New shop build

[Maxtork]

Hi All,

I posted here recently with some questions about my 20 x 40 detached garage project and got some great responses. Now that I have started I figured I would start a thread showing the build. So here goes....



I got the permit and the concrete guy started framing things up for the slab. It will have 18" x 18" footers and a 4" x 4" curb around the outside for the walls to sit on.

The inspector came out today and passed the form work so on to the next step.
We had weather moving in this afternoon and the concrete guy didn't want to leave the footers empty so he called in the truck to pour the footer. I am a bit concerned as I thought this was going to be a monolithic slab and now I am getting footers and slab poured separately. If it was formed that way on purpose I wouldn't worry so much but just half assed like this I am concerned...should I be?

Unfortunately the guys were already gone by the time I got home from work so I will have to see how it goes tomorrow.

Wish me luck

Max

 

[Maxtork]

Here is another picture of the slab in it's current state

 

[kbs2244]

I wouldn't worry about it.
It looks like they know what they are doing.

Your slab will be "floating" inside your walls.
As long as the base is well tamped you will be fine.

 

[Maxtork]

Thanks,

They finished the pour today and it looks ok. Of course we had other issues. They backed up the concrete truck over the water meter and busted it. They called a plumber and got it fixed but the front yard looks like a bomb went off in it. Oh well, the grass will grow back. I did get a ton of extra rock for a driveway. I wish they had done a better job of spreading it but maybe they will do that tomorrow when they come back to finish up. I'll post some pictures shortly of the finished slab.

Max

 

[Maxtork]

Here is the messed up front yard


And my half baked driveway



And here is the finished slab



The wife isn't happy about the yard but I can fix that easy enough. It just delays the start of the framing on the garage.

Oh well...it is what it is

Max

 

[Tdoriot]

Yeah, that driveway is piss poor! You scalp off the sod, lay some geo textile road fabric and put down a decent 6"layer of 1 1/4" minus gravel. When you finis, dress up with 3/4" minus topcoat or final base for asphalt. Keep up the momentum !

 

[justin1795]

will be curious to see this project come along. was thinking of a shop i could park cars 2 deep

 

[Maxtork]

Thanks Guys,

I have to say I am pretty disappointed in the damage to the yard but oh well. The concrete guy calls me last night and says oh yeah I forgot to price in the cutting for the expansion in the concrete. Thats another $200. Oh yeah and the extra rock that you got that I put in the wrong place cost me $280! So much for staying in the budget. I was out there this morning and I think I have a plan to fix up the yard and get the driveway straightened out but I wasn't planning on doing that right away. I kinda have to now. Such is life in the big city I guess.

At least I get to do everything else myself....then I dont have anyone to be pissed at except that guy I see in the mirror every morning.

Max

 

[kbs2244]

Grass never survives a construction project.

 

[Magneto]

Staying in Budget? Forget about it. Too many unknowns.....

 

[Maxtork]

Staying in Budget? Forget about it. Too many unknowns.....

Yeah I should have figured the budget would go out the window pretty quick...I jut hoped it would be further along and not right in the beginning. Oh well.... nothing I can't overcome.

This ***** though...just got back from the Doc and he said take it easy for a few days. I was hoping to dive right in and get something done. I guess I will just spend the weekend planning and ordering supplies online.

Max

 

[Maxtork]

Well I picked up my lumber and started framing. Here is the result of day two. I know I'm not setting any speed records but I am doing nearly all of it by myself. My wife and daughter helped me stand up the walls but most of it is all me. I do have a buddy coming over to help tomorrow to get the rest of the walls up. I should be able to pick up the trusses next weekend and continue on from there.





Max

 

[Maxtork]

Well I forgot I started this thread to cover my garage build so I figured I should update it. Things are going ok so far. The wall framing is done and the sheathing is going up. It isn't coming out perfect but I'm not totally disappointed. I did get one pretty good gap in the OSB (3/4" or so) between two sheets. I guess thats what you get for trying to hang full sheets by yourself.



