Below 265 SQ/FT The storage barn

[gasgas17]

A few years a go I purchased a piece of property in the country near the hills where we like to ride dirt bikes. We had been riding from my brothers cottage for years but he sold it off when the kids had grown to pursue other opportunities of recreation. I had a piece of property in a different area of the province years earlier, but it was located in a cottage subdivision with less riding opportunity. So we sold it off and finally years later lucked out on finding this piece in our budget. 2.5 acres at the base of what we call a mountain. People that live near real mountains would call it a hill, but 1000 feet is as high as we get around here. I plan to build a garage mahaul here next year to use as a cottage, but in the mean time I thought we would build a simple storage barn/garage to kind of make better use of the property and give us a place to store stuff while we build the bigger one next year. Of course it will get used to store toys in the future. I had originally planned to just get a storage container and had even placed the gravel pad for it, but my deal on the container fell short when they tried to move it and the side collapsed inward as the floor structure had completely rotted out..

So what to do with this shiny new gravel pad. A 20 foot container from one of the bigger sellers hear runs around 3500 CND plus delivery and taxes and when compared to building something of similar size, I don't see the value with the exception of being able to resell it later when no longer needed. So I made the decision to build something instead for a similar budget. Me providing the labour of course. A 12'x22' garage with an 8 foot wall, 12/12 slope steel clad roof and a big garage door to get anything I wanted into the space. I set the ceiling at 9 feet so I could install an 8'x8' door. Lets get started then.

The lot.

We have been picking away at this for a few years. I have had a couple set backs that have delayed starting in on this project, but we have gotten past those now. Well, with the exception of Covid and my friends to the south trying to figure out who their president is going to be? But I'm sure those will sort them selves out over time! Some sooner than others.

We just enjoy coming up here and cutting firewood for home and carefully carving out what we want cleared. You always think you have enough cleared when really you don't. We want to keep this place woodsy, as I have no desire to come up here and mow the lawn! Keep it simple. Gravel driveway/parking and a garage and a cottage with some place to sit around a fire with a cold beer after a ride.

I also got into milling logs with an Alaskan mill, so we have been milling what we can use for parts in the main cottage when we build that. I have some 20Foot 4"x 10" plus timbers for ceiling ties in the main cottage. 3 in total that should show nice when done.

Here is the biggest of the three. Spruce. The others are Hemlock.

https://photos.smugmug.com/The-barn/i-ncggf8G/0/eb9129db/1280/20200104_130747_mp4-1280.mp4

Gus the Beagle Basset approves and assumes his usual position.

Although he does like walks in the woods...

 

[loganb]

Forest Scenery...Check
Something "Non-traditional"....Check
Cool Tools Most of Us Don't Have(Alaska Mill)...Check
Paying The Dog Tax....Check

Well Done On starting this one out strong...I'm excited to follow along!

 

[The Cobbler]

nice project , thanks for sharing...

 

[Fast914]

This is going to be awesome GasGas! I cant wait to get back up your way and actually ride for more than 45 minutes....I will literally bring two pieces of Rad Hose next time...LOL!

 

[gasgas17]

So this spring I was offered a 20 foot sea can, I would have to have it removed and shipped to my lot. No problem I said and I quickly readied a spot for it up at the lot.

A good friend and riding buddy offered to bring his small tractor up to the lot and help me do some clean up and prep work for the gravel pad. Big thanks to him as the excavator left a lot of trash around that could have been cleaned up in 5 minutes with a good operator. We got things cleaned up and marked out an area for the dump truck to drop the gravel. Then I just had to come back up and spread the pile by hand and grade it up with the laser level.

But as a couple weeks passed while the client was getting the sea can cleaned out, they tried to pull it sideways and the floor collapse. Easy come and easy go they say. I caled the scrap for them and had it removed for the client. But what to do with this new gravel pad?

 

[gasgas17]

The slabs did not go to waste from milling that spruce log. Pretty sure I have enough to make live edge stair treads for the bigger barn in the spring. There are a few 2"x20" 's in the truck.

And the big 4" x 20" x 21' is drying out nicely and will soon be stored in the new barn for the winter.

