Shop remodel project

[davidfite1978]

Well I finally started on my shop remodel. One of my college buddies owns a remodel company so they're doing the roof for me, then I'll work on the OSB/windows/doors/framing, and then they'll probably come back and do the vinyl siding. Below are pics from before, and day 1.

 

[david63]

Nice size shop. Can't wait to see what you do.

 

[sautolvr]

I hope you keep us updated..this looks awesome

 

[davidfite1978]

Here's a couple more pics from the inside so you can see my super-awesome 2x4 ceiling/attic construction, plus all the **** that's on the walls from the previous owners. They used the building as a dog/cat rescue facility.

 

[7th Kahuna]

Wow, that ceiling construction is awesome. They couldn't have made it much more difficult on themselves could they? I assume they must have a couple of solid ties in there somewhere?! I'm glad to see you stripping everything back. No telling what other 'awesome' construction you may find.

 

[Spareparts]

Do you have any snow load where you live, if so what about putting a complete new roof on, with trusses that are engineered, be a shame to put a new roof on and have it collapse. If you don't strip the old roofing then you will be adding about 250 lbs. per square on top of what you already have.

 

[davidfite1978]

We get snow for sure, but not like several feet at a time or anything. Most of the time just an inch or two, with the most only being 4 or 5 inches. Then once every 10 years or so we might get a foot. The roof as-it-was held up for 30ish years, so while I'm not thrilled at the construction, it's held up pretty well considering. Plus I don't have the money for a whole new truss system. I'm throwing everything I have at the roof and siding so I can get it sealed up from the elements. I did tear off the old shingles/paper. The final pic shows what the roof looked like bare. I only had 1 sheet of plywood that needed repairing.

Here's a few updates. My phone apparently messed up and the final shots didn't save so have to go back and take a few more tonight.

 

[davidfite1978]

My phone has decided to re-generate my 2 final pics I took last night. Don't ask...

 

[little d]

Here's a couple more pics from the inside so you can see my super-awesome 2x4 ceiling/attic construction, plus all the **** that's on the walls from the previous owners. They used the building as a dog/cat rescue facility.

David,
I think it's great your saving this old building, looks like your doing a great job. I hope you don't mind a coupla suggestions, cant help myself.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I know the roof has stood the test of time but, you could slide in a coupla strong backs (2by10's) and tie in the rafter/ceiling supports and do away with any sagging that has happened over the years and have you looked into paint instead of vinyl siding?

My wife and I owned a house built in 1863 that needed painting or resided. I hate painting with a passion so the siding was looking like a better option but, on this house like your building, it would have taken away from the character. So, after asking a lot of questions and research, we found a vinyl based paint by Valspar that caries a lifetime warranty.

Like I said, I really, really hate to paint so this isn't something I wanted to have to do every so many years. Well, we took the plunge and bought the paint, striped off the old flaking paint, went around it and tightened up the siding and caulked it, as per the experts advice and I gotta say, I was/am impressed with this stuff, for a coupla non professionals, it turned out beautiful and 10 years later, it looks as good as the day we finished.

Like I said, take this for what it cost ya, your doing a great job, keep it up,
D

 

[davidfite1978]

little d -

I thought about painting, but there were several factors that lead me to the conclusion to just demo it and start over.

1.there's no OSB/sheathing under the siding. just remnants of some plastic vapor barrier and studs.
2.the siding is in terrible shape. splitting, curling, molding, falling apart
3.the previous owners used the building for a pet rescue, and as such decided to install (i.e. cut out) 4 big doggie-doors. basically 4 - 2ft x 2ft openings through the siding
4.there are 5 big windows I'm taking out (big, old, cracked, single-pane) for security and temperature reasons
5.there is a set of a double-doors I'm also taking out
6.there's no siding on the 3 gables

After looking at all of those things, there really was no way to save the siding. The only thing that could be done is if someone wanted to remove it carefully and re-use it on a smaller building.

I want to get the building as solid and sealed as can be so I can just worry about the inside for the next 10-15 years, so gonna most likely go with vinyl siding. Worst case (if vinyl is too expensive) is I'll put up that 4x8 smartside paneling and have to paint/caulk it every so often.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I know the roof has stood the test of time but, you could slide in a coupla strong backs (2by10's) and tie in the rafter/ceiling supports and do away with any sagging that has happened over the years

Not sure exactly what you mean? I mean I understand in general, but I guess I'd need to see a diagram of exactly what you mean. The main room in the building is approx 24x32 with the 2x4s running along the 24' span (3 2x4s connected)

 

[little d]

Damn shame on the siding, wonder if there would be enough to cover the front and then what ever on the sides and back?

On the strong back, you see the inner most braces (closest to the center), from rafter to joist? What you could do is since it is 32', take two 16' 2by10s, even 8s would help, raise up the ceiling joist (one at a time)to level, maintaining your 16"center and nail to the brace (I would also use a hurricane strap and attach to the joist). Once you get them up and attached, take a 3rd one, 12' would be plenty, and center it between where the two join and nail it in place, then move over to the other side and do the same there. Basically, your adding support beams to help carry the load except, instead of being below the ceiling, they are up in the attic.

 

[davidfite1978]

Damn shame on the siding, wonder if there would be enough to cover the front and then what ever on the sides and back?

