Finally...a new shop at the house
 

I'm just getting started on my new home shop/building, so I don't have much to actually show right now. But, I have pics, so I figured that's a reason to post :metal:

Initial excavation for shop area has been completed. I have plenty of property, but most of it is below flood plain due to the Warrior river in my backyard. So to overcome that problem, we excavated an area to tuck the building in close to the house in the hillside...figured that way if I have to many :barn: I'll be able to get home :lol:.

Building will be 30x50' with a 20x50" lean too down one side for trailers and pending projects :).

3/3/15 Update: size shifted to a primary shop of 36'x46' with a couple of smaller add on areas...8'x18' & 20'x24' with a 16' wall height.

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

Post rough excavation. Going to let it sit for a few weeks and hope for some nice slow/steady rains to help settle everything in. Then I'll start on the footings and poured North wall...

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

a hole for your shop is something... something awesome :D

do you have any dirt down there?
i see rock and more rock :D:D:D

http://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vboa...1&d=1410544100

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

Nice. I have a 32x40 and it's great. Would love a lean-to to free up garage space at times but don't have the room.

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

OMG...the rock was crazy. The good thing is that it'll keep the area stable...so a few extra hours in the skid steer and it's ready.

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

Alright Ed! :metal: Looking forward to seeing your shop get built. I'll drink a Shiner after work for you. ;)

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

Have 2...OR 3 :). Waiting on some rain so I can assure myself that this soil isn't going to do anything crazy before I throw a bunch of concrete on it. I know I'll have to throw in a few piers on the east side of the site because of the amount of fill (don't want any crazy settling/cracking). But I'm 1 step closer than I was.

Now get back to work on yours :lol:

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

Nothing picture worthy, but we've finally had plenty of rain to settle the soil and my nerves. The soil/site has stayed right where it should, so I pulled the trigger and will start grading the pad and digging the footings tomorrow afternoon.

Final size of the building will be 36x50 (eventually with a 10x50 lean too down the south wall). Footings will be 15" deep x 12" tall, and the pad will be 6" thick. May be overkill, but I don't want to risk it not being sturdy enough for anything I may want to do here in the future...

After that gets done, I'll start saving for the block work on the north wall...It'll be 50' long and 8' tall and I don't do block work so I'll be farming that out. It's got to be able to hold back the backfill so I want someone with more experience to do that part. ;)

I'll get some pics as I progress...

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

I built my house in 2000 and since we have underground utilities I went ahead and ran 300 amp service to the house in hopes of building a shop in back... but that never happened and now we're looking to get it ready to sell in a couple years. (youngest kids are now 20, so they all gotta get out of the nest)
Ive regretted not building the shop for years but I hope to get enough out of it to find something smaller with a shop ready to go down South. I gotta get out of Ohio, this place is killing me.

Good luck on the build and may you have many years of fun times in it.

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

^^^ Thanks man. Out oldest is 16 & when she decides what she's going to do about college we hope to move to southwest Florida. Small house with a big shop :)

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

when we go south... i'm trying to talk my wife into buying a big shop and live in back :D

15'' deep footing is over kill? wtf??? :D:D:D
up here we have to build half of a building down, around here the frost line is 40'', footings here go to 48''
dat's a whole lot of concrete

i had to dig under my barn footing to get water inside for a sink, had to dig a 5 foot deep hole
i could have gone through at 4 feet but it's an old barn with a 2 foot wide stone/rubble foundation :D

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

What's a frost line. :lol: people here will literally pour just a 4" pad on top of a gravel base without footings. We don't have the freezing issues y'all have, but we do have rednecks, pretty country girls in skimpy shorts and lots of 'shine. :D

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

To dark to shoot any pics but after manipulating, calculating and such, the building will be 36'x48', but no good way to do a functional lean-to down the long side :(. Footings are dug and form boards are up though. I do end up with a good bit of space off the rear of the pad that I may add a lean-to on for just lawn mower & related storage, air compressor and such though.

Can't pour concrete until Monday at the earliest because of the d@mn rain expected this weekend. I needed rain for 3 months and got none...now I've had about 14" in 2 weeks. Hopefully this weekend will be minimal drizzle...

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

Cant wait to see your building ,I need ideas for my next one .

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

Just a couple of quick shots of the shop layout... One with the relationship to the house...

We are expectiong a bunch of rain the next 2-3 days, and the footings already have some water in them because it just keeps raining. Suppose to be nice next week, so hopefully I can get the concrete poured then.

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

Looking good. I know you're excited:metal:

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

You forgot Moma, trains and pickup trucks...:lol:

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

wtf? no hound dogs??? :D

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

:lol:

Nah... I have Australian Shepherds. ;)

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

The wife and I are discussing a move sometime in the next ten years out of California to a place where land/housing costs are far more reasonable. Texas is the current front-runner. My dream is several acres and a big shop located far enough away from the house so that late-night wrenching and heavy metal blasting won't bother her too much.

Until then, I'll just follow this thread and live vicariously.

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

Haha... Well welcome to the board and thanks for following along. Tx sure does get HOT, I lived there before moving to Alabama and I don't miss the heat. Check out the Barnasaurus thread...that TX shop is AWESOME!

I'm trying to talk the wife into northern Idaho and starting to get some headway. Maybe when our youngest daughter finishes school next year?!?

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

Just looked at the Barnasaurus thread. Yeah, that's pretty damn close to what I hope to have. Holy cow, so envious.

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

Yep, don't we all!!! ;)

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

Finally an update. Let this do a couple of weeks worth of drying and then the block walls are next.

Re: Finally...a new shop at the house
 

block? i like the sound of that...
all block walls or just against the hill?

my neck has a kink in it :D