Camo's thread has been very helpful, so I thought I would start my own.

I ordered a 40 x 100 x 16' building from www.empiresteelbuildings.com with gutters, skylights, vents, fully insulated, and 12:4 pitch. I'm kinda embarassed that it is soooo big, but everyone said to get the biggest you can. Brian Hortin over there has been really awesome through the whole process and easy to get on the phone. The building cost me $36,462.16 Delivered, with engineering plans for the concrete and taxes.

The County planning Dept. took 4 days to issue the permit and the cost was $1316.00.

We started trenching today!
Any local guys with forklifts, scissor lifts, etc sitting around....we can put them to use. :D

WOO HOO, here we go!

sweet keep us updated on progress I have been looking at doing the same thing in my back yard.. just not that big :)

What did concrete run you for that?

right on keep the pics and info coming.

later tj

What did concrete run you for that?
:confused: I'll let you know when I get some.

Today I did most the rough plumbing myself for the 1 1/2 baths. The old guy that built the dirt pad sure can COMPACT! Luckily my contractor let me borrow his HILTI jack hammer.
Reminds me: Add $4250 to my total for 14 loads of dirt, compaction, and compaction study.

I'm beat and sun burned a little. :cool2: Good night!

OMG HUGE SHOP!

Gonna be saweeet :eek:

wholey crap...that is freekin huge... I just turned in my plans to the county monday for a 30 x 60 x 13 shop at home...

Is this a personal shop, not a business? Holy crap, you are gonna have $60k in this thing easy :eek:

Damn!! Gonna love to see what kinda stuff you come up in there after building the buggy under a freakin tarp!

If you have the land why not use it

I currently work out of 30x40x12 thought it would be big enough it is aleast half the size I really would like now :(

In your application, I would suggest no more than four lanes and one pro-shop. Dont forget to have plenty of parking for league night! :eek:

REFLEXX :D

You guys crack me up! :flipoff2:

Yes, it is a personal shop/storage building. My budget is exactly $60K...good guess. I may end up at $65K though. :shaking: Still, it will probably be $10K less then JR's new buggy, LOL!

I'm gonna take some quality pics of the dune buggies at the Pomona Off-Road show tomorrow. May be my next project once the house and shop are completed.

I must be KOP!

I did my rough plumbing in the shop and the inspector flunked me! Says that I have too much plumbing in the footings. I need to UNWRAP everything for the water test. Add a riser 10' above the lowest point and fill with water. Connect all lines for water test.

The shop has a 14" wide, 14" deep footing around the entire perimeter. How do you get the vent to exit along the wall without plumbing in the footing!?!?
Same with sink: the 2" runs down the wall, into the footing, and out. Shower also.

He also says the rebar can not be closer then 3" to the black pipe. Can we just bend around it?

HELP!!!

The shop has a 14" wide, 14" deep footing around the entire perimeter. How do you get the vent to exit along the wall without plumbing in the footing!?!?
Same with sink: the 2" runs down the wall, into the footing, and out. Shower also.


Stub the PVC up against the footer and then 45 it back to the wall after the floor is poured.

You HAVE to run the pipe thru the footing at some point, the inspector should understand that. If you're running the pipe length ways in the footing, maybe that's what he has a problem with?

I ran a single 3" pipe thru the footing for the toilet and a 2" for the shower and sink. We ran one 2" vent pipe for each drain and will tie the sink vent into it inside the walls of the shop. Here's a pic.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=210181&stc=1&d=1129302717

Yes, bend the rebar around the pipe. You also shouldn't have it closer than 3" to any of the outside edges of the forms.

The slab is poured! :D I did pay a plumber $650 to finish the plumbing for the 1 1/2 baths. The 83 yards of 5 1/2 bag (3500 PSI) with one inch rock was $6900. Also needed another $371 in heavy wire mesh panels. The 6 guys laying the mud cost me $1300 and did a heck of a job. TACO's on me!! :p

5 1/2" thick slab and great weather!

