Finally time to pull the trigger . . . starting on the New (much anticipated) SHOP - Build

[conv67bdere]

Loving my shop . . . it may not be the best ( yet ) . . . but I'm still loving it . . .

Wow . . .

It's not much to look at yet . . . the heater is not working, it's cold and a bit drafty . . .
But this thing is really coming together and starting to feel like a "shop" to me . . .

Was even out there tonight, doing some cuts on all my boards so that they'll be ready
to build the trusses . . . with a big smile on my face ! ! ! Bundled up to keep warm . . .

The walls need a little bit of work . . . and the insulation is a bit lacking . . .

And the lighting has a little to be desired . . . ( I know . . . it would help if you closed the DOOR ! )

But it helps to get the job done . . . and it's "mostly in the dry under here . . .
( got 4 days a rain that I've got to get this place under cover and protected . . . UGH ! ! )

More Later . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

Sorry for the delay . . . Life, visitors, rain, but still progress . . . ( not in that order )

The holiday season makes it hard with visitors, especially family, and trying to keep moving -
Need to stop and smell the flowers ( so to speak ) and make family memories with the grandkids !

But . . . even with all that - progress is still being made on the build . . . just a bit slower . . .

So with my building jig in place, it was time to set out and get these things built . . . with my stack of wood.
So now, my 10' stack of wood no longer exists . . . and here's the result of my effort . . .

Sure was nice to have these all completed - only problem ( I'm 3 short . . . still need to make 6 more )
That will be happening shortly . . .

Another thing that I've had to contend with . . . is the rafters in this part of the building . . .
Some were "quickly" put up to get a cover to support the plastic to help keep the rain out of the shop . . .

And another thing to contend with . . . the center beam needs to be extended as the rafter go up . . .
Could not make it 50' long and be able to move it . . . so it gets added on to in place as needed . . .
So to make progress . . . one needs
- to fix rafters an then get them re-attached
- extend the center beam as needed
- add on the additional rafters ( and the bottom attachments typically need some work to get them to work too )

Apply the Heavy Duty Liquid Nail . . . and get ready to get the boards glued and screwed together . . .

Figure out how to get a 16' board, in the air, the right level, to get the think clamped . . . then add screws ! ! !

And as you work through this process over and over again . . . it begins to start looking like your barn !

Such a great view in the morning to look out the back door and see your dream shop coming together . . .

This night shot was pretty cool too, so I had to get it and include it into the build pictures as well . . .

The biggest problem . . . has been trying to protect from the rain . . . and frustrating . . .

And then the BIGGEST let down of all . . . normally I order the metal roofing, and it's here the next week . . .
Ordered it last week, and get a call . . . we don't have the color in stock ( of course, after it was paid in full )

They're going to have to order a new roll of my color . . . and then inform me it's 5-6 weeks before it will get in !

NOT GOOD . . . 5-6 weeks of dealing with potential rain ( hopefully not the white stuff . . . )

Also made another trip to Florida to travel with the grandkids and not let my daughter drive that trip alone ! ! !

And while I was down there, built another swing set for them to play on . . . Busy, busy, busy . . .

To date, I'm close to the 2/3 point on the rafter installs . . .

More Later . . .

 

[Jesse6869]

Wow didn’t think that that was the outcome, looks amazing. Great work

 

[Olwhite63]

Wow didn’t think that that was the outcome, looks amazing. Great work

Indeed - great work. Inspiring.

 

[hunt2elk]

And even more impressive that you are doing this all alone, well except your dog inspecting. Nice work Larry.

 

[HawkRod]

It's really starting to come together now and look like the finished product. Great work!

Of course, you still haven't told us what the "turret" at the back is all about...

 

[moparwacko]

It's really starting to come together now and look like the finished product. Great work!

Of course, you still haven't told us what the "turret" at the back is all about...

 

[conv67bdere]

Yet another week of rain on Sunday slowing down my build progress . . . Ugh ! ! !

There is another storm blowing through all day tomorrow . . . with potentially high winds too.
Oh great . . . just what I need . . .

Was able to make so good progress on Friday and today . . . but had to also stop to put up plastic . . .

