New Project Coming Up

[fclaridge]

Hi All, I am new to the forum here and wanted to say how cool this site is. I was a little hesitant at first looking at all the very cool and high dollar garages, shops and mancaves here. However, There is a wealth of information in all of your minds and I am not too proud to ask for some guidance with building my humble shop. I introduced myself a little in the new member thread. Hope you take a look.

Anyway I have been wanting to build a new shop that would allow my Hotrod Bus to fit inside. I am wanting to build in phases so that it is easier on the budget. So I will start by building a pole style carport, then add a concrete floor, then frame in the walls with Commercial-style girts, and doors. The size was originally going to be 12x30x12, but the added cost of materials to do a 20x30x14 or 16 is neglible and will go with a bigger size. Then at some point I will add another room on the side if need be.

So my first question is: I have seen pole buildings with either 6x6 posts or 4x6 posts. If I do a 14' or 16' wall building is a 4x6 going to be ok and if so which way should I align the posts? The 4" or 6" sides facing out?

Thanks for the help. And here is a picture of my bus:

 

[Benw455]

That is a cool Bus!

 

[fclaridge]

Thanks. I am really excited to get her running and cruising with the kids. They are too.

Fred

 

[larry_g]

Fred
I have a M&W building here. http://www.mwbsc.biz/ They are just south of Portland Or and I was real happy with the kit and service I received from them. I have 6x6 posts in mine. It might be worth your time to sit with them and have them explain this building process as they will work with you to get what you want. When I worked with them designing my building they were able to provide what I wanted and design for furture expansion. I'm not sure what is avaiable in your neck of the woods. What was explained to me was that their post design can go a max of 12' centers so basically a 20x30 takes the same amount of posts as a 24x36. Something to think about. Also metal comes in 3' widths so an even multiple of 3 prevents ripping metal.
lg
no neat sig line

 

[fclaridge]

I know I didn't add this before, but when I frame in the walls and add siding it is going to be smart panel siding, basically T-111. That way I can paint it whatever color I want. Easy enough to cut to size too.

 

[volvo]

..
Here are a few S'COOL BUSES..

AND

AND

HAVING FUN .ONE STUDENT AT A TIME

 

[keduner]

Now that is a COOL BUS! The neighborhood is going to be very jealous of your ride.

 

[mmb617]

I am wanting to build in phases so that it is easier on the budget. So I will start by building a pole style carport, then add a concrete floor, then frame in the walls with Commercial-style girts, and doors.

So my first question is: I have seen pole buildings with either 6x6 posts or 4x6 posts. If I do a 14' or 16' wall building is a 4x6 going to be ok and if so which way should I align the posts? The 4" or 6" sides facing out?

I built my garage the same way you're describing. It was a post and beam construction but I studded out the walls between the posts with 2x6's, then sheathed it with OSB and put vinyl siding on it. By doing all the work myself I have less than $10k in a 24x36 building.

I used 6x6's for my posts and triple 2x12 headers front and back with double 2x12 headers on the sides. It's actually overbuilt I'm sure. If you live where you don't have a bunch of codes and zoning hassles it's the way to go in my opinion.

 

[fclaridge]

Sounds like a nice garage mmb617. I'm going to stud the walls too, but a commercial girt is between the posts and horizontal vs the vertical studs you see with stick built framing. I don't have too many codes I need to adhere to since i am in the country and my bldg is exempt as an AG use bldg and under the 775 sq ft max. I will just need an initial site inspection with the corners staked and that's it. No inspections later. Do you have pics of your headers and how those are secured to the posts and the trusses to the headers?

 

[fclaridge]

Here is a pic of what I did on my garage addition. Real simple to frame and can do it 1 board at a time. No need to frame a wall and raise it or hammer it between the posts.

Then I added Siding. Will do the new garage/shop just like this.

Looked at a few more things and I will be doing 6x6 posts and my beam appears to be a 3, 2x10.

