Tear down or not

[tkiranch]

I have an old tools shed on my farm, it is 20 x 30 and needs new roof and walls. I want to put a building up in its place, but make the building 30 x 40 or 30 x 50. I dont know if I should just tear down the old one and just start new or tear off the roof trusses, the siding and add on the other half? I dont think it will save that much money to keep the old structure, but who knows.
What would you do in this situation?

Any help would be apreciated.





This is what I want to have at the end

 

[denis4x4]

I think that a lot would have to do with the local building codes and whether or not you're getting a permit. Where I live, the permit for an "ag building" is a mere pittance.

 

[foghorn]

I started out trying to save a couple of walls on an old shed when I built my shop, but before I got very far into it decided to tear it all down and replace it with new. Glad I did since everything is square and plum now.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Other than that white shed addition, it appears to be in decent shape. I'd add on to it.

How bad is the roof ? Is it standing seam? I'd tear it off, the wood shakes underneath if it has them. 1/2 OSB right onto the batten strips and shingle it.

 

[Scout Driver]

Being from a farm I hate to see these great old buildings torn down. But......being an assessor/appraiser, I have seen too many people pour too much money into an old building only to have it not totally meet their needs in the end.

Saying that, I believe that you will have a better, more usable building in the end if you start with an all new building. Check into a Morton or other popular pole building outfit in your area. Something tells me that you will have spent less money by building a new building too.

Best of luck with your building. Keep us updated on your progress no matter which direction you go with the project.

Scott

 

[Brad1234]

Check with zoning to make sure that you can build the building that you want from scratch. Adding on to an existing building might be a loophole that you need to use.

 

[tkiranch]

I would have to tear off the roof completely, I want to turn the roof and make it a Gambrel the roof is north to south and I want it to go East to west. I would take off the sideing and put new metal on it. I would really just be using the frame ( that is in decent shape, the main poles are good all the way into the ground.

SO, I dont know? I would tear it off and strip the walls, then have my carpenter come in and do the rest.

 

[texas-saluki]

one thing to consider, which may or may not be an issue is what the town permits. It might be easier to "fix" than to start over.

I have seen people pull down buildings and then go for a permit to rebuild (storm damage) and cannot get it as the town's rules were changes and the rebuilt structure would be considered new and would not be allowed or needed substantial modification

 

[sberry]

Most of the time I am not much for using old buildings, lots of times its a band aid process, as the man said from appraisers point of view new is better, cheaper to insure, you already have to roof, all you save is some wall material, walls are cheap.

 

[nolatoolguy]

Normally I would say redo it, but in your case your expanding So I would build another. I wouls suggest porring a slab and putting up a steel pole barn. The problem with some of those old barns is termites, and the fondation.

However we have one barn thats 75 years old but has been redone so many times bit by bit its not funny. So it is possible to redo but not recomended.

 

[ears]

I would tear it down. Salvage the good wood for future projects or reuse on this one.

We built a shop at work a few years back. No permits so we had to "fix up" an existing shed. Basically we tore down one wall at a time, widened and lengthened it all around then redid the slab. It was a nightmare, turned a three day job into about a two week deal.

Ask your carpenter what he thinks about the deal. I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up costing more. It is a lot easier to build from scratch than work with pre-existing stuff unless it is already in the perfect position.

 

[tkiranch]

I would tear it down. Salvage the good wood for future projects or reuse on this one.

We built a shop at work a few years back. No permits so we had to "fix up" an existing shed. Basically we tore down one wall at a time, widened and lengthened it all around then redid the slab. It was a nightmare, turned a three day job into about a two week deal.

Ask your carpenter what he thinks about the deal. I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up costing more. It is a lot easier to build from scratch than work with pre-existing stuff unless it is already in the perfect position.

I think the building is in the right place, I figured that I could tear the roof off, strip the walls, and that would be it down to the poles and main frame. We would have to add another set of poles to the East, build the walls
and put the new trusses up, then the steel walls and doors. I do think that it might be cheaper to just drop the whole building.