The cement guys finished around 2pm, and suggested we wait at least a couple hours before saw cutting. We saw cut the slab at 4:30pm 3/4" deep but got alot of bad chips. :mad3: Even tried a new blade!
What did we do wrong?

hey that looks good man. when they saw cut mine i think they got a total of 2 chips. not sure how they did it. keep the pics coming.

late tj

Nice size. I doubt you will regret making it that big.You poor bastards and your permits in CA. Those fees suck.That 5 1/2" off mud should do the trick.

We saw cut the slab at 4:30pm 3/4" deep but got alot of bad chips. :mad3: Even tried a new blade!
What did we do wrong?

Cannot say for sure without seeing the process, but with the sun and the dry ground did you cover the slab or apply any sort of curing sealer? Sounds like the top surface dried out too fast. May lead to spalling later on.

Best way to keep a crack free slab is cover it with poly and keep it moist for the first seven days. We used to do 6" slabs in 50'x50' sections with 4x4x4/4 w.w.f. without cracks.

The slab only has two small hair line cracks.......so far.

The chipping I'm referring to is along the edge of the saw cut. The saw would hit a piece of 3/8" pebble and kick it out, making a big chip along the edge of the cut. We even replaced the blade with no improvement???
I'm guessing the slab was too green still, but my cement guy says it would have been very difficult to saw 480' of joints the next day when the slab was hard.

Dam shop is bigger than my apartmant.... gezzz you will probably be able to fit my shop in your bathroom

Those are concrete workers not cement :flipoff2:

Either way you look at it that is a lot of mud you got, and got lucky it didn't rain :eek:

Here's what me and a couple buddies got done this weekend..............................btw, Damn it's a big shop! :laughing:

Got alot done this weekend, but not as much as we could have. Still need the rest of the purlins and cables installed.

So far the blueprints have been LACKING detailed guidance big time, and we found a couple screw ups that cost us time. :mad3: The 3 horizontal beams (girts) in the center of the end walls were too long, so we had to cut them down and redrill the holes. :mad3: THEN, the 4 corner columns didn't have the bracket holes at the correct height (for the top horizontal girt), which we didn't realize until after the columns were bolted in place. :mad3:

Upside..........lifting heavy rafters 21' above your head with a forklift is a rush! Joel and Pete worked their butts off to the tune of 18 hours this weekend! Thanks guys!!!
Scissor lifts are COOL and definately a must for a building this big!

Looks pretty good man! Hate to say this and be the barer of bad news, but doing the frame is the easy part. We thought we were really cookin when we had my 30 X 60 frame up in a day. Then the pain began. I ordered a building with eaves and that fact alone has caused me a tremendous amount of detail work that has slowed the whole process to a crawl. We had the frame and 3 of the walls up in less than a week. Now I am working on the trim BEFORE I can do the roof because of the design. It's tedious and a major PITA!!!

Doesn't help that I'm trying to do this by myself or with the help of one other person either. If you have a crew of 3-6 guys, it'll go a lot faster.

Oh and BTW - I ordered from Steelbuilding.com, and I must say, they have their chit together. SO far I only found one manufacturing flaw (missing a couple of holes) and they only shrted me one small wall panel. I am very impressed with that company.

Also, you're going to have to put some angle up top for a place to screw the wall panels (on the outside ends of the purlins), I HIGHLY recommend just welding that. We drilled and screwed that crap and it took a day and a half with two guys and the scissor lift.

Just my $.02

Also, you're going to have to put some angle up top for a place to screw the wall panels (on the outside ends of the purlins),

Got any pics of that angle mounted? That was one of the things I was confused about.

No eves here, but I'm sure the siding and roofing is gonna be a PITA.

I'm also regreting buying a building this big with the column's flush with the outside. The end walls are going to be difficult to get straight, with the girts in 3 lengths. Any tips there?

Lemme see what I can do on the pics.

