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OT: Metal buildings

TimH

Hot Rolled
Joined
Oct 12, 2004
Location
Upstate NY
I'm thinking about building a garage this summer. I have been contemplating buy one of the steel building instead of stick build it. Size will be about 24' x 32' Does anyone have any input or experience with particular brand off steel building? I will use at least half of it for a machine shop. The other half to garage my wife's car.
 
You can figure an average of 12-15 degrees hotter than outside temperature unless you have shade and insulation.
 
You can figure an average of 12-15 degrees hotter than outside temperature unless you have shade and insulation.

I would hope he would want insulation or he may as well rent a barn. I like heat in the winter, Now AC in the summer? I have no idea what that would be like other than my recliner at home.

Here is my advice add a shower and toilet so when the woman gives you the boot you will have a good place to be. ( a pinch of humor)
 
I put one up...

...about ten years ago. Just about the same size. I cannot recall the name of the building I bought... but here are a couple of things to think about.

Pay a little more and get a good one. One way to tell it's a better building is play with the rollups. That will tell you pretty quick.

Figure your cost putting it up for other things like electric's, insulation, heating, and so forth to be about what you paid for the building. This is not including the slab.

Here in California, I actually had to pay more because of earthquake bracing.

Steve:codger:
 
Metal buildings don't usually come with any framing suitable for holding insulation and drywall unless you cough up a considerable amount of money. Insulating one is going to cost a considerable amount of money more than doing it to a stick built building.
 
Expect to pay a lot more than the advertised price. Insulation is extra, doors are extra, windows are extra, good paint is extra. Bolt-together building are a lot higher than weld-together buildings.

I agree with the bathroom idea. Mine doesn't have one--yet. We're extending it another 24' and the addition will include a bathroom.
 
I put one up for a client last summer that was 40'x 70'. We ended up using the factory gable end panels on the back and then I framed in the front gable and installed a tall, locally purchased garage door and standard windows and a man-door, as wel as vinyl siding to make the front more appealing. He chose to not insulate the building and had terrible condensation problems whenever it got cool and damp.

I put up the building with just myself and a helper and utilized a set of rolling scaffolding to access all of the upper areas. You have to make sure that, after you get the first two sections up, you get them dead on for plumb and straight and the ridge is directly over a central chalkline before you go any further. Also, as you complete each additional section, you need to keep checking that you are not advancing at any one point. With this careful method, we were within an eighth of an inch of plumb when we finished, over 70'.

IMGP1631800x600.jpg


I have no affiliation with this company, but here's the link. I'm not sure if they sell into the U.S. or not.

Future Buildings

Good luck... Brian :)
 
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My 2c. We are in Dutchess Co, Ny. We had a metal quanset building and found it was not possible to insulate it well enough to make it comfortable in the summer. Last January it collapsed from three heavy snows. We built a replacement building 24 by 36 feet using a pole and lintel barn type structure. The roof was manufactured wood trusses. Roof and sides were covered with metal.This allowed us to have a ceiling and attic space. The ceiling and walls were insulated. The attic was ventalated by louvers at each end. This structure is easy to heat and stays cool under hot sun. It is difficult to insulate and finish the inside of a metal building. Send me a PM if you want more details. Hugh
 
My .02, the metal buildings are nicer for larger spans when you can have a clear-span easily. In that size I think they are more competitive between metal and wood. I would find a salesperson as they are motivated to sell. Also you can go for some customization within reason without breaking the bank. Having overhanging eaves, gutters, and something like a 4:12 pitch makes it look a lot nicer (for not much extra) than those zero-overhang 0.5:12 buildings I've seen. You pay slightly extra for that but in my mind it also makes your property more desirable to the next person.

I would consider wood but with pre-built trusses setup for a high pitched roof and thus attic storage. The shop I moved into has the latter with a walk-up attic. I can stand in it, the environment swings hot to cold rapidly, but awesome for storage.

In your climate (and mine :)) I would pay extra attention to insulation, especially for the shop part. I heat mine up to 50F in the winter on days I work and will control it this winter at 34F overnight since I have a VMC with coolant now. If you choose metal I would not recommend un-insulated for a shop space as it can literally rain from the underside of the roof if conditions get just right.

I was days from starting on a Gulf States building in TN when I got a new job in MI and scrapped plans for a 40 x 75. I think they are part of Nucor, or related to them in some way. Part of your cost is dependent on how far the fabbed/stacked/unassembled building has to be trucked to your site.
 
