garage in a box 2.0

[spanny749]

hey just wanted to know if anyone has done any converting to any of the crappy shelter style tarp garages. I got one last fall and it was one of the windiest winters yet. Every night I came home from work expecting to see it in the neighbour's yard. planning on building a 24X46 with a 12' lean-to down the whole side but the boss says i gotta finish the inside stuff. House is over a hundred yrs old so I will be getting my shop after the colonization of Mars. Anyway to get back to the point i bought the tin castle to keep the boat for the winter and in case i ever get sent to the dog house. today i took the day off and started the conversion...

 

[spanny749]

i probably picked one of the windier days to do this.... basically a pole barn inside.

 

[spanny749]

the whole reason i am doing this is so i can clear out my little workshop to insulate and wire. tired of pulling the mower out just to make work space....

 

[countryroad82]

Back in the day a buddy of mine had a couple of those put together for a small garage. It was shelter....... About twice a year we would retarp it. That's where I learned to paint a car lol.

 

[Kaizen]

I feel your pain. I'm on my 2nd one using it for a car rebuild. tops last 3 years then start leaking. when my last one went I actually roofed it - I have an a frame - with metal. well a wet 2 inch snow load collapsed it. Can't afford a real one so got another. this time I put it up on a little 4x4 retaining wall so its 8 inches taller. drilled through all of the metal feet and used 10 inch screws - skinny ones like for doing retaining walls. putting it taller allowed me to put ratchet straps across my A and pull the sides together. really helped with snow. some of it fell off by itself. at the places around the roof where the material tends to rub I cut a pool noodle in half and slipped it between the pipe and material to cut down on wear in the wind. for the other sides I put scrap pt wood in and scrwed it down as much as I could. worked well so far. just recommend leave it able to flex in the wind as much as you can. the thing that is different with these things vs real buildings is in the high wind a building has its weight to hold it together. these things act like an airplane wing with a high pressure wind on the outside and low inside.

 

[spanny749]

i like the idea of using it for painting, I plan to leave it up when i get my other shop in for welding and storage. I have been collecting large barn beams and am making furniture out of them. I also made a concrete counter top for the kitchen and I think the extra space might be useful if I plan to do them as a business. function over form which is kind of against my mantra. Here are some of the projects that I did in the old little shop.

 

[brycez28]

I have one that is 8'x10' or 12'. I've had it for almost 2 years. Only issue I've had so far is the door rubbing holes when I don't put stuff in it far enough. It is fully protected from wind on two sides and my house and fence is 20' away on the 3rd side. I like it and use it for storing the lawnmower, snowblower, pressure washer, lawn tools, 2 bikes, weed eaters, gas cans, Lincoln welder (on its own trailer) and my 4 wheeler.

 

[sublime68charger]

I have a rough plan to revamp mine but it will be mid summer before I get a chance to start on that.

I have some old tin sheet and going to add 2x4 framing in between the existing metal poles to help give some more support.

I have plans in my head for this but don't have any pictures at all.

nice work with the barn beams

 

[ADSR]

Looks good. Is that a canadian tire one? It looks pretty big.

 

[Tim37]

I would not recommend putting tin on one of those.
A friend did it and everything was great until we got about 4 inches of snow. He did get a new roof skin windshield and hood and cool paint job

 

[spanny749]

I am basically building a pole barn underneath, may or may not have something to do with the local by-laws; i do not wish to comment further nor reveal 2.0's location. LOL. planning for foam board insulation before next winter. oh and i forgot to mention it is 20'X13' and I miscalculated on the boat and trailer overall length so the tongue stuck out. Below is how i plan to rectify that. overall length increased to 36'. Not as glamorous as many of the garages here but only need it for a couple of yrs.

 

[spanny749]

yes it is a canadian tire one but the second one is from a farm store and unfortunately they don't make brown anymore. going to see if i can find just a replacement cover in brown.

 

[sublime68charger]

I would not recommend putting tin on one of those.
A friend did it and everything was great until we got about 4 inches of snow. He did get a new roof skin windshield and hood and cool paint job

my rough plan is that I'll have 2x4 studs and rafters every 12" with collar ties on the rafters. gonna hope the 2x4 every foot will give me the strength to weather the WI winter snow load's.

I have to due more homework on my snow load area and what the 2x4 rafters can carry.

storage in mine will be ATV's and small trailers and garden tractor's.

not for cars. just small stuff.

 

[spanny749]

didn't get as far on it today, forgot how much i hate digging post holes, had to add water to each hole to get the dirt out. Put some time in on the kitchen installing a pot filler for momma. Here is the end result and a pic of our old smokehouse that I converted into an outdoor bar.

 

[ADSR]

Like the bar! where in canada are you? do you have to worry about snow?

 

[spanny749]

between manitoba and quebec, without giving it away. Ya we had drifts over 4' this winter, i am going to add trusses inside the shelter and u bolt them to the frame. this way i can have some storage and it will give me something to attach the foam board to. the frame isn't going to support any weight but the wood frame will keep the frame from moving too much.

 

[spanny749]

here is a shot from behind with the mulch mobile in the foreground. no more frost garden time is upon us, bought 1 tomato and 2 peppers last year. here is a shot of the greenhouse made from recycled windows.

 

[ADSR]

Looks like nice country out there (in the summer)

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

I'm highly envious of the little Kei Truck. Those 4x4 imports are fantastic. I wish they were road legal in the US.

 

[spanny749]

if you have ever put one of these up in the wind you will know what kind of hour i just had. somehow it was easier by myself than when i had two helpers. Now i just have to plumb the posts and pour the concrete. It just dawned on me that i can fit a bigger boat in here.....hmmm.

 

[spanny749]

the suzuki is fun, i am thinking of turning it into a mini-Mog. samurai axles and larger tires.

 

[reader2580]

A friend of mine put metal on a fabric shed similar to that last year. It survived the snow this past winter, but we hardly had any snow here compared to typical. I think all our snow went out to the northeast.

 

[Jeremy77]

Man I ***** about the long hot Alabama summers we get but then I see you guys talking about snow loads and collapsing roofs an I think.....maybe triple digit temps. and 95% humidity ain't all that bad. BTW, I really do like the idea of "shoring" up those car ports from the inside like you are doing. Not a bad idea at all.

 

[spanny749]

we get both, 3' snow and triple digit summers with high humidity. That is why i want to build a big shop, storage for boat, lawnmowers to snowmobiles and snowblowers.

thinking about laying foam board on the ground before i backfill with gravel and 2'x4' patio stone any advice? going to put a small heater on thermostat to keep just above the freezing point. lost two frost plugs on the boat this winter even with anti-freeze.