Retirement Shop (1 Viewer)

[WarDamnEagle]

I prefer bright white metal siding on the walls and ceiling. In work areas prone to damage and dirt I like the look of a metal wainscoting setup where you use a darker color like gray for the lower 4 feet, then a flat beltline trim where you can put all your outlets and airlines, then white from 4' up to the ceiling. Lots of ways you can attach it using metal or wood framing. In a steel building, I would screw the metal siding directly to the Z purlins leaving the steel support beams exposed. When I've seen the insides of steel buildings where guys have tried to conceal the steel beams by framing around them or spacing the interior wall way out it looks all kinds of wrong and wasteful.

My home septic is pumped. Because of the location of old drainfields and two water wells the septic is pumped over 500 feet to the new drainfield. There's only a few feet elevation change though. I would wager your situation would work just fine with a pumped setup. Pump isn't a big deal. Well, it isn't until your toddler is able to reach the breaker panel and turns off both bottom breakers that happen to be for the pump and the high level alarm and you don't catch it for a week.

Excellent commentary; thanks. Do you have photos of this type of setup? Are you speaking of metal with a profile or flat? Again, photos would be nice. Fully agree with the comment about framing around or in front of the beams; total waste. My latest thought was to actually frame inside the struts (Z purlins) and even keep the struts exposed.

One of our last US houses had a grinder pump into a pressurized main and we never had any trouble with it. There's just a lot of trees between there and the house; not to mention a driveway but I'm sure it's doable.

 

[PIP]

Excellent commentary; thanks. Do you have photos of this type of setup? Are you speaking of metal with a profile or flat? Again, photos would be nice.

Something like this:

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Something like this:

Very nice. I will have to think on that. Again, great input to my current quandary.

 

[PIP]

Very nice. I will have to think on that. Again, great input to my current quandary.

You're welcome.

With your steel Z purlins as they are I would be inclined to install a vertical 2x4 screwed between the purlins every 4 feet-ish. Install a 16" wide strip of plywood or OSB where the flat beltline trim and all the outlets, switches, airlines will be. The plywood will accept all the screws, support the outlets and give something to push/pull against when you're plugging/unplugging things.

I find the best designs are often the simplest. Steel siding skips a bunch of steps like sheetrocking/taping, mudding, priming and painting.

Good luck with whatever route you decide on.

 

[samc2447]

Quite a bit of room in a 40 x 40. Still wish it was a 40 x 60 though.

View attachment 3046757

I put a mezzanine across the front of my shop. Floor space fills up quickly even with shelving along the walls. I ran it 10x30 and it's about 9 feet high. It's where I store all my stuff - parts, camping gear, etc. Underneath I use for engine, transfercase assembly on one half and welding bay on the other half.

 

[PIP]

If you install a mezzanine run the numbers to be sure your footings will handle the extra load. I've seen the end of a building slowly sink under the extra weight of stuff stored on a mezzanine. This was a 36x36 pole building with a 12x36 mezzanine. Had proper footings for the building, but only one extra post supporting the mezzanine.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

If you install a mezzanine run the numbers to be sure your footings will handle the extra load. I've seen the end of a building slowly sink under the extra weight of stuff stored on a mezzanine. This was a 36x36 pole building with a 12x36 mezzanine. Had proper footings for the building, but only one extra post supporting the mezzanine.

Good reminder. Don’t think the foundation will be an issue with this shop but worth double checking. Thankfully with a civil and a structural engineer in the family it’s easy enough to check.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

So I was happy to find 5"+ of concrete in the shop slab today. The shop is divided in halves in both directions with saw cuts. I drilled about 5' from the wall in the middle saw cut which is near where the lift will go. Using a 6" 3/16 bit in the saw cut I went down 5". I then cleaned out the hole with a vac and the bit and using a long Allen Head confirmed that there was still solid concrete under the 5". It was very solid so I'm guessing there is at least 5.5" if not 6" (or more). Rotary requires 4" deep anchors in minimum 4.5" of concrete so I should be good to go.

