New Guy Needing some advice!

[Crank1]

Hey folks, my name is Brandon, I'm a Marine stationed down in North Carolina for the next 3.5 years or so, I work on V-22 Ospreys... I like anything Chevrolet and I got a fiancee named Melissa... Thats my introduction... I've been lurking for a bit looking at everyone's garages and that, and thought it was time to jump in a do an intro and get some advice. Okay, so here goes. When I get married to my fiancee(July 4, '08) Her grandpa is giving us like 10 acres of his farm! I know, AWESOME! But anyway, there is already 2 barns on the property, but they are most the time full of tractors, farm equipment and Tobacco, so those are out of use! I'm wanting to begin building a pole barn in the next year or so after he deeds us the land, for me to work on cars when i get home and as well to have a sheltered place to work on tractors, equipment if anything breaks... So I'm thinking about something in the area of 40x40 or around there... I want to have 2 doors in the front and one on the side, with a man door by the single bay door... These are kinda just the ideas I'm going on. So heres what I'm asking of you all. What are pretty popular sizes, I'm going to be building a pole barn... But I was thinking I wanna put it on a foundation with at least 12" of concrete coming up above the dirtline, so it looks cleaner and trims up well with a weedeater. I need advice on heating, insulation, sizes, air drops(probably put a lean to type shed for a compressor) electric and the like, I dont think I wanna put a drain in it, just to simplify the concrete work, and could just slope and channel the floor for runoff... Hydronic heating vs. wood stove vs. furnace... Can anyone give me some help please. Thanks and i look forward to learning more.
Brandon

 

[wrigh003]

Congratulations on the wedding- some will say fun stuff like "RUN, RUN FAR AND FAST" but it's a good thing. Cool of grandpa to carve you guys off a piece of the old farm, too.

For heat. I think radiant is the way to go, because since you're heating that slab instead of the air, you'll keep the heat down by you where you want it instead of up by the roof like you would with heated air. A woodstove or kerosene heater is the old-school/lotech way, but if you're going to be working on machinery, and therefore have all the gas, flammable liquids, solvents, etc. around, it's probably not the safest way. Plus, it won't work as well, since it'll just heat one small zone and then the air above it- first time you open one of those big doors, you have to start over on heating the space.

Wife's stepdad just finished (well, the outside of it anyway) a ~32'x32' pole barn, used metal space-frame type roof trusses, wooden poles/structure, and skinned the whole thing with metal. Has 2 9' garage doors and a man door on the side under a carport area where he parks his work trailer and keeps his grill and smoker and whatnot out of the weather. I was skeptical when he told me that they were putting a metal siding barn (boat parking, general workshop area) right up next to their house, but after he did a little landscaping and paved the driveway up to it, it looks like it's always been there and doesn't look bad at all. I'm amazed, too, at how not blazing hot it is on the inside, specially without insulation or any AC. I guess that big chunk of concrete floor that's always in the shade helps- we'll have to see what it's like this winter.

 

[bluesman2a]

12" is a LOT of concrete. That will be EXPENSIVE. Usually 4-6" is the normal slab depth, and is fine for weed-eating around. If you must go higher, I would look at some sort of foundation wall, fill with dirt/stone, then do your slap on top of that. Either way that "feature" will add expense, and it may not be strictly necessary depending on your site.

 

[Coach James]

Welcome to the board. You in Jacksonville?

Coach

 

[Crank1]

Indeed I am in JVille I was more less thinking of the 12" as a foundation as well having it come up that much above the slab like l___________l That way I could build off the tops of the foundation and it would even raise my roof an extra foot. And I think it would make the entire exterior look better having it not always needed to be weeded around the corragated(sp) metal. Maybe 12" is too high, like 6"? So radiant heat... Tell me more, how much does this generally run to install, I realize I could do all the plumbing of the pipes in the floor, but what about the heater and such, I am planning on doing this garage in sections as well, that way it wont drain me and I'll be done by time I get home, stages like: dirwork/foundation and floor, frame and skin, electrical and air... That way it doesnt completely drain me and I'll have something to look forward to when i get out. Also, it seems like I'm gonna need at least a 12' roof for a lift in there, but what about doors, what are the normal heights of doors, because some of our equipment is kinda big, like our JD with a roof on it. Thanks again for the welcome thanks for the help
Brandon