My end walls lined up pretty well. My side girts came in 2 pieces, and at first, we had the wrong holes lined up. It took 3 people, one at the end wall with a level measuring plumb and the other two pushing and pulling to get the correct holes lined up on the girts. Best to work from one end towards the other getting everything plumb as you move along. Minor variations can be pulled in by the cables very easily. As long as you're like 1/8 of a bubble or closer to plumb, the calbes can be adjusted to get it all aligned.

As long as your anchor bolts were all set properly, you should have no problem getting things plumb and square.

Grabbed a pic of the angle attached to the bottom side of the purlins last night. It basically serves as an attaching point for the top of the wall panels. If you look closely, you'll see another piece of it for the interior liner panels I ordered too. I also have a piece on the end of the purlins for attaching trim pieces such as the rake spacer and trim.

That's why it took us a day and a half, lots of that crap up there.

Wowsers. I can only dream of having a shop half that size in the next 10 years. I was gonna do a 24' x 60' shop when I buy myself a house, but now I'm jealous :flipoff2:

Can't wait to see the finished product!

Also, you're going to have to put some angle up top for a place to screw the wall panels (on the outside ends of the purlins),

Got any pics of that angle mounted? That was one of the things I was confused about.

No eves here, but I'm sure the siding and roofing is gonna be a PITA.

I'm also regreting buying a building this big with the column's flush with the outside. The end walls are going to be difficult to get straight, with the girts in 3 lengths. Any tips there?

Photo attached.

Only "trick" to side panels. Use a 2x4 to support the purlin. The will sag a little, 2x4 is temporary to keep it level. SNAP a chalk line to get all those screw holes correct. :) On, 14' side walls. 14' side wall and ANY wind... work on something else that day!

Tom :usa:

One thing I noticed, frame came from one fab shop. Purlins, sides, etc from another. Someone didn't talk to each other!

Purlins on the end walls were too long. When you look at the above photo you can see how the end column is not flush with the exterior on the side. Kept scratching my head about that one.

That and BIRDS (still need to bird proof the shop) are my only complaints.

Tom :usa:

Way cool "hobby" shop. I wish I had one 1/2 that size.

I am looking for a small 20x30 bridge-crane. Anyone know where I can pick up a used one reasonably priced? I want to set it up in front of my Garage.

7 more purlins and I'll be almost done framing the roof.:shaking:

Spent part of Saturday trying to get the 110V plasma cutter to work off a generator, so I could run the cables through the girts, I ended up drilling and sawzaling....what a pita. The endwalls have two columns bolted back to back and the holes for the cables don't line up for shit.

Can't fit my eve struts over my four 12 x 14 door openings, because the door cloumns are to high. :mad3: Time to call NCI Systems in TX....AGAIN!

On a high note; I bought a Genie 2646 scissor lift off ebay and picked it up Friday. How I love my new toy! Best part is that I will never have to take my kids to Disneyland again. :laughing: Now if I can just talk my wife into pouring cement completely around the new two story home. Painting the trim and hanging Xmas lights will be a breeze! :p

Thanks for the tips!
Got a couple more questions:
I'm guessing the building needs to be inspected before the siding goes on?

How tight should the cable braces be?

Thanks

Mine doesn't need to be inspected, but that's a county specific thing. I have to call for rough electrical and plumbing, and that's it until the final.

My cable braces aren't all that tight because my building was damn near plumb without them. I just tightened them until they were straight and didn't pull the frame out of plumb. I had no instruction in the manual on how tight they should be.

I cut most of my holes for the calbe bracing with my plasma, but one of the girts I didn't want to have to remove so I used a hole saw on my 1/2" drill, worked great! Except that the hole saw caught and I wasn't ready for it and damn near broke my wrist. LMAO!! THat's what I get for having the "fag hold" on the damn thing.

