Barndominium/Shop or "real" House?

[ericm979]

Are you installing a whole house generator?

We're going to have to do something. The utility in Oregon has picked up bad ideas from California utilities and installed quick reaction breakers. They shut off power to thousands of homes for any issue. It's for "fire safety" but really it's a kludge to make up