Old Barn - New Shop!

[F800Adventure]

This is my first big shop project (and my first Garage Journal Post) so this should be interesting. So here it goes...In the beginning my "Shop" was originally a 24ft x 40ft x 8ft cement block garage with a second story for storage. I purchased the property about a year and a half ago. Due to the upstairs never being sealed off from the original owners for over 40 years the attic trusses and underlayment for the tin roof were starting to rot. It was a great barn but the more and more I looked the more and more damaged wood and improperly supported material was found.


After getting several different quotes (And plenty of calls to my father and grandfather. Thank you all fathers for that! You are truly amazing!) A decision was made! The entirety of the roof will come off. EVERYTHING MUST GO!













All in all it took about 3 days for my dad and I to dismantle the entire roof and subfloor. All that is left are the block walls, doors, windows, and sill plates (Most of which were rotten due to the builder not using treated lumber and to find out the barn was left vacant for 14 years and the doors left open...)

New roof to follow...

 

[F800Adventure]

Next is the new roof...I did plenty of research and could not find any information for what I did as a replacement so I thought, why not try something new! I wanted a metal roof (given) and I wanted to also use metal trusses. The thought behind it was 1. lifetime and maintenance 2. Cost ($90/wooden truss x 24 trusses or $175 for metal x 4). 3. Ceiling height. So with that I also wanted to raise the height of roof to allow the most space possible to hang lights, fans, etc. Going back and forth between adding more block to the wall, adding a stud wall to the sill plate, or what I went with, a post structure inside the block wall. Not ideal but It will be the most cost effective and easy in the end.

The entire roof materials, minus the metal, showed up on this 6x14 trailer...







Got a little snow in North Alabama. Delayed the build by 2 days...








After the roof was completed now I am working on rewiring the entire shop with WAY more outlets, can never have enough outlets. I believe to start with the shop had 16 outlets and now I have 42, a mix of 15A and 20A where needed.
For lighting I went with the 10 pack of LED 4ft Honeywell lights from Sam's club. Had great reviews and easy to install. So far I have 7 of the 10 up and am very impressed with them! Hang tight for more info on this build, little bit by little bit everyday!

 

[turbowoodworker]

Nice place. Welcome to GJ from NC.

 

[Bruce 993 SEA]

I like what you did with the roof!

Good job!

 

[tnjarrett]

Looks like your setting a great pace. Looks Great!

 

[Jon In Tucson]

Love being able to salvage the space. Great progress so far. Subscribed.
Jon In Tucson

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[F800Adventure]

Thanks for the support guys! I plan on taking the partition down between the two sides to make it more open. I have taken the small wall down so far and the next step is to take 15 more feet down of the other side. This will make it feel more open and like I have more space. My plan is to paint the walls a dark light grey and paint the conduit for the electrical black. If I'm going to have conduit I might as well make it look good...






Conduit and outlets going up nicely. Now just to get power run to the shop! Used to have a meter attached to the barn but now I am installing a second 200A panel in the house and running a 100A line out to the shop. The house line will get upgraded to accommodate the second panel as well.



Here's a question for Y'all...who has painted block and what has worked the best for you? I plan on using a sprayer that a buddy has. Thanks!

 

[F800Adventure]

Saturday's project consisted of finally supporting the garage door tracks to the ceiling. Thought back and fourth on if I should use the standard metal L brackets or a wooden construction. Decided to go with the wood only because I already had the materials and was ready to go.



Here is how the tracks were supported after I removed the roof








It may not be the prettiest but it is solid as a rock! I'm happy with it

Today's project will be finishing up wiring all the lights together and possibly starting to take down more of the block partition wall.

 

[cybrdyke]

Here's a question for Y'all...who has painted block and what has worked the best for you? I plan on using a sprayer that a buddy has. Thanks!

Pressure wash
Scrub
Pressure wash again. Get it as clean as you can and get all loose paint off.
Prime with Sherwin primer specifically made for block.
Good exterior paint.

 

[Jjbates]

Hey neighbor . I'm in North Alabama as well, near Priceville. I'm curious who you bought your trusses from and what pitch they are. It may just be me but the look steeper than the normal 4/12. Also would like to see how you fastened the poles inside the block walls. Keep up the good work.

