your shop

[4402tuff4u]

"Poles" ? That garage is sitting on timber piles?? How did you drive the piles and kept it cheaper than excavation work?

[Old Moparz]

"Poles" ? That garage is sitting on timber piles?? How did you drive the piles and kept it cheaper than excavation work?

They weren't driven, they were augered. There's a local pole building company that has a truck with an auger on the back. I marked out the ground where he had to "drill" & in 2 or 3 hours he was done. He went to different depths on each one, but only because he augered until he hit good, firm, soil & then stopped. One or two holes were about 6 feet deep, but most are roughly 4 to 5 feet. I poured 12" of concrete in the bottom of the holes inside a sonatube, & after it set, I placed a pole on each footing. One thing I didn't count on was that I had to tie the tops of all the poles together with the support beam before I backfilled the holes. The poles would shift & go out of line if I didn't. Once that happens, there's no moving them or pulling them out. That was a PITA with all the piles of dirt & gravel around. No level spot for ladders & all the diagonal bracing was everywhere.

This is a cool site to see what can be done with pole buildings: http://www.conestogabuildings.com/

Here's what one looks like under construction (not mine though): http://www.ecsis.net/~motorola/barry/polebarn/polebarn.html

This came up in a pole building search: http://www.jaysilver.net/pictures/cosmo/2/jodiBig.jpg   

Here's a sketch of a footing & pole: http://www.easybuildings.com/inground2.gif

[hotrod98]

It's amazing that you can use poles and still get the walls square. I would hate to see a building that I had built using that method.
My metal building didn't help the overall looks of my place. Sure wish that I could have done it in wood. Too late now, I guess.

[4402tuff4u]

I thought you were supporting your concrete slab with the poles and building conventional walls/studs above the slab. Now I get it. It's basically a "balloon" type of construction. Almost like post and beam type of construction. Nice job!! I can imagine the amount of work involved. Did you have one of those "build a barn" parties? 

[Old Moparz]

It's amazing that you can use poles and still get the walls square. I would hate to see a building that I had built using that method.
My metal building didn't help the overall looks of my place. Sure wish that I could have done it in wood. Too late now, I guess.

"Pole" is just a term, (misused maybe?) but the poles I used are 6"x 6" treated lumber. Post & beam is another term, but I don't recall if there's a difference. I do know someone who actually used round poles that were from a power company that took down a bunch to replace them. He had a local saw mill rip them into dimensional pieces he could use. I've also seen some semi-crude open pole buildings, more like pavilions, use the round poles. It's okay as long as you attach beams, headers & joists squarely.

You can really change the appearance on a metal building if you hated the look. I know I could've gotten a metal building too, but I wanted to match the house since I'm only 15 feet away. If I had acreage instead of just a lot, I'd have put up a metal building where I don't have to see it. I have seen a few very nice buildings recently that don't look like the typical metal ones. I suppose you could always change the facade

Check this metal building out: http://www.generalsteelexteriors.com/

[Old Moparz]

I thought you were supporting your concrete slab with the poles and building conventional walls/studs above the slab. Now I get it. It's basically a "balloon" type of construction. Almost like post and beam type of construction. Nice job!! I can imagine the amount of work involved. Did you have one of those "build a barn" parties?  

The second floor was conventional framing on top of the wood & steel girders I used over the first floor. I had intended to use trusses, but since I ended up working alone most of the time, I changed the plans to frame up rafters instead. There's no way I can raise a truss myself. I was glad I did anyway, I now have a usable 2nd floor.

No barn raising party, but I had a "spread the fill & gravel by hand party".   The guy I was waiting on with a small dozer never showed up, it broke down, so I had a cook out with lots of beer & soda. Told everyone to bring a shovel, & after moving it all by hand, nobody ever came back until I was finished with the building.  

The 1st floor ceiling.


Inside the 2nd floor.


(Sorry for the thread hijack.)

[Lowprofile]

Thanks for the great info guys. I've been trying to talk the wife into building a new shop. Now, I've got a whole bunch of new stuff to show her.
                                Thanks

[Old Moparz]

Thanks for the great info guys. I've been trying to talk the wife into building a new shop. Now, I've got a whole bunch of new stuff to show her.
                                               Thanks

Here's a good link if you haven't seen it already:

http://www.garagejunkies.net/index.php?

[yellowcuda]

Ours is almost done...started work in April this year.  It is an "L" shape and comes out to about 2100 square feet.  County put the limit at 2000 square feet so that is what they think it is.  The HVAC is going in right now and next is the lines for the air along the walls (compressor has a pad outside), then the insulation and sheetrock.  Still gonna be a few months, and we are already going to have to build a barn to put the tractor and loader in to make room for more cars.  But Jonathan is happy, he calls it his doghouse too. When we started building it everyone thought we were building a house at the end of our driveway, but now with the three garage doors they realize what it is.

[Old Moparz]

That looks nice & definitely more like a house. A/C? I think I like that idea. 

[Charger_Fan]

Wow, that's just a thing of beauty...

Hey, if you're planning any ceiling fans for upstairs, here's one Jonathan might like.

[Old Moparz]

Wow, that's just a thing of beauty...

Hey, if you're planning any ceiling fans for upstairs, here's one Jonathan might like.

I like that too, except I think I have an idea for the old G.I. Joe copters I still have. 

[yellowcuda]

That is sooo cool...Jonathan will love that!

[Silver R/T]

nice shops everyone