New Shop Planning

[SuperBuickGuy]

you folks crack me up. As a wordsmith, I seems I have to point out what is obvious. A wall is insulation, no matter how thin - as opposed to open sides.

my is you don't live in the shop - if you get cold, work harder otherwise maybe you run home and get your mommy to make you a nice hot cup of cocoa

[TheSilverBuick]

you folks crack me up. As a wordsmith, I seems I have to point out what is obvious. A wall is insulation, no matter how thin - as opposed to open sides.

Beats a 3 walled car port any day of the week!

[squirrel]

The walls of my barn aren't even much of a wind break....

I guess the first thing you need to do is specify the requirements. If the new shop is just yard art, then build a barn. If it's a place to work on stuff, you might as well make it a nice place to be, then you might get stuff done in it.

[BBR]

Beats a 3 walled car port any day of the week!

Or my current shop. My driveway.

Really, I am not a shop snob and really don't need much. Just a place to park the Mustang, motorcycles, store stuff and generally fiddle around. Something I can throw up fairly quickly and will keep stuff dry. My last stick building took FOREVER to build because I could only work on it evenings and weekends, etc.

I might just go ahead and have a regular flat slab with footings poured and then build on top of that. I liked the idea of no footing because of nearby trees, but maybe it would be better to sever those roots to keep them from possibly heaving the slab later on.

[milner351]

For the love of all that is good and mighty - plan on a lift - trust me, they keep coming down in price and you'll wonder how you ever got along without one, I'm begging you - build for it.

Scissor trusses on one side to allow room for the lift, attic trusses on the other side for storage / kids room.

Check codes - around here a footing is required, then pour the slab inside the footing.

I like a few courses of block - or concrete, for around 3-4ft above ground, then the typical stick building on top of that - gives you indestructable water proof base of your walls, and looks nice (especially with the "brick" forms for concrete).

I would go with standing seam steel roofing - it's not cheap - but it truly is forever.

Hardibacker makes some nice concrete board siding that is just about indestructable.

Run a trench with large diameter PVC pipe from house to shop and keep a pull rope inside it - run all your cables in one, and water in the other.... can you have floor drains? Running water in the shop sure would be nice, I don't have it since the underground pipe has been compromised, I have it shut off inside the house.

I would plan for cross ventillation - thermostatically controlled gable mounted fans.

Slider doors are a PITA - but they work, if that's the look you're going for.

[squirrel]

I would go with standing seam steel roofing - it's not cheap - but it truly is forever.

I priced roofing recently for my shop, the metal roof wasn't much more than shingles. Although installing it looks like something that takes some experience to get it right. Shingles I can do myself, it's just labor. But I wonder about the finish....guaranteed 30 years, but who knows how long that really is out here in the land of sunshine? I don't think they've been making it with the modern finishes for anywhere near 30 years. I know the fiberglass shingles last about 15-20 years.

[Bob Holmes]

I installed the standing seam metal roof on our barn. Pretty simple, just screw it down in the correct place with rubber washered screws. Its faster and easier than standard roofing shingles. Two of the outbuildings have old style corrugated galvanized roofing. Its very easy to deal with also.

[BBR]

You guys are good at spending my money.... haha

[milner351]

Shingles have been going up allot in price, good point, the difference may not be that much anymore. The only special tool required would be a flange / crimp tool to wrap the bottom end of the piece around on itself and the drip edge. We put it on our boat house roof, it wasn't hard to work with, faster and easier than shingles, - no hauling heavy bundles up the ladder.

Worst case - you have to get it painted in more than 20 years?

[BangShiftChad]

Dude....A couple things.

A, "cute" pole barn looks don't require you to actually build a pole barn. You are going to spend the same money and have more headaches. You either want to pour a slab and use traditional framing to build this thing or you want a metal building that you dress up to look like the barn. Those are your most cost effective methods.

Planning for a lift requires no planning. Folks unless you are putting in a 15k lb 2 post the specs call for 6 inch or less concrete. A guy like BBR is going to want a mobile 4 post anyway with a space that small so it's not an issue.

The biggest issue with your pole barn idea is that everything else you will want to do down the road becomes more work and/or more money. Electrical becomes slightly more labor, and much more materials. Insulation will never ever be right. Windows, doors, etc are more of a pain. And while masonite or peg board are cool inside the walls, they are not fire retardant and not cheap. Do what we did and go get metal siding to use as the inside walls of your shop if you don't want drywall. You can get them from the metal building supply places in surplus, the are easy to hang, require no mudding, magnets stick to them to hold all kinds of stuff, and they are ribbed so a piece of pegboard sits off the wall just right for proper operation.

How about an overhead hoist? Now that is worth it's weight in gold and requires two posts and a beam. Not going to be horrible since your place will be small too. Have you considered one?

[milner351]

I second the metal interior - flame proof, water proof, magnetic, already painted, light, no mudding or sanding, quick to install too.

[BBR]

An o/h hoist has certainly crossed my mind.

I'm getting a plan in my head with all these suggestions, thanks guys!

[Orange65]

I like your sketch. Funny you should post this because I have been thinking the past few days about building a shop this winter. I am leaning toward a 24 x 40 since it will fit where I have to put it. My current shop is 24 x 24. My previous was 30 x 20. Both were too small- but I think that they all are. I like the 24' width since I can put things beside my truck like a work bench. However, the 24' depth is not conducive to pulling the engine with the door closed.

My thoughts on the pole barn design- it is the way I would like to do my next shop. I plan on pouring a slightly thicker slab edge (5.5" in the middle, 8-10" on the edge) but have it go deeper (like a spread footing) under where I am going to put the poles. I don't want to bury the poles due to termites. They are bad around here. By the time you see them, it is too late. I will make steel feet for the poles and lag them down to the concrete. I am also thinking of using metal trusses spaced every 10' with 2" x 8" turned on their sides between them to support the metal roof. I don't plan on having an attic. 8' walls with 5/12 roof pitch should give plenty of height in the middle. Siding will be Hardie board concrete fiber board. It is similar in appearance to Masonite but fire proof and will not rot. Having owned a house with Masonite on it, I will never have that crap on anything again.

I also plan on insulating it. That stuff makes a major difference. Just my thoughts. Take a look over at the Garage Journal if you have never been there. Nice places on that forum.

[Thumpin455]

The hot ticket up here has to do with insulation and the floor. Gets cold with lots of snow, summer isnt bad up here but humid air and cool concrete makes for condensation and water on your floor. My shop is a pole barn, had to run stringers across everything to insulate it. Just the roof with 1/2" foil backed foam cost over $1k, the foam itself was only $580. Would have been much cheaper to have framing instead of only the poles when it was insulated.

New buildings up here often get pex plastic tubing run through the concrete. You run hot water through it in the winter and the floor is always warm that way. Keeping the temperature constant and even keeps the floor from cracking too. Lucky you the cold isnt too bad or too long, I been in Texas in the winter and its rather nice. You might not need this, but its damn nice in cold weather.

If you arent planning on working in it, just storing stuff, then you dont care about the inside. But you have it in your back yard, you might as well make it useful for doing something any time of the year.

[BBR]

I been in Texas in the winter and its rather nice.

Haha the day we moved into this house the windchill was -24F

High temp last summer was 111F

We get it all.