 

[mmb617]

Do you have pics of your headers and how those are secured to the posts and the trusses to the headers?

In the spirit of using what I had on hand I made up some angle brackets out of 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 1/4 angle iron I already had. I cut it into pieces 5 1/2 in long and drilled three holes in each side of the angle. I then set the beams on top of the posts and used the angles to attach them to each other with 6 big *** screws on each. The trusses were attached to the beams in similar fashion.

If you look real close in this picture you can see some of the angles. They are in red primer.

Since I'm a fan of over building stuff, instead of just nailing the 3 pcs of 2x12 together to form the beams I ran carriage bolts through them every ft, staggering them top and bottom. You can see them in the picture to.

It took us 2 1/2 years to build but I was pleased with the end result.

 

[m.james]

More importantly whats going on with that bus.

 

[fclaridge]

Yes, I am very excited to work on the bus and get it driving at the very least. However I need to get a covering built so i can save it from getting hammered by the liquid sunshine we have up here in the beautiful Pacific NW.

mmb617, You have a lot of trusses in there. I was talking with the truss guy here in town and he said I could truss my bldg evey 12' with double trusses, they'll actually be every 10' due to it being a 30' long buildg. I am wondering if the difference is that yours is a comp roof and he figured I was going to a metal roof? That's a very nice job on the whole ting too. You should do a build thread and show all the different stages.

 

[larry_g]

Yes, I am very excited to work on the bus and get it driving at the very least. However I need to get a covering built so i can save it from getting hammered by the liquid sunshine we have up here in the beautiful Pacific NW.

mmb617, You have a lot of trusses in there. I was talking with the truss guy here in town and he said I could truss my bldg evey 12' with double trusses, they'll actually be every 10' due to it being a 30' long buildg. I am wondering if the difference is that yours is a comp roof and he figured I was going to a metal roof? That's a very nice job on the whole ting too. You should do a build thread and show all the different stages.

If you look at the M&W ( I linked earlier) site you will see the double trusses he is talking about. You only need doubles on the middle posts, the end walls not. It is a different style of construction. It is what I have in my building.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[mmb617]

mmb617, You have a lot of trusses in there. I was talking with the truss guy here in town and he said I could truss my bldg evey 12' with double trusses, they'll actually be every 10' due to it being a 30' long buildg. I am wondering if the difference is that yours is a comp roof and he figured I was going to a metal roof? That's a very nice job on the whole ting too. You should do a build thread and show all the different stages.

My trusses are the 24 ft 4/12 pitch that are pretty much standard around here. They are set on 2 ft centers, again standard for this area. I don't know if you get any snow where you live but I can say without doubt that a roof with trusses set on 10 ft centers in central PA would never survive the first big snow!

the 10 square of shingles that are on my roof weigh over a ton by themselves. I calculated my snow load from a chart that lists load by region. Now obviously it has to account for worst case scenarios. It lists central PA at 47 lbs/sq ft. possible snow load. That puts my total possible snow load at 40,608 lbs!

Last year we had a pretty big (3 ft or so) and very wet snow. There were pictures in the newspaper of roofs that had collapsed on several building around town. This prompted many people to shovel the snow off their garage roofs. Not me. I never worried about it for a minute.

With a metal roof which is much lighter and without having to worry about snow it's a whole different ball game.

I'm new around here having just discovered the site. I will eventually get around to posting my build thread.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

 

[fclaridge]

Larry, I've been looking at your build and the way your trusses go up and how the purlins are attached. I think that is exactly the way I want to build mine. I won't have a need for the vaulted ceiling like yours though. I want a 20' clear span so will just go with the regular trusses like you have on the left side of the building. That style build looks like it's pretty simple enough. Looks like the whole thing could go together with just 2-3 extra guys at times. Very cool indeed.

 

[sophianeuron]

Nice pics. Its all are amazing. I too imagine like the hoses above.