greenbank
Active member
Howdy. I've been peeking at this site for years, but my wife and I have been renting all that time while "building a house"...a project which never went anywhere due to time and budget problems. May be familiar to some of you?!
I have had one damp carport and a large, totally packed 12 x 30 storage unit for all those years. Pretty frustrating, as you might imagine.
Anyway, we sold our land last year, and have finally found a house. At least I think there is a house, I was attracted to another building on the property. 36 x 48 pole building, set up as a 4 car "garage" with each stall 36' deep. Low pitch roof (3.5 in 12, maybe?) and 8' walls on the non-gable ends means it's not as tall as I'd like but at this point it could be 4' high and I'd figure out how to cope. In any case, there's 14' or 15' under the peak and only 5 trusses (monster trusses, to be sure) holding the roof up (the interior is clear, no posts), so I should be able to sneak a two-post lift in.
The shop is split into two 24 x 36 spaces by a wall under the center truss (trusses go across the 36' width), which is fine with me. I can store my "finished" cars on one side and finish, heat, and use the other as my shop. There's a small bathroom in the corner of the side I'll be using as a shop.
It's insulated, but with the R-4 fabric or whatever it is that metal buildings are outfitted with to keep them from raining condensation on everything.
My wife is a little incredulous that I told her this would work as a car workshop but I'd probably still need to put up a separate wood shop. Eventually. (I have a lot of vintage American stationary woodworking tools and I need a place to play with them that's separated from the car stuff.)
Plans immediately on closing are to remove the wood stove (I'm paranoid about open flames and leaky British cars, plus it takes up floor space), insulate and drywall the shop side, and most important run a separate 200 amp service in from the street. Right now the shop is fed 60 amps from the house to a sub panel, and I just don't see 60 amps cutting it. I like a lot of light, and most of my big tools will run 220, there's none out there and no spare juice in the sub-panel.
I'll probably have to cut out and re-pour where the lift is going to go as I'm dead certain it's only a 4" slab.
I like quality tools and much prefer buying good stuff used than buying crappy stuff new.
Anyway, you can look forward to a lot of stupid questions! Thanks for reading.
I have had one damp carport and a large, totally packed 12 x 30 storage unit for all those years. Pretty frustrating, as you might imagine.
Anyway, we sold our land last year, and have finally found a house. At least I think there is a house, I was attracted to another building on the property. 36 x 48 pole building, set up as a 4 car "garage" with each stall 36' deep. Low pitch roof (3.5 in 12, maybe?) and 8' walls on the non-gable ends means it's not as tall as I'd like but at this point it could be 4' high and I'd figure out how to cope. In any case, there's 14' or 15' under the peak and only 5 trusses (monster trusses, to be sure) holding the roof up (the interior is clear, no posts), so I should be able to sneak a two-post lift in.
The shop is split into two 24 x 36 spaces by a wall under the center truss (trusses go across the 36' width), which is fine with me. I can store my "finished" cars on one side and finish, heat, and use the other as my shop. There's a small bathroom in the corner of the side I'll be using as a shop.
It's insulated, but with the R-4 fabric or whatever it is that metal buildings are outfitted with to keep them from raining condensation on everything.
My wife is a little incredulous that I told her this would work as a car workshop but I'd probably still need to put up a separate wood shop. Eventually. (I have a lot of vintage American stationary woodworking tools and I need a place to play with them that's separated from the car stuff.)
Plans immediately on closing are to remove the wood stove (I'm paranoid about open flames and leaky British cars, plus it takes up floor space), insulate and drywall the shop side, and most important run a separate 200 amp service in from the street. Right now the shop is fed 60 amps from the house to a sub panel, and I just don't see 60 amps cutting it. I like a lot of light, and most of my big tools will run 220, there's none out there and no spare juice in the sub-panel.
I'll probably have to cut out and re-pour where the lift is going to go as I'm dead certain it's only a 4" slab.
I like quality tools and much prefer buying good stuff used than buying crappy stuff new.
Anyway, you can look forward to a lot of stupid questions! Thanks for reading.