 

[gasgas17]

Setting up the form. I decided for the cost of actually buying a sea can that I could most likely buy the materials to build a more permanent building that was more usable. So what will fit on the gravel pad we have. I figured I could squeeze a 12 x 22 pad in there with a bit of shovel work to reshape the gravel for an engineered style slab. So that's what I did.

I went up on the first Saturday and shaped the gravel and set up the form. Then went up the next Saturday and placed the plastic and rebar and finished staking the form. Everything leveled up with the laser.

 

[gasgas17]

Tuesday morning we poured concrete!

We had some left over in the truck so we poured an impromptu patio around the fire pit.

Then the waiting and finishing begins> it was only 7 or 8 degrees Celsius this day, so it took a while for the concrete to cure enough to get the polisher on it. Gave me lots of time to clean up around the forms. After the final polish I sprayed it with curing compound and covered the slab with plastic the about 6 inches of loose straw and a tarp. I pulled out around midnight or so. Home by 2 am.

 

[Bears Fan]

Nice job on the pad! it looks like a lot of fun out there around the fire drinking a beer.

That is quite the list of bikes you have, I was wondering how you like the GasGas, they are making their debut in the US Supercross season starting in January.

 

[gasgas17]

Nice job on the pad! it looks like a lot of fun out there around the fire drinking a beer.

That is quite the list of bikes you have, I was wondering how you like the GasGas, they are making their debut in the US Supercross season starting in January.

Love my GasGas, but its not what they are racing in supercross. Those will be red KTM's. KTM bought out GasGas last year and sold off their enduro line to another company in Spain by the name of Reiju. They are still producing the the old GasGas bikes that I ride under the the Reiju name banner. Still great bikes too.

 

[gasgas17]

Last Saturday we striped the forms and framed the walls. I like to stick frame off the concrete. I made all the rafters and plates the night before and also notched all my gable studs to fit onto the gable rafters.

High production birds mouth cuts.

Garage a nugen kit in a trailer. Some assembly required.

My brother in law was kind enough to come out and give me a hand Saturday. Hats off to him.

Then on Sunday it was a single handed slog framing the roof and ceiling. Thankfully I brought my scaffold on wheels. Made all the difference and saved a lot of climbing ladders.

Ready for siding.

 

[rixtrix1]

Property and the garage build look great. Thanks for sharing.

 

[captain14]

Great project. How far is this property from your home?

The is a guy on YouTube that will build all the walls and trusses In his shop and transport them to the worksite. Ken’s Karpentry is the channel.

 

[gasgas17]

Great project. How far is this property from your home?

The is a guy on YouTube that will build all the walls and trusses In his shop and transport them to the worksite. Ken’s Karpentry is the channel.

Exactly 1 hour 27 minutes with a fast stop for a coffee.

I have watched a bunch of Ken's videos. He produces good videos for sure. I guess if your concrete is perfect every time his method is ok.. They take a lot of short cuts. Very typical of today's new home construction. He has his little niche figured out. I'm sure his garages serve his clients just fine.

 

[gasgas17]

So we played hooky from money making jobs yesterday to get the barn project ready for a steel roof, which I will be ordering today. We are racing mother nature and old man winter. The property is located in the snow belt, so once winter sets in its all over. Unlike here in Halifax where it comes and goes all winter long.

Ranch wall going on..



Roof all strapped.



Another days work in the books and we are ready for the roof. My garage door supplier has a mis-ordered door for me at a discount so we will grabbing that too. My oldest daughter come up later in the afternoon and gave us a hand passing stuff up to us while up on the roof. I think it saved us just enough time to be able to get all the rakes complete before it was too dark to cut wood. She actually had to hold Devon's phone light so he could cut the last piece.

 

[gasgas17]

Not much happening on the storage barn at the moment. Waiting on the steel roof to arrive on the 10th. Then I will install some doors.

 

[sublime68charger]

looks like your having alot of fun!

love the chainsaw mill!

 

[gasgas17]

The roof finally showed up and we got all the panels on yesterday. I install some clear panel sections up high to let some natural light in. It will most likely be a while be for I ever have power to this building so the clear panels should help.

Now back to work!

 

[loganb]

Nice update...coming right along! Have a target date for being closed in?

