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.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk