Steel building and gravel road

   / Steel building and gravel road #11  
I never heard of a Texas County with any sort of Building Code. Each city has their own rules for building and most fallow the Southern Building Code for residential home construction. The bigger cities will add their own stuff to what they want, and that can be significant in areas where the weather can be more extreme.

Electrical Code is National, but there is no enforcement outside of city limits.

Septic is National and there are inspectors that check rural properties, but it's so undermanned and underfunded that there is usually one person for several counties, and they spend all their time driving long distances to investigate the worse complaints.

On your road, the most cost effective way to do it yourself is to first build it up with clean dirt. Get it into shape by adding material where you need it. Nothing is going to be cheaper then dirt, or more effective at creating a base. Once you have the dirt work done and compacted, then you can add gravel or crushed concrete. You need at least 4 inches for it to lock together and shed water. If it's thinner, it will move on you and quickly develop pot holes. I've found that crushed concrete gives a much better, more solid road then crushed limestone. There is a lot of variation in limestone used for roads here in Texas. Some is harder then others. All of the limestone used in my area, Tyler, comes from Terrell. It's a soft limestone, so it wears out fairly quickly. The concrete is extremely hard, and it's night and day better then the limestone that I started out with.

For your building, be sure to draw it out and add furniture and equipment to the drawing. Your building isn't very big, so space needs to be figured out. Don't forget to include the thickness of the walls to the layout.

A wood pole barn is the cheapest to build. It is a bare bones building that does not require concrete or a lot of prep work.

A metal building will cost a lot more for the same square footage, but it's big advantage is how far you can span the roof without any supports. It will require concrete that has to have footings designed for the weight of the metal posts that hold the building up. This takes some knowledge in what you are doing beforehand because the footings will need to be perfect for the metal posts. They either get welded to a plate embedded in the concrete, or bolts have to be placed in the concrete so they line up with the posts. Drilling into the concrete to attach the posts might work for a smaller building, but it's not ideal.

If you are pouring concrete for the floor, then I feel stick construction is going to be the fastest, most cost effective method of building. Pole barns and metal buildings lack anything to have a finished internal wall, so you have to spend the money of studs anyway to finish off the interior. You will also have to have trusses, or rafters 2 feet apart for a ceiling, so that negates the cost savings of a pole barn or metal building. With stick framing, everything is simple and straight forward. If you go with pole building, or metal building methods, then you are converting, modifying and adding materials to make those types of buildings more like a stick framed building, which will cost more money and time.

If a pole building or metal building is already built, then converting them are easy, but if you are starting from scratch, then stick building is going to be the most cost effective.
The more heavily populated counties do have codes. I know fir certain that Harris County (Houston) does. I'm pretty sure that Ft Bend and Montgomery do as well.
 
   / Steel building and gravel road #12  
The more heavily populated counties do have codes. I know fir certain that Harris County (Houston) does. I'm pretty sure that Ft Bend and Montgomery do as well.


There are a few counties with some codes but little enforcement. Harris is mostly incorporated areas so its getting pretty hard to find an area that is not inside a city or their ETJ.

But remember, Houston does NOT have zoning in their city limits either.
 
   / Steel building and gravel road #13  
I never heard of a Texas County with any sort of Building Code. Each city has their own rules for building and most fallow the Southern Building Code for residential home construction. The bigger cities will add their own stuff to what they want, and that can be significant in areas where the weather can be more extreme.

Electrical Code is National, but there is no enforcement outside of city limits.

Septic is National and there are inspectors that check rural properties, but it's so undermanned and underfunded that there is usually one person for several counties, and they spend all their time driving long distances to investigate the worse complaints.

On your road, the most cost effective way to do it yourself is to first build it up with clean dirt. Get it into shape by adding material where you need it. Nothing is going to be cheaper then dirt, or more effective at creating a base. Once you have the dirt work done and compacted, then you can add gravel or crushed concrete. You need at least 4 inches for it to lock together and shed water. If it's thinner, it will move on you and quickly develop pot holes. I've found that crushed concrete gives a much better, more solid road then crushed limestone. There is a lot of variation in limestone used for roads here in Texas. Some is harder then others. All of the limestone used in my area, Tyler, comes from Terrell. It's a soft limestone, so it wears out fairly quickly. The concrete is extremely hard, and it's night and day better then the limestone that I started out with.

For your building, be sure to draw it out and add furniture and equipment to the drawing. Your building isn't very big, so space needs to be figured out. Don't forget to include the thickness of the walls to the layout.

A wood pole barn is the cheapest to build. It is a bare bones building that does not require concrete or a lot of prep work.

A metal building will cost a lot more for the same square footage, but it's big advantage is how far you can span the roof without any supports. It will require concrete that has to have footings designed for the weight of the metal posts that hold the building up. This takes some knowledge in what you are doing beforehand because the footings will need to be perfect for the metal posts. They either get welded to a plate embedded in the concrete, or bolts have to be placed in the concrete so they line up with the posts. Drilling into the concrete to attach the posts might work for a smaller building, but it's not ideal.

