The Flying Shop

[phred]

and we have walls!!!
Besides all the hoops I had to jump through to get the permit there are a couple other restrictions that were troublesome. There is height restriction in this part of town that builders somehow manage to get around. The average height cannot be over 20' from ground to ridge. It some kind of crasy formula that city uses to find the average. Well since most of my structure is above ground my average height ends up being 19'8" even though the plate height is 10' and the top of the ridge is 14' I need at least 12' clear inside. We had the trusses high hatted to gain an extra 6" and popped up the roof for 12' over the lift. The inspectors didn't ask and we didn't comment. I now have a clear 12'6" along the right side over the lift area and a full 14" at the ridge. It good to have a superintendent that thinks ahead to solve problems and keeps the inspectors happy!!!

 

[sean Buick 76]

Really creative solution to the height restrictions, I like it!

 

[phred]

More framing shots. you cans see its getting pretty imposing from the rear and how close we are to the trees. We had some pretty bad storms since completion and the tree that is closest to the building barely moves. Yes it could hit the shop, but even if I had taken that one down the other around it could fall in a storm and do the same amount of damage.

 

[SouthernGemini]

Thanks so much for putting detailed pics of the 'pan on beam' method of concrete floor. I am is discussions with my structural steel guy currently and this is the method we are going with. I investigated different methods and the simplicity and ability to overbuild with this type of assembly won out.

I will be using lightweight concrete (pea style as per Parish Concrete) b/c will be OVER my garage, not parking on it. And it will have radiant cooling. Your pictures are a help.

 

[wolfsburged]

Following, great build!


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[phred]

Here are a few more framing shots. You can see in one shot the pop up. The blocking is for the mini split that will provide heating and cooling. Cooling is most important in Atlanta when the humidity is 65% and the air temp is 95. I've worked in the heat for too many years. The mini-split is worth every penny. Its a 2.5 ton and it keep the shop a comfortable 70 degrees easily. The panel is only a 100amp. One of the members of the variance review board was adamant that I install a small panel so it cant be converted to a living area. Luckily 100 amps actually works fine since all the lighting will be super efficient LED.

 

[phred]

Thanks so much for putting detailed pics of the 'pan on beam' method of concrete floor. I am is discussions with my structural steel guy currently and this is the method we are going with. I investigated different methods and the simplicity and ability to overbuild with this type of assembly won out.

I will be using lightweight concrete (pea style as per Parish Concrete) b/c will be OVER my garage, not parking on it. And it will have radiant cooling. Your pictures are a help.

This floor is solid and has very little vibration. It does however vibrate if you happen to let a 35" duratrac tire and wheelslip out of your hand from 4 feet up.

 

[fatkidracer]

The panel is only a 100amp. One of the members of the variance review board was adamant that I install a small panel so it cant be converted to a living area.

wow, again i am glad i live in the country! thank you again for sharing this build it is helping a lot of us with sloped lots!

 

[phred]

Been out of town for thanksgiving. Just now catching up on work and emails. Finally found some time to post up some more of the build photos. I hate not having receptacles where I need them. I putting them 8 feet on center down each side wall, six across the rear wall. A couple in the office for my fridge, computer, microwave and wireless router. There will be 4 underneath the building and 1 exterior by the entry door. The compressor, welder, plasma cutter, lift and forklift will all have dedicated receptacles. Here the beginnings of the wiring.
My BigAss Light arrived. Wow these things are well built. Only pull 1.2 amps and 6 of these equal 21 double tube 4' fluorescents. Yeah they are expensive individually but when you do the math they are actually a little cheaper for the same amount of light and the quality of the light is so much better. The lights are 425 each. only draw 7.2 amps total. 21 fluorescents are about 50 bucks each and draw nearly 80 amps total. I can use a smaller panel, smaller service, poor bills will be less. never need to change the bulb and they don't loose lumens as they age. Plus the wiring cost is lower since I only need 6 ceiling receptacles and all on a 15 amp breaker. I actually saved about 100 bucks using these 6 fixtures over the 21 that we figured would be necessary to get the foot candles I wanted. BigAss lights even did a photometrics study to help me place the lights for optimal coverage.
The roofers arrived saturday morning at 730. They hit it hard, 3 tab shingles on the 4/12 section and torch down on the 2/12. All flashed, and completed by 1200. Theses guys didnt slow down. Now its completely dried in and we can finalize the electrical and plumbing.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Roofing looks great!!

