Hello from NE Arkansas

[Tony Raine]

my names Tony, and i just stumbled upon this site looking for info on steel buildings. i could have sworn i made a post yesterday in this section, but it was late in the day and i probably didn't finish it and just closed out accidentally. i am new to steel buildings, but i have built a couple wood barns and sheds. i'm not a newbie to internet forums, so there will be no picture posting Q's from me! i am actually a moderator on a bronco II site, and a member of a few other truck-related sites. i'm currently wearing out the search button, this place has already answered a ton of questions i have been wondering about. i recently bought a house for my wife and I, nice little 3bed/1.5bath sitting on a nice flat acre

isn't that just begging for a shop?

i have a lot of projects planned, one is sitting in the yard in the first pic. lots more i want to do to the house and land. told my wife i need a "base of operations" if she wants projects to be done in a reasonable amount of time, haha. i am looking for a building to do a lot of different tasks out of. fixing trucks, lawnmowers, fourwheelers, woodworking, welding, and just a place to hang out with buddies are some of the things this shop will be used for.

right now i am reading as much as i can about these "arch style" (i think thats the name). the ones with sections that you just bolt together, no separate frame. current plans are for around 35x40, depending on where the locate says all the underground stuff is.

 

[Der Bugmeister]

Gee...with a lot that flat and empty, isn't 35 x 40 a little small? ;-)

Looks like a great place for a shop!

 

[Tony Raine]

haha, i'd love to have something about the size of an airplane hanger back there! looks like i may have to downgrade to about 25x30 though........

 

[Tony Raine]

Well, I'll add a little update to this thread.

No shop yet, I decided to put up a privacy fence first. Well, my neighbor decided to put up a fence, and was not going to have a survey done. He was just going to guess the property lines. Well, thats ok on the other side (not my problem), but I wanted an exact line between him and I. So I spent $500 for a surveyor to come out and find the 4 corners, since I looked for a few days and couldn't find them. Got a pleasant surprise, my lot is about 25 feet wider in the back than I thought. Since I ended up helping him with our shared side, i figured i might as well keep going.

So I bought his leftover concrete, bought some posts and started digging. Theres a 30' drainage easement at the back of the property, so I stopped at 31', just in case.

 

[Tony Raine]

ok, quite a bit has happened since my last post.

fence is finished. heres a copy/paste from another site in july

i do still have to put the latch on the front gates, which will require shortening the small gate about 1/2 inch (the reason there is one picket missing there). theres just a temporary latch right now. but dammit, i have a full fence, it opens, it closes, and its privacy!!!!!

lets begin the tour, shall we?

out front

open the 4' gate

not enough room? throw that 10 footer open for 14 total feet

just inside the gate, check out the distance to the back

a little turn towards that far left corner

turn around about halfway back, damn thats a long walk! and check out that hand-me-down pool! 18' x 4'

lets resume our trek toward the back of the property and take a trip behind the fence

back here, i still have around 20' x 150' of usable space

got a buddy that does tree work thats going to trim this back about 15' and up around 12'. this will be where my scrap metal and compost piles will be located. eventually i will fence this in with a cheaper form of fence :laugh:


heres the view looking back toward the house from the gate i just went through

now i need to mow it again..............


In october, i really needed some more storage space. weighed my options. while i really wanted a shop i could drive into and work on a real concrete floor, i also may not be living at this location for more than a couple more years. if i go through the trouble of pouring a slab, i want to be able to enjoy it for at least 5-10 years.

so i got this little guy delivered. i could have saved a lot by building myself, but this is really well built and fast. i figure i'll alternate my projects. fence was all my labor. shed was bought ready to go. this means the next project will be all my labor.

12x16, set towards the back of the yard.

next project? power. i wont be running much in it (air compressor or table saw, and some lights). so i'm going to tap into a spare bedroom that is basically storage, and run my wire from there to the shed. its 130' span from house to shed, so i am currently looking for a good deal on about 150'+ of 12 gauge 3-wire. i'd like to get 10g, but i wont go any thinner than 12g.

i'll bury the wire (probably in pvc), and set up some markers so that the wire can be traced later with just a string line (information i will pass along to whoever buys the house after i'm gone). i'm outside city limits, so i really don't have to follow any codes, but i'll get as close as i can.


after that, just a simple lean-to off the side of the shed to keep the rain off the bronco when i work on it.