DIY 26'x40' detached build

[Bsj04]

I've been reading here for a while and have got a lot great ideas from other builds. Now I've started my build and am going to return the favor and share my build with others. I plan on doing most of the work myself with the help of friends and family. There will be a few thing I will sub out the labor but I just have a hard time paying people to do what I can do. I actually enjoy building things and don't mind the labor.

It will be a 26'x40' with 10' 4 1/2" tall walls, 2-10'(w)x9'(t) garage doors on the gable end, 4 or 5 3'x5' windows and a 3'x 8' man door. Brick front (HOA) and hardie siding on the rest. Using an idea I saw in Xander's build thread with the 8' door and windows set up higher to help make the side walls not look so tall.

Here is my sketch up version and survey I sent in for HOA approval and how it should look when done

First a tree had to be removed so I rented a mini excavotor and had a friend that operated one before come over and start digging. We got the tree stump out, hole compacted and footers dug.

I was a little confused about what it would look like when we finished digging. I thought there would be these perfectly clean ditches and a level top. Well not so much. After a lot of shoveling and raking I finally got the sub grade where it needed to be. Put down 6 mil poly and started putting rebar in. Tying all the rebar is very time consuming also.

 

[Bsj04]

It's been hot here in texas and that goofy hat has helped a little but I've been taking lots of breaks and drinking plenty of water.

Finally ready for concrete

First truck showed up and started pouring around noon. I hired a crew to place and finish the concrete because there's is no way I would have been able to pull a team together to get it done. There were 6 guys, mostly current and retired firefighters that made up the crew. I decided it was money well spent after watching the pour. 30 yards later...

And here is sits today. Forms are off and I plan on finishing the dirt work this week and hopefully start framing next week. Also waiting on some HD-6600 sealer to put down. I'm wore out after the concrete work and need a break.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Great start, no turning back now!

 

[saba007]

WOW, BSJ. Takes a lot of confidence to take this endeavor on as DIY. You will save SOO MUCH $$ when you're done and feel so good and rewarded at the end.

Congrats on breaking ground. Great start. Awesome work on the slab, looks great and smooth. I will be watching this closely. Best of luck man.

 

[Scottishross]

Looks stunning mate

 

[Motown 454]

Looking Good!

 

[stigedis]

May be a dumb question here.... But why the thickened concrete in the middle of the pour. I understand thickened edges, like typical monolithic slab. Code in Texas? I am planning on a build of this size and go back and forth with footings and foundation wall vs. monolithic slab.

 

[Bsj04]

May be a dumb question here.... But why the thickened concrete in the middle of the pour. I understand thickened edges, like typical monolithic slab. Code in Texas? I am planning on a build of this size and go back and forth with footings and foundation wall vs. monolithic slab.

I'm not in city limits so I may not be up to "code" but it's just kind of how slabs are poured around here. Not sure on the engineering end but its the design several concrete contractors I got bids from wanted to do. The beams ranged in size from 10"w and 20" deep to 16"w and 16" deep on bids. Mine ended up about 16"wide and almost 24" deep due the the excavotor. From what I have read you need 12" into undisturbed soil. My highest corner was 12" above current grade so 24" put me deep enough.

My thought is that the interior beams kind of help hold everything together. It may be overkill but I'd rather it be that way then not enough.

 

[Bsj04]

Got the material to build the walls and the trusses should be delivered tomorrow.

The first 14' over the garage doors will be attic trusses. Attic size will be 14' deep 12' wide and a 6' ceiling. Not the tallest but best I could do with the pitch (8/12 exterior) I got to match the house. The rear 26' will be scissor trusses with a 6/12 interior pitch. I'm very excited to get started framing! Hopefully ill have some progress worth taking pics of in a couple days. Right now it's just a slab and overloaded trailer with material on it.

 

[Bsj04]

Trusses were delivered on Tuesday and I started framing the walls that afternoon with the help of a good friend. It's nice being able to have help you can trust to do a good job. Worked Tuesday evening and Wednesday evening. We got the 3 back walls built.

On Thursday after work I got several friends over to help lift the walls and we also built the front wall and got it stood up.

This is where it will sit for a few days until I can start sheathing the outside. I feel like its huge but nothing compared to some on the site. It should suit me well for what I need.

 

[Crackerballer]

Ohh that's gonna be great space!

 

[akcooper9]

Looking good! Keep up the GREAT work!

 

[stangguy78]

Looks great!! Keep us posted and motivated with updates!!

 

[Schwinn68]

Nice simple design and seems like the perfect size. Can't wait to see the trusses go up!

 

[WECSOG]

Looks great!!

 

[345HP87SSAC]

Looks good. I will keep following this thread. I am planning a 40x24 garage.

 

[Bsj04]

Got the exterior OSB on and framed up a storage/ compressor room in the back corner. It's about 9'x11' with an opening for a 48" door. Planning on having friends over on Tuesday to put the trusses. One end truss is already laying up and I plan on building the eave on it before standing it up. I've got everything marked and cut just need to nail it all together.

 

[lockeed]

Great start. Keep it up!!