That light is intriguing. Did you use the garage light without the occupancy sensor option? Do they hang from wire rope/chain from the ceiling or are they mounted directly to the drywall/framing?

I might have to pick up a few of those myself.

http://www.bigasslight.com/products/the-garage-light/

 

[phred]

I don't use the occupancy sensor. They are chain hung from j-hooks. They come with a a 10' cord with a plug. You can hardware them if you wish. It doesn't affect the warranty. I left the plug on so I could adjust them in the future if I see a need. They provide great pure white light. Great for detailing a car. Almost like sun light. I am going to add one more light as one of my trucks is pretty large and it casts a shadow when I have it in the shop.


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[phred]

Dried in and siding going on. The main house is a 1920's brick bungalow with stucco accents. We wanted to make the shop blend but brick would look silly on the elevated structure audit would break the budget. We opted to use stucco patterned hardiboard and hardiboard battens to use match he stucco accents on the house. There are some pretty cool brackets and details on the main house and I wanted to mimic as much detail as I could and without over doing it. The contractor had a bunch of cypress brackets left over from another job sitting in his warehouse. He made me a deal on them. They milled them down to size and bam I had real brackets.
We ran a 1" PEX water line over from the house for the sink and hose bibb.

 

[phred]

Heres the PEX (blue tube) and more brackets. I like the brackets. They really did a bang up job. They put crown between each bracket, again to mimic some of the details of the house.

 

[@e91kiter]

Very cool build! Reminds me of Ferris Bueller's day off.

 

[SouthernGemini]

I appreciate how you cut your eave around the tree. I love my trees and my carport was very close to a large pine that I would NOT cut down. I built my eave around the tree and my friends thought I was silly. 7 years later it looks great but the tree has grown in width some so I needed to cut the roofing material back a few inches a year ago. Well worth it to get the most size out of my carport and keep my tree!

 

[phred]

Yeah my back yard is an oasis. Living in town I wanted to keep as much tree canopy as possible. This was the best solution.


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[phred]

This spring I hope to redo all the rear landscaping and build the patio under the shop for entertaining. We'll have to wait and see how bad my taxes are come February. The drought has reduced the rear yard to a dust bowl. My dogs play back there and there is very little ground level vegetation left.


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[phred]

Framing and rough electrical passes. Now insulation. No batts here. Spray foam

We sprayed everything including the underside of the metal pan. It's like a cooler in there. Cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It was so quiet before we installed the plywood on the walls. More pics to follow


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[madoc1]

sub'd, jim

 

[hpw]

love the foam....more info.? How much(if u don't mind me asking)?

 

[phred]

The foam cost about 1.35/sf. The foam guys had the job done in about 3 hours including insulating the ceiling of the basement where we dug out. We thought long and hard about how to insulate the slab. We finally decide foam was going to be best. The only issue is keeping pests out of the foam. We ended up skinning the entire underside of the shop with hardboard panels with battens similar to the sides. More on that when we get to that.

 

[phred]

The insulation on the underside went on about 4" thick. In hindsight adding some resistance heating elements in the floor would have been a good idea and fairly inexpensive. The shop stays nice and warm in the winter with the 2.5 ton minisplit but the slab cools quickly and is slow to warm up. We don't see extreme cold but if it's in the 20's for a few days the slab will get down to about 50. That's pretty cold on your feet, even with boots if you are on it for extended periods. I don't run the heat or ac round the clock since Im only working in there 3 days a week. I could have put in a 500 sq section of wire down the middle of the floor for about 2500. This would have helped take the edge off on those really cold days. Lesson learned.


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[jvitez]

Amazing work! Thanks for posting. Good thing you're in the business, as I know I wouldn't have had the patience to deal with all the obstacles you met.