Friday started with getting this side of the shop . . . all the temp rafters pulled - cut and re-installed
( and then had to come back and re-adjust all the rafter to be in a semi-straight line . . . )

Then Friday and Saturday were focused on getting the trusses installed upstairs . . . and it went great !
Every truss that I've got built is now installed in the building . . . Think that was 8 more trusses installed today.
But . . . the building is 2 short ( need 4 halves to get this done )

So then comes the process of "trying" to get the plastic installed on the building . . . and you get this . . .
Dealing with this during this process was rather "interesting" . . . can you say FUN ! ! !

The upstairs of the shop as it looks covered with plastic . . . hope this does better at keeping the rain out.
This "upstairs" area will be the wood shop . . . and I'm pretty excited about how it's looking too ! ! !

And . . . considering it's 9:30 PM and I'm just finishing up . . . this is the best picture I can do for now . . .
The rain is supposed to start about 1 AM . . . and not stop all day long . . . I'll be monitoring and fixing bad areas.
In an attempt to keep water out of my current shop with all my equipment in it . . . UGH ! ! !

Had 2 pretty good days of work . . . and I'm tired . . . Not looking forward to the rain all day tomorrow . . .

Hope that my prep work pays off this time . . .

BTW - If you mouse over the picture, you'll see how many pics have gone into this build already . . .

More Later . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

Good news - Metal came in . . . Bad News . . . you'll find out later in the post . . .

Thank goodness the 5-6 week delay was not realized, and the meatal has shown up !

Hard to believe that this small pile will be able to cover the entire shop . . .

Had to get a part of the front of the building built to be able to get started on the next section of roofing . . .

Next order of business, was to get the purlins installed . . . things are moving along . . .

Starting to take shape and start to look more and more like a barn . . . .

The next thing that will be needed . . . is the transition and the closures ( to keep the bugs out ) . . .
Now looking back at this . . . I did NOT notice the color difference ( till much later ) . . . I'm a bit pissed . . .

One morning, while waiting for the frost to thaw and water to dry up, got this other part of the shop painted . . .

Part of the "problem" is protecting the stuff that is done while trying to keep moving forward

1st panel of 18 that will need to be installed on this section of the roof . . . and it's finally in place . . .

Some of you might be asking - How did you get the panel up there . . .
- walked them up the ladder ( 12 foot ladder at that ) . . .
- and rolled them up and passed them through the purlins . . .
well . . . it worked . . .

Was able to get 7 of the panels installed today . . . and besides the color - it's looking great ( in my opinion )
- part of the problem - much cooler temps today . . .
- and a very cold and biting wind . . . the sun did help a bit . . . but as it set it got cold fast . . .

Will be on the phone with the roofing company to figure out how they messed up . . .

More Later . . .

 

[Krooser]

Should have done this years ago, but I kept putting it off . . . and I'm tired of waiting, so the time has come for me to get started on building my new shop ! !

But . . . there are a few "obstacles" that I'll have to contend with . . . and I had to figure out a way to make this plan work, and I FINALLY ca up with a plausible solution and plan . . .

Where I WANT the new shop to be located, due to "best" location, is right where they planted a small 2 car garage sized shop (where I've been attempting to do my "Mad Scientist Build" on my 67 Belvedere convertible . . . and the style of the shop, that I've always wanted is a traditional BARN style building . . . like this one that I drive past every day on my way to work . . .

View attachment 1096380

The size, that I've finally decided on is . . . the center section will be 26' x 50', and it will have (2) offshoots of 12' - for a total of 50' x 50' on the bottom and another 26' x 50' on the second floor (that'll be for the wood shop).

So the plan . . . Need to build (1) on the offshoots first, so that I can get all the existing stuff OUT of my current shop, and stored out of the weather. Then, take down the existing garage (might take it down and move it - don't know yet) and then build the center section and the other offshoot . . .

And the work started last weekend with (2) fig trees that were growing next to the existing shop and need to be move (one never know when they just "might" be in need of a good fig leaf . . . ). So they got relocated . . .

Dug up the first one, and have it ready to be moved . . .