 

[1/2 Cup]

Awesome build, keep the pics coming!

 

[Schwinn68]

I really like the mechanical room framed out in the back

 

[Bsj04]

Started setting trusses tonight and got 1/2 of them up and braced. Had a little trouble getting started with a group of people who have never done this before, including myself. After a few we got the hang of things and it went smoother. I've also thought of a few ideas to help speed along the process when we finish them up Thursday evening. 11 of the 21 are up.

 

[bigbadjim]

Looks like you have enough help to muscle those trusses up in place, you must have encouraged them beer . Those vault trusses sure look more challenging to flip unlike standard trusses.

 

[Bsj04]

Yeah they are pretty top heavy. Only have 2 more of those then starts the attic trusses the rest of the way. They are a little more heavy but the weight should be on the bottom chord.

 

[Bsj04]

Testing out tap talk and uploading another photo my friend sent me he took while we were working. We were running out of day light.


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[blpcjpblp]

Anyone know why I can not see the pics?

 

[Bsj04]

I uploaded them with photobucket and my "bandwidth" has been exceeded due to a lot of views. I've never run into this problem before but I'm going to quit using photobucket and uploading them thru taptalk or directly to the site. I will be editing the post with new pics soon. Sorry for the viewing problems

 

[Bsj04]

With the help of awesome friends we got all the trusses up. Hoping to get the soffits framed this weekend and start decking soon. Horrible pic from last night as the sun was going down but here it is.

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[Bsj04]

I got the soffits framed and roof decked. Need to install the facia and trim then get some roofers over to roof it. That's one thing I'll gladly pay for labor on is roofing. 8/12 doesn't sound that steep but it's pretty scary when you are up there. I did 90% of the decking myself. Starting the first row is a pain but after that it wasn't too bad.

While I was working today I smoked a brisket and it turned out well

Yesterday a accidently took a 1 3/4" nail to the thy. The coil nailer slid off the roof and the nails kind of spilled out a little. I was pulling it back up by the hose and when I got it over the eave it swung towards me and the safety hit my thy. Well since the trigger was depressed by the nails that had spilled out it fired right into the front of my thy. First reaction was to pull the nail out as fast as I could. Next I decided to get off the roof before I passed out and fell off. It didn't bleed much at all, thank god! It's pretty sore today and I'm just glad it wasn't the framing nailer with 3 1/2" nails.

Hopefully will get some shingles up by early next week.


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[mddimmick]

Looking good man.

I've shot myself in the knee with a framing nailer. Bleeds a lot more than it hurts but would not recommend trying it.

 

[upndown]

Ouch! wrong picture to show after that Nummy looking Brisket

 

[justin1795]

nice looking shop.

 

[Bsj04]

Got all the facia and trim on tonight along with the last piece of roof decking. It's ready for the roofers to come now.

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[Hdtheater]

Nice work! Good to have friends that don't mind a little sweat. Back in the day pizza and beer could buy you just about anything.

 

[Bsj04]

Got it roofed yesterday and I started framing the window into the front gable end. I plan on getting the rest of the osb up this weekend. The roofing labor cost was less then my time to do it was worth so I paid for labor on that.

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[Hdtheater]

Looking good.

 

[WR450]

Looks good, nice clean job! However it looks like you wasted about 6 yards of concrete with those interior footings. Unless they are weight bearing, they're totally unnecessary. I do that for a living and set and pour monolithic slabs all the time and have never heard of that. Oh well it won't blow away.

 

[jopickens]

Looking great! Gives me inspiration to keep plugging away on mine... Weather is quickly turning cold up here.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Looking really good, watching this thread regularly for updates. On the footing thing, maybe unnecessary but I can tell you the one place I will definitely go over on is the concrete work. You can take the wood apart and fix it later but it's awful hard to fix anything under that slab once you've built it. Personally I would rather wait a little on the finishing stage if the money runs out and be 100% comfortable with what lies underneath or I'd worry for years to come... And that's coming from a cheap Dutch guy.

Nail in the thigh is a drag but could've been so much worse, I'm happy for you it was mostly an inconvenience. (That way it won't interfere with progress and more photos! ) The best kind of accidents are the ones that don't do much damage but remind you of the risks and hopefully prevent something much worse. It's easy to become a little complacent with the nail gun - I've caught myself on this too, especially working around others. Couldn't think of anything much worse than injuring a loved one with a wayward nail... It might be in you're back yard but it's still a worksite so don't forget who else is around you.

Keep up the good work and pictures.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

By the way, the signature line has nothing to do with the nail gun rant, just a coincidence!

 

[Bsj04]

By the way, the signature line has nothing to do with the nail gun rant, just a coincidence!

Ha ha ha, Thanks for the kind words. Same here, the concrete maybe over done but I'd rather not worry about it later. There will be a 2 post lift right over one of the beams and I have no idea what all I'll end up with in there one day. My leg is doing fine where the nail went in. I do try and practice being safe with myself and others when around. That's my biggest fear is someone else getting hurt while helping me. I think the biggest problem was the fact I was nervious while on the roof. It was pretty steep and on the first couple of rows there wasn't much room for error or slips.