Building a Shop

[jayste]

I love ring shank nails on pole barns! I hate 'em when I have to pull 'em! I guess I'm a little out of touch. I had to go google palm nailer. I bet that thing works pretty good. The one I saw handled up to 3 1/2" nails. I'm still banging them in with a big framing hammer!

 

[Duffster]

For my building, Cleary considers it a 13' 4" building. That's the dimension from the grade line to the top of the pole. With their Energy Miser trusses, it provides an inside clearance of 12' from the bottom of the truss to the grade line. Of course, they figure on the concrete coming up 3 or 4" above the grade line, so I'll end up with a ceiling of about 11' 8" or 11' 9" once I put concrete in it. Had I paid closer attentiion, I'd have had them tweak it to a 13'8" height to end up with 12' between concrete and truss, but that's ok....

You should be able to pour the floor at a lower height. Like the top of concrete being at or real close to the bottom of the skirt board. That way you can keep your 12' inside clearance.

 

[Huskerplowboy]

You should be able to pour the floor at a lower height. Like the top of concrete being at or real close to the bottom of the skirt board. That way you can keep your 12' inside clearance.

I'll have to dig through the drawings again, but I think the overhead door causes me trouble. The steel panels are pre-cut, so if I slide the slab down, and thus slide the top of the overhead door frame-out down with it, the steel above the door will turn up short. (unless I opt for an 11' door...)

Shifting things up to get the 12' was my original plan, but for some reason I decided it wouldn't work out well. I'll look over the specs again and see. The ceiling height isn't that big of a deal, just more volume to heat...

 

[Huskerplowboy]

Whats wrong with driving the nails the good old fashiomed way?

That's what I did with the grade planks and the anchor blocks. Problem is, my right wrist and forearm, which I've injured before, really wasn't liking it last night after 60 some odd spikes. I picked up a nice 28 oz framing hammer before I started the project and that helps, but my arm still got wore out. I'll see about looking for a palm nailer tonight maybe to help out.

I wonder if an air hammer/chisel would work... I've been thinking of getting one of those for metalworking and automotive projects anyway...

 

[newbury]

Whats wrong with driving the nails the good old fashiomed way?

They are particularly good for joist hanger nails which are always a pain to hand nail.

That's why

 

[Duffster]

That's why

LOL Good reason I guess.

I'll have to dig through the drawings again, but I think the overhead door causes me trouble. The steel panels are pre-cut, so if I slide the slab down, and thus slide the top of the overhead door frame-out down with it, the steel above the door will turn up short. (unless I opt for an 11' door...)

What size door are you going to get?

I would get the tallest door possible otherwise your wasting headroom IMO.

If you lower the top of concrete but leave the top of door at the same place you won't change the steel length.

 

[Huskerplowboy]

Trusses are set.

Set the trusses tonight. They aren't 100% nailed down, but they're up and ready to be squared up and tied together with the purlins. Borrowed a telehandler from the contractor that's building the house to put them up with, worked out slick. Had a friend from work come out and help run the telehandler while the wife and I guided the ends into place. Went pretty quick that way. Still lots of work to do with all the purlins, the remaining girts, and a few corner braces, but we're making progress.

 

[jayste]

Husker, looking good. Life of the working man. Come home from work and work till dark!

Jay

 

[Huskerplowboy]

More progress.

Got a little time during the week to firm up the trusses some. Got the endwall trusses nailed on solid and braced with the post extensions on the middle poles the other night. Went out tonight and installed the lower chord stabilizers (2x4s across the tops of the bottom chords on the trusses to prevent flexing) to lock in the spacing and straightness down the middle of the building. Also beat a few more nails in the tops of the poles where the trusses fit down into them to better lock down the middle 4 trusses in case we catch a storm the next day or so. I feel a little better now about the trusses not falling back to earth on me...

Plan is to work on finishing up the wall girts this next week. My folks are coming out on Friday for a weekend visit, so dad's going to help with the purlins up on the roof, since 18' 2x4's 17 feet in the air is a bit tough for 1 guy to do very quickly...

 

[Huskerplowboy]

A couple pics from the other night.

 

[Huskerplowboy]

Rain report:

Friday morning: 1.1"
Friday night/saturday morning: 1.4"
Sunday morning through 7:00pm tonight: 3.8"

Needless to say, very little progress has been made this past weekend!

