Moving and building a shop

Yes some Lowes sell kits but don't bother, waste of time and money. The price has came down significantly in the last few years and you can usually find a contractor to do it for a responsible cost (atleast you don't die with disgust) . I last winter was on a project that was a pole bldg. 140' by 140' with roof trusses you can imagine the height! The ceiling sheathing was spray foamed along with the walls. So the entire attic was conditioned space. We had a standard residential electric furnace running in one corner during final construction. It cycled on and off and kept the entire bldg. no matter where you was at within a few degrees of set point. I was amazed. We are presently doing another bldg. much smaller but similar construction and similar spray foam. Using a SMALL electric furnace to keep it toasty warm with just plastic stapled over the windows at the present.

Like I said I built my own super insulated home 30 years ago with TWO 2' x 4" walls spaced 5 1'2" apart filled with fiberglass insulation. Trusses were Low E trusses so I could install a full 12" insulation over the entire wall tops. I love my home and heat and cool all year for what most would pay in a month of utilities. With that said now after first hand experience I build with 2 by 6 (maybe even 2 by 4) and spray foam to include the attic and conditioned space.
 
I've been researching steel buildings and had this link bookmarked. Maybe there is the right one for sale near you. I have seen quonset style buildings that have facades and other ways to make them more palatable to the better half.
 
I started out forging mostly knife & trinket size work inside a 20' ocean container.
It would be plenty large for a one man knife making shop. especially if its a grinder only operation.
 
I've seen this design before and I loved how well divided and cheap it was for him (he got the containers for free). He has 2 containers set up with a container shelter in the middle, he put up fence style "walls" for the shelter area and used it as the forging area, one container as grinding area and the other as a storage/etc stuff area.
 
My budget for this shop is $10,000 to $15,000 and at least around the size of 24x24. This is an easy size to sell with the house because it double car size. Of corse I want insulation and the other nice things I have been doing without in my current shop but first and foremost I need a space to work. It seams like when I price pole building kits thy are rather pricy and your not getting much. People say thy are cheaper then a stick frame but I can do most of the work my self with help from friends and family.

We like the Polebuilding idea becaus it's simple and we want to add an overhang for a car port on the side. Also I could plywood the roof and sides under the metal and then finish the inside later if I want.
 
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Just my humble opinion pole bldgs. require a lot of interior work to make a finished space. And metal bldgs. are fine for out of the weather storage of tractors, boats etc but are tough to convert to a environmentally controlled space. You are right to consider resale value and nothing beats a stick built for that. Your going to be stick building the inside of a pole or metal bldg. to make it usable anyhow. My garage is simply stick built on a slab of concrete. I framed in the front wall with headers for 2 garage doors but framed in and use ONE insulated garage door and framed and sided over the other "future" garage door. IF I decide later on to take a saw saw and cut out the second door out for resale Ill do it! I live in a active saw mill area and slabs are easy to get trading a knife now and then so I heat with a wood burner.
 
That was kinda my thought as well. Also seams like for a limited crue a stick built building would be a tad more easy.
 
i coudl have been much cheaper had i not put down so much concrete (monolicic pour foundation/floor) and also had i not gone 2 floors but having a clean up stairs and some parts of zoning helped drive choices
 
Hey JD where is the new place? My mom and dad are still in Steven's County. In fact you might know my dad if you have a well. Pump Tech. Marc Wutzke. Anyway congrats. Thats awesome. I would definitely love to hearrive what your overall cost are since a shop is on my to do list too.
 
In floor heat. Do it on the cheap and just use a hot water heater. 2" extruded insulation under the floor and down the footings.
 
Interesting. Considering making an offer on the cabin that Im renting. I would reinsulate it if I buy. Cabins are crap for R value. Whaddya think it would cost to foam insulate underneath the floor? It presently has the ole fiberglass insulation that has been torn to shreds by critters. It is about 1400 square feet. sits about 3.5 feet above the ground. It is a pia to crawl down there.

