt patch between the slab and driveway, laying polyaspartic flooring and the hanging the interior wall finish. I'm open to suggestions on the wall finish, I'd like something that's easy to clean and pretty tough, I've considered FRP, though it seems I need to layer that over OSB, is there anything thats a complete system? Rigid enough to not need a backing and strong enough to hold up to typical bumps and hits in a shop?

 

[cycle61]

I think most FRP come pre-laminated to plywood or OSB. Should be a one-shot solution.

 

[Conrad]

I think most FRP come pre-laminated to plywood or OSB. Should be a one-shot solution.

If you have a link to a product I can buy please share, everything I've seen the FRP is a 1/4" corrugated panel that lays on top of OSB (sold seperately)

 

[cycle61]

PortaFab | FRP Covered Plywood Wall Panel

PortaFab manufactures a complete line of standard composite wall panels including these FRP covered plywood panels.

www.portafab.com

NuFiber 0.375 in. x 48 in. x 96 in. FRP Wall Panel F3W375 - The Home Depot

The NuFiber panel is a durable, fiberglass sheet factory laminated OSB combining the many advantages of wood and fiberglass (FRP). NuFiber is ideal for new construction of walls, ceilings or partitions.

www.homedepot.com

FRP Panels | Fiber-Tech Industries

Fiber-tech's durable, 1-piece structural composite panels are strong, lightweight & easy to maintain. Request a quote or contact us for the FRP panels you need.

www.fiber-tech.net

May have to order the material, but for a project your size it would probably make sense.

 

[Conrad]

Good stuff, thanks for for the links. I guess I never just googled for it

 

[PugetDude]

Formply is really nice stuff if you can find it

 

[Conrad]

This week I had polyaspartic coating laid down, I'm really happy with it, the color came out consistently random, like "snow" on your old TV. I've seen a few other jobs where it looked liked a a big clump of the same color collected in the box and was laid down together so there were dark splotchs or swirls in the colors. The texture came about a bit more prominent than I was expecting, which isn't a bad thing, I figure that means the layer of flakes is pretty thick.

I'm traveling for work for the next few weeks and then taking a pre-winter vacation with the wife. I can already tell I'm going to miss the shop while I'm away




Big rolls of R-30 which will eventually sit in the column channels (far left and right of the photo); hanging these is a little ways off but this is what will be under the interior finish.

 

[cycle61]

That looks fantastic.

 

[Conrad]

Winter came early to the Rockies this year, we had a decent amount of snow in November which has a tendency to slow down progress. That said, things are still moving along, I've had some great help from neighbors with the electrical, both in terms of donating old fixtures, and helping with the wiring. We got some old fluorescent fixtures, bypassed and removed the ballasts hung and wired them, they actually put off more light than I expected.


We passed rough electrical with a few minor notes to fix before final


And I was able to install and wire up the recessed lift. This is a YUUUUGE win.

There are a few minor structural braces to attach and screws to drive, but we're getting close to calling for final. Once I can get the sign off from the county, the real fun begins.

 

[racer-john]

Winter weather has still held off so I figured I would take advantage of that while I could, I ended up pulling the trigger on having the driveway paved.

I've been very fortunate to have all good subcontractors (knock on wood) and the asphalt guys were no exception. Showed up at 8:30am, did their prep and grade work, laid down ~190' of pavement and were driving away just before noon. I'm really happy with how it came out.

From the pictures the driveway seems under compacted. Hope this isn't so.

 

[dmittz]

Looking great!

 

[Conrad]

From the pictures the driveway seems under compacted. Hope this isn't so.

That maybe the case, in the year since it's been done there hasn't been much erosion that I can tell, I'll know more after the spring thaw.

The winter has been pretty cold and we've got above average snowpack this year which is great overall but makes for pretty miserable conditions in a not-yet-insulated metal building. I've been running this old John Deere kerosene heater I refer to as the jet engine, since that's what it sounds and smells like when you run it.



While the Ol' Jet Engine does work well at heating, I come back into the house smelling of kerosene, and the fuel is $8/gallon even in bulk, so I've been trying to work mostly in sunny and warmer days. That said, we've made some good progress,

LET THERE BE LIGHT!


It was one of those purchases where the jump from 16k lumens to 21k lumens was $10, you can't argue with that kind of value. It serves as a great work light, though I haven't had much use for it yet. All lights are on switches, I didn't feel much need for motion sensors since deer and foxes would be setting them off non stop. We also added a light under the lean-to per building code.

After lights were run and the last of the structural items were fixed I called the count for final building and electrical. The good news is we passed final electrical. The bad news is not final building. The inspector wanted to see a floor on the mezzanine AND the sidewall insulation in place so that gap between wall and floor is filled before he would sign off. If you scroll back a few posts, you can see right now the rolled bats of insulation are stacked up there. This was a bit disappointing, but I yessir'd my way through it. I wasn't planning on flooring the mezzanine until down the road, so this was a bit of an unexpected shift in my order of tasks.


I pulled all the rolls down, screwed down the rest of the joists, got some 3/4" OSB T&G for the subfloor, placed the insulation (they fit perfectly in the column channels), screwed down the OSB and I'm planning to call for final on Monday. Fingers crossed....

One issue I am now facing is with the interior finish:
I believe I'm going to go with primed and painted 7/16 OSB with FRP wainscotting, a problem I'm running into is the spans between columns are 10', I bought angle steel that I'll anchor to the concrete to screw the bottom of the OSB to and metal straps that span the 10' but it's not very rigid. I figure I'll reinforce those vertically with steel stud framing. If anyone's got a better idea I'm all ears.