New 40x60 shop in NC

[Turborex696]

Hey all, I have been lurking and wanting to start my shop build for a while now and I have finally started. I am near Charlotte NC with clay/rock soil. I plan to build a 40'x60' with 14 foot tall ceiling for a lift and plan to do as much of the work myself as I can. At this point I have my pad roughed in and the footers dug.

After calling several concrete guys it seems I may need to bring my pad up so it does not fall below grade. I plan to do a monolithic pad and I would like some opinions on what to do at this point.

At the farthest point I am about 3 feet down. If I do need to bring the whole pad up how far with dirt before I get my stone? Thanks in advance

 

[Turborex696]

Here is a sketchup model of what my framing should look like.

View attachment 690504

 

[turbowoodworker]

I'm no help to your questions but welcome to GJ from Chatham County.

 

[matt_i]

My free advice is to start with a "master grade stake" you set off to the side as a master reference for the finished floor and don't touch again until the concrete is finished. So you measure down from there, let's just throw out 4" for the floor, 4" crushed stone, and the rest dirt.

From most-expensive to least expensive fills: concrete, crushed stone, dirt. I would make sure you compact in ~6-8" layers as you build up, no matter which form of fill you use. Clay can get squirrelly with wet weather....

A rotating laser level with a sensor will make this job so much easier with no guesswork over the relatively long distance.

For whatever reason I cannot access the attachment.

 

[rburke65]

My lowest point was about 4' low and after excavating the topsoil, we brought in 350 yards of clay, compacting as we went. Hose it down....run over it with the dump truck...my truck....the tractor.... The clay was like a rock. I'm about 12" high of surrounding grade.

 

[Jawn]

Good start... what's going inside?

 

[James E]

I'm no help to your questions but welcome to GJ from Chatham County.

Ditto that, but from Wake County. Let us know when you have your garage-warming party.

 

[kaiser715]

Lee County here.

My shop I just built we had to do some cut and fill. One corner cut down about 3 or 4', opposite corner (diagonally) had to fill about 2'. Grading contractor ran over it A LOT with vibrating sheepsfoot roller. Did just a few inches each lift, compacted, then repeat. After a rain, all the natural clay was squishy....that compacted area was like concrete.

I just had one corner to cut down....and then had to cut further down a few feet out for drainage away from building. Looks like you will be at or below grade on 3+ sides from the pic. I'd say you need to come up. Water has to go somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if you needed 300 yards to do it right....but thats just from looking at the one pic.

You can sort of see what we did in these pics from pour day (50 yds). First pic, behind the guy with the bull, is where we cut down 3-4'.

Next pic, low corner that we filled is nearest to the mixer. Dirt came from area behind truck (you can see cut bank, which is my future range).

Main parking/turn-around area is in front of the mixer...it had to come up 2' there at shop, and up about 4' over at the wood line.

 

[Turborex696]

Thanks everyone for the replies. It really helped me decide that I needed to bring the grade up. I also have been removing some dirt from the high side to help with water drainage as well. So far I have came up almost a foot adding about 6 inches of loose clay at a time and packing it in with a dozer. We had a pretty good rain so I should be able to tell if its packing in well tomorrow morning if its squishy.

I plan on using the shop mostly for car/motorocycle maintenance and fab. I am a offroad dirtbike racer so I am constantly breaking parts or rebuilding stuff. I also do my own motor work and suspension.

My very first project in the shop is going to be the restoration of my 1967 mini cooper. I have had it for around 10 years getting it all dialed in but there is some rust that I cant ignore for much longer.

 

[bandlaw]

Welcome to GJ from the Triad! Looking forward to watching your build!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Turborex696]

Just wanted to post an update on the shop build. I have brought the pad up about 3 foot and the surrounding grade down a few feet as well. I feel like its a much better set up now.

I started getting the forms in place yesterday for the concrete. Hammering in 2x4 stakes into compacted clay is no joke!

I plan to get 3/4 forms built then have the dump trucks bring in the rock and dump it on the pad. I also bought a plate compactor so I can pack it in as I go.

Here are some updated pics of what everything looks like. Also my wife and her dad helping me with the forms.

 

[gabeancounter]

Looking forward to watching the build. I am going to start a 32x60 in the next couple months.
Couple questions:
What all did you put in the slab and footer? I am thinking 2 #4 rebar in the footer and wire mesh across the rest of the slab? 6mil plastic and 4" gravel?Mind sharing what your paying a yard for concrete?

I am also going stick built versus pole construction. Wanted to pull up your framing detail but the site is blocking the link. Thanks Paul

 

[John in OH]

........

After calling several concrete guys it seems I may need to bring my pad up so it does not fall below grade. ...........

One of the biggest mistakes folks make in their building plans is to set the floor/foundation elevations too LOW!

If you later find the floor is set too high, you can always add some outside fill. But if you later find the floor is set too low, you're screwed.

 

[Fishingfoolemjak]

Welcome from the mountains of western NC! I’ll be watching along as well.. subscribed!

 

[Turborex696]

It has been quite a while since I have updated this thread and a lot has happened since then.


Firstly I had some concrete poured. Its a monolithic pad with continuous footers with rebar. I had 1/3 of the shop poured at 5 inches to accommodate a lift.


Next came framing. This is a later picture of the framing after the roof was done just to show the x bracing I was forced to do as I learned I am building in a wind load C area. (sitting next to a field) The inspector used to work in the roofing business and he was very particular about bracing. I also had to add bracing in the attic to help with wind load.



Here are some photos of me and some friend installing the roof panels. They were not easy to carry up a ladder and took several days to finish.


Here are my garage doors being installed. Clopay insulated doors are great quality.


Here is the lift while I was installing it. I ran this sucker off of the generator for quite a while.


finally where it is sitting now with new grass growing and the final grading done. I am pretty happy with how it has turned out.

I just recently passed the power inspections and they finally came and connected it so no more generator power for me. It has been a long road and is nowhere near finished. I plan to run some copper air lines soon but it may come to a hault for a while since my Son (first child) is to be born any day now.

 

[Flatland Dave]

Looks great, Congrats on the little helper!