My 30' x 40' tractor garage

[HeyNow]

Great job on the building and documentation. I am finishing up on my 30X40 palace as well. The electricians are finishing up the work today. I have a few questions for you on the concrete sealer. I see you have a smooth surface finish on your concrete (at least it appears so in the pics). I have a broom finish and was wondering how much you used on the 1200 square footage, will the sealer work on a broom finish and how long did you wait before you sealed? My floor was poured 30 days ago.

Thanks for the pics and documentation. I am headed in the same direction you are and many of my questions have been answered by your posts.

Randy.

 

[eepete]

HeyNow: The floor on the inside is smooth, the aprons are a broom finish. The broom finish takes about 2x as much sealant as the smooth finish. It's probably a mix of greater surface area and harder to push it around with the brush during application due to the course broom finish, and the aprons were in the sun when I did them so things dried quickly leaving less material to push around. It tended to "foam up" on the course finish as I brushed it in. I think it was 3.3 gallons to do the 1160 sq. ft smooth interior, and almost 2/3 of a gallon to do the two broom finish aprons at 180 sq. feet. It was also the end of a long day and so I probably was liberal in my application of the material too. A thicker finish on the inside would show brush marks which in retrospect really isn't a big problem. I would imagine that you could get around 300 sq feet from a gallon if you had a broom finish and were not working against the sun and the wind while spreading it around. It would also be less time to do a thicker finish, so it's a time and money trade off. The containers are sealed, so you could buy an extra one or two and return them if you didn't use them. Sorry to be so vague, lots of variables here: smoothness, thickness of material, application time, temperature and humidly during application.

Due to the weather (waiting for a day where the pad and outside tempurature was warm enough) I waited about 2 months before sealing the concrete. I don't do enough of this to know what the shortest time to wait is, perhaps someone can chime in. I know you have to wait two weeks before you put weight on the floor, so two months seemed long enough. I also would think that there is a big difference between a January-February wait and an April-May wait as far as temperatures go.

The concrete supply company in this area doesn't like non contractors, that's part of why the rebar was almost 2x what it should cost. It was basically about the same as the big box store, but I got 20' lengths. I asked the concrete guys what he would pay for the rebar I bought, that confirmed my suspicions. They had a sealer, but it was $60 per gallon vs. the big box $20 per gallon (or so) shown in my pix. I know that whenever I see "Commercial Grade" on anything at a big box store it means "lowest quality". But it's better than nothing and I go back to my "It's a garage" mantra. It did reduce the sweating, I just don't know how long it will last before I have to pressure wash and do it again. If I get a decade I'll be happy.

Pete

 

[two_bit_score]

WOW. Thanks for putting this up for us to enjoy.

 

[jenkinsph]

Pete,
That was a great documentation of the project and a nice new home for the 4520 too. Looks like you covered all the bases, and should be able to use your space to perform basic maintenance without a hitch.:thumbsup:


Question, what kind of doors did you use? I am trying to decide what to use on mine and am looking at the 2" thick Clopay rollup models.

 

[eepete]

Clopay. Label has part number C-PAN-1E458. These are insulated, I think either 7/8 or 1". We used the same type on the garage on the house. Walls in that garage are R-19 insulated, big slab. Temps never got below 45 degrees in there, which is good because it's a sprinklered garage.

On a shop, I'd go with the 2" insulated because the room would be kept warmer (68 vs. 50 degree). We have roll up (on a drum type) doors in a fire substation, and plan to replace them with roll up (flat panels on a straight track, like in my pictures) doors. The roll on a drum doors are slow and flimsy. So I'd go see an installed set before going with them if that's what your looking at.

We had what was probably our last cold night for the year (it's going to hit 92 tomorrow ). The attached bitmap shows the temperature over time to show what the R13 walls and the 7/8" garage doors did. I know I already posted one of these, but it got down to 34 a few nights ago, so this is a better view of the time delay that all the insulation and heat stored in the slab buy for me. At about hour 21 you can see where I opened the garage door and the building quickly approached the outside temperature. The garage doors face West, so as the afternoon sun came it, the building heated up above outside ambient. It then took about 12 hours to drop 10 degrees. The temperature sensor in the garage also warns me about freeze potential (for the water line), and serves as a fire sensor. As for all the plotting, I know, I over analyze things... :laughing:

This is very much a North Carolina solution (winter lows are about 25 degrees on average), if I was back in New England this would be a whole different game (as I know from talking with my brother in Maine who has an insulated garage).

Pete

 

[jenkinsph]

Pete,
Thanks for the info and I should clarify that the Clopay doors I am considering are actually panels or "sectional" doors. Definately want the two inch insulated doors as we had ice this morning in May

Thanks for including the graphs too.

 

[gabeancounter]

eepete,
Your building turned out great! I am looking to build the same size. Would like to ask a couple questions.
Do you find the 30' depth to be enough since the garage doors are on the side?
(Guess I am trying to decide between placing one larger door on the end or two on the side. Pickup, CUT, lawn equip, trailer etc.)

Do you have any pictures of the building from the side (showing garage openings)?

Thanks Paul

 

[eepete]

I had a shot of one side of the inside in the thread, here's a shot of the other side where the riding lawnmower is parked. You can see how the JD 4520 with MX6 6' rotary cutter fits in the 30' space. I have the 4520, the Kubota B21 and my JD 3189 GT in there and there is lots of room. You list of equipment seems tight for 30 x 40. As for the "Is 30' enough" well no such thing as too big except cost, so YMMV. 30' and the side doors worked great for me. The 12' door lets me use that one door for the B21 CUT and the 318 GT.

I'm getting a quote on another building, and one thing I found out is that the incremental cost to go to a 9' door instead of an 8.5' door is under $100. So on the next building, I'll have 12' wide by 9' tall doors.

Before I decided on this configuration I made a plan to see if everything would fit. Side doors work for me. Snow is not an issue for those of us in the South. I'd start cutting out paper bits that are to scale for your equipment and see how it all fits together. I have some of my implements on dollies to help squish things in. Good luck and have fun :thumbsup:

Pete

 

[gabeancounter]

Pete,
Thanks for the info and the additional pictures. I think the 30' depth will work for me as well. I like the side pic showing the doors. I can see how it would be a real advantage having the 12' door, but I am thinking I would like the added height of a 10' door. If I had the tractor loaded on the trailer I believe I could pull the loaded trailer inside with the added height.


I am trying to understand the advantages of using a pole structure versus traditional stick framing since you were pouring the floor? I don't know the exact cost but seems to me it would be about the same? Just curious.Thanks again.

 

[EddieWalker]

Poles in the ground are always going to be cheaper. Less lumber, less concrete and a lot less time. Even with a concrete pad, it's not structural, and there isn't a footing , so there is still a lot less concrete and rebar used.

You can also go taller, easier and cheeper with poles then you can with stick framing.

Eddie