Here is the truck and trailer with the trusses loaded on it. It looked like the damn circus coming to town. Not a fun ride either but we made it ok.



Here is the wall framing coming along. 10 ft walls will be cool once it is done but building them is a pain sometimes.



Here is the LVL header beams up where they belong. Them suckers are HEAVY. Not much fun to put them up one at a time on a ladder by yourself but they are up there. I screwed them together with special Simpson Strongtie screws made for this type of load. If you ever have to work with LVL stuff I would highly recommend them. Nailing that stuff is like nailing concrete.



Here it is as of tonight with about half of the sheathing up.It is hard to see the inside as it is "Techshield" which has a foil insulation glued to one side. Putting up the first row is tough as there is nothing to set each sheet on before you nail it. The second row goes much easier as you can set each sheet on the one below.

Hopefully more tomorrow if I can get out of work early enough to get some work done before dark.

Max

 

[Maxtork]

Got some time to put up a few more sheets of OSB today. I really need to get my **** moving and get this done before the bad weather moves in.





Max

 

[rburke65]

Nice job. I think I would have told your concrete contractor to go stuff the extra $200 for the cuts. I'll bet he does not forget the cut charge on the next job. If he forgot that wouldn't be my problem. Good luck.

 

[Maxtork]

Thanks,

I got more OSB up this afternoon. I'm going to try to finish that up tomorrow. My plan is to run the osb across the split between the end walls and the end trusses to make it stronger. I hope it works!



Here is where it stands today.

Max

 

[Maxtork]

More progress today. You can see y redneck engineering truss lifting device. I put an extension on my engine hoist and lifted them up over the wall to set the first one. I don't know that I would recommend it but it does work. You have to be kind of careful as it is a bit rickety.



I also discovered that using a router to cut out the rough openings around doors and windows is MUCH better than a sawzall. I'm going to go back over the other openings and see if I can straighten them out a bit. Here is where we stopped tonight.



Max

 

[Maxtork]

Ok so daylight savings time officially *****. By the time I get home I'm out of daylight. All I got was one sheet of OSB put up tonight. Damn sure didn't save me any daylight!



Max

 

[sunsation288]

Subscribed , nice work so far

 

[Maxtork]

Thanks...it's getting there slowly.

Max

 

[tintacker]

Is that a homade crane? Did you use and engine hoist? Did it work for the build... If it did work any close ups/ dimensions.....?

 

[Maxtork]

Yes it is a engine hoist with some 2x6s added on to get the height. It worked great on the first truss. I will be setting the rest this weekend. I'll take some more pictures and post them up as long as you guys don'tlaugh too hard lol.

Max

 

[hpw]

Nice build......are your walls straight? Looks like they could use a few braces until you get your trusses up and roof decked.

 

[0150carmac]

its looking like a great sized garage you will have i look forward to the updates

 

[Maxtork]

Thanks Guys,

Yeah the walls are actually pretty straight as they are. I did have two more braces up but I had taken them down to put up sheathing. I should put them up again but I am going to start putting trusses up tomorrow so hopefully won't need them.

More pics to follow..

Max

 

[hpw]

Thanks Guys,

I am going to start putting trusses up tomorrow so hopefully won't need them.

More pics to follow..

Max

That is why you need braces, BEFORE you put the trusses up.

How do you plan on keeping the trusses straight in line with each other?

 

[Maxtork]

Well my plan was to set the trusses and use the braces for fine tuning. I am going to string the centers to make sure the peaks are in line. I'm probably wrong as this is the first time doing this on my own but I figure the trusses by themselves are not going to hold the wall straight...they will just hold them the proper distance apart. So once they are up I can tweak them to get them all lined up and then brace them diagonally to hold the walls straight. I am going to make some spacers to hold the truss vertical in relation to the adjacent truss. Kind of like the steel store bought braces that you can leave on and sheath over top of. If I can get a couple of them up I can run bracing along them to hold them in place. I'm in no hurry so if it doesn't work out as I imagined it (likely but hey what the hell) I will adjust as needed.