 

[mjncad]

Rain, rain, go away and come again another day.

 

[sld]

Maybe you should build an ark instead!http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

[wedge40]

I feel your pain. I've been trying to clear and level some ground since the first part of July and we've been getting couple of inches a rain a week. About the time things are dry enough to work we get more rain. Doesn't help that we had the coldest July ever recorded either. I live in an area with lots of clay, so working the ground when its wet isn't too productive. I'm hoping to get a couple of good days in the weekend.


Wedge

 

[Huskerplowboy]

Progress.

My folks came out Friday night and dad helped out on Saturday. We got all of the main purlins installed in a solid day of work, fortunately the weather cooperated and didn't get too hot on us. Borrowed that coworker's 4020 again and used the loader to get dad up to the peak while putting in the 2 peak purlins. Once those were in, we installed the bottom purlins to set the spacings at the poles. With that much done, the trusses would handle ladders leaning against them, so we started in on the rest of the purlins. Lots of nails, all driven "the old fashioned way". The count was:

(28) - 18' 2x4's
(14) - 10' 2x4's
(2) - 9' 2x4 peak purlins
(6) - 8' 2x4 peak purlins
(2) - 2' 2x4's
(138) - 40D ring shank spikes
(96) - 10D ring shank toenails
(200) - 10D ring shank nails (joining purlins together)

Needless to say, my right hand and wrist is not happy with me today. Got a nasty blister on my index finger where the hammer handle rubbed while driving many of the 200 nails tying the purlin boards to each other, all at weird, awkward angles... All in all a productive day with no injuries, which is the best kind.

Then it rained another 0.9" last night, just to make sure that nothing gets completely dry out there...

 

[Huskerplowboy]

Quick update and a question.

Since my last post, we've had to move to another temporary rental while our house is still being built. This time it's a 1 bedroom apartment and 2 storage units. Needless to say, things are cramped, and I can't find any of my tools. Last weekend was the first real productive time I had back on the shop. All of the windows and the walkdoor have now been framed in and installed. The OH door frameout is just about done, just needs a few more nails. THe fly rafters are on and the poles cut to length. I'm about 1/2 way through framing out the overhangs and fascia boards, which is the last thing to be framed out before I can switch to steel mode...

A question: Has anyone ever used that house wrap stuff (like Tyvek or the other brands) under the steel on a pole building? Not sure I've ever seen it done, but wondered if you guys had...

 

[Huskerplowboy]

Latest pic taken from out front of the house after they got done with the finish grading around the place.

 

[Duffster]

Quick update and a question.

Since my last post, we've had to move to another temporary rental while our house is still being built. This time it's a 1 bedroom apartment and 2 storage units. Needless to say, things are cramped, and I can't find any of my tools. Last weekend was the first real productive time I had back on the shop. All of the windows and the walkdoor have now been framed in and installed. The OH door frameout is just about done, just needs a few more nails. THe fly rafters are on and the poles cut to length. I'm about 1/2 way through framing out the overhangs and fascia boards, which is the last thing to be framed out before I can switch to steel mode...

A question: Has anyone ever used that house wrap stuff (like Tyvek or the other brands) under the steel on a pole building? Not sure I've ever seen it done, but wondered if you guys had...

I use it on all the buldings that will be heated.

 

[whitedogone]

I use it on all the buldings that will be heated.

It's a good idea.
Heated or not, DO NOT skip putting bubble wrap or foamboard under the roof sheathing.

 

[Huskerplowboy]

Within the next year, I intend to put in a ceiling and insulate the walls and ceiling. The overhangs on the building have vented soffits and there's a ridgevent at the peak to allow proper ventilation of the "attic" space, just like a house would have. I remember the Cleary rep told me that he'd recommend the double bubble stuff in the roof if I was planning to leave it dirt floor and unfinished for a long time (moisture from ground getting to the cold steel roof and raining indoors). But since the plan is to pour the floor and get the ceiling in within the next year, he suggested skipping it and living with a little condensation for this one winter. My old shop at our last place had a ceiling (leaky one at that) and no foil or bubble on the inside of the roof. Didn't have any issues in there since it ventilated pretty well up there.

Sounds like the housewrap is being recommended here, so I'll shop around for some. I think the Lowes stuff is pretty reasonable compared to Tyvek...