New Shop
 

Saw some cool posts about shops, thought I would throw mine in the mix. I designed it myself. 2 left bays have 6" slab with 1/2" steel for lifts. 2 right bays have 4" slab with 3/8" steel. I Probably shouldn't be building a new shop given my current health, but I always wanted one, so I did it. It can be rented out later.
Started out as 40 x 100 x 18. But steel went up 215% in ONE year. So down to 30' X 50' X 12'. Not a fan of single doors, too much jocking around. So 4 - 10' X 10' Commercial insulated doors on the long side. One 36" insulated steel man door opening out for space saving. I will install a dead bolt or two.
Couldn't afford the Foamular board so 15mil Vapor/Moisture barrier and it's done.
They messed up on the rebar. Some grids were 12" all the way up to 22.5". And everything in between. So I reset ALL the bar myself. I cut a stake at 15-1/2" and put it in each grid both directions, then tied the steel and went to the next one. So a 1/4" on each side put's them at 16" centers. ALL grids are now with-in a 1/4" in BOTH directions. The way it SHOULD have been from the start. Took days and hours at night with a head lamp. I bent over about 1200 times! The owner of the concrete company said I did a BEAUTIFUL job! I said it's not that tough. Ya take on too many new jobs and the other jobs suffer. You HAVE to turn work down if you want to do quality work across the board. He just laughed.
Then I installed oxygen Barrier Pex in 3 sections for radiant. Pumped it up to 90# All about 300' each. Another 1000 zip tie bend-overs. It will some day be ready for solar set-up, so very low usage cost.
Being a Journeyman Plumber for over 30 years, I put piping in for a Water Closet, Stackable W & D so ya don't ruin the main house machines, and a 53" Stainless Commercial 2 bay sink with side board. I have a brand new extra set of foot pedal controls I may install. Came out of a hospital in San Francisco during new construction. Already have a separate 200 amp service, so power is not an issue. Have a 3" long electrical sweep in the slab ready.
It is hard sometimes to work on a car when it is on lift ramps. 4 or 5" up is hard to bend over into the engine compartment. So the plan is far left gets lift for storage of 2 cars. One up, one down. Next bay another lift empty to use when needed without moving cars all around to use a lift. Next bay car on floor to work on. Last bay car ground storage. Other cars can also stay in 3 bay house garage.
I will build a loft part way in the 4th bay for fenders, hoods, tires, wheels etc.... parts storage. Also put the stubby 20 gallon water heater up there. Probably just put gravel up to door openings. Someone else can pour a concrete landing. That's it, they just finished it 2 days ago. Waiting on doors. Good Times!!! Danny

shop
 

more

shop
 

More

Sounds like a nice set up, congrats !

shop again
 

More again

more
 

more

again
 

Last Ones

I am hosing the floor clean. Getting ready for insulation etc. Danny

Very nice.

That's awesome!

Wow nice work. A shame you had to go back and fix all of the rebar work from the concrete guys, but the old saying if you want something done right, do it yourself seems to apply in this case.

Should be a great shop once completed. congrats

Looks great Danny! I remember talking shops with you a couple years ago. I’m hoping to get final inspection on mine this coming week.


It looks like your building frame is all welded construction, is that the case?

Jason

Very nice. Probably what I should have done instead of rehabbing a 100+ year old coal warehouse.

Looks great Danny! Mine should be breaking ground in a couple of weeks! I went with a Morton 42X48. I recently downsized from two houses to one and lost a 2 car garage!
Buddy

looks beautiful..

Very cool!!!!