 

[babzog]

A building is just a building, it's constructed with a singular (usually) purpose in mind (unless you're on the local "heritage" squad or a graduate from a liberal arts degree program...). Tell me: if you were building a typical garage now, would you expect/desire it to receive "heritage" status in 50-100 years and wind up as a flower store? To you, it's your shop and that is its sole function... I'm sure you're be laughing at the notion of your shop being designated "heritage" in 100 years and causing some poor guy all sorts of grief just because he wants to build a new shop. LOL

All that to say, if the old building is a rotten old thing that doesn't fit your needs, then flatten it without a second thought, salvaging whatever good materials are in there and build your dream shop.

 

[tkiranch]

A building is just a building, it's constructed with a singular (usually) purpose in mind (unless you're on the local "heritage" squad or a graduate from a liberal arts degree program...). Tell me: if you were building a typical garage now, would you expect/desire it to receive "heritage" status in 50-100 years and wind up as a flower store? To you, it's your shop and that is its sole function... I'm sure you're be laughing at the notion of your shop being designated "heritage" in 100 years and causing some poor guy all sorts of grief just because he wants to build a new shop. LOL

All that to say, if the old building is a rotten old thing that doesn't fit your needs, then flatten it without a second thought, salvaging whatever good materials are in there and build your dream shop.

My intention was not to save an old building, it was to save money. I am going to have some more estamates done to see what would be the best option.

 

[rburke65]

Is it possible just to keep this 20'x30' for storage and just build another along side it? You could always use it to store building materials, etc. You can never have enough storage!

 

[babzog]

My intention was not to save an old building, it was to save money. I am going to have some more estamates done to see what would be the best option.

Sorry, I think my tone was misinterpreted (was typing while on Nyquil last night). Trying to be funny, but guess I fell fell off the floor instead. :tard:

rburke has a good point... this could be a great garden/storage shed if fixed up a bit and your shop could be a whole new structure. There will be costs involved in demo and salvage, OTOH, if the struture is sound, might as well put that money toward keeping it in service instead.

 

[tkiranch]

It comes down to the old question, do I try to fix the building? Do I tear it down? or Do I double it with addition?
I would need to strip off the whole roof, replace roof trusses, sheeting, and then roof and put new siding on it. I have 1 cheap 16ft garage door with opener on it, Dirt floor and patches to the back wall. It used to have 2 huge doors on the front, a small slider on the back, the slider rotted away along with the back wall up to about 9 feet, had to put new framing in, cover the back with wood. the 2 large doors swung open and one day the just fell off, can you imagine how hard it is to try to put a 10x18 door back on 3 hinges by yourself. then do the other one.
After getting them back up, I nailed them shut, used the back slider, then had a nephew cut a door opening, put in the garage door and an opener.

So, If I have to take it down, that will be easy, all I got to do is make a few cuts, pull with chain and tractor, burn where it is. the demolition should take a couple of days, then the fire should take about 15 minutes to an hour.

But then I could strip the roof and trusses off, put up new ones, put metal siding on and use it

I dont know,


AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rburke65]

"Off with it's head!"

 

[rieferman]

Having saved an old barn (see signature) I'll say this:

- If you aren't saving major money
- or
- If you aren't saving significant character

In my opinion, it is better to knock it down and start again. It is extremely much more difficult to fuss with an old building than starting square etc.

But, I saved about $30-40,000 by saving my structure, and the character inside was vintage and worth going for. That's why I went the route I did.

 

[twostory]

If I could get a permit to build a new building any size I wanted, I would tear down & rebuild. As other have said, check out the permitting process first.

Now if you tear it down, I would call the local fire department and see if they will burn it down for you. They sometimes burn down a building to practice putting out fires.

Then have a concrete crew remove the old slab, and build a new slab/foundation.

Demo cost will be very low if you can burn it down.