I'm looking into building a workshop/apartment on a new piece of land and need some advice. I've been looking at several metal prefab barn companies and they all seem either extremely overbuilt or extremely underbuilt, can anyone recommend a company to go with? The shop will either be built in Georgia or Michigan depending on where I end up moving. Is there any reason I should consider a stick built shop over a metal one? Is there anything I should lookout for or consider when I build? Ideally I would like one big enough for a one bedroom apartment nothing extravagant, and at least a 30x50 high ceiling workshop portion.
Prefab workshops, what do you guys recommend?
- Thread starter setlab
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TractorJeff
Well-known member
Metal building in my opinion is harder to seal critters out of.
readhead
Well-known member
Not if it is erected properly. There is a very big difference in those two locations. Until you settle on one it will be hard to give an answer.
readhead
Well-known member
Snow load is going to influence cost and construction requirements differently up north than down south.
Lelandwelds
Well-known member
The local over reaching AHJ will make a bigger difference in the decision.
Metal is easier for freespan with high ceilings. Wood is easier to make it look houselike. Some people mix the technologies.
Metal comes in different flavors. Red iron. Light gauge built with balloon framing. Welded truss. Overgrown hoop or carport style.
SIPS are interesting if you want high ceilings and free span.
James-W
Well-known member
This is just personal preference, but for a workshop I prefer stick built. For a storage building metal would be just fine. My reasoning is that for a workshop I want it heated and cooled and doing that in a stick built workshop would be easier than with a metal building. A storage building is just that, a place to store stuff, and is not normally heated or cooled.
readhead
Well-known member
Same heating and cooling equipment can be used in either metal or wood construction. I don't see where one would be easier than the other. Being in the metal building business I will admit that I am comfortable with both types of construction. I understand that metal can be somewhat mysterious to most people.
matt_i
Well-known member
In Michigan you're going to need heat with a little sprinkle of AC. In Georgia you're going to need A/C with a little sprinkle of heat. From a person who has lived 10 years in each location 
Natural gas preferred in MI.
Natural gas preferred in MI.
atch
Well-known member
Heating/cooling EQUIPMENT will be the same. However, to insulate a metal building you have to build some sort of mechanism to hold the insulation. Normally this amounts to a stick built wall inside the metal building. Some people would prefer to just stick build the building in the first place. Not saying one is better than the other or expressing an opinion; just pointing out the obvious.
readhead
Well-known member
Blanket insulation is installed as the sheeting is installed. It's done every day. Install girts at 24" oc and no additional framing required.
atch
Well-known member
You are absolutely correct; it IS done every day. However, I'm not a fan of it. Just today I drove by a metal building that obviously had blanket insulation installed after purlins were installed but before the roof tin was (SOP). There was snow on the roof, but in stripes. Where the insulation was thinned out at the purlins the snow had melted. In between the purlins the snow was still there. Proof that the squeezed insulation wasn't doing much insulating. This would hold true in the walls also, but the "snow proof" would never show up.
I'm not knocking folks who choose to do this, it just isn't for me. In order to have acceptable insulation I'd build a stick wall (to hold the insulation and attach plywood/GWB/OSB/etc. to) inside the metal or use some sort of spray-on foam.
I'm not knocking your metal building business either. OP asked for recommendations and I gave mine.
OP is building a living space in this building and I doubt he'll want the walls to have blanket insulation as the visible surface. He will probably want to build stick walls and install GWB at least in that portion of the building.
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readhead
Well-known member
So that is the most common scenario. The next step up is standing seam with spacers so the insulation isn't squeezed. Another plan is thermal break tap installed between the secondary steel and the sheeting and various types of insulation installed between the girts and purlins. I can do this all day. Most people only see the type of building you described. On the commercial side of the coin there are so many strategies for effective and efficient thermal construction. Off course anyone can have a building built anyway but usually that type of construction is reserved for large commercial projects.