If you are pouring concrete for the floor, then I feel stick construction is going to be the fastest, most cost effective method of building. Pole barns and metal buildings lack anything to have a finished internal wall, so you have to spend the money of studs anyway to finish off the interior. You will also have to have trusses, or rafters 2 feet apart for a ceiling, so that negates the cost savings of a pole barn or metal building. With stick framing, everything is simple and straight forward. If you go with pole building, or metal building methods, then you are converting, modifying and adding materials to make those types of buildings more like a stick framed building, which will cost more money and time.

If a pole building or metal building is already built, then converting them are easy, but if you are starting from scratch, then stick building is going to be the most cost effective.

"Septic is national"
NOPE!
 
   / Steel building and gravel road #14  
One advantage of a pole barn or metal building is that you get it inspected and taxed as one. Once the inspection is done, you can finish the interior as a home.

Many folks here do that to keep taxes low.

Build it twice the size.
 
   / Steel building and gravel road #15  
Agree with Fried... septic is not national. For $50 here, I have a permit to install myself. One inspection to make sure the leach field is deep / wide enough and is the proper length. These dimensions were standard based on the number of bedrooms in the house. No perc test was needed.

Try that up in Washington State !
 
   / Steel building and gravel road #16  
Here a homeowner can install a septic themselves but a permit is like $500. And you have to have a perk test.
 
   / Steel building and gravel road #17  
Regards your road Texas is way different to my local conditions but my experience is that I got lots of advise on how to build a proper road well meaning and would have made a good road but I didn't have the money so what I did is made sure all water was directed away from the road by putting in ditches either side then I put gravel that I could find on the property down and with a back blade dragged it into the wheel ruts that had formed. I never have felt the need to come back and do it properly fifteen years later it is still holding up I have topped up the gravel in a few places but other than that it is fine
 
   / Steel building and gravel road #18  
Building: I would like to have a multi-purpose, small building built. I'm thinking a steel building would be most cost effective. Probably 18x30 would work. I want to put a pool table and game room together but also have a kitchenette, bathroom and bedroom. I might go a little bigger on the building. I have power on the land and I believe that part should be pretty simple. I don't know what I don't know honestly and I'm not sure where to start. I will need septic, water and power. What is the best starting point to get this project priced out? I have a building estimate from an acquaintance. He'll build the building and put the concrete pad in for $24 - $27 per square foot. No roughed in electric or plumbing however. Where would you go to get the full package priced? Are there any things you wish you had done differently or things you strongly recommend people consider before building?


Road: I currently have rough road on the property. It's pretty good but rough. I just want to smooth it out some as it hasn't been maintained for nearly 20 years. Is the best way to do this to have gravel/granite or some composite delivered and then spread it with my tractor or should I hire someone to do this since I haven't done it before. Any suggestions for best material? The property is in Leon County, Texas.


I am enjoying the education I'm getting with my new land and tractor. I just want to prioritize my projects...outsource the ones that are beyond the scope of what I should be doing. Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!

I think this post is a must read for you
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/427542-shipping-container-storage-tractor.html
 
   / Steel building and gravel road #19  
Building: I would like to have a multi-purpose, small building built. I'm thinking a steel building would be most cost effective. Probably 18x30 would work. I want to put a pool table and game room together but also have a kitchenette, bathroom and bedroom. I might go a little bigger on the building. I have power on the land and I believe that part should be pretty simple. I don't know what I don't know honestly and I'm not sure where to start. I will need septic, water and power. What is the best starting point to get this project priced out? I have a building estimate from an acquaintance. He'll build the building and put the concrete pad in for $24 - $27 per square foot. No roughed in electric or plumbing however. Where would you go to get the full package priced? Are there any things you wish you had done differently or things you strongly recommend people consider before building?


Road: I currently have rough road on the property. It's pretty good but rough. I just want to smooth it out some as it hasn't been maintained for nearly 20 years. Is the best way to do this to have gravel/granite or some composite delivered and then spread it with my tractor or should I hire someone to do this since I haven't done it before. Any suggestions for best material? The property is in Leon County, Texas.


I am enjoying the education I'm getting with my new land and tractor. I just want to prioritize my projects...outsource the ones that are beyond the scope of what I should be doing. Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!

You did say steel building and not metal. The reason I mention that is that many steel buildings are the Quonset hut or arch-type steel buildings while metal buildings are generally squared but with gable or sloping roofs and smooth sides.

If you are thinking about a steel building like you see in magazines, where it is parts that are bolted together, you may want to keep looking.

My mistakes with this on my 30x60 was:
Separate interior walls need building to mount anything on the walls as they are not straight.
Interior ceiling would be needed for heat/AC installation.
7400 bolts and caulk were needed to build it (lots of fun)
— leaks a lot over 20 years and even more fun to fix.
Side wall height not a full 8’ so more framing was needed.
No easy way to insulate.
Electrical is all surface mount.

Nope, I learned my lesson. It may be hurricane-proof but way too many other limitations just to save a few bucks.

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   / Steel building and gravel road
  • Thread Starter
#20  
Does Texas not have building codes? You are describing a house.

Our houses are quite a bit different than what I'm describing. Sure we have building codes and they are more stringent in the cities. This is rural for one and secondly, I haven't asked anything about code related issues...yet.
 
 
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