Thanks for the input everyone. the building I rent is being sold. IT was supposed to be sold last Spring but the deal fell through. It looks like this time it gone. I have no place to put my shop as far as other places to rent. So I'm thinking about building a garage. Really sucks though. Lots of thought about how to do what & what the town will let me do as far as a small business in my back yard goes. I work a "real" job so my machine shop has become a part time endeavor. I had a friend that put radiant floor heating in his new building. Dopes anyone have experience with that?
 
Tim, doubt any city is going to allow a machine shop in your backyard. Get permits for a STORAGE building. After it passes final inspection and the city is out of your hair, upgrade the electricity yourself unpermitted and then move the machines in, preferably at a time when the neighbors are away. I did this back at my last house. I had friends bring their boats and toys, so when they came out and asked what I was using the storage building for it appeared I wasn't going to be using it for anything violating building codes.
 
Tim, first, radiant floor heating is nice, but you have to be very careful with it. You need some sort of emergency back up heat in case the water heater fails, or if it fails in the winter, you will wake up to a frozen line. That may not cause too much damage, or it could split your floor open. That being said, I know a lot of people who swear by it, and have never had any trouble with them....I would at the very least, have a back up water heater ready to hook in, just in case.
Second, you need to ask your zoning board about a variance to run your shop from the property. They will want to know things like volume of traffic you experience at your present location, and will want to know that excessive noise won't be an issue. If you live in a very private gated community, you can bet it will not happen. But if you live in a small town they might actual encourage it. You must sell them on the idea of your business adding to the community.
I know a lot of people who have built shops, some all metal, some combination, and some mostly wood. The all metal freestanding structures are great, but as said, they will "rain" inside if left uninsulated. Spray on foam is likely the best fix for this, but being you are working with metal, there is a certain flammability involved. I personally built a pole barn, made studded walls between the poles and insulated like a normal house, and I could not be happier with the result. I also used OSB on the interior, which seems to resist most grinding sparks, but I do chase all the hardy welding sparks, as they might be hot enough to ignite the wood. Building codes may play into what is required in your area. And the all wood buildings are the easiest to build, but require the most maintenance. I would also add that a buddy of mine followed my design, but instead of OSB, he went to a used garage door auction, and bought enough insulated garage door panels to line his walls from floor to ceiling, and it worked very well.
 
We just put on a steel frame addition. We wound up going with a a Ceco Brand building but Star was very close in price. Flexospan is near you, I would contact them. Wood Frame was slightly cheaper but part of my shop is wood framed metal,,, every summer we are up on it tightening nails, screws, and messing with things that happen over the winter. The steel frame part is painless. There are places to get the insulation separate from the steel building makers and you may be able to save money going direct, I know I did. Look for commercial insulation contractors near you. The one I chose actually supplied a semi trailer during construction for the insulation to be stored in until it went up. The radiant floor heat is great if you are going to only ever have " light stuff" Bridgeports, engine lathes below 24 inch, small vmc's, etc, where machine weight would not hurt a 4 inch floor. If you stand the chance of wanting to cut a hole and drop in a 40 yard machine foundation forget radiant. The only other thing I would do is go bigger, a 40 x 40 will not cost you much more but give you a whole lot more room, 40 x 50 is even better. The moral of the story is you can never build a shop too big.
 
in iowa the brand is morton. Morton Buildings - Pole Barns, Horse Barns, Steel Buildings, Metal Buildings, Storage Buildings, Farm Buildings there are a manufacturer that can customize to any need. i seen a guy in iowa that used one as his house. looked really good to. the options you can get are limited by your wallet.

the area i was trapped in iowa, if you mentioned putting up a structure other than a morton, you got very strange looks.
I used to be a bit down on Morton because of the wood frame and the roof trusses that limited inside height possiblities. But a friend of mine built one (about 5,000 sq feet, 1/2 office/lobby/wood storage and 1/2 shop) with 12 foot ceiling height and all inside walls and ceiling covered in corregated metal and it sure it nicer in there than the usual metal building with that crappy white vinyl covered insulation.

But if going with Butler type building, alternative to the white vinyl insulation you can go with split face block 8 or 10 feet up and fill block with vermiculite. But still you have the crappy vinyl insulation showing beyond that....which looks fine when new, but easily gets torn and dirty later (and can even get birds nesting in it sometimes !)

Whatever you do, do not put skylights in the roof ! Major leak possiblites there and too hot in summer. Best way for some natural light is translucent panels in the top of the side walls rather than the roof.
 








 
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