View attachment 1096387

This darn cart has been a lifesaver for me with all of my projects . . .

View attachment 1096388

One moved, one more to go . . .

View attachment 1096389

Carted and ready to be moved . . .

View attachment 1096390

And their new location on the property - have no idea if they'll survive the transplant, but they sure could not stay where they were . . .

View attachment 1096391

One project done . . . now onto bigger and better things . . .

Oh boy . . . here we go . . .

Here's the design that was done on SketchUP . . . kinda . . .

View attachment 1096393

I built my 1500 sq ft shop in '94. Bought a 5000 sq ft pole shed at auction, disassembled it, used what I needed and sold the rest.

My brother has been in the high end resto biz since the 80's.

He's 86 and came out of retirement a few years ago. He has two hired guns. Does vintage Jaguars, Bentleys and such.

He just moved into a larger shop... By coincidence he is now occupying a building that was my office when I was promoting stock car racing in '83/'84.

 

[conv67bdere]

Not much daylight to work with . . . but doing what I can to make progress . . .

So Tuesday night was spent on building the last 4-half ( 2 trusses ) for the upstairs . . .
Got them all done . . . wish that they were done a while back, buck couldn't find time.

All the boards needed to be cut and as well as the plywood webs . . . got them knocked out !

Story of my life . . . working on the LAST truss, gluing up the webs to get them glued and screwed . . .

And then THIS happens . . . . ARGH ! ! ! Had to figure out how to improvise to get the glue on the webs . . .

All four of these last truss halves had quite a bit of mold on them . . . the mold was all dried, but still there . . .
Did not really like the way they looked . . . so I took a wire brush to them and scrubbed off as much as possible . . .

This was the before look of the mold . . . did not get the after scrubbing picture . . .

Then pulled out the Calbot stain and put a coat of stain on the boards . . . (really wanted to do this to all of them)
Much better . . .

So tonight's effort was put toward getting the last 2 trusses completed so that they can get installed . . .
Glad to have them done . . .

The problem was, that I had t spend 2 hours working to get the building covered for the rain that might come in
tonight . . . it was not in the forecast at the beginning of the week. That's 2 hours of time that could have gone to
getting more stuff done . . . then when I do want to work on the building . . .

Guess what . . .

I have to work on getting all of the water proofing un-done and out of the way to continue . . . big slowdown !

But still making progress . . .

Talked to the metal roofing people, and the owner was going to make a trip to my house and see how bad it was.
I offered them a possible solution . . . and they turned around and said that they'd make it happen . . .

When it does finally happen, will fill you all in on the details . . .

More Later

 

[conv67bdere]

Two big storms in one week - and a lot of scrambling to keep things dry . . .

Wow, we get nailed with 2 big storms, lots of rain, and some big winds - 2 in one week . . .
The shops managed pretty well, had some plastic get blown off a bit and leak, but not in any
of the areas that are critical to keep dry ( holding my breath )

If I didn't have to spend all this time sealing up the building, I could be a whole lot further !

Things are moving along . . .

Said that I had only (2) trusses left to have them all in place - got the last (2) installed . . .

That's when the realization that (2) was not the right count and (3) was the right count . . . so I had to get one
more built to allow me to get this roofing section "mostly" done . . . still have the overhang area to tackle . . .
Got the purlins in place, the radiant barrier . . . and now it's time for the metal roof . . .

Also put up some tarps on the back of the building to "try" and keep the water out . . .

Hitting the roofing panels and getting them all installed . . . then sealing up the building again for the next storm . . .

It might not look like much . . . but it's actually working out pretty well so far . . .

Got this section of overhang built on the other side of the front of the building . . .

This morning, while waiting for the temps to get a little warmer, decided to get this panel in place . . . wondering
how it was going to go and how it was going to look . . . really can't complain ! ! ! Roofing time . . .

Jumped up on the roof and got all the purlins in place, along with the radiant barrier . . . and kept plugging along

This is a far as I can get the roof at this time, the overhang on the back of the building is not ready to be done . . .
But . . . sure is a nice sight to have this part of the building covered with metal roofing . . .