Steel pictures
 

Thanx guys excited to get a sense of completion. Need to do all the electrical, I will do it all myself, except the tie-in to the meter at the pole. Having an electrician do that. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Then spray-in insulation. Then I think I am going to plywood the entire back wall. So if ya want to hang something up ANYWHERE, there will be wood. Maybe paint it an off white, light color, not brite white. Neon lights, shelving etc. on that back wall will be much easier.
I designed the building with NO sky Lights or windows. That's why they make light fixtures. Another access for crooks. I know if they want in, they are in, but why make it a little easier.
Jason,
Yes this is an all steel building. We sunk in the steel plates as the pour set-up, and leveled them both directions. I beams get welded to those. 9" I beams, purlins etc. all steel. 26 Gauge siding. They did a nice job. They ended up nailing a 2 X 2 all around the edges except at concrete openings. Then after stripping forms, there is a little step there. This allowed the siding to drop down an 1-1/2" onto the little step. Helps with vermin etc. I can see light, so I will caulk it with good exterior window mastic all the way around on the inside. Then when they spray insulation, it will lock it in well. They spent 2 days on brackets, and cutting angles for the top roof gable supports. And welding the prefab. Then it all went up in a couple days. You can see in the picture the little angled supports that the top beams sit on, on both sides on the inside. They could have left those alone. But they beat them up with a single jack and welding them up also. This building is very strong. Danny

more
 

more

more
 

last ones First Picture shows the support that they beat up and welded. I was going to assemble/weld it up myself, as I was certified in welding years ago during my metal trades apprenticeship, also medical gas brazing for oxygen lines in hospitals. But it has been TOO long. Danny

One of my biggest expenses was the electrical. Had to have it permitted, and had no choice but to use a pro. He did a great job, and took it on as a side job, so I just paid for materials and then paid him cash by the hour.

I spray foamed and 3/4” chip board, painted white, entire building. As you said works great for hanging stuff.

When I had the pole building put up in the back yard, it has no windows either. As you say, no invitation to snoop or attempt to get in. Heavy, commercial, steel man door too. The ridge vent is clear and lets in a LOT of light. No plans to insulate that shed and no electrical back there yet, but I bought 150 ft of 2/2/2/4 this week to run it from the front building.

New Shop
 

I was wrong about the eve height, it is 12 feet not 10'-8". Not sure what I was thinking.

Got the insulated 10' X 10' metal doors installed. I could have saved a few hundred bucks if I got the plastic backs. Went with ALL metal. Nice spring steel door stops for all 4.

Starting electrical. Got the main 200amp service panel tied into the meter in the old shop, tested 246 volts. 123 on each leg. Zero Volts on the neutral. Dug/picked a 50-foot ditch about 22 inches deep to run power to new shop. Fun with 2 torn rotator cuffs. Neighbor helped a few feet. Pulled the wire through 10 feet at a time. Then slid a 10-foot length over the wire and glued and dropped in the ditch and so on. Pulled last stretch into the new shop and tied into 100amp subpanel. Turned on breaker in old shop and this panel also tested good. Buried the ditch and getting ready to start pulling wire for lights. Lights first, so I can see what I am doing. Then outlets, future door openers, 2 lifts etc... I hung a couple lights as a clearance test. I was lucky that the lights clear the doors by a couple inches. So I hung the last 6. Danny

New Shop
 

power etc.

Pictures sideways, so I flipped them and reposted. STILL sideways?? Can someone right them please. Shop doors, and 2 power panel pics. D

It's all looking really nice !!
I rented a chain trencher to bury my cable to the back shed. NO way I was going to hand dig that, especially 6 weeks after double hernia surgery. Machine was a very nice tool to use.

Lets see if this works for you. Nice shop!

New Shop
 

Not much room for 30 feet of the 50 for a trencher. Too close to building. I wish I could have.

FYI on the electrical... Got a couple questions on neutrals and grounds in the panel.
Only the main service panel has the green grounding screw to bond the neutral and grounds together. Sub panel is NOT bonded and has separate ground and neutral bars. This is the way I was taught years ago. NEVER bond the sub panel due to neutral return issues. Stray voltage has nowhere to go properly and tracks off and bleeds into other circuits. Which is not good. Needs a clear path back to the source.

