Loft build in metal building question

[My Old Tools]

Wonder what the snow load is in East Texas. I'm in upstate NY like the OP and it's 60 psf here.

Here you're more likely to get 4-6" of ice occassionally, but we see 70-100 mph winds every year on average.

 

[strutaeng]

I would build a load-bearing wall of studs on 3 sides on OP's case. Use a rim joist, much like deck or floor construction (like the board you already attached). A built up LVL or PSL on the front. Still attach the rim board to the metal for lateral bracing.

Figure out what you need as far as live load and go to the place that has the engineered lumber to see if they can size the beam for you.

 

[housewolf]

Here you're more likely to get 4-6" of ice occassionally, but we see 70-100 mph winds every year on average.

I’ve seen 80 since I put my building up. Our tornado had 165 (est) mph winds. My house as well as many of my neighbors houses were destroyed. One of my neighbors has a flimsy open carport that made it unscathed. You can see his carport just under my back deck in this pic. It’s still there
Behind the broke off tree on the right you can see a lean to I built next to my shed for cleaning fish. The shed was center punched by a large tree but the lattice is still attached (3/4” staples) to the lean to. Tornados are “funny” like that.

 

[mike93lx]

I’ve seen 80 since I put my building up. Our tornado had 165 (est) mph winds. My house as well as many of my neighbors houses were destroyed. One of my neighbors has a flimsy open carport that made it unscathed. You can see his carport just under my back deck in this pic. It’s still there

Wow.

Do/did you have a shelter?

 

[housewolf]

Wow.

Do/did you have a shelter?

I was on the second floor.

 

[mike93lx]

I was on the second floor.

That seems less than ideal

 

[housewolf]

That seems less than ideal

Way less than ideal. I got a tornado warning on my phone. Friends were texting me tornadoes were spotted in my area, I was watching the radar. A large storm was passing just north of me so I figured I was safe. Then it started to rain a little, my dog and I went inside, inside was upstairs, the first floor was the garage (where we should have gone) it’s a “lake house”. The tornado spun off a “hook” in the large storm that went north. I pay much closer attention to the weather since then

For about 5 seconds, I was pretty sure we were “goners”. There were three fatalities

 

[mike93lx]

Way less than ideal. I got a tornado warning on my phone. Friends were texting me tornadoes were spotted in my area, I was watching the radar. A large storm was passing just north of me so I figured I was safe. Then it started to rain a little, my dog and I went inside, inside was upstairs, the first floor was the garage (where we should have gone). The tornado spun off a “hook” in the large storm that went north. I pay much closer attention to the weather since then

Scary stuff. I've always taken tornado warnings seriously. We had one just one town over in MA and the area I live in now is actually a high risk area. My neighbors busted my balls, but I built a shelter in my current house. Not worth the risk to not have a good place to go

 

[housewolf]

Scary stuff. I've always taken tornado warnings seriously. We had one just one town over in MA and the area I live in now is actually a high risk area. My neighbors busted my balls, but I built a shelter in my current house. Not worth the risk to not have a good place to go

Agreed. We don’t live in a particularly high risk area for tornadoes but serious storms with hail & high winds aren’t rare. Of course we have no trees left to worry about now . But our lake view improved exponentially

We salvaged what was left of the garage, finished a room over it and built a new house next to the old building. We had some “extra support” put in the master closet. One story! It was a rough couple of years before we found a new “normal”

 

[My Old Tools]

We had 70+ mph storm twice this week with over a foot of rain. Lots of trees down as we live in a forest around a lake. Five huge oaks took out the power line and closed the road across the lake. Our rural electric company did great work replacing 3 poles and restringing wire to get all the neighbors up in 24 hours. They had over 50,000 out that night. Our whole house generator gets a workout several times a year.

 

[Joemctag]

I'm adding an 8X20, 72" to bottom of joists, loft in our metal shed. I've anchored a ledger to the building, but am trying to figure out a way to support the front rim band with as little obstruction to the space as possible. I will have at least 6 4X4 posts around the perimeter of the platform so that it is basically self supporting (not relying on the steel building for support). I can take the easy route and drop a 4X4 at the front center of the rim band, but I'd like to have the space under this loft as open as possible. We park multiple items here (zero turn, JD X590, Ventrac, snowblower, etc.). We will be storing plastic totes with relatively lightweight items on the loft floor. Beekeeping equipment, my wife's landscape decorations, shovels, rakes, etc. Probably less than 500 pounds total.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to keep the space as clear as possible, but still support the loft adequately. I'v considered using cables to the rafters, diagonal bracing off the rear wall, laminated beam at the rim band and simply putting a 4X4 under a doubled, center joist.

Thanks in advance.

My only thoughts are: A post midway at the front, to reduce the depth of that header, wouldn’t get in your way much and bother you.
I’d suggest that you consider at least 78 to 80” clear minimum, including under any header. If you don’t put in a mezzanine ceiling, the spaces between joists will give the feel of more room. And you can hang or store a lot of stuff between the joists, also. It’s ok that in the storage space above the mezzanine there are things to hit your head on, but I think you don’t want that underneath where you might spend a lot of time. Just how I would think about it. Good luck! Tube buildings are good.

 

[jblnut]

unless you get a big I- beam

I found these beasts in a local scrap yard. If memory serves me tue red one is 12x18.5” and is spanning 27’ with zero deflection so far. The yellow one was a bridge crane and isn’t as heavy but is still overkill. Not sure on rated loads but the prices were right and they’re working great so far.


How it sits today. Needs tin and finishing touches yet.