Then . . . I could not stand to have that yellow panel on the building so I had to break out the stain and get it covered.
So happy with the look - it no longer looks like 2 parts of a building but more like a single shop . . . I like ! !

Metal roofing company delivered (4) new side trims that match the rest of the building and trim . . . the roof on this
completed section of the shop is a bit darker but with the matching trim, it should not be too bad, and give it a little
time in the sun it will probably fade a bit and be less noticeable (on top of being 12 feet in the air and not very visible
in the first place)

Should have another day in the 50s here and will try and get out there and make more progress . . .

More Later . . .

 

[Jesse6869]

You’re killing it , looks great. So Mite have missed it what will be the sq footage when all said and done? That’s lot of work for one person but keep you young ( i hope). Are you running a separate electrical panel for equipment?

 

[conv67bdere]

You’re killing it , looks great. So Mite have missed it what will be the sq footage when all said and done? That’s lot of work for one person but keep you young ( i hope). Are you running a separate electrical panel for equipment?

Downstairs is 50 x 50 (2500 sq ft) , and upstairs is 25 x 50 ( 1250 sq ft ) . . . so 3750 sq ft . . .

The shop will have it's own 200 amp service and I'm being told that I'll also be getting 3-phase too.

 

[Jesse6869]

3 phase that cool, i asked about my shop getting it i would have to come out of pocket 6 digits, that would have had to pull it from 1/2 mile. so I passed. LOL . So i did the 200amp. That’s good size for sure.

 

[conv67bdere]

Dodged the snow, and a bit of a cold spell is in store for the weekend . . . figures . . .

Good news on dodging the snow, we got no rain nor snow, but 30 minutes North - Snow !
But the cold spell is going to put a slowdown on the shop progress . . . Argh ! !

Wanted to continue the progress, and a change of pace, on the front of the shop . . .
Got 3 panels up . . . would have been 4, but you can see on on the ground (bottom right)
- which happens when you don't pay attention and put the stupid thing up backwards . . . DUH !

Once again . . . needed to get it red - looking good too ! ! !

Next in line, is the far side of the shop, getting the blocking in at the top of the wall so the roof can go up . . .

Then - had this idea to get some work done on the front of the shop . . . the center upper part was missing . . .
this is the one side, the top of the wall, and the trusses the will be the overhang . . .

And, the other side gets done with the same spacing . . .

Ready for the boards to be applied . . . but this is about 25' in the air . . . and it's got me a bit nervous . . .
Also . . . take a look at those beautiful Carolina Blue skies . . . boy is that a pretty site . . . and 49 degrees too . . .

Had to get get this rental to make sure that this would get done safely . . . only problem I had with it . . .
temps started just above freezing, and just got into the 40 for a high . . . and the winds were strong . . .
Made for an interesting . . . and cold day on the lift . . .

Got both side trim boards in place, not too bad, and the "look" of the shop is starting to show . . .

Needed to get them stained white, like the rest of them, so that it'll look the same . . .

Finally, got this last section of roofing covered with plastic and hopefully protecting the shop from rain . . .

Unfortunately - the strong winds today were not only cold, but did some "waterproofing removal" on the back side
of the shop . . . will have to get that addressed soon, and next week we have forecast 5 days of rain in a row . . .

5 days of grief as I worry about water making a mess of my shop . . .

More Later . . .

 

[kiwigtx]

Excellent progress Larry......I finally got a chance to catch up on your build today, and it is looking very cool.

 

[skicker]

You're doing it right...That's all that will matter in the end...

 

[ckessel]

I'm not a fan of heights. I used a scissor lift inside my garage to hang pictures etc and I was gripping with my toes through the boots while in the basket. My hats off to you.

 

[Cranky]

3 phase that cool, i asked about my shop getting it i would have to come out of pocket 6 digits, that would have had to pull it from 1/2 mile. so I passed. LOL . So i did the 200amp. That’s good size for sure.

When I checked on getting 3 phase in my shop 35 years ago it was mid/high 4 digits.......a 1500 dollar phase converter did the trick and then I find out that I could have made one for about 1/2 of that price lol. Oh well, was already way too busy to have to build something else.