On the strong back, you see the inner most braces (closest to the center), from rafter to joist? What you could do is since it is 32', take two 16' 2by10s, even 8s would help, raise up the ceiling joist (one at a time)to level, maintaining your 16"center and nail to the brace (I would also use a hurricane strap and attach to the joist). Once you get them up and attached, take a 3rd one, 12' would be plenty, and center it between where the two join and nail it in place, then move over to the other side and do the same there. Basically, your adding support beams to help carry the load except, instead of being below the ceiling, they are up in the attic.

Oh, I gotcha. I think there are 1 or 2 - 2x4 strong backs going across the span, but definitely not anything bigger than that. After I get the outside done, and I get some lights inside, I'll take a bunch of pics of the attic and start a new thread and see what I can come up with.

 

[little d]

Leave one of the gable ends open (or make an access door) , way easier to get them in there like that then trying to work them up between the joist! That my friend, is a PIA.

 

[davidfite1978]

Well I spent the past 3 1/2 days working on the shop. I'm glad to be back at work, just to take a break from the long hours out in the sun! I started Friday afternoon by taking off some of the siding on the back half of the shop. This half of the shop has a truss floor system (not a slab like the front half). After getting 2 walls' worth of material off, I realized there was a huge carpenter ant problem. Ugh. The ends of the trusses were completely obliterated, along with some of the sill plate, studs, and floor. So I spent the rest of the weekend (and Monday, had to take a vacation day to get the wall stabalized) fixing the damage. I'm probably half way done, but most of the tear-out is done now, just need to finish rebuilding.

 

[davidfite1978]

Here's the rest.

Killed a million ants in the process. Gotta get some carpenter ant bait and finish them off.

 

[davidfite1978]

Here's the weekend's progress...

The hardest wall is finally done. The rest should be pretty straightforward tear-off and put up osb.

 

[sberry]

Depending on how much you get done some time off work may be worth it. I had a Bud who got convinced it would be better to work than to take time off to build a house, big mistake.

 

[davidfite1978]

Depending on how much you get done some time off work may be worth it. I had a Bud who got convinced it would be better to work than to take time off to build a house, big mistake.

I hear ya. I've been contemplating that but the past 3 weeks have just been awful for me schedule-wise. Between my 2 kids' birthdays being a week apart, a vacation, and the rain we've been getting almost every day, it's been hard to keep a steady pace. It didn't help that I had to completely rebuild these 2 walls. The rest of the building looks to be significantly in better shape, so hopefully I'll be ok.

 

[little d]

Dave,
I know it ***** but, it is a hell of a lot better to find it now rather then after ya get everything done and a wall falls out on ya...

BTW, outstanding job sir, I'd put my name all over that!

 

[davidfite1978]

Dave,
I know it ***** but, it is a hell of a lot better to find it now rather then after ya get everything done and a wall falls out on ya...

BTW, outstanding job sir, I'd put my name all over that!

Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it. Been putting a lot of sweat into this one! It's HOT!

Here's the weekend update:

 

[little d]

Dave,
thank YOU for taking the time to document what can be done if ya just roll up your sleeves, use a little common sense and get after it.

Now days, it seems like there are two options, first is to knock it down and build new or, if they do try to save a building, ya gotta form a comity to hire a bunch of engineers who in turn should fire the comity because they are not qualified to hire the right engineers and then have them hire more engineers because they are indeed qualified (just look at that piece of paper hanging on their wall).

Before any Engineers gets but hurt, I'm not knocking you or your profession, I've worked with several great one over the years, I'm just saying 99.9% of the time, when saving or just working on an old building, doing a little research and/or asking questions, common sense and good ol hard work with a get it done attitude will work wonders.

Sorry about the rant, it's been building for some time now, ha. Anyways, please keep posting, people need to see what can be done if ya want and are willing.

 

[davidfite1978]

Here's the latest. We worked from Friday morning til Monday night "non-stop".

This was my first time doing housewrap so it wasn't perfect, but not too shabby for a first-timer. Plus my wife doesn't do heights very well so I pretty much had to do all the wrap by myself once it got off the ground.

Found another corner that was eaten up by carpenter ants so had to replace it. Other than that pretty smooth going, just long hot days.

 

[davidfite1978]

and some more pics...

 

[davidfite1978]

and the last 2. You can see my gravel I'm putting down around the perimeter.

 

[Xporter]

Nice work!

 

[davidfite1978]

Weekend update. Got exactly 50% of the shop done at this point. The other 50% doesn't have any weirdness, so hopefully it'll go faster.

 

[little d]

That is really turning out nice Dave.

 

[davidfite1978]

Finally got some good weather to work on the shop. At this point I'm about 99% wrapped. Just gotta finish the header over the garage door and put OSB/wrap on it and it'll be sealed up.... finally. Still a lot more to do inside and a couple things outside, but I'll finally be able to take a breath and rest easy knowing it's sealed from the elements.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Nice project you have going on and you're doing some great work. If you have that kind of skill to do that work, I'd suggest you save more money and do the vinyl siding yourself.


Keep up the hard work man.


BTW, I'm going to move this to the Gallery section.

 

[davidfite1978]

Thanks NUTTSGT. I'm probably going to leave it wrapped for at least a month or two before I decide what to do. I'm ready for a break LOL.

 

[davidfite1978]

Here is the latest. Got probably 2/3 of the siding put up at this point. I'm running out of warm days (for caulking) so trying to hurry before winter hits.