I ended up tieing into the meter panel by myself. I just had the power company come out and disconnect at the transformer. Then I made my connections, torqued them down, installed the meter and called them back. 15 minutes later they popped it back on and "Bobs your Uncle" I had power. That way I could move all around in there, and push wires from inside the building blindly, without worrying about them going up into the hot legs from the pole and lighting me up at 75 THOUSAND volts. Danny

‘

Things are lookin’ great also love the tidy high-angled Overhead Door tracks.
Are you going w/ Manual Lift or if Power Operators, are they Overhead style or Side-mounted?
:beers:
~ Pete

.

After you made your electrical connections within the meter base did you have to get an electrical inspection before the utility company would re-energize the service?

New Shop
 

As far as door openers...I wanted to go side mount. One where the first lift is going to start, far left. Then maybe side mount on all the rest one a month. I made a slight miscalculation. I no longer have enough room for openers on the 2 center doors. The steel I-beam is in the center. One will fit on each end door. But the middle 2 will need to be mounted lower, then have a pulley chain drive go up to the shaft. I designed it to have 2 feet in between each door. But it doesn't trim-out like that. I'll post a couple pics later today...

As far as inspection. I forgot to mention... When he came back out, I saw him coming, so I popped the meter back off. Then he looked at it and said it all looks good. HE put the meter back and grabbed the telescopic pole and through the breaker/fuse at the transformer back on. So no separate inspection. But can't say if that was the norm or not, so don't use my story as an example. D

I was just curious about the meterbase. In my area if the utility company turns power off to a service they won’t turn it back on until an electrical inspector has okayed the work that took place. An extra 75 bucks to your job.
Regulations regarding electric service is different in many states across the U.S.A..

Be safe, turn it off!

New Shop
 

SS427 thanx for picture corrections!

Getting started running power. Touch working off a 10' ladder. Pulled MC cable around to the man door. Getting a box ready with 2 switches. One for inside LED's and outside door light. Someone gave me a $500 roll of 12/3 in 1986. FINALLY have a place to use it. Probably cost $80 back then...LOL Came out of the man door box and up to mount 4 boxes for the lights. All 8 on one circuit will work. Got 3 done, last one today. THEN I can plug all the lights in and take down all the extension cords. ALL outlets 20amp. Even the switches are heavy duty 20amp. There will be no 14-gauge wire or 15amp outlets. I used full gang boxes with single outlet for more room in the box. Makes things a little easier in the air. I use the blue rubber protectors around the outlet, especially in metal boxes. Just an added safety thing. D

New Shop
 

more

New Shop
 

These little clips are slick. I bought an old dusty box, it had 95 in it. The counter guy said he had never even seen them before. I could buy the box now, or the new price updated would be $185 for the box. So it cost around $140 for the box. $1.44 each and worth every penny! D

Once all 8 lights are functioning... then I will start to run 220V to the lifts wired in series. I won't be using more than one at a time, so one leg will be fine. Same with the door openers. I may run all those off one circuit. I have what will be 25 outlets all around the shop. One every 5 feet. I may break those up into 2 breakers. It's not like I will be welding, then running the drill press, then the wire wheel etc. all at the same time. So no overload, it's just me. D

Shops Lights
 

Finished wiring all light boxes, got them all plugged-in, and hit the breaker. BAM!! Almost good enough for surgery.
8 - 2,400 Lumens. First picture no lights, second picture with camera flash. Third picture with all 8 lights. No more headlamp. Time to start wiring outlets, lifts etc.... D

shop
 

Saw one of these heavy-duty racks by a bunch of dumpsters. I asked if they were dumping it, the lady said yes. So I strained my balls and got it in my truck. Next thing I start seeing them out there every couple days. So my girlfriend and I started loading them. I ended up with 7 total. They are SLICK! They hold thousands of pounds. And roll like butter. Some are 3 shelf, some are 2. I organize tools on one, and materials on a couple others. I looked them up and they are 800 to $1,000 EACH! I wheel them around as I move around the shop. WAY better than a table. D

Electrical Boxes
 

Got 12 boxes trimmed out and tested, all good. Now ready to start the other 12. Prefabbed up a bunch to get a jump on assembly trim-out.
Yes outlets are upside down, ground up on purpose. Anybody guess the reason why? Danny