So far everything that I have had to lay hands on in this house and shop has been built to a very high standard, if not overbuilt. Very happy we found this property when we did.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

I like @Michael B 's wall solution. Though he got lucky on the old barn. But it is pretty rustic and dark. I was planning on doing something similar throughout the shop but I think I may paint the spray foam and then just do metal walls at the areas where the most work will get done - the bench area, man door, etc.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

I like @Michael B 's wall solution. Though he got lucky on the old barn. But it is pretty rustic and dark. I was planning on doing something similar throughout the shop but I think I may paint the spray foam and then just do metal walls at the areas where the most work will get done - the bench area, man door, etc.

Don't get me wrong as I can certainly appreciate the look but rust has never been my thing. I'm leaning back toward 3' +/- CMU with something above - something not wood (hardibacker, 5/8" sheetrock, etc). I would consider painted steel if I ran across something I considered a reasonable deal. It would have to be fairly heavy gauge though to get me interested (e.g. thicker than 26 gauge).

I have decided that the concrete floor is so well burnished that I am not going to put anything on it (was headed toward porcelain). So at least now I can move forward with a lift. Should have bought the lift two years ago. It seems prices have gone up 50% since then.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

I definitely do not plan to do anything on my floor. (Maybe a coat of your basic waterproofer.) While it looks good for show cars I plan on dragging logs and terrible junk across my floor to keep myself entertained.

I think the issue with a red beam building or even a pole barn is the expense of putting appropriate nailers up to support a wall covering. Certainly a balance of want and need. I, like you, really like having finished walls in a shop.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

I think the issue with a red beam building or even a pole barn is the expense of putting appropriate nailers up to support a wall covering. Certainly a balance of want and need. I, like you, really like having finished walls in a shop.

I'm definitely going with metal studs and I am definitely leaving the red iron exposed (or at least the face of it) to maximize floor space. I haven't priced the studs yet but I'm sure it will be shocking. I put up three 8' by 16" wire shelves in a walk-in closet today and the materials cost $400......and I hate wire shelves. Just didn't have time to get my cabinet guy out to install something better. So glad I am not building a house at the moment.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

Yeah - not a fan of that wire garbage. I have it in my master closet but it is on my list to fix.

I do really like those adjustable silver heavy duty wire shelves on wheels for garage storage. They hold a lot of weight and you can move them to sweep up.

I scored some light pallet racking for free for my shop. Not a big fan but free is good.

 

[Michael B]

I like free!!

 

[PAToyota]

I was planning on doing something similar throughout the shop but I think I may paint the spray foam and then just do metal walls at the areas where the most work will get done - the bench area, man door, etc.

Most of the foam is pretty flammable and if you read their literature it says that you have to cover it with something. Even if your building codes don't require it (or there aren't building codes), it is something to consider - particularly as it releases toxic smoke as well.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

Most of the foam is pretty flammable and if you read their literature it says that you have to cover it with something. Even if your building codes don't require it (or there aren't building codes), it is something to consider - particularly as it releases toxic smoke as well.

Good tip.

 

[waiting for time]

In my shop the insulation is covered by underlayment which is covered with Sheetrock.
its nice and sturdy and has the benefit that you can screw stuff anywhere you want.

 

[PAToyota]

Most of the foam is pretty flammable and if you read their literature it says that you have to cover it with something. Even if your building codes don't require it (or there aren't building codes), it is something to consider - particularly as it releases toxic smoke as well.

A few years back there was a project where there was a fire after the spray foam but before drywall went up. Lots of thick, nasty, acrid smoke and "drippings" falling off of the insulation. A lot of work had to be torn back out because there was just no way to get the smell out of the materials.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Container from Saudi was delivered last Tuesday. Not sure where we're going to put everything. Unpacked my KSA road signs and got them out of the way. Guess that counts as progress; right?

 

[WarDamnEagle]

For those of you with control joints, you might consider filling them after an appropriate concrete cure time. This shop was built around 2006 so I'm pretty sure the concrete isn't going anywhere. My control joints are fairly deep at around 2.5" so I had to use some backer rod before the self leveling SikaFlex. Not the prettiest joint in the world but should keep the dirt out of the cuts.