Arched steel building...yes or no?

[MotorSeven]

Orgt,

Keep in mind that this is a temp home and it will be over 1000' away from my log home and out of view, so i do not think the "visual displeasure" is an issue from the house. Besides i plan on making the ends look like a log home by using the rounded slabs off of the house logs. The guy behind me has a straw bale house...3' thick walls covered with concrete, and the thing is neat as heck. He also has a pipe jamed into an artesian well up a "holler" about 300yds away. The water runs down to his house and he has pressure 24/7........i looked high an low, but no artesian on my place....{Drat}

RD

 

[MotorSeven]

Update....

Ordered the building: US Steel Buildings- 30x50x15high, open ends, 22 ga, 100' of industrial baseplate(bolts to the flat slab and the arches bolt to the plate.) $7,900 including delivery. I am getting an est on the slab next week and the bulid goes up in Jan. I will post pic's then.

RD

 

[orgt]

Update....

Ordered the building: US Steel Buildings- 30x50x15high, open ends, 22 ga, 100' of industrial baseplate(bolts to the flat slab and the arches bolt to the plate.) $7,900 including delivery. I am getting an est on the slab next week and the bulid goes up in Jan. I will post pic's then.

RD

That's a very good price on the structure. Was that a special? Any web link, I thought I had this co in my favorites but I don't see it now... I'm thinking of putting up the very same kind of building on my property so I'd be very interested in the kind of quotes you get for the slab. Please let us know.

An interesting side thought: I much prefer slabs but a neighbor was telling me that the reason why he got some very strong pressure treated flooring put in his new 20X40 barn/garage is that here when you don't have a slab they don't tax you on the building!

Anyway, congrats you're making progress on the project!

 

[billbill1]

Sorry Eddie, here's mine.

 

[mjncad]

Must be nice not to have a HOASS "billbill1." Ours would have a serious hissy-fit if I proposed an outbuilding for my lot like yours.

If my wife and I ever move again, it will be to more land and no HOASS.

 

[MotorSeven]

Orgt,

Sorry for the un-timley response, just got back from TN Sat. No, it wasn't a special, i just got quotes from 6 different companys, then went into the US Buildings sales office in Deerfield Beach FL and showed them to the salesman. He "himhawwd" around alot, but in the end matched the price of a Canadian Company that had the lowest quote. Apparently there are only a few actual "manufacters" of this type of building and they are all very similar in quality and price. Alot of the quotes came from independant dealers that merely order the building for you. US Building is one of the few that actually build the product and market it "factory direct." Their plant is in Boone NC, a couple of hrs from my place in TN. I just felt more comfortable dealing with them, but i will withhold any opinion until the product is delivered and i get it set up.
Now for the slab....dang it this is the only thing i didn't research and i spent 3 days running around trying to line up a contractor. The concrete guy i want to use(my neighbor) doesn't do the excavation site prep. I finally got a guy to come out and my "almost" flat site had a 27" drop from one end to the other (70'). So it looks like 10 loads of fill and a 22 ton load of gravel, leveled out and prepped for forming...=....$1,300. Then i added a 15' concrete skirt to the front and 6' to the back of the building, with a 4" slab and 8x24 footers, all wire mesh and rebar, smooth finish, looks like around $4,000. $5,300 give or take a few hundred..........Sheeesh the darn slab will almost catch the building in cost!!! However, i think i won't later go....."Man, i wish i had added this or that!"
Anyway, i put in for the septic permit, and will head back to TN prior to the pour to run the plumbing under the slab, hopefully in a couple of weeks.
Steel Buildings, metal buildings, prefabricated storage kits

RD

 

[Skerby]

Hi All, I'm purchasing a property with a 40 x 50 pole barn, steel siding. It currently has a gravel/dirt floor. Any ballpark estimates what it'll cost to get concrete in there? do i need anything special to support a TLB ? thanks much!

 

[OakHillFarmer]

Skerby,

I recently had a floor poured in an addition off my indoor arena which is a pole barn. I'm adding 11 horse stalls, a wash stall, tack room and grain room. The addition is 24x170. It'll be a long aisle with stalls and rooms on one side. Concrete floor everywhere but the horse stalls where I'll have stone dust and rubber mats. I went with 4,000psi concrete, 6" deep, with wire mesh and fiber in the concrete mix. I know, a little overkill for a horse barn but I'll be driving a tractor in there etc. I'm a do it right once type of guy.

I did all the forms and prep to save a little money. I've reused most of my 2x6 form lumber to frame partitions so that expense was negligible. The cost of the concrete was $107/yd delivered ($4820 for 45 yds). Finishing was about $.78/sq ft ($3200). I needed a pump truck because the aisle is only 12' wide but 170' long. The trucks could only access one end so the pump truck was an additional $675.

You could get away with a 4" slab and 2000psi concrete depending on expected use. At 4", it looks like you'll need about 25 yds. So if you pay what I did, it'll be roughly $4060 ($2500 for concrete and $1560 for finishing if you do the prep forms etc.). I used to be a contractor and have lots of friends still in the business in my area so I always get quoted fair prices for this area. I get multiple quotes before asking my buddies what they can do for me and I usually do well on price.

Of course, the prices may vary as I'm up here in MA.

-Mark

 

[mjncad]

I like OakHillFarmer's philosophy on doing it right the first time. Go for the 6" slab, and reinforce it properly with mesh and/or rebar. I don't know what the difference in cost is between the 3,000 PSI and 4,000 PSI stuff; but if it's negligible, get the stronger stuff. Make sure the soil is prepped properly for your conditions too.

Using the building as a shop and/or garage demands a thicker slab. Going cheap now, and blowing it out and replacing it later will be far more costly and inconvenient.

I'm fighting with the builder of our lemon house over flat work amongst other things. This guy I found out likes to omit things like rebar, WWF (Welded Wire Fabric), and fiberglass reinforcement from the flat work he pours. What's worse is that he doesn't compact the soils properly, and to top it off...the area where I live is nothing but expansive Bentonite, which I call Claycrete. I can always tell when I've found a void spot under the garage floor as a dropped wrench does not have that familiar ring to it; but a hollow thud.

 

[PAexcavator]

Motor Seven
If you are proposing to put your building on fill instead of virgin (digging everything down to just below topsoil at lowest point) be aware that proper compaction work will be absolutely crucial to prevent settling and cracking of your floor. Typically, only 2" to 3" can be put down at a time and then mechanically compacted as the fill is built up. Proper moisture levels should also be monitored to achieve proper density.

All topsoil should also be removed from under the building since topsoil acts like a sponge, holding in water. When it does this during freeze-thaw cycles the water turns to ice and expands, lifting and cracking your concrete.