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Greetings from (usually) sunny Florida!

seaspur

New member
Joined
Jul 25, 2018
Messages
1
Location
Tampa
Been a wet couple of weeks down here on the gulf. I've read about this site numerous times in the past month of doing some research on how to move forward about my new workshop- racking my brain over and over so I thought I'd join to give me some direction.

When I bought my house 4 years ago, it already had one of those 18x12 prebuilt wood sheds in the backyard. It has served a decent purpose since, but I love woodworking and tinkering with home projects and the walls are closing in on me. Not to mention, it has termite damage and a lot of wood rot; it needs to come down, I know that.

I had contiplated (still am) getting a pad poured in that location with a 20x20 (or 24x20) metal building installed from a local company. However, my wife is fighting the idea- she thinks it will look industrial like we have a warehouse in the yard. I agree a bit, but things like faux shutters, paint color, and trim could help.

What I'd *really* like to do is have that same pad poured, but build a workshop from wood myself. Only thing stopping me is I'm having a hard time finding good plans with step-by-step directions since I've never constructed a building before- only smaller woodworking projects like furniture and fences. It would also be nice to show the wife examples of how it would look finished.

So I'm new here- where do I start at? Am I crazy to take on a project like this by myself for the most part (I have wife and friends to help sporadically).
 
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driftpin

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 22, 2016
Messages
11,425
Location
Miami-Dade/Broward Co. Florida
You're in Tampa, I expect when you check with the building department you're gonna be classified in a HVHZ area. "High-velocity hurricane zone." You're going to need engineered, sealed plans for any structure like-that, w/wind load calculations for the walls, doors, windows, and roof. The building materials probably will be required to be "Miami-Dade County Product Approval" certified/listed, that would be exterior doors, including overhead doors, your windows, and whatever roof system you wish to install.

Zoning will probably prohibit a metal building the size you are contemplating, in most residential areas, unless your zoning is agricultural.

Save yourself the trouble, go speak to the building dept and the planning & zoning dept. Once you know what you can and cannot-do, your choices are easier.
 
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