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[thammel]

Looks great! I have a question...what are some of the shortcuts Ken's Karpentry takes? He makes everything look great, but I do admit that his garages aren't fancy or large. They are pretty simple.

 

[gasgas17]

Looks great! I have a question...what are some of the shortcuts Ken's Karpentry takes? He makes everything look great, but I do admit that his garages aren't fancy or large. They are pretty simple.

A few would be: squaring up the walls using the plywood. Never a great idea as 4x8 sheets of anything are rarely perfectly square and studs are generally less than perfectly straight and concrete slabs are generally not perfectly flat. Combine all these factors and there can be a big potential for accumulative error. The further you get into a build the worse it can get. Think a 1/2" hump or dip in the concrete and that just transfers into the wall, top plate, roof trusses, fascia boards and even worse the next floor. Always best to take diagonals with a long tape. Same principal applies to checking the floor for square before you start. You want to take care of any error in straight, level or plumb at the start when they are easy to deal with.

Framing off concrete, it is always best to stick frame in place with a chalk line strung in place from the corner stud to corner stud to mark stud length. Sure we have checked a slab or a poured wall and have found that it was plus or minus 1/16 of an inch, then just framed and stood walls. But that is not the norm.

Pouring a slab for a garage and carport without a step down in the floor surface. What keeps the water from constantly running under or wicking up the wall that divides them? OSB is like a sponge and sitting in water is not recommended. The carports should really be a separate pour and have a finished floor surface a couple inches below the garage slab.

Not installing the sheathing with an overhang down below the bottom plate. Same goes for siding, especially when they do carports as they bring the siding around the corner all at floor grade. What keeps the water from bleeding under the wall? There is usually a minimum required over lap of 3/4 to 1 inch, then one would usually let the siding over hang the sheathing a similar amount for lots of water shed.

Just to name a few. Not to kick the guy or anything, but the easy way is usually never the best way in terms of quality and usually it takes little effort at the start to do things correctly. That being said, I still enjoy his videos and his builds are not that bad, but I wish he would do a few things differently.

 

[Alexvito163]

Excellent project!

 

[bargainhuntingking]

Very nice. I wish I had your building skills.

 

[gasgas17]

The roof is now complete and 100% water tight. Hope to have doors installed by the end of next weekend. Then install the rest of the collar ties, frame around the outside of the walls for soffit, build the cornice returns, install all the soffit and fascia trim and add battens over every stud and paint or stain the siding. The short list! Wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't an hour and a half away and Winter!

 

[gasgas17]

Got a couple half days work in on the Barn. It was a really pleasant weekend up in the woods.

Installed the rest of my collar ties up in the attic and removed all the temporary bracing from the ceiling and the attic now that the roof is on. Also tidied up some loose ends inside. Installed the door jamb for the over head door as well the backing on the inside for the hardware. I pre bent some cladding at home and got that installed around the door opening and installed the garage door. Next trip up I hope to install the man door and exterior cladding as well as tidy up the loose ends on the overhead door. It was nice to see that the floor had completely dried up from the roof being open and the building full of wet snow.

 

[gasgas17]

Made it up to the Barn today and got all my backing in for my soffit and the cornice returns framed. Ripped the bottom edge of the fascia boards straight, which also cut the bottom tips off all the rafter tails at the same time. Ready to install all the soffit and fascia now. Hopefully tomorrow. Drove into a bad snow storm tonight on the way home tonight, but it didn't snow up at the barn so I should be good to go tomorrow.



To make things a bit easier and to keep being able to work on the barn this winter I hired a local guy that lives just down the road to plow my driveway for me this winter. This will also get me in there earlier this spring as we usually have to wait for the snow to melt out of the drive way in the spring. It a 150 feet from the road to the start of the parking area.

Ended the day with a hike up the ravine behind my lot and walked back down the access road. Could have used snow shoes as I was breaking thru the crust and sinking 6 inches into the snow. Although the sides of the ravine are pretty steep and off camber in spots for snow shoes.

