New Shop

[Blazerteam]

Re: New Shop

Congrats to a cool shop.. .Im sure you will have a good time there.Good thing about tall shops,are that you can have a high vehicle up on a lift without hitting the roof.

Oh yeah..spider made me laugh too.. ;)

[milner351]

Re: New Shop

You have a natural gas well on property for free heat? Now I really hate you in the best kind of way.

In that case - you absolutely MUST do the in floor heat. I would confirm a couple things however before moving forward.

DO you know a GOOD concrete contractor? They should know the proper mix, reinforcement, thickness etc, along with the in floor heating tubes to provide you the proper load rating for the floor. I've seen several shops that have run a completely separate pad, perhaps 12ft wide and 4ft across, that is thicker and more reinforced to accept the bolts for the hoists.

I'm very envious.

A friend of mine in the Kalamazoo area built an "agricultural" building - a pole barn, which, from the front and two sides looked just like a machine shed. However, in the upper portion at the back - there was a fully functional 1600 square foot apartment/condo that I would have been quite proud to call home. Plenty of windows (out the back - invisible from any road near the property) 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, a nice kitchen, and large living room.... out back was a full fenced garden area with a coy pond, large hot tub, and patio with gas grille, table and chairs.

Last I heard - he was still paying agriculture property taxes on the building... only - no inspections, no home property taxes etc.... brilliant, albeit a bit against the rules.

[ford141]

Re: New Shop

Brian,

I don't know the specific snow load for this area, but I'm pretty sure they calculated it at 35 - whether that was lb/sqft or not I'm not sure. If you go onto their website they have a free building estimator and you can enter your zip code and they will calculate the snow load for you and figure that into the price. You can add in all of your options and they will quote you a price, which you can lock in for 30 days. Shipping is free for certain areas, and since you are basically ordering the kit over the internet, and it is out of state, you don't have to pay sales tax on it. Saves a grand or two right there.

John,

I haven't look into concrete costs much yet, but I was planning to pour it myself to save some cash. Professional concrete crews are very expensive. That said, it is a critical part, and I might have to pony up the muulla to have it done so I can be sure it is done right. That will be next on the list (once I get the final building inspection done next week).

I was a little thrown off by the al-qaeda comment, especially since the amish are about the exact opposite of al-qaeda. But Spidey's mind does work in mysterious (and yet amusing) ways...