We got 4 roof panels on this weekend. The insulation is a major PITA!! THe instrucitons say to stretch it from one side all the way to the other, however, I think I'll be cutting mine in two pieces so I have access via scissor lift in the middle to the first panel being put up. Insulation id 6 feet wide and I can't quite reach that far to screw the first panel down if I don't cut it down the peak of the roof.

I figure by the time I'm done, I should know what I'm doing. :rolleyes:

I'll call the county and find out on the inspection.

LOL, The drill worked great, but you almost broke your wrist. OUCH! Sounds like a pita to me.

THE TRUTH:
"I figure by the time I'm done, I should know what I'm doing."

God bless the man that invented scissor lifts!

looking great.

do you plan on doing the roof yourself ?

looking great.

do you plan on doing the roof yourself ?

Yes, but I'm not looking forward to it. Why?

I called NCI: building systems and my roll up door jams are too long! :mad3: Now I have to cut the ends off all 8 and redrill 16 holes. Just what I wanted to spend my limited time on. :shaking:

i had to hire metal building contractor to install my roof correctly.

I spent 2 days getting the first 2 roof panels installed and gave up. turns out they were done wrong anyhow and the contractor removed them and then started over.

they showed up with a crew of 4 guys and had the roof done in 7 hours. it was well worth the money to have them do it. they did saw however that the rest of my build was done very well and correctly, so i felt good about that. :D

Thanks for the info. I do have a fellow who has offered, and if him and his buddy (plus me and a friend) can do mine in two days. I probably would go for that.

Here's some very important Electrical info I just discovered. My original plan was to run a 400Amp service to the house and pull 200 amps to a subpanel in the shop. BAD IDEA!
All residentials get the SAME base rate that starts at a .12 cent rate and then quickly escalates to .21 cents. The shop would just push me to the .21 rate much quicker.
HOWEVER, if I run two 200amp meters on the house, one for home and the other for the shop/water well, NOW the shop gets it's own base rate on the commercial scale. It also starts at .12 and only raises to .16. The guys at Edison say that technically I would need a commercial meter for the shop, BUT since I'm running the residential well off it they will let me run a residential meter.
The best part is the electrical warehouse is going to take the 400amp panel back, which is a big relief since it cost $1000!
:smokin:

Aren't 2 200 amp panels cheaper than a 400 amp anyway?

Aren't 2 200 amp panels cheaper than a 400 amp anyway?

oh yes.... much.

Aren't 2 200 amp panels cheaper than a 400 amp anyway?

Yes they are, but what we will end up with is a single panel with two meters that feed sub panels for the shop and house. So basically we are trading the 400 amp panel for a two meter panel and a 200amp sub panel for the house.

Is this still a bad deal?

Spent part of Saturday trying to get the 110V plasma cutter to work off a generator,

Stupid question... why not use a torch? :confused:

Stupid question... why not use a torch? :confused:
SIMPLE ANSWER.....Didn't have one at the time and the plasma cuts cleaner.

So when are you putting a rockpile on the land for your uh *neighbors* in another city to come play on :grinpimp:

-Todd

I told the wife we need rock for the front yard of the house. She's thinking 4"-6" river rock and I'm thinking 4'-6' river rock! :D Would make a great fence........right? Now I just need to find said rock for the right price.

I told the wife we need rock for the front yard of the house. She's thinking 4"-6" river rock and I'm thinking 4'-6' river rock! :D Would make a great fence........right? Now I just need to find said rock for the right price.

ahha "Hunny I thought you said you watned 4-6 FOOT rocks" :)

they showed up with a crew of 4 guys and had the roof done in 7 hours. it was well worth the money to have them do it. :D

BTW, what did they charge you for 7 hours? I think my building is twice as big, so I'm guessing twice as much.

Thanks!

Damn man...quite the fawking step up from this..

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3577/17110454503244xo.jpg

Very Nice Shop!!!

What made you decide on a 40x100 as opposed to a more square shape, ie 60x80, 60x60, etc. ?

What are your door arrangements and size?

Trust me, it will seem small when you're finished and start using it. We've pretty well filled my dad's 60x80 we built ourselves, and have barely began to use it. Its feeling a little cramped at times, but its a major step up from a gravel driveway!

Your shop is looking really good. What is the estimated time of completion?

83 yards of concrete....How thick did you make the floor?

Very Nice Shop!!!

What made you decide on a 40x100 as opposed to a more square shape, ie 60x80, 60x60, etc. ?

What are your door arrangements and size?

Thanks. The 40x100 fits nicely on our lot, and seemed like the easiest way to keep the RV and wifes storage away from the fabricating. On a side note; When we lifted the rafters into place with the fork lift, there was only 1" of lift left to spare. With the 4:12 roof and 16' eves I would have required a crane to set the rafters if I was any wider.

(3) 12' wide 14' tall doors on the front side and (1) 12 x 14 on the back side. Plus a couple 3 x 7 doors.

Your shop is looking really good. What is the estimated time of completion?

Thanks,
83 yards of concrete....How thick did you make the floor?

Estimated time? When it gets done.

The floor is 5" thick with huge footings and lots of rebar. 3500psi mix also.

"When it gets done."

Kinda sounds like a smart ass response, but I'm tired and glad to be back at work where I can get some rest. LOL

Started putting the siding on yesterday, and after 5 hours, I have only 10 panels (with 3" of insulation) installed and another 10 panels pre-drilled ready to go. We also killed some time dragging tools and insulation out of my storage container, plus dragging the "cement only" scissor lift around on the dirt. Kinda felt like some of my snow wheeling trips. :p

I think I'm going to buy a jigsaw to cut the panels around the doors, I just don't see the sawzall cutting that straight.

"When it gets done."

Kinda sounds like a smart ass response, but I'm tired and glad to be back at work where I can get some rest. LOL


Eh, I know what you mean. My wife and I built a stick frame 40' x 60' gambrel roof shop with a buddy helping out on occasion. So it took a while, and I recall the same sentiments on my part...:D

This year, I added a 15' x 45' lean-to on the North side, with a 10' x 8' garage door on each end. Zoning laws are changing here quickly, so I am glad the shop is up, and the (shop) square footage is just under the allowable 50% square footage of the house.

Damn, what a big building. HA!
I took camo's advice and hired a contractor to do the roof and roll up doors. Now if I could just get the wind to cooperate, I would have the siding done.

Things to ask a building company before purchasing:

1. Does the roof insulation go completely across the roof, or only half way like mine? Much easier to get the one piece insulation tight.
2. I like the little 1 1/2" step in the cement for the side panels to sit in, vs the little metal piece hanging next to the foundation.
3. Do they cut small panels for over the roll up doors, and above/below the skylights?
4. Do they include the caps to cover the door jambs at the large rollup doors?
5. Are the columns in the end walls channels made from sheetmetal, or real I-beams?
6. I thought Empire built my building, but actually they are only sales for NCI Building Systems. I think NCIB does some buildings for www.steelbuildings.com .
.
.
You guys might have other suggestions.

The steel building that I work in has steel cable running in criss-cross patterns to support the building.Might want to consider for earthquake or high wind.

When I had my big machine shed built, i just wanted a building with some lights, no floor, just gravel and 2 doors on either end. Guy a few miles down the road sells and builds steel buildings, from small shops to big warehouses. I went around to a bunch of buildings he built and found the parts I liked and the parts i didnt until i found just what i wanted. Would do the same for any other buildings I build.

The steel building that I work in has steel cable running in criss-cross patterns to support the building.Might want to consider for earthquake or high wind.

Look close at the endwall pictured above, looks like this one has the cables to me. I think most would have them, it is probably code required.

On our endwalls, we spec-ed I-beams for possible future expansion. It cost a good bit more, but it would save a lot of trouble if/when this building is no longer large enough. :D I don't know if I like the lip in the concrete or not. I think of it as one more thing for the amigos to mess up. They managed to bust a few chunks out of the concrete with a mattock while they were knocking the form boards loose. :shaking:

We used Ruffin for the building company. I could answer yes to almost all the above questions, but then again our building is all custom... so I don't know if its standard. We weren't pleased with Ruffin though, had some major fitup/parts supply issues.

Looks like its coming along, keep us updated with pics. :grinpimp: BTW, did it include doors, or are you handling those separate? My dad went with 14x14 double sided, insulated, electric rollups(from Cornell?). They're insanely heavy, but solid. :eek: :smokin:

This building actually has 20 cables. Seems all that I have seen, do.

Basketcasejeep:
I got all the doors from Empire. The 3x7 doors are supposidly right or left hand, however when I went to install one of them left hand I had a gap at the top of the door. Also both doors were too wide and required modification with a sawzal and redrilling some holes. :mad3:
The 12 x 14 doors were just installed today and apear to work fine so far. The doors are not insulated and seem a little thin. They also have a strip of felt down both sides to keep tracking smooth. At $800 each, these were the cheapies. :eek:

My dad went with 14x14 double sided, insulated, electric rollups(from Cornell?). They're insanely heavy, but solid. I bet those cost well over $1500 each.

I used a 6" cut off wheel on my grinder to cut all my sheetmetal. Makes real nice cut and it doesn't try to rip up the edge like the sawzall did. A little messy, and you'll go thru wheels, but it works the best.

My building came with precut panels for above the doors (steelbuilding.com) but I still had to cut the roof rake at the top.

I installed my own doors, by myself. I had a 6K forklift and did it from outside the building. I welded the brackets to the jambs and then hoisted the door into place from outside the building. Worked out great. I have (2) 12 X 10 doors at either end.

I had to order all my trim work seperately. I paid for jamb and header flashing plus the building comes with U channel for the panels to sit in around all the door openings.

Yeah it's funny, I keep saying that once I am completely done, I will know how to construct one of these stupid things. I probably never will again, but I could. LOL

Eh, I know what you mean. My wife and I built a stick frame 40' x 60' gambrel roof shop with a buddy helping out on occasion. So it took a while, and I recall the same sentiments on my part...:D

This year, I added a 15' x 45' lean-to on the North side, with a 10' x 8' garage door on each end. Zoning laws are changing here quickly, so I am glad the shop is up, and the (shop) square footage is just under the allowable 50% square footage of the house.

In my area - it's 50% of the square footage of the footprint of the house! :eek:

Got two solid days in last weekend. What a mess!

Almost there!

Any updates?

By any chance did you price out how much it would have been to add an office or 'living qrts' on a 2nd story?

How's your budget? under? over?


_Todd

Any updates?
_Todd

Holidays, 2 B-days for my kids, and a vacation to Sedona, AZ have slowed things a bit. Basically the exterior is almost done! Just a couple more rain gutter pieces. Probably 4 hours worth. Someone said the trim was harder then the framing and panels, but it's actually been pretty easy???

Too me, the hardest part has been getting the insualtion smooth. :(

Also, I have noticed that most of the "PRO" guys take ALOT of short cuts. Some buildings are greatly lacking screws, others didn't fold the insulation over to keep it from wicking moisture, some hardly use the caulking tape.

Now I need to have an engineer come out and inspect the large cad plated bolts for $250.

As far as budget goes for the building, it has been exactly what I expected. It's all the extra stuff that's adding up! 1 and 1/2 baths plus the additional trenching cost more then I expected. Hopefully the electrical part doesn't break me. :laughing:

Hopefully the electrical part doesn't break me. :laughing:

Depends upon your plans and how many outlets, lights, etc you want, but I don't see it being that difficult to hit $5k in supplies alone if you wanted to wire the whole thing to be functional w adequate outlets and plenty of lighting, fans etc.

