# Building a garage / house - Metal building



## AlphaPilot (Oct 28, 2014)

Hello everyone. Newbie here. I just bought 3 acres and had a well installed. Power is coming shortly. This also means the $0.00 balance in my bank is coming shortly after, too. :hrm:

I want to note that I am looking for advice, better options, or a different angle of thinking. I know that is what forums are best used for.

I'd like to build a metal shop/garage on my lot prior to an expensive home. But I got to thinking, maybe there is a better way if I just build them all as one building, metal, and finish the home portion later?

My lot is not flat. I have 250' width and 600' deep. 160' in from the road, the property begins to slope and by 180' the slope is a hill. I planned on building a 36x36 shop on the more level portion closer to the road and having the house on the slope with a walk out basement. The house *needs* a basement, S.W. Nebraska has had tornadoes and I like basements.

My house size would be no more than 40'x40' - I planned on doing 36' x 40' once the time came.

Right now the biggest expense I am looking at is the concrete pad for the shope and even more so the basement foundation -shudders- 

I'd like to hear some ideas or stories of what you found worked for you? I saw a post or two discussing metal buildings for homes...but they were huge buildings, I don't want a 2nd story since I am going for a basement.

If you want more details, please ask. I can try to get some photos of the lot or a google image view. I will note that the front of this building will be facing WEST unless I do a separate garage/shop - that will face South as much as possible for melting snow in the winter. (eliminates shade on the drive if the sun is not blocked by the building)


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## chuckhole (Mar 2, 2006)

Barnomimiums are an awesome idea and after I built my shop (almost finished), I plan to build another metal building for the house. It will basically be a building within a building.

I spent 4 months (weekends) doing site work, plumbing and electrical prep. I own my own backhoe and my neighbor's dump truck was at my place for almost a year. We moved about 600 yards of fill from the future pond site just for the building. It has to have plenty of room around it for the concrete trucks and the trucks weigh 40,000 lbs PLUS 10 yards of concrete weighs another 40,000 lbs.

The 40x60 slab under my building is 6" thick with 24"x24" footings around the edge and every 20 feet like a grid and has 1/2" rebar on 18" centers in both directions. It took 86 yards of concrete and finished out at $14K including the 6-man crew that spent 4 days digging the footings, tying rebar and finishing the pour.


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## AlphaPilot (Oct 28, 2014)

That looks great. That seems pretty cheap for that big of pad with that much prep work. (aside from all the prep work you did)

Frost level is about 3' here. I imagine my footings need to go that far down. Do you have a preference on monolithic pours vs floating slab? 6" sounds like plenty, I was told 4" is enough for a garage?

I live 2 miles within the town so I have an inspector to commit to, and code to follow.


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## chuckhole (Mar 2, 2006)

Concrete was $88/yd. I had the site within 2" of level when they started. I did quite a bit of research on slabs and no specific type is right in all conditions. I even purchased books on concrete and construction (mostly stick built). What is good in my southern sandy loam soil where the frost line is 8 inches would be quite different from what you would use. However, my opinion is that you would need footings below the frost line and they would be in the shape of an inverted T. You would then excavate to about 6-8" below the slab grade, fill with a crusher run and then with sand. Put down a vapor barrier and then pour a floating slab on the footers. I prefer monolithic slabs but that may not apply with your soil and climate conditions.

A 4" slab is the minimum and is adequate. But I wanted to be able to put heavy equipment in my shop. We did some transmission work on the dump truck and was able to raise the bed for easier access. My JD 310G backhoe weighs 14,000 lbs and I like doing oil changes on concrete. It depends on what you want to accomplish.

My anchors (12" j-bolts) for the legs are 10" deep and are 3/4" diameter. My neighbor built a lot of metal buildings so he saved my butt more than once. I did not have to worry about inspectors but I still researched and built to code. All my electric is in metal conduit and boxes and is well supported with superstrut. The supply is '00' and runs 210' underground in 2" conduit to the meter. No frost line worries there either.


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## AlphaPilot (Oct 28, 2014)

Would you run radiant heat if you could do it over? I am wondering about it but heard it HAS to ALWAYS run for the life of the unit in the winter or if I let it freeze it will ruin the system (pex tubing perhaps?). I like the idea of having it as an auxiliary heat.

Did you do the crushed stone and sand yourself? I don't have a skid loader or dump truck readily available. I can borrow my uncle's tractor with a loader but that's about it for now. 

Those contractors did nice work on the rebar so it was in position and not needed pulled up constantly like I see on so many youtube videos.

I believe concrete is $120 or $140 / yd here. 

Yours is an ALL METAL building I see from the inside. I figured on conventional 2 x 6 lumber for the framing with metal wrap. I have no experience with steel buildings / welding / cutting and that sort. I should maybe familiarize myself with that style of building rather than wood?


