What did you do to your shop today?

CopperNick

Comic Book Super Hero
Supporting Member
Feb 20, 2018
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Canada
Sure hope that mess of iron and sheet metal came with a what fits what or an assembly manual of some kind.

If you have access to a small back hoe or front end loader, clearing your site, digging out the top burden, bringing in and levelling the back fill, and framing the perimeter for the pour could end up being something you might be able to do for yourself. Would suggest a visit to the local building department for your town or city or county to get a copy of the requirements they demand for the job. One thing I should mention, all requirements listed by code are for the MINIMUM necessary to satisfy the state or federal laws. There is usually no constraint against going heavier or stronger than code.

The other thing here is that, given this is a steel building, will it be bolted or studded directly to the pad and, if so, are you required to measure, layout, and set those studs so that they become solidly anchored in the concrete once the pour sets? If all it requires is that you drill the concrete pad once it thoroughly sets, about 30 days, then you can just use Ramset or Phillips-Redhead anchors and secure the bottom sills that way. However, if there is some kind of caveat or subsection in your building code that demands certain specific methods be used as a proviso against the possibility of tornado damage or destruction then it can get complicated.

The last thing here is how thick do you plan on making your floor? Remember my comment about minimum code. There may be no set standard for floor thickness but a certain measurement might be considered "industry standard" Thinking 4" here. You can easily make it thicker, just that it costs more for both the concrete and the rebar and mesh to re-inforce it. For the strongest concrete, you should see plenty of mesh, well and tightly wired together, with lengths of rebar hammered into the ground to which the mesh is tied off, and large amounts of stone in the pour mix. Thicker is useful if you have plans to install lifts or other equipment that have to be secured solidly to the floor; it will support the weight or load without damage. Which suggests two other thoughts. Is there any requirement for sub-surface footers or pads to be located, formed, and poured prior to the pad being poured for the purpose of accepting point loads such as support columns or mounting points for heavy machinery? And has any thought been given to setting down a layer of poly-foam flat insulation as protection from frost or cold penetration?

Not trying to rain on your parade here. When i built my personal shop, I acted as my own contractor and dealt directly with the local building department. it all depends on what you want to do with what you are building but the various by-laws and codes can get downright miserable and complicated in terms of what is allowed and how you must go about it. If this is outside the local city limits or out in the county, it could be both easier and more complicated at the same time. Contractors do cost more but it is the experience and knowledge for which you are paying and they become the point man if the building inspector shows up and becomes unhappy with what he/she sees. Just a thought.


Nick
 
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CopperNick

Comic Book Super Hero
Supporting Member
Feb 20, 2018
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Canada
Wondered about the business of you pouring the sidewalk yourself as well. Seems to me to be a perfect case for some trip and fall scam artist to fake taking a header and then claiming damages against the home owner for negligence. Up here the sidewalks belong entirely to the city and we pay as part of our taxes for the work to keep them clean and in good repair. Even so, during the winter, I not only clean my residence walks but clean off the public sidewalk as well where it runs along the front of my property. The city vehicle does a miserable job of snow removal and then throws enough sand to create a beach. All that does is hide the ice. Technically it is on the city if someone does slip and fall but guaranteed there would be at least one ambulance chaser who would try to rope in the home owner as part of the law suit just to grind a fatter settlement when it goes to litigation.



Nick
 
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Hurricane77

Master Mechanic
Nov 11, 2020
326
656
93
Ottawa, Canada
Sure hope that mess of iron and sheet metal came with a what fits what or an assembly manual of some kind.

If you have access to a small back hoe or front end loader, clearing your site, digging out the top burden, bringing in and levelling the back fill, and framing the perimeter for the pour could end up being something you might be able to do for yourself. Would suggest a visit to the local building department for your town or city or county to get a copy of the requirements they demand for the job. One thing I should mention, all requirements listed by code are for the MINIMUM necessary to satisfy the state or federal laws. There is usually no constraint against going heavier or stronger than code.

The other thing here is that, given this is a steel building, will it be bolted or studded directly to the pad and, if so, are you required to measure, layout, and set those studs so that they become solidly anchored in the concrete once the pour sets? If all it requires is that you drill the concrete pad once it thoroughly sets, about 30 days, then you can just use Ramset or Phillips-Redhead anchors and secure the bottom sills that way. However, if there is some kind of caveat or subsection in your building code that demands certain specific methods be used as a proviso against the possibility of tornado damage or destruction then it can get complicated.