 

[F800Adventure]

Hey neighbor . I'm in North Alabama as well, near Priceville. I'm curious who you bought your trusses from and what pitch they are. It may just be me but the look steeper than the normal 4/12. Also would like to see how you fastened the poles inside the block walls. Keep up the good work.

Hey Neighbor! I used J. Pigg construction (Grandson of Cecil Pigg). They did a decent job with it and did pretty good work. As for the post, they had some brackets "Custom Made" (Didn't look very professional but it works) L-Brackets for the bottom and used 2 brackets per post and hastened them, into my pad using concrete anchors. As for the top, it was 2 pieces of steel welded together to attach to the sill plate. I have a picture in my inventory of the top but not the bottom. I will try and grab one today.



As for the roof pitch, I had them go with a 6/12 pitch roof. I wanted as much space as I could vertically to allow anything I wanted. The nice part with using the posts on the inside is 2 fold, 1) It allowed me to have them raise the roof height up about 14" above the block wall to give me a full 8ft to the bottom of the trusses and 2) It alleviate all the weight off of the block wall so if/when I put in an outbuilding, lean-to, or other outdoor area I can out in a door or breezeway to it.

 

[F800Adventure]

Pressure wash
Scrub
Pressure wash again. Get it as clean as you can and get all loose paint off.
Prime with Sherwin primer specifically made for block.
Good exterior paint.

How many coats did it take on a fresh unpainted block wall?

 

[Jjbates]

Thanks for the answer. I like the look and the height of the 6/12 pitch compared to the 4/12 that is common around here for metal trusses. Also way to think out of the box using the posts inside the block building. See something new everyday.

 

[lakeroadster]

Cool that you're refurbishing the barn. Looks like an awesome space.

Thanks for sharing your adventure and welcome to The Garage Journal.

Were the trusses and poles engineered for the environmental conditions in your area?

 

[F800Adventure]

The trusses are standard dimension trusses but they are engineered to see minimal loads i.e. rain and light twigs and leafs but will need different engineering for more northern conditions where snow is a factor. The posts were green treated so no worries there, the reason they were green treated and the perlins were not were that they were placed on the pad and the walls where moisture is more of an issue.

 

[lakeroadster]

Since the trusses don't have a bottom chord (similar to a scissor truss) are you at all concerned that they may cause side loadings that will push out against the block walls?

 

[F800Adventure]

Since the trusses don't have a bottom chord (similar to a scissor truss) are you at all concerned that they may cause side loadings that will push out against the block walls?

No I am not worried at all since the majority of the weight is vertically on the post that the side loading is not much of a concern. Since there a plenty of poured columns inside of the wall (Every 4ft or so) There should be plenty of structural support.

 

[cybrdyke]

How many coats did it take on a fresh unpainted block wall?

for me it was 2 of white primer and 2 of the topcoat to get from unpainted to white. That's using an older Wagner. YMMV depending on color and how much you want it to fill in the pores.
CD

 

[Orionrising]

ahhh places with no snow load, must be nice.

 

[F800Adventure]

ahhh places with no snow load, must be nice.

I used to live up in MN before moving down in September of 2016. I have learned a lot on how different buildings are constructed down south lol

 

[Jjbates]

ahhh places with no snow load, must be nice.

We do get snow in North Alabama but 6" is about the max and it's usually all melted off within 2 to 3 days.

 

[Cactus1]

Looks great! I used a "fill and finish" block filler (Sherwin Williams) on my barn. Roll it on and you're done. It's a little thicker so it fills the pores in the block a little better.

 

[F800Adventure]

Well i was able to get a bit more done on the shop wall, got it completely removed with about <1in of space between the slab and the gravel where the wall used to be. Should be enough for some fill cement/self leveling concrete. Been putsing with the electrical in the garage too in order run the buried line out to finally get power, I've been having to run an extension cord out there to get power to the lights. Wire is ordered and the 100A breaker for the new panel! Should all be here by the end of the week and looking like the first week in April should be able to get all the wire buried out to the shop! Might even get paint on that week too...