My Shop Build in the Midwest

[phatfred8]

Hello Guys,

I found this site about a year or so ago and have been watching and commenting from time to time. Anyway I started the planning for a shop last December and I am now pretty far along in the build. So I figured that I need to start a thread and show it off and hopefully I will get this finished in the next few months.
So lets start with details. I looked at all types of buildings from stick framed, pole buildings, and steel buildings. After about 5 months of research I placed the order for a 60' x 60' x 18' tall Crown Steel Building with the capacity to install a 2-ton bridge crane on the ceiling. The crane is what sold me on the steel building and that I am a metal head. I do light welding and fabrication for local people so that will be very helpful as I get older. LOL Anyway the building is being built on some property that we purchased in the country about 2 years ago and will build a house next after the shop is up and working. I have 4" of insulation on the walls and 6" on the ceiling. (1) overhead door 16' wide x 14' tall and (1) 14' tall and 14' wide. Both doors have high lift track to not interfere with the crane or other items that may be added in the future. Commercial openers, remote’s, and lights(windows)in each door.
To the west of the building I am also stick framing a bathroom/kitchen/party room that will be attached to the steel building. The same tin will be used so everything will match. In floor heat in both areas, a zone for the party room and one for the shop. Gas fired boiler is the current plan.
Bathroom will have a toilet, sink, and a shower stall. The mechanical room where the boiler is will be in the party room also. I will post a drawing of the layout in the next few days.
Any way take a look at the pictures and enjoy. I have seen a lot of cool places and ideas on this site and maybe my garage will end up half as nice as some of them on here.

Pic 1: The site with grass killed and ready to remove the tree.
Pic 2: Tree coming down, the sod was removed to allow the hauled in dirt to stick better.
Pic 3: The start of the dirt being hauled in. 2' drop from front to back rear corner. 42 Tandem loads of dirt hauled total.
Pic 4: First Loads of dirt leveled and compacted

Thanks for looking and stay tuned for more,

Brian

 

[79stang514]

Nice start phat, I talked to the people at Crown before going with my current building. They seemed very helpful. Had I gone with bigger than I am building now, I would have gone with them. The steel buildings are a LOT cheaper once you hit a certain size.

 

[rickycobra]

Lots and lots of land. I love it except it a shame you had to knock down the tree or was it dead.

 

[taylorguitar]

same here...why knock down the tree?..especially someplace that is short on trees to begin with.

 

[phatfred8]

Hey,

Thanks for the comments. I agree with the whole tree thing but it was very old and a large dead spot in the center that would have needed to addressed in the near future. Also, with the lay of the lot the tree was in the middle of the party room ! ! I plan to add some additional trees as we move forward. The guy up the road has already offered tree if I want to transplant them.

More Later,

Brian

 

[phatfred8]

Hey All,

So to keep this going here are some more pictures and info.
Picture 2157 is when we started the digging. I have a friend that is a civil engineer and we worked thru the foundation details. Pretty much way over kill but I am very happy in the end.
Picture 2158 shows the excavated areas where the the Rigid Frame connections come down. This is the one in the front next to the large 14' tall and 16' wide door is. Since the cross bracing was removed for the garage door they had to install what is a wind column. Basically a I-beam turned 90 degrees from the rigid frame to take the side load. The pit you are looking at in this picture is 3' depth, 6'6" wide and 9'6" long.
Picture 2163 shows the re-bar in the pit ready for the first pouring of concrete. There is (2) grids of #4 re-bar on 10" centers. One is 3" of the bottom and the other is 9" off the bottom. This got poured with 12" of concrete. Also there are the "L" shaped parts that are inbetween the bottom and top layer of re-bar. These are where the 30" long "J" bolts will come into that bolt down the building columns.
Picture 2165 shows myself(I am in the green shirt), brother, and friends having a beer after 12 hours of work that day. We called it quits after 15 hours. Long *** day but the concrete was order for the next morning and had to get more done. The footing are 8" wide trench footing with the larger piers at the main Rigid Frame connections and then the side walls have a 2' x 2' footer under them. The forms are 2x12's on top of 2x6's. There is a 2x4 across the top to hold the top from spreading and across the bottom, thru the concrete is a piece of steel banding that mounts to the bottom of the forms with roofing nails. Worked real slick. The blue brackets are something that I loaned from my cousin, general contractor, that uses (2) form pins and some drywall screws to mount the forms. I purchased these at an auction a few years back and I was the first to use them. Neat stuff.
Picture 2167 shows the "mole" in the hole tying some of the final re-bar. We where ready for concrete at 11 AM Friday morning.
We started Wednesday morning at 7 am with the trenching and we completed the pour friday at about 1 PM. My sister came out and grilled brats and the crew drank about 80 beers. Boy they tasted good after that week. That was the hottest week in June. I lost 10 lbs that week.
Picture2195 is a look at the end of Friday as I left the property and head home.

Took the forms off on Sunday.

More to come and thanks for looking,
Brian

 

[loweredd]

phatfred, how did this turn out? Are you still lurking on here?