The last thing here is how thick do you plan on making your floor? Remember my comment about minimum code. There may be no set standard for floor thickness but a certain measurement might be considered "industry standard" Thinking 4" here. You can easily make it thicker, just that it costs more for both the concrete and the rebar and mesh to re-inforce it. For the strongest concrete, you should see plenty of mesh, well and tightly wired together, with lengths of rebar hammered into the ground to which the mesh is tied off, and large amounts of stone in the pour mix. Thicker is useful if you have plans to install lifts or other equipment that have to be secured solidly to the floor; it will support the weight or load without damage. Which suggests two other thoughts. Is there any requirement for sub-surface footers or pads to be located, formed, and poured prior to the pad being poured for the purpose of accepting point loads such as support columns or mounting points for heavy machinery? And has any thought been given to setting down a layer of poly-foam flat insulation as protection from frost or cold penetration?

Not trying to rain on your parade here. When i built my personal shop, I acted as my own contractor and dealt directly with the local building department. it all depends on what you want to do with what you are building but the various by-laws and codes can get downright miserable and complicated in terms of what is allowed and how you must go about it. If this is outside the local city limits or out in the county, it could be both easier and more complicated at the same time. Contractors do cost more but it is the experience and knowledge for which you are paying and they become the point man if the building inspector shows up and becomes unhappy with what he/she sees. Just a thought.


Nick

The included drawings are pretty good and give detail of all the connection and all the parts are labelled. Just that some of the bits are quite heavy. I'll probably get the guy with the telehandler to come back to help with putting up the roof structure.

My original intention was that I'd do all the foundation work myself with the exception of the pour and finishing. I've done a bit of concrete work but nothing of this size. Just don't have the confidence to try and do it myself and then have to stare at it forever. But the building vendor gave a pretty good price on doing it for me and then it would be done in under a week. Problem is, they went from telling me they'd only need 2-3 days notice, to 2-3 weeks and now, I gave them the go ahead 3 weeks ago, and they still don't even have a start date for me. I get a feeling that with the trades being so busy around here and the fact that they're sub-contracting the work, they're just not going to make that much money off it and have lost interest. But if that's the case, just tell me. But every time I call the Project Manager he just tells me he needs a couple more days.

For the floor/foundation, around here, anything over 600 sq ft needs to be stamped by an engineer. The floor/foundation is a monolithic slab, 6 inches thick and thickened to 24" around the perimeter. Plus there's concrete 'beams' (the floor is thickened to 10") each 10 ft, running the length of the building. It's 3600 psi concrete with fibre mesh and there's rebar and wire mesh. Those concrete 'beams' have rebar in them as which needs to wrap around the anchor rods. And those have to be 24" rods cast in place with a minimum of 18" embedment. The building manufacturer did sent some Red head anchors, but I can't use them - at least not according to the engineer. Final is the frost protection, 3" rigid insulation veritcally around the perimeter of the slab, and then extended horizontally a minimum of 4' around. And since I'm doing in floor radiant heating, I am insulating the entire underside of the slab.

Foundation.jpg


The only real issue I've had with the building department so far was them wanting a 'drainage plan'. I'm within the city limits and it makes sense in the urban area to make sure that there a plan to make sure that you're not going to end up flooding an adjacent property of something like that. But I'm in the rural part of the city and zoned Agricultural and there's nothing around me but corn fields and woodland. I ended up having to pay $1500 for a civil engineer to come and do plan which in the end basically just said, "make sure to slope the grade away from the building" And it caused a month delay in getting the permit. I've already talked to the inspector assigned to my file just to clarify a few things about at what exact points he needs to come out and inspect etc. and he seems like a pretty reasonable guy. He basically said that since it's a garage and not a residence, they're not too worried about stuff. Typically they would inspect just before the foundation is poured, once the frame is up, a rough in inspection and then a final inspection. But since it's an engineered metal building, he wants to check it out before I pour and then since all the connections etc are exposed on the interior, just a final inspection.

I did consider getting a contractor to do the erection. They're going to have it done in a week or so, it's going to take me much longer - no doubt. But at this point, it's just not in the budget. I'd rather spend the money on the Cutlass restoration :)
 
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5spdCab

Royal Smart Person
Dec 29, 2019
1,190
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Tukwila, Wa.
Took a drive over to my local Harbor Freight store, came home with this.
20210717_170009.jpg


It's first use will be on my non-gbody project 1974 Pinto Runabout. I'll use it to wash the engine bay, and transmission, then later when the engine/trans get installed, I will wash the engine also. Don't want to do the engine until all openings are closed and sealed up.
 