Went shopping at Home Depot lastnight. I think I'm going to get 13 of the 8' 110Watt T12 HO fixtures. Put 9 over the fabricating half (40x50) of the shop, and 4 over the storage half. Fixtures are $55/each and the bulbs are $90/15. That's gonna run $960. :( Seems like this should work good, but always welcome other suggestions.

The 30 space 200 amp sub panel will be another $130. I'm getting a great deal on wiring up to 10 gauge (30amp), but conduit, junction boxes, 110 and 220 plugs are gonna add up some too! I'll keep you guys posted.

looking good man. nice job. it feels good when its all closed in. you might want to think about a few more lights. go to electical supply house and look into the t8-8' highout put lights. they only put out 1 amp a peice..just a thought. looks good

later tj

Please excuse the ignorance, but what do you mean "they only put out 1 amp"?
The T12 HO put out 110watts of light, how does the T8 HO compare?

Thanks

Brian, your shop makes my pants fit funny... Nice work!

Put 9 over the fabricating half (40x50) of the shop, and 4 over the storage half. Fixtures are $55/each and the bulbs are $90/15. That's gonna run $960. :( Seems like this should work good, but always welcome other suggestions.

IMO it'll be too dim, or at least too dim for what *I* would prefer. I guess just give it a try and leave room for adding lights. Once you've worked in a well-lit, bright shop, it's hard to go back.

I have no experience with various types of fluorescent, I've always used the 8 footers from HD that you mention, they've been good to me so far.

Holy Cow! Nice shop Brian!

Please excuse the ignorance, but what do you mean "they only put out 1 amp"?
The T12 HO put out 110watts of light, how does the T8 HO compare?

Thanks

sorry they only use 1 amp a piece. i run a 20 amp breaker for my lights and fan. 12 lights and two house fans. but i dont have that big of a electrical box as you.

http://www.garagejunkies.net/showthread.php?t=2137

HTH

I'd stick with the T12's. The T8's will give slightly less light output. On a 48" strip, the T8's put out 2850 Lumens at 32 watts a peice, where the T12's put out 3200 Lumens at 40 watts. So it's a tradeoff, more light for more wattage. But the initial purchase of the T12's will be a lot cheaper. For the 48"ers that I bought, the T8's were $25 and the T12's were $16


How about some of those big hanging metal halide lights? I don't know much about those, but most buildings built like yours use them.

Now I need to have an engineer come out and inspect the large cad plated bolts for $250.

As far as budget goes for the building, it has been exactly what I expected. It's all the extra stuff that's adding up! 1 and 1/2 baths plus the additional trenching cost more then I expected. Hopefully the electrical part doesn't break me. :laughing:

Nice, any more info or estaitmes on cost to put a second story with like a loft apt?

Nice, any more info or estaitmes on cost to put a second story with like a loft apt?

I never checked on integrated lofts, I just figured it would be something I might add later with wood lumber.

I'd stick with the T12's.

How about some of those big hanging metal halide lights? I don't know much about those, but most buildings built like yours use them.

You guys keep forgeting that these are the 110 watt high output T12's. That is 220 watts/fixture. I bought 13 of them yesterday, so I will let you guys know how it turns out. 4 fixtures will go over the 40x50 storage end, and the other 9 will go over the 40x40 work area.

13 fixtures (no bulbs), 36 sticks of 2x4, and a 200amp subpanel = $1K. :eek:
2 cases of bulbs (30) will cost another $193.

I bought some metal halide fixtures from FarmTec supply. My shop is 30 X 60 and has 12 foot ceilings, so I just went with the 175 watt fixtures. I put one off to the side up front, I will have an office on the other side and storage under the light. It lights the front half of the shop OK by itself. I put 4 of them in the back, about 10 feet apart, basically a 10 foot by 10 foot square centered in the back of the shop with a light at each corner. PLENTY of light!! Of course, these things put out about 14,000 lumens each, so they's pretty bright.

I think I have dropped about $1500 or so just for the electrical in the building. I have 3 circuits so far for 110, I'll have 4-5 220 circuits. I will be putting up one more light above the mill because it is about in the middle of the shop, I get a little shadowing because most of the light is behind me.