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## chuckhole (Mar 2, 2006)

We don't typically use the heated slabs down here in Texas. But I have been an avid DIY junky for a long time (back when the DIY channel was not all reality remodel shows). I have seen lots of pours with the heated floors and have seen it installed with a roll out prestructured grid of tubing and I have seen it manually done with pex. I would talk some people up there and on this forum who are much more familiar with it.

The site work was done by me and was dug entirely from property (42 acres). I have areas with lots of clay and some with sand. I dug down until I got clean sand and used that for area under the slab. I dug up the trees and removed the roots down to about four feet and then brought in sand until I was at level grade. I had to build up some of it about another four feet to get it to level.

The slab design was my own work. I supplied the rebar, vapor barrier, rebar chairs and all of the cut and bent boxes pieces for the footings. They did all the tie work and dug all the footings to what I wanted. Their work was very precise. The j-bolts were within 1/4" tolerance for placement.

I used a 4-bag mix without any additives for my concrete so it was not the most expensive. Concrete about 30-35% sand, 35-40% aggregate (I use equal amounts), 15% Portland Cement and 15% water. If I am mixing, I use a little extra water. It is not quite as strong but it gives more working time.

When the trucks show up, they will pour a little out and ask if you want a little water added. The slabs that were done for our greenhouse and the side porch on the building were done by me. I had them add just a touch more water for the 20x30 slab to give me a little more working time. It was also split up into two trucks (8 yds then 7 yds).

As far as building types, consider both. Some people are more comfortable working with wood than metal. Mine was a kit and all the welding was done. Since then, I have learned to weld and love it. My neighbor (I hope he lives to be 105) taught me that too. To be honest, the hardest thing I had to learn was the O/A torch work. Making good cuts is not as easy as some people make it look. I started with all of the rebar work I did for my building. But cutting and bending rebar is easy compared to making a pretty cut on some 12g sheet metal.

The main thing is, don't skimp on the wrap. Get at least 26g and go for 24g on the roof. And up there, you have to consider that white stuff......what do you call it?.......Snow?

PM me and I will send you all of the plans for my metal building. Not that you would build just like it but there is a lot of procedural stuff in their that is worth reading. I used Nucor Steel and Mueller Building Systems.

The shop photo shows my welding table with 3/4" top, 8" pedestal grinder, drill-press, O/A rig, MIG welder, plasma cutter, stick welder and rod oven. I work on computers for a living but on the weekends, I am a "******* in training".


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## AlphaPilot (Oct 28, 2014)

Hah! If I were 20 years older (20 now) then I am sure I would have many more tools to work with such as a skid steer or backhoe...I really want to find one.

I also work with a computers, for part of my career ventures.

I will PM you, I'd like to let anyone else know that is viewing this thread that I am still looking for info! Anything you have to add or chip in will be worth a lot to me. I have a handful of options and I hate not knowing the pros and cons before I start into something.


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## TLR15 (Oct 22, 2014)

Sweet looking shop there chuck! A building like that's a necessity on a farm. Some day I'd love something like that to keep my backhoe and other toys in!
So you're into the slab for $14K, how much for the building and what is the manufacturer?


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## chuckhole (Mar 2, 2006)

The building is Nucor Steel. The gutters and downspouts, skylights and ridgevents (with controllable dampers) are Mueller. The rollup doors are 12'x12' Janus 2000's.

The building totaled a little over $18K and the plumbing, electrical and lighting was another $3K. The four highbay lights were a little over $800 by themselves. The center building height is 18' and lowbay lights usually stop at 15'.

It was building erection, plumbing, electrical, etc. was done by me so no labor charges. I paid labor on the 40x60 slab and I did the 20x30 side porch (still another $1800). I have all the concrete tools for that but then again, I am 55 years old and have had time to amass some tools. Not to mention the fact that as you get older, you pay usually gets much better. That has helped quite a lot. There has to be some benefit for being old..........right? :thumb:


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## ronpeck (Dec 26, 2014)

In building projects , I would advice to take suggestion from architect as they have better solution for our problems .


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## bigjon (Oct 2, 2013)

alphapilot,i don't know where your located.here in cny I built a stick 16ft x 24ft garage on a floating pad.crusher run was 1ft thick-tamped 3 different times.3rd time was wet-better compaction.then 3 of us with a 2"x6"x28' as a scree leveled off 8 yards of 3500lb concrete mix-cost $900 5yrs ago.(third man is in knee boots with a shovel putting extra concrete where its needed)installed my j anchors b-4 using a bullfloat to smooth up the floor.waited 1 week for concrete to harden up and started putting framing up.walls are 16" on center,roof is 24" on center with a 6-12 pitch-I'm in the snow belt.all walls have 1/2" treated plywood wrapped with black paper and then covered with steel siding.roof is same except only 3/8"plywood under steel because of the pitch (nothing sticks to it! i'll finally finish up interior walls this spring when the tractors are out with insulation & 3/5's plywood.biggest building I've done so far-and NO its not big enough-but its payed for.


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