One thing though: looking at the pics of the block walls going up, I couldn't help but think of the Cask of Amontillado.....

 

[phred]

One thing though: looking at the pics of the block walls going up, I couldn't help but think of the Cask of Amontillado.....[/QUOTE]

Ha Ha thats good, It does kinda feel that way now that I think about it.

 

[C_F]

I just ran across your thread today...WOW, it's great! Thanks for sharing your build with us all.

And e91kiter is right, it does remind me of Ferris Bueller's garage in a way.

 

[53PontiacSD]

You know.....a red Ferrari Daytona would look cool sitting in there all alone......just saying.

 

[phred]

I've got something shiny and red living in there now. It's 42 years old.

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[GLTHFJ60]

Awesome bronco!!

 

[phred]

Thanks. Here's his big brothers

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[madoc1]

very nice shop and very nice trucks. your 42 yo looks nicer than my 41 yo fj40! one question-the last support beam in the middle rear, when was that added and did you have a large foundation for it also. couldn't find it in any of the pics. is that the bunp out for the minisplit? any way, nice job.

jim

 

[karlhungus]

I love this thread, looking forward to more updates. Very unique. I humbly suggest a window or two to really give that "flying" feeling when inside. Not like they would be a security risk.

 

[phred]

very nice shop and very nice trucks. your 42 yo looks nicer than my 41 yo fj40! one question-the last support beam in the middle rear, when was that added and did you have a large foundation for it also. couldn't find it in any of the pics. is that the bunp out for the minisplit? any way, nice job.



jim

The middle column in rear went up when the rest of the steel went in I just didn't get a good shot of it. It's footing is about 4x4x2 primary due to poor soils. It supports the little 4x8 bump out I use as an office.

I thought about windows but decided against them for cost reasons and I wanted the wall space plus they would get dirty and I hate cleaning windows especially ones that high.


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[phred]

I hate Sheetrock. I hate working with it. I hate the crappy finish it provides and especially hate that you have to look for studs if you want to hang anything on the wall. OSB looks like, well OSB no matter what you do to it. I decided to use mdo plywood for the walls and ceiling because it is slick, takes paint well and you can put a nail or screw where ever you want. It cost about the same as drywall and went up way faster. With. 10' plate I didn't want a 2' strip of plywood so I came up with a way to run base and crown that eliminated the need for the strip.

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I used the 2x12 as a base board because I know I will bang my jacks or welding table against the wall if I don't have something to act as a bumper. The 2x's are screwed in and can be replaced if damaged and can take the abuse. The 1x6's make up the other foot and provide additional thickness should I ever decide I want mount something heavy on the wall at the top or mid-line

 

[phred]

I did lots of sketches for details and general info for myself and the contractor. I keep a sketch book with all the time to keep ideas fresh and help me workout details for fab work or new designs before I try to build something. Here are some more from the garage sketch book

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[ajohno]

Like your garage and Fords as well.

 

[phred]

Thanks ajohno.
All the interior mdo is installed and the painting has started, office door track installed and started finishing the new space under the house attached to the existing garage.
The underside of the shop is now finally enclosed with hardipanels to protect the insulation.

 

[53PontiacSD]

Well, that will work even better. Nice Bronco(s)

 

[phred]

Sorry about the upside down photos. I thought I had that fixed. Anyway the painting continues and the first new toy arrives! yep thats a Mohawk A7 modified for infloor hydraulic connections.
The big *** light are also installed and I started putting in some the cabinets.

 

[WarrenJ]

Nice project.

 

[phred]

Here are some photos of the shop with the lights on and off for a comparison

Pretty amazing for 6 fixtures that only pull 7.2 amps total.
We painted everything gloss white to help reflect as much light as possible. This also will make it easier to clean the walls since they are slick. Before I moved in I went back and repainted the bottom 4' of the walls with rustoleum oil based metal coating in gloss white. It's tougher than the oil based house paint and has a higher gloss. The lower half of the wall will take the most abuse from tools, people leaning in them with greasy clothes and hand etc.


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