I thought about putting one more brace up before starting but I want to get the house wrap on and they will be in the way.

Max

 

[hpw]

Ok, here is my take, finish your sheeting, although it has a tendency of locking in any crooks that may be in the wall after nailing it up, making it harder to straighten with braces. I would then run a minimum of 3 braces spaced equally along the 40' wall on both sides and 2 along the 20' walls. String the top of wall spaced with a 2x4 block under the string and use it to straighten your walls.

Once you have your walls braced and straight I would then, using a 100' tape lay the top of your wall off with your 2'o.c. marks pulling from the same end of the garage making sure both layouts are consistent with each other . You will thank me later when you start putting on your decking.

Now build a scaffold down the center of your garage just below the top plates so that it won't interfere with the trusses. Make sure it is well braced as you will lay your trusses on this scaffold. Now the end of your garage that you don't have a truss up, stack your trusses against the outside of the wall. Put you gable truss against the wall first as this will be the last one you want to pull up and then all the field trusses. Don't know how heavy they are, but this is where some extra hands will come in handy. Standing on your scaffold that you built, you can pull the truss up and walk it by holding the peak and sliding the ends across the top of the wall to the other end. Lay it down on your scaffold with the peak pointing towards the gable truss that is already installed.
With the truss laying there, count how many lay out marks this first truss covers up. That number is how many trusses you will put on top of the first truss that is laying down. Once that is accomplished you can pull the rest up and lay them down domino style in each lay out until you reach the end.

Now you can install your gable truss and brace well as all the other trusses will rely on the braced gable truss for stability. Once this is done you can then install a string from gable to gable at or close to the ridge with a 1-1/2 spacer block underneath the string. Have a 3'-4' 2x with 2'o.c. lay out marks that will be consistent with the lay out marks you place previously ready to go. Now you can start with the last truss that was layed down and start tilting them up one by one. Use the 2x to nail from the braced gable truss to the next truss that you stand up
Clear as Mud??
Time it took me to write all this I could have shown and done it

 

[Maxtork]

Wow thats quite the truss installation plan! I like the idea of the scaffold but unfortunately I don't have the tie and funds to get one. I did add another brace on the one side and I will do some on the other side tomorrow before putting the field trusses up.

I didn't get too much done today as I was by myself so everything takes twice as long to do. I did get the other end truss up so I can finish the sheathing and get the house wrap on tomorrow. I am running the sheathing across the split between the wall and the end trusses to get some added stability. Of course that caused some problems as the truss bottom was straight and I guess the top plate of my end wall was not as there was about a 1/2" gap under the truss. I got it cinched down and put some timber lok screws down through the truss into the wall and closed the gap but it pulled the tip plate up to meet the truss. Now I have a 3/8" gap between the top of the stud and the plate. I don't know that there is anything I can do about that so ugly it stays. I did get some more sheathing on the end walls. Only a couple more pieces to go and I can get the house wrap on. Here is what it looks like now.



Here is my redneck truss lift. I measured it out and the 2x6s extend about 10 ft past the end of the hoist boom. When you just start to lift the truss it gets a little light on the back end but once it is up at an angle the center of gravity moves in closer and it will hold just fine.



Hopefully more progress to show tomorrow.

Max

 

[Maxtork]

Well once again I didn't get as far as I would have liked but I did get all the sheathing up and trimmed. I got house wrap going up. I have to finish the wrap tomorrow and start putting up the common trusses. I doubt I will get far with that as I want to put the second trusses on either end so I can build my gable overhangs. Oh well, as long as I get something done I'm making progress. Here is the latest...