I also wound up getting one of those radiant tube heaters. It's a 100K btu and is 40 feet long. Ran it straight down the center of the shop.

I am running a 125 amp sub off the main house panel.

You can get by with 15 amp breakers for the lights, they don't pull much. I would recommend placing a couple of circuits for them too, you don't want everything on one and blow that breaker. You'll be in the dark real quick.

You can get by with 15 amp breakers for the lights, they don't pull much. I would recommend placing a couple of circuits for them too, you don't want everything on one and blow that breaker. You'll be in the dark real quick.
I remember my old shop -- holding something heavy with one hand, drilling with the other, and popping the breaker at night. :laughing: That sucked, especially with the breaker box two keyed doors away and a pile of stuff on the floor between!

I'm pretty happy with my overhead setup at the new shop -- I have two motion-detecting light-sensing 3-way switches sweeping the entry points for the shop, run to incandescent cheapo-ceiling fixtures run down the center of the shop. There's a bank of fluorescents on either side, switched and breakered separately. I have additional task lighting outside of the overheads, all switched individually.

The incandescents start faster, with no flicker for short duration work, and they shut off a few minutes after I leave, so I don't forget 'em. If I'm gonna be in the shop long, I switch on the fluorescent bank(s) and the electric eyes built into the 3-way switches douse the incandescents. If I ever trip the breaker for the fluorescents, just about any movement in the shop will fire the motion detectors and bring up the incandescent circuit.

Randii

I also wound up getting one of those radiant tube heaters. It's a 100K btu and is 40 feet long. Ran it straight down the center of the shop.

Can I get more info on this heater?
Thanks

I've been trenching and btw, pulling 2/0 wire is fun. :shaking: I'm just framing the bathrooms, but got my final on the building yesterday! WooHoo!

Btw, I've had some additional cost. $195 for engineer to do torque test. 12 gauge stranded wire is $42/500ft. Good thing I have a connection for free 12 and 10 gauge wire. The other day I spent about $850 for a trencher, 4 10' pieces of 3" conduit, 3 10' pieces of 3/4" conduit. 225' of 2/0 at $1.50/ft, and 75' of #2 at $1.00/ft. There were some misc connectors as well.

I'm also finding out that we didn't need to run the 12 gauge green to each light, since we are using metal conduit. I also didn't need to 75' for #2 going from the subpanel to the house panel.
Fun stuff!

HA!! I wound up having to buy 600 feet of 2/0 to go from my main panel to the sub. Didn't need that big, but I figure it's good to run it now and have it in place in case I want or need to upgrade. And yes, it was a joy running that stuff in August up here.

The radiant tube heater is one that has been used in warehouse apps for many years. They use them here at CalExpo (saw them at the home show last weekend). Basically it's a burner unit on one end and anywhere from 20 - 70 feet of exhaust pipe (4" normally) with reflector above that. Burner ignites, shoots a flame down the tube, tube gets hot and the reflector reflects the heat downward to heat objects. Basically it's like having the sun in your workshop.

Here's a link to more info: http://www.rec.udel.edu/Extension/Poultry/APENv2n1.pdf

I know that has to do with poultry houses, but the concept is still there and explained very well.

You can find them on eBay, but shipping is usually cost prohibitive. I got mine at a warehouse clearance sale out in Lincoln for less than half of new. Grainger sells them as well, but OUCH!! TekSupply has them a bit cheaper than Grainger, but you're still looking at $1200-$1400 new.

When I pulled the 2/0 into the shop we used some lube and it helped alot. Right when we got to the last 90degree turn the line got stuck, so I tied the line to the scissor lift and went up until it gave. I thought the 1/4" nylon line broke, so I was relieved to see the cable come out.

Thanks for the info on radiant tube heaters!

If I didn't heat my shop with the outdoor boiler I would have the radiant tube heaters. Heats the objects not the air.