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Supercharged111

Comic Book Super Hero
Oct 25, 2019
4,907
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Colorado Springs, CO
Took a drive over to my local Harbor Freight store, came home with this. View attachment 179799

It's first use will be on my non-gbody project 1974 Pinto Runabout. I'll use it to wash the engine bay, and transmission, then later when the engine/trans get installed, I will wash the engine also. Don't want to do the engine until all openings are closed and sealed up.

I can't imagine life without a pressure washer. Mine is 2700 or 3000 psi and it crushes the carwash. I did pull a bonehead move back in 2011. I'd pulled a clean Explorer 5.0 engine from the junkyard. I decided to make it more clean and pressure wash the exterior and then go TDY/deploy for almost 8 months. I didn't plug it off. Had I yanked the plugs, spun it upside down, and then dumped oil down the cylinders I would have been fine. I wrecked the block, I was sick to my stomach. I redeemed myself by buying a $50 "builder" short block on Craigslist and running that sucker with the GT40P top end. That bottom end was just fine, didn't burn oil and had great oil pressure. Back to the pressure washer though, I clean my driveway, wash cars, blast grease off of undercarriages, you name it.
 
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motorheadmike

Geezer
Nov 18, 2009
8,976
27,522
113
Saskatchewan, Truckistan
The included drawings are pretty good and give detail of all the connection and all the parts are labelled. Just that some of the bits are quite heavy. I'll probably get the guy with the telehandler to come back to help with putting up the roof structure.

My original intention was that I'd do all the foundation work myself with the exception of the pour and finishing. I've done a bit of concrete work but nothing of this size. Just don't have the confidence to try and do it myself and then have to stare at it forever. But the building vendor gave a pretty good price on doing it for me and then it would be done in under a week. Problem is, they went from telling me they'd only need 2-3 days notice, to 2-3 weeks and now, I gave them the go ahead 3 weeks ago, and they still don't even have a start date for me. I get a feeling that with the trades being so busy around here and the fact that they're sub-contracting the work, they're just not going to make that much money off it and have lost interest. But if that's the case, just tell me. But every time I call the Project Manager he just tells me he needs a couple more days.

For the floor/foundation, around here, anything over 600 sq ft needs to be stamped by an engineer. The floor/foundation is a monolithic slab, 6 inches thick and thickened to 24" around the perimeter. Plus there's concrete 'beams' (the floor is thickened to 10") each 10 ft, running the length of the building. It's 3600 psi concrete with fibre mesh and there's rebar and wire mesh. Those concrete 'beams' have rebar in them as which needs to wrap around the anchor rods. And those have to be 24" rods cast in place with a minimum of 18" embedment. The building manufacturer did sent some Red head anchors, but I can't use them - at least not according to the engineer. Final is the frost protection, 3" rigid insulation veritcally around the perimeter of the slab, and then extended horizontally a minimum of 4' around. And since I'm doing in floor radiant heating, I am insulating the entire underside of the slab.

View attachment 179687

The only real issue I've had with the building department so far was them wanting a 'drainage plan'. I'm within the city limits and it makes sense in the urban area to make sure that there a plan to make sure that you're not going to end up flooding an adjacent property of something like that. But I'm in the rural part of the city and zoned Agricultural and there's nothing around me but corn fields and woodland. I ended up having to pay $1500 for a civil engineer to come and do plan which in the end basically just said, "make sure to slope the grade away from the building" And it caused a month delay in getting the permit. I've already talked to the inspector assigned to my file just to clarify a few things about at what exact points he needs to come out and inspect etc. and he seems like a pretty reasonable guy. He basically said that since it's a garage and not a residence, they're not too worried about stuff. Typically they would inspect just before the foundation is poured, once the frame is up, a rough in inspection and then a final inspection. But since it's an engineered metal building, he wants to check it out before I pour and then since all the connections etc are exposed on the interior, just a final inspection.

I did consider getting a contractor to do the erection. They're going to have it done in a week or so, it's going to take me much longer - no doubt. But at this point, it's just not in the budget. I'd rather spend the money on the Cutlass restoration :)

The foundation of your building looks the same as mine. We haven't had the slightest issue with shift in over a decade after pour.
 
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KCP

Master Mechanic
Oct 11, 2018
421
1,004
93
Bavaria, Germany
Moved the rest of my stuff, including the El Camino from the old shop to the new one. Now it's time to get all the stuff sorted and install lights etc. in the shop.
 
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KCP

Master Mechanic
Oct 11, 2018
421
1,004
93
Bavaria, Germany
Guess I need to update with some pics:

219607952_4365427106841887_7109745417808234046_n.jpg


219674143_4365426986841899_3335317099765782516_n.jpg


219334786_4365427050175226_3525041619695552833_n.jpg
 
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