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New Shop Build - Houston, TX

TravisR100

Cast Iron
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Location
Houston, TX
I’ve been a long time member here but haven’t posted much in quite some time. After I moved many years ago I was without a shop space until now. About a year ago we moved again and I finally had some room to build a dedicated shop.

I’m not a professional machinist. It’s simply something I enjoy doing in my spare time. I like to tinker with metal, woodworking, and electronics. Up to now I’ve always been relegated to making due with whatever spare space I could carve out of a garage. When we moved I looked for a house that already had a dedicated shop space but of course we couldn’t find a house that my wife liked that also had a shop. I figured no problem, I’ll just build one later. I had no idea what the costs involved were. It was definitely more expensive than I had assumed.

I was going to wait until everything was completed and I got moved into the shop before making this post but I figure it’s far enough along that I’ll go ahead and share my experience.

My dream was to build something around 40x100. Once I started looking at the costs involved that quickly went out the window. I started looking at budget minded options. My plan was to go with a Carolina Carports building. I really wanted something that could be climate controlled. I figured I could still insulate it and have a useable shop. The HOA here wouldn’t approve it. The Carolina Carports building can’t really be customized much beyond the size of the building. My HOA required a 2’ overhang on the sides and 1’ at the front and back as well as a 4:12 slope for the roof. Carolina Carports simply couldn’t do this.

I ultimately ended up going with a Mueller Building. It was definitely more expensive but now that it’s up I’m happy I made that decision. With the expense of the slab, it made more sense to put a substantial building on it.

To stay reasonable on the cost I ended up going with a 30x40 building. It meets the HOA requirements, has a 13’ eve height, a single walk door that’s 4x7, and a roll up door that’s 10x12. The slab is 3500 psi, 5” thick with poly underneath, and a smooth troweled surface. I didn’t put in any windows. No windows equals more wall space, less cost, and no one peeking in. Roll up door is an Asta 202 insulated R-5 door.

The building is finally up. Took a little over 3 weeks. Could have been done in about 4 days but rain and scheduling with the erectors stretched that out.

For electric I had electricians run a 100 amp circuit from the existing house to a sub panel in the shop. They will hopefully finish up and get the outlets and lighting done today. Yesterday they got the electric done for the two AC units.

For AC I installed 2 x 2 ton Mr. Cool DIY units and did the installation myself. Insulation is open cell spray foam. I forget the thickness but it was much thicker on the roof than the walls. After the insulation was done I hung 3/4 BC plywood up to 8’ around the entire perimeter. Plywood was spaced 1/2” off the floor and screwed into the first and second girts as well as a piece of base angle on the ground. Wanted something I could hang stuff on without worrying about studs.

So at the moment, building is up, doors are in, insulation is done, AC units are installed and powered, and plywood is hung. Hopefully electricians will finish lighting and outlets today. After that I’m going to seal the floor and I think I’ll call it done enough to start moving some stuff in.


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Here are a few pictures...



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Beautiful building. Mine is 26’X100’. You need a map to get thru it. I had a two story double garage thinking that would be plenty but I kept adding on to get what I now have.
What part of Houston are you? I’m in Alvin. Have been here since 1984.
Barry


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I think I need to look in to that spray-foam for my place.
I would have loved to finish out the inside before I moved in here. But, was in a time crunch.
Now that I am in, and have utilities running everywhere, it would be near impossible to finish the walls.
But, I bet spray-foam would be doable.

Nice looking shop you have though.
 
I think I need to look in to that spray-foam for my place.
I would have loved to finish out the inside before I moved in here. But, was in a time crunch.
Now that I am in, and have utilities running everywhere, it would be near impossible to finish the walls.
But, I bet spray-foam would be doable.

Nice looking shop you have though.

The spray foam was pretty reasonable. From start to finish took them about 5 hours. I think the 3/4 ply on the walls will work well for what I’m wanting. Finished the floors with Legacy Industrial HD40.


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Bill, I have spray foam in my shop, it’s also 30 by 40, but has 16 foot high walls! My shop is not air conditioned, it was 101 degrees outside yesterday, however in the shop it was 86 degrees! Still hot, but the spray foam works great. And if my shop ever gets consistently busy, I will install AC.


I think I need to look in to that spray-foam for my place.
I would have loved to finish out the inside before I moved in here. But, was in a time crunch.
Now that I am in, and have utilities running everywhere, it would be near impossible to finish the walls.
But, I bet spray-foam would be doable.

Nice looking shop you have though.
 
The best thing about the AC, aside from cool air, is the humidity control. I’m in Houston where it’s typically 75%+. With the AC it’s about 45% in the shop.


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I’m closer to the gulf than you are so the humidity is worse. I go out in the shop some mornings and the water is actually dripping off the machines. When they poured the part of my slab where most of my machines are they didn’t put plastic down. That really makes a difference too.


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I think I need to look in to that spray-foam for my place.
I would have loved to finish out the inside before I moved in here. But, was in a time crunch.
Now that I am in, and have utilities running everywhere, it would be near impossible to finish the walls.
But, I bet spray-foam would be doable.

Nice looking shop you have though.



I would expect the opposite.
When they blow that stuff, it's a big deal and they "tarp" the floor and all as it gits everywhere.

But I could see that it would be highly worthwhile to doo in your shop if you were slow and had time to move everything out for a day or so.


Should be quite able to stay comfy in this box!
A lot easier than if you went with the 40x100!


Also - highly interesting that you live in an area that has a HOA and yet you have trees and big yards and room to even consider puting a 40 x 100 building!
Not where I envision a HOA being...
???



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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
Nice shop ! !

Any chance you have the gradient color map for that thermal picture ?
Really interesting to see the temp difference between the beams and the insulated areas.
 
I would expect the opposite. When they blow that stuff, it's a big deal and they "tarp" the floor and all as it gits everywhere.

I can vouch for that!

They did a great job in our building.......till they got to the end. Must have been close to quittin time when they got there because they got sloppy and the crap was all over the floor.

Another thing to consider if you do it wheelie, that stuff outgasses for a day or too, maybe more?

In our case that was not a big deal as the building was under construction overhead doors were not yet installed. Couldn't go in there for a couple days though.

I really like the stuff though, we put 6" on the roof and 3" in the walls. It seals up everything and "tightens up" the building when it hardens.
 
I had wanted to do steel construction but couldn’t swing it, curious what the building cost if you don’t mind sharing?

Looks like a real nice shop!
 
Looks great!.... and with that insulation the AC won't cost much.

Our plant has AC and it make these heat waves a non issue. I really like not having surface rust on everything, especially since we work with stainless primarily.
 








 
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