Pushing the budget..

[USAFpj]

Need some input once again from you seasoned guys here- I'm about to amend a pole barn contract, and the cost to increase the 4in fiber concrete floor to 5in is $1556. To increase the 12ft wall height to 14ft is roughly $2K. This is for a 30x50, and now is the time to make up my mind:laughing: I would like the future option of both a 2 post lift, and a mezzanine, but a $3,500 savings by staying at 4in crete and 12ft wall height is enticing as well. Thoughts??

 

[mecan]

Personally when I finally get to build a pole barn it will definitely be high enough for a couple lifts, wiggling under cars and equipment gets less fun every time I do it.

 

[bspeedy]

Hi, neighbor. I'm in Easley, SC.
How about just going 5" in the area you will mount the lift? I have 4" concrete in my building with no issues so far. No lift, though - yet. I would not hesitate to put a mezzanine on it.
Also, I would definitely get 14-foot walls because that will allow 12-foot doors. Many campers and motor homes are taller than 10 feet, so a 10-foot door would not work.
Good luck.

 

[USAFpj]

bspeedy, who built your pole barn? Even with 14ft walls, I may stick with (2) 10x10 doors. I gotta control this budget somewhere Only issue with pouring a different depth, is that I have no idea where to put the lift now, and I may be getting a tracked dozer in the near future.

 

[bigtiller]

I spent the money for the extra wall height, bigger door and thicker floor in 2013. Now that the "new" is worn off and all the check writing is behind me, I am really glad I got all the extras.

 

[paulharvey]

Going from 4 to 5 inches is just under 5 cy, and assuming they haven't started work on the pad, Zero more labor. That's very expensive mud!

Edit: so, $500 in mud, plus 25% profit on materials, that additional inch should be in neighborhood of $750-900. 30 ft x 50 ft x 4" = 18.52 cy, so they would order 19 to maybe 20, although 1.5 yards of waste is way way high. For 30 x 50 x 5", it takes 23.15 cy, so, probably order 24 cy. It is one additional load with associated load and fuel surcharges, but that's still very high.

 

[aeblank]

A lift (or at least my Atlas 10K) doesn't need 5". 4" is fine....
No?

 

[4570Man]

A lift has more surface area than the vehicle tires. My forklift weighs 12,000 pounds with no load in it, and has a 7500 pound capacity. It has a higher ground psi than any automotive lift. If you are worried about it you can put 1/2 steel plate under the feet. I would definitely increase the ceiling height to 14 feet. I commonly lift my lift as high as it will go because then I can drive the forklift under it.

 

[BleedingOrange]

You only get 1 chance to make it exactly like you want it.
After that, it,s compromise and patch job repairs, and never will be as good as doing it right the first time.
Pay the extra now, and you,ll be happy from day 1.

 

[ovrszd]

If I had to choose one it would be the additional concrete. A cracked floor would be hard to swallow.

I have a 4 post hoist in a 10' building with vaulted ceiling. I can raise vehicles too high to work on them.

My Sons each have 2 post hoists in 12' ceiling buildings. Their top crossbar on the hoist is up against their ceiling. You can't raise a vehicle any higher than that bar anyway.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Well, go big or go home. Just finished a 30 x 70 with 16 foot walls. Gets me a 14' door so i can get truck in, also will get me mezzanine with enough height to walk under. You can't add height and IMO 14 with a 12' door isn't going to allow everything to fit and there are some awful tall RVs out there. If you want to get an RV in figure 14' door, you can do it with truss design and door location and still have the 14' sides. If you don't need the height for RV go with rafters in the area for the lift and keep your height down and save the money. If money is tight now make it smaller with plans to add on. I have gavel floor and we are doing the concrete in bite size chunks. Might not be an options depending on how you are building yours. You can add on but you can't, not easily anyway, go up. Its never going to be big enough. The above building is our third and each one is bigger than the last and the above is full already. So, build for what you need now and can pay for with plans to add on. The adding on plans is important, first building didn't put grade high enough, so getting the drainage around the others was ruff.

 

[oldpilgrim]

Forget the extra cement and height and make the build foot print bigger...maybe 40x60 or bigger...whatever you can do with the $3500.

Within a short time, you'll be wishing you had.

 

[Barnbuilder]

He's hitting you pretty heavy on concrete. Its just over 4-1/2 yards at $110 a yard. My concrete guy doesn't charge me extra labor for additional thickness. Metal is $2/ft. So that's $640 on just metal. Biggest expense on that will probably be longer posts. 20' posts are $80. 16' are $45.
What about a vaulted truss if that is what you are using.

 

[Billrog]

If the fiber concrete is in stead of rebar from my experience that would be a poor choice. I would have a rebar grid and up the strength of the concrete and stick with a 4" floor.

 

[newbury]

Need some input once again from you seasoned guys here- I'm about to amend a pole barn contract, and the cost to increase the 4in fiber concrete floor to 5in is $1556. To increase the 12ft wall height to 14ft is roughly $2K. This is for a 30x50, and now is the time to make up my mind:laughing: I would like the future option of both a 2 post lift, and a mezzanine, but a $3,500 savings by staying at 4in crete and 12ft wall height is enticing as well. Thoughts??

Can you raise part of the roof?

 

[s219]

I wouldn't bother with the 5" floor for the uses you have mentioned. But wall height might come in handy. Need to know more about the roof construction -- standard trusses with full bottom chord?

 

[Streetcar]

If the fiber concrete is in stead of rebar from my experience that would be a poor choice. I would have a rebar grid and up the strength of the concrete and stick with a 4" floor.

For four thick thick slab, the rebar is rarely in the right position to strengthen the slab. When you install the rebar with clearance from the soil, the reinforcing is in the compressive stress zone of the concrete. To strengthen the slab it should be in the tensile stress zone.

Four inch is a thin slab for equipment storage unless you have a similar amount of gravel also.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Do just one bay for the future tracked unit and go 6" with 1/2" rebar on 12" centers. Leave rebar and mesh out of the rest if using fiber; doesn't add anything except cost. Do not let them walk on the rebar and make sure it is on chairs. 4" (not a 3 1/2 form) is fine for any other load you can put on it. Do not forget the control joints on no more than 14' centers. I would take the overall dimensions and divide equally both ways. Saw them the next day and you have wasted more money.

Ron, former commercial project concrete inspector

 

[Ed of all trades]

I just poured 238 sq ft of addition to my little shop. The crete was over $100 yard and the fiber was $9 yard. The finer cost nothing extra in labor and you could do that instead of the extra inch of crete. The extra space above your head will be easier to pay for without the extra $$$$ for the crete. :2cents: Ed

 

[USAFpj]

Let me give some feedback and clarification- this pole barn uses one type of truss, and the true height from the crete floor to the bottom of the truss is their advertised wall height. So, it would indeed be 12ft or 14ft clear height. The footprint can't really get any larger, so that is why I'm wanting to go higher. I think a likely route will be that I will do the 14ft increase now, and just not do any concrete until after the barn is finished.

2 reasons: One is that the ground hasn't been cleared due to weather in SC. I think it would be wise to let the ground settle for a solid month before the concrete is applied. The second reason, is that I'll cut the middle man out (why the crete is so $$?), and give me a chance to know what thickness I need. But it does sound like 5in would give me a 'warm and fuzzy' that I should be able to place anything on the floor in the future.

Anyone disagree to just hold off on the crete until after the build, and deal directly with the crete company? The other issue is that prices on crete are supposed to increase in the new year?