Ten years waiting but finally started

[oldiemotors]

Been waiting a long time to finally get my garage/workshop. Garage Majal as my wife has begun to refer to it.

Debated between a wood pole barn and a steel building and ended up going with steel. Here are some specifics:

• 
  
  * 30'x50' shop with a 15'x50' lean to or cover across the front
  * Sidewall height is 14' with a 12:1 pitch
  * 1-18'x12' insulated overhead sectional door
  * 1-10'x12' insulated overhead sectional door
  * 3' walkthrough in the front
  * 4' walkthrough in the rear
  * 45'x50' concrete slab
  * Building engineered to pass windstorm certification
  * 3" insulation throughout the building

I am plumbing it for a small bathroom with a shower and planning to install a Bendpak 2-post lift in the 10' bay. Still have not decided on the lighting. I would like to go all LED, but not sure if I can afford it for the amount of light I want.

Here are some drawings I made that represent the over all design.

 

[Zeke]

I could live with that. In fact I could live in that.

Nice. Big doors. You must live in the Sunbelt.

 

[oldiemotors]

Foundation work started. 2'x1' beams around the perimeter and down the middle.

3/8" rebar 12" OC

 

[oldiemotors]

Another BIG day...first concrete truck arrives

Four more and it is all said and done

Here is a time-lapse video I made of the pour.

 

[Richard Cranium]

looks good, I hope you made your slab thick enough for your lift. Please keep posting the pictures.

 

[matt_i]

Nice use of rebar! You will be happy with that. Did they come back and cut control joints the next day?

 

[oldiemotors]

Nice use of rebar! You will be happy with that. Did they come back and cut control joints the next day?

No, they didn't. Should I insist they do that?

 

[sapcpo]

Very good start, I like the covered front section. I'll be watching your progress.

 

[Cypherian]

No, they didn't. Should I insist they do that?

I am not a concrete guy , expert etc but yeah you might want to get them to do so. Every slab I have had poured has them in it not knowing where you are if your ground shifts you will end up with cracks .


Cypher

 

[CNGsaves]

Wow, that is going to be Awesome shop, especially with the covered lean-to in front and bathroom/shower in shop.

+1 to have control joints cut in slab.

UPDATE GJ Profile with a Location to get best advice from GJer's.

 

[PurdueSD]

Looks great! Looking forward to seeing it go up!

 

[J_French06]

Gonna look good

 

[Mr. Tool]

Awesome, Sweet and Cool all rolled into one!

Good for you!

 

[Zeke]

Looks like they knew what they were doing. I think I'd rely on them about the joints.

 

[RossABQ]

I had a good stucco guy over for some work the other day. He said they kept their slab moistened for 2 weeks, and it has never had a single crack. No control joints. Even with control joints, keeping it moist while it cures is important.

 

[FTG-05]

You may want to delete that video link for persec reasons. We could pick out who you are in the video. You're the guy doing the sitting on the left hand side.

Just sayin'!


Good luck!!!

 

[oldiemotors]

I had a good stucco guy over for some work the other day. He said they kept their slab moistened for 2 weeks, and it has never had a single crack. No control joints. Even with control joints, keeping it moist while it cures is important.

I remember my dad telling me that concrete actually cures harder if kept under water. Tried keeping it wet with lawn sprinklers but that was working my well quite hard and flooding the area. After two days of that I decided to cover the concrete with thin plastic sheeting instead. This is what I used:

I could see that for the most part the concrete was staying very damp under the plastic. I periodically ran more water under the plastic for good measure, plus we had rain for several days. I did this until they came to put up the steel.

Steel is up...but we have a problem

Apparently the steel was purchased way before they were able to pour my foundation. Found out from the delivery guy that it had been sitting exposed to the weather on their lot in Houston for months.

You can see where water and dirt was collecting in the larger I-beams and left to dry. The purlins and girts were strapped in bundles that rubbed together and rusted with the water that collected between them.

I know this is mostly cosmetic, but kind of pisses me off. The building company tells me that they will make it right by sanding and repainting the steel.

They came out Friday and pressure washed and repainted all of the steel...on both sides. I hope this does not come back to haunt me down the road.

 

[readhead]

Was there a delay in delivering the building? Usually the building materials are fabricated less than a week before delivery.

 

[Avplayer]

Looks awesome! Very jealous

 

[oldiemotors]

Was there a delay in delivering the building? Usually the building materials are fabricated less than a week before delivery.

Agree. I too was told that usually the steel is ordered AFTER the foundation goes down. That was only three weeks ago. In my case the steel was apparently sitting in a freight yard for months BEFORE the foundation went down. Not sure exactly how long, but the delivery driver said he has never seen a shipment sit so long in their yard.

The walkthrough doors were also part of that shipment. They were wrapped in plastic shrinkwrap and at the time of delivery I could see that the plastic was holding a lot of condensation inside. When we unwrapped them we saw that the hinges had rusted and even the door panels had rust spots. They had to send them back to the manufacture to be cleaned up and repainted. Have not got them back yet.

The framing looks a lot better now that it was repainted. I'll get some new pictures of the repainted steel and post them.

So far the building company is making things right. Just frustrating because what is very important to me (the construction of a shop I have waited so long for) seems to be not so important to others...and I am paying those "others" a lot of money. Trying to stay optimistic and focused on the final outcome.

 

[readhead]

I sold and erected metal buildings for fifteen years. This is very curious. The purlins and girts are run off a coil machine and are specific to each building. How did you purchase the building? How much time elapsed between the order and delivery?

 

[ymurf]

now thats a garage.

 

[Jarwop]

I notice notice a bunch of punched holes in the purlins. Were these specified in your order for something? Maybe this is the famous building that was ordered and never picked up by the customer that your contractor got for a discount? Usually every engineered building is custom ordered and manufactured after order is placed. I would be concerned about the doors rusting from the inside after getting wet. I would look the sheet metal panels over real good. If wet they may have lasting damage to the painted finish, Look at a number of metal building sites and they require the materials to be kept dry by covering. I wouldn't be concerned with the red iron as they have cleaned and painted them. Looks like the contractor is trying to do right.

 

[readhead]

That is a standard punch pattern. They may or may not all get filled. The pattern is designed for different amounts of lap depending on the engineering.

 

[oldiemotors]

I sold and erected metal buildings for fifteen years. This is very curious. The purlins and girts are run off a coil machine and are specific to each building. How did you purchase the building? How much time elapsed between the order and delivery?

I ordered and paid my 1st installment in August 2015.
The corners for the foundation were set on 12/9/2015
The excavation started on 1/23/2016
The building was delivered to me on 2/18
The slab was poured on 3/4
Cured from 3/4 to 3/15
Steel started going up on 3/15

 

[readhead]

I think your building got built early and then sat. Did they want to deliver around October? Based on the condition of the red iron I am guessing that the sheeting is covered with white rust. What company provided the building? It is a very good sign that they are working with you. I know that it is a bit of a disappointment right now but in awhile it will be a memory and a good story.

 

[oldiemotors]

The company is Lewing Welding out of El Campo Texas. They also go by Gulf Stream Buildings LLC.

What is "white rust"? I was examining the panels, still stacked and sandwiched together as they were shipped. They look ok to me, but my wife commented that "they don't have a very rich color to them". They are a dark brown, the color is called koko brown.

 

[readhead]

White rust is oxidation that happens when moisture gets between the sheets. You might have been lucky if the sheets were covered.
From order to delivery is usually 6-8 weeks for most companies. I don't know what arrangements you had with the company but they may have jumped the gun and put it in production to soon. They may have realized their mistake and are trying to make it right. I'm guessing that you live near Houston which is the center of the metal building universe.

 

[Pwrgeek]

No, they didn't. Should I insist they do that?

If that is an engineered slab (which it looks like) then it may not need them. My 30X60 doesn't have any. When I inquired with the contractor he referred me to the engineer who said "I put plenty of strength into the slab you won't have any cracking". Given that he engineered for 3000 psi concrete and I paid for an upgrade to 4000 with proof breaks that came out at 4500 I'm not worried.


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[Pwrgeek]

I remember my dad telling me that concrete actually cures harder if kept under water. Tried keeping it wet with lawn sprinklers but that was working my well quite hard and flooding the area. After two days of that I decided to cover the concrete with thin plastic sheeting instead. This is what I used:

I could see that for the most part the concrete was staying very damp under the plastic. I periodically ran more water under the plastic for good measure, plus we had rain for several days. I did this until they came to put up the steel.



Steel is up...but we have a problem

Apparently the steel was purchased way before they were able to pour my foundation. Found out from the delivery guy that it had been sitting exposed to the weather on their lot in Houston for months.



You can see where water and dirt was collecting in the larger I-beams and left to dry. The purlins and girts were strapped in bundles that rubbed together and rusted with the water that collected between them.



I know this is mostly cosmetic, but kind of pisses me off. The building company tells me that they will make it right by sanding and repainting the steel.



They came out Friday and pressure washed and repainted all of the steel...on both sides. I hope this does not come back to haunt me down the road.

I had the same issue. My building (from Whirlwind who you'll have heard of if you're from Houston) sat out for two weeks after the concrete batch plant missed our delivery and delayed us from before Christmas to after. You can see some of it in the attached picture. They didn't seem too concerned about it. I'm considering sanding and painting myself for the worst spots.

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[NUTTSGT]

Looks like it's going to be a nice building when it's done . Hopefully things will proceed like they should with the contractor making things right.

I'll move this to the gallery section once I get back on a PC rather than my cell