Help me Design Building for Tractors and Pickup

[Suburban Plowboy]

Don't know if this is quite the right subforum for this, but...

I am tired of parking my Kubota L3710 and John Deere 430 garden tractor in the rain, so I am considering adding a steel building to my property.

It looks like I will need something that will at least slow mice down, since they have already built nests on top of the garden tractor's battery and inside the truck's hood insulation.

I want to be able to put the tractors, a utility cart, and my pickup in there, along with a few implements. I have a bush hog and a subsoiler, and I am about to turn my chain-on forks into a quick attach implement.

I was thinking of making the building about 1000 square feet in a square shape, to resemble my existing workshop. It doesn't have to be fancy. I just want a couple of power outlets, overhead lights, and a door opener. My other building has 100 amps and all my big tools.

Wonder if anyone here has suggestions on configuring the building. Would a long building make more sense for multiple implements?

Another option is to build a big two-car garage for just the tractors, cart, and pickup and build a cheap pole barn without walls for the implements, which rodents can't really hurt.

 

[4570Man]

I like a building with garage doors on both sides. Aside from the obvious benefits of getting stuff in, the building with doors on both sides gets a breeze through it a lot better and stays cooler.

 

[LouNY]

I like a building with garage doors on both sides. Aside from the obvious benefits from f getting stuff in building with doors on both sides gets a breeze through it a lot better and stays cooler.

I would like that idea also if access is available on both sides or ends.
Personally I prefer my doors in the end of the building, I don't like the eaves dumping rain or snow in front of my doors.
So my preferance would be for a wide but shallower building, say 3 or 4 doors wide and 2 or 3 lengths deep, with the length being as an example the tractor and loader with the longest loader attachment plus the longest rear attachment being one length.

 

[Roadworthy]

I'm not sure a garage or shed is a good rodent' deterrent. I keep a pack of D-Con under the hood of my wife's car and another behind each of the headlights on my car. I figure if they're snacking on the D-Con they'll leave my wiring alone. It seems to work, I just need to be sure the trays are full.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Thanks for the replies.

I don't get snow here, so that won't matter. If I went with a square building, I was going to have a gable face the driveway, so the rain would come off the sides instead of in front of the garage door.

My existing shop has a garage door in one end and a roll-up on the other. The area behind the new building would be woods, so I was thinking it might be pointless to have a second door on the back. There wouldn't be much of a path to the rear.

I could get a carport with no slab for the farm stuff, if a closed garage is really no help against mice. I don't know how much protection an open roofed structure would provide.

 

[WranglerX]

Design your own here...

https://www.versatube.com/

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

A square gives you the most space per length of perimeter.. But, you need to think through turning movements to be sure you can actually put things in and out.

Look online for farm building plans. Just about every university which has an Agg Engineering program will have an online libraray of standard plans for farm buildings. Your county extension agent, can usually point you in the right direction, and once you fined one site, they normally have links to at least a couple of others.

 

[mcfarmall]

No matter how big you make it, it will be too small.

 

[Raul-02]

It looks like I will need something that will at least slow mice down, since they have already built nests on top of the garden tractor's battery and inside the truck's hood insulation.

Socks stuffed with genuine mothballs works pretty well. they don't like the odor.

 

[3Ts]

The most important part is:

with the length being as an example the tractor and loader with the longest loader attachment plus the longest rear attachment being one length.

Be sure your longest vehicle will fit. Then see how many others will fit beside it. For a square 1000 foot building you're looking at about 30x30 or 30x35. Draw up the plans on a piece of paper with outlines for the implements as to where you want them, then go outside and put all your tractors and implements in the space you plan for your barn (pretend that it's built) and see how things fit.

 

[3Ts]

I've tried sealing my barn against rodents with spray foam, gaskets, etc. and mice still get in. It only takes a 1/4" hole for them to get in.

 

[ljjhouser]

There is a thread on TBN about how to store your implements. On that thread, there are some pictures of members who have a wide shed rather than a long one. That permitted them to build storage rack and drive the tractor straight to the rack. I don't know the name of that thread. But I think there are several with pictures that may help.

 

[dodge man]

Socks stuffed with genuine mothballs works pretty well. they don't like the odor.

Doesn’t that hurt your feet?

I have a shop that is 28’ deep and 30’ wide. The 28 feet deep is what I woukd call the minimum depth and then make it as wide as you want.

 

[Raul-02]

Doesn’t that hurt your feet?

Mmm Well it might violate the laws of physics to have two things in the exact same place at the same time. But hey it's mothballs.

 

[ljjhouser]

Socks stuffed with genuine mothballs works pretty well. they don't like the odor.

With mothballs in your socks, think of all the $$$ you will save on deodorant.

 

[ericm979]

If you put your implements on dollies then the shape of the building matters less.

What's common here on real farms for implement storage is a wide shallow building with three walls and an open front. Drop your implement in one bay and pick up one in the next bay. But you need a certain amount of flat open land for that.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Lot of good advice here, and I appreciate it. I will be referring to this thread as I consider what to do.

 

[scaredychicken]

MY plan in the next two years is to place TWO sea containers / big steel boxes on the yard ...

- one 40 ft long High Cube sea can (9'6" high, 7'8" wide, 40' long) on edge of property - wind, water, rodent proof
- one 20 ft long High Cube sea can (9'6" high, 7'8" wide, 20' long) - wind, water, rodent proof
- parallel to each other, locking doors at the same end, sea cans placed 16 ft apart
- covered dome roof (ie: 32 ft wide, 20 ft long) over both sea cans, from the front, outside widths, far left to far right, for the length of the 20 ft sea can (goes to the midway point of the longer sea can), there will then be covered storage "shelves" at the top of the sea cans (9"6" ft high, 7'8" ft, for the 20 ft length) - for supplies, displays, man cave items, keep sakes ...
- security doors / swing gate / chain link, at the front end for the 16 ft space between the sea cans
- solid wall with high window (plastic) on the back side, offers security, privacy
- this 16 ft gap between the sea cans will be ample side by side parking for two of my vehicles (or whatever equipment)

the 40 ft sea can will be for general storage; and the 20 ft sea can will be for farming supplies, tools, work bench, car parts.

that's my plan, maybe it gives you some ideas also

(this image has a peaked roof instead of domed, and the roof connects on the inside edges, not the outside edges of the sea cans)

 

[LouNY]

Nice idea, except why only 20 ft long, many pickups are longer then 20'.
Also with only 16' in width it will be a bit narrow for two full sized vehicles.

 

[Raul-02]

think of all the $$$ you will save on deodorant.

you do realize that this presupposes the use of deodorant n the first place.