 

[P0sTaL]

nice build cant wait to see the finished building. i am guessing power has to be trenched in ? i really like the pictures of how peaceful it looks. keepup the good work

 

[jollygreengiant]

nice build cant wait to see the finished building. i am guessing power has to be trenched in ? i really like the pictures of how peaceful it looks. keepup the good work

x2, I'm jealous of the property you have and how peaceful it is.

I toured around most of Nova scotia a few years ago and absolutely loved it. The people were awesome, and the countryside was beautiful. Not to mention all of the fresh seafood. We would likely have moved there if the job prospects were better.

And I lol'd at Bernie in your pic.

 

[loganb]

Nice update....

And we'll done, that was the last place I was expecting 'ole mittens to show up!

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[gasgas17]

Spent the day finishing up all the soffit and fascia on the barn. I used black aluminum and did all the bending on site. The soffit was disappointingly thin but it seems ok now that it's all installed. I was not able to source any black soffit in a vinyl product as we seem to be in the middle of the great soffit shortage of 2020/2021. It's been a tough go trying to source all of our building supplies during Covid. Anyways the black trim is looking good. Still need to install the entry door that I am currently painting out in the shop and I also need to get the weather striping installed on the garage door. I plan to paint the garage door black at some point also but may just leave it for the time being. Then in the spring I will be staining the siding and installing corner boards and battens over all the stud locations to help give the siding some depth.

 

[gasgas17]

And what a peaceful day up working in the woods. The best part of doing cladding is no saws and no generator to listen to all day! The snow just makes it extra quiet up there.

 

[gasgas17]

Made it up to the lot today and finally tidied up the garage door install. As well as squeezing in a little shoveling and snow shoeing with the wife.

Straightened up all the tracks and tightened all the fasteners. Installed the metal hangers for the rear end of the tracks ( I had them hung on temporary wood blocks) and installed the weather stripping. The door runs like butter.

It looks so much cleaner with the weather stripping.

This is how bright it is during the daylight with the translucent panels in the roof.

Next up is the man door, which is painted and ready to install. Currently building some forced entry counter measures for the man door. It should be pretty stout. Stay tuned.

 

[gasgas17]

Finally got my man door installed today. I just bought an inexpensive entry door from Home Depot and cladded the exterior to match the building. I also made some extra security features for it to keep the door kicker inner's at bay. Hopefully it will keep any would be intruders from the local area at bay. They don't seem have a high level of sophistication from past experience at my brother's old place down the road.

The lock boxes and locking tabs are all 1/4" plate steel and the bar on the inside of the door is 1 1/4" square tube. The locking tabs are welded to the square tube and protrude thru the door slab.

I still need to install the exterior header backing for the header cladding and the apron under the door. Then on to exterior corner boards and battens.

 

[captain14]

The man door install looks good.

Any sign of unwanted visitors this winter when you’ve been up there?

That’s the biggest drawback to a life of property like this.

 

[gasgas17]

No visitors this winter that we could tell. Fortunately we have a full time neighbor on one side of us. We also keep it plowed in the winter. They will have to make a lot of noise to get in if they do come.

 

[gasgas17]

Camped out at the barn last weekend for some good times on 2 wheels. I loaded up the adventure bike and the enduro bike and rode both Saturday and Sunday. Had a few visitors on Saturday night around the fire with a few beers. We had a big down pour for a couple hours during the night, but the steel roof kept me dry and the clear panels let the lightning in to light the place up like daytime for a flash or three.











A large day in the books!



The next morning some guys I ride enduro bikes with come up to get their first ride of the year in the hills of Wentworth. It's a great place to ride dirt bikes from as we ride right out of the back of my lot. We put in a 4 1/2 hour ride. It felt great after all the lock down this spring as we are a bit behind our neighbors to the south at putting this covid disaster behind us. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel though. We have been riding dirt bikes close to home on the weekends, but it's nothing but rocks and water around Halifax.

Good morning !



After a weekend of riding it was back to reality. I think I will be camping up at the barn often this year. I would say it was a worth while project and should serve me well until I get the Cottage barn built. Now back to city riding for a bit.

 

[captain14]

Sounds like a great weekend.

 

[Bears Fan]

Wow! Beautiful pictures, wish I was up there riding with you guys, reminds me of going up north to ride in Michigan with some of my friends