LCoop said:
Yes some Lowes sell kits but don't bother, waste of time and money. The price has came down significantly in the last few years and you can usually find a contractor to do it for a responsible cost (atleast you don't die with disgust) . I last winter was on a project that was a pole bldg. 140' by 140' with roof trusses you can imagine the height! The ceiling sheathing was spray foamed along with the walls. So the entire attic was conditioned space. We had a standard residential electric furnace running in one corner during final construction. It cycled on and off and kept the entire bldg. no matter where you was at within a few degrees of set point. I was amazed. We are presently doing another bldg. much smaller but similar construction and similar spray foam. Using a SMALL electric furnace to keep it toasty warm with just plastic stapled over the windows at the present.

Like I said I built my own super insulated home 30 years ago with TWO 2' x 4" walls spaced 5 1'2" apart filled with fiberglass insulation. Trusses were Low E trusses so I could install a full 12" insulation over the entire wall tops. I love my home and heat and cool all year for what most would pay in a month of utilities. With that said now after first hand experience I build with 2 by 6 (maybe even 2 by 4) and spray foam to include the attic and conditioned space.
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What's your guys thoughts on shop lighting. I currently am using florecent and HATE it. In the cold thy are so dim and take time to brighten up. I'm thinking about going LED but unsure as to the amount of lux (lumen/m^3) I need for a bright shop.
 
JTknives said:
What's your guys thoughts on shop lighting. I currently am using florecent and HATE it. In the cold thy are so dim and take time to brighten up. I'm thinking about going LED but unsure as to the amount of lux (lumen/m^3) I need for a bright shop.
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Fwiw,
I have oddball 6' florescents in my basement shop. Been there since 1960s.
Eventually my last tube expired. I bought a bunch of selfadhesive 12v LED strips. (Amazon, about $7 per 4 meter. )
Wrapped the strips spirally along the length of 6' glass tube. Connected to a 12v powersupply what replaced the ballast transformer. I considered using PVC pipe or wood but already had the perfect thing as the expired glass tubes. Proper length & fixing peg at each end...
Its abundantly bright, instantly lit & best of all, does not buzz...
 
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I just tried to cram in as many flourescents as possible. They are new (the perks of having a brother who's an electrician and get things like this for free) and start very fast and gives really good light.

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Goddamit! No, I haven't filled my workshop floor with lights. Because that would be inconvenient.
 
Ive been looking into insulation lately since im in the process of designing my place and spray foam seems to be the way to go... Closed cell seems to be the best option but pricey for sure. And yea they sell DIY kits but not sure I would want to risk doing it myself since they are pricey as is.
 
i have 8 foot florescent lights on chains down stairs so i can move them around (they lso have plug ends ) upstairs i have LED "boob" lights for main and then over each bench fixture lights on switches at the bench. in part im not happy with the fixture lights as i thought they came with a different bulb type so as the CF bulbs go out i ll upgrade to LED for spot lighting to bounce on to the bench
 
If you get a concrete slab poured and get Pre Fab trusses you can put up a building really quickly. Having a friend to help makes things go much quicker. My dad and I built a 16x24 cabin this summer in about a week but much of that time was spent on the foundation. Electric can be done in a day or two if you know what you are doing and keep it simple. Tin roof is the way to go. Its faster and easier than shingles. Fireproof drywall is cheap and can be rapidly installed if you don't care about mudding or painting.

Bottom line is if you have the time, its worth saving the $5,000+ you will probably spend getting a prefab building or a custom building.
 
We have been looking at pole building kits. Thy seams to be around 8-11k for what I want, not including the concrete. My question is this, do you save enough to make putting together the kit your self worth it vs buying a kit?
 
Company I work for sells the big spray foam insulation kits/systems. Much more economical. You can google spray foam insulation manufacturers, get in contact with them and find out who in your area distributes. It will be a specialty construction material supply house. Pole barn/building will be the least expensive per sqft. You might do some shopping around. All of the national manufacturers like Lester or Morgan are going to be somewhat pricy. you might check and see if any of your local lumberyards have/offer a pole barn package. I have a small lumberyard in a town of about 150 west of where i live that sells a package that is quite a bit less than what I could buy from Lester (I was a Behlen/Lester distributer). Quality of the wood was better and they had all the parts/pieces in stock in case I ran out of screws or needed an extra piece of trim.
 
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