Max

 

[Maxtork]

Well the weather hasn't been cooperating with me lately but I finally got some more trusses up today. The engine hoist trick works pretty dang good. It is pretty easy to get them and properly placed when it is holding up all the weight.





Unfortunately I think tomorrow is going to be crappy weather so I don't know if I will get anything else done. I really need to go in to town and pick up an 8 ft ladder as my 6 footer just isn't getting it done. The high ceilings will be great when it is done but man building tall walls is a pain in the ****! lol

Max

 

[Maxtork]

Well I braved the high winds today and tried to get some more done. Setting trusses when it is windy isn't fun...or easy. I did get four more up today. Only 8 more to go. They actually go pretty quick but I haven't had enough daylight on days it isn't ******* down rain to get finished.

I had to move the remaining stack of trusses and discovered the top chord on one truss is cracked. Not sure what I should do about that one. I could sister another board along side it, or try to replace it but I've never tried something like that with the nail plates. It is supposed to be decent weather tomorrow so maybe I can get the rest of them put up. Then I can do more over the holiday weekend.

Here is what it looks like now...



Max

 

[aqr81]

Max, I just read through this and will be following your progress. Our shops are similar in size and I look forward to how you will develop it. Your progress thus far has been pretty quick. Keep the pics and updates coming.

AQR81

My Shop/Garage

 

[Maxtork]

aqr81,

Wow I just looked through your whole build thread. I am pretty amazed for sure. I thought it was a pain to deal with 10ft walls...yours are almost half again as tall. So far I have been fortunate not to have any issues at all with the county or utilities. I hope that continues but we shall see. If mine comes out half as nice as yours did I will be a happy camper. I wish I could hire some trades to come out and do much of this work for me but I am trying to get this done as cheap as possible so I am doing it all myself. This of course means it takes 10 times as long to get done. I was quoted about $20K to have this garage built and I am hoping to do it myself for under $12K. I don't know if I will make that goal but I'm sure gonna try.

Well I need to get back outside and put up some more trusses. I have to rework my engine hoist set up as I ran out of room once I crossed the halfway point and I now need to work from the opposite direction. Now The lift will hit the adjacent truss before I reach the required height. I should be able to sort it out and get more done today...I hope.

Max

 

[Maxtork]

Well the stars all lined up and Mother Nature quit raining on me this weekend so I got some work done. All the trusses are up finally. So I have the rest of the weekend to build out my over hang on the ends and put up fascia.

Max

 

[SWSS]

nice build.

 

[78RS_to112SS]

Looking good... I like your truss lifting tool... cool idea
Subscribed!

 

[Kevin54]

Damn Max....if I was closer, I'd be there to help you, one arm and all. That's a lot of work to do all by yourself. Nice job on the engine hoist though.

I'm in for updates.

 

[Maxtork]

Well it's been awhile but I finally made some good progress. I had a couple friends over on new years day and we got a big chunk of the roof sheathing up. I tell you what...5/8" OSB is a PITA! Two guys pushed the sheets up to me from the bed of the pick up truck. Then I got to sling them around by myself to get them in position. I'm not a big guy and I'm definitely not 18 yrs old anymore so needles to say I'm pretty sore. I took the day off tomorrow to get some odds and ends ******* before the guys come back on Saturday to put up the rest.

Now I am debating on if I should hire out the roofing or do it myself. My back says I should hire it out,but my wife, wallet and my pride say stick i out and do it myself. I just don't want to take too long and let things get wet and ruined. I got a quote for $750 labor to install the shingles if I purchase them. Not a terrible price but still $750!

Anyways...here is the pics





Max

 

[Maxtork]

More progress again today. We got all the roof built and tar paper and drip edge installed. Now I just hope the bad weather that is coming in doesn't ruin what we worked so hard to do. I should be calling the inspector in for my "first rough in" inspection next week. If all goes well I will shingle next weekend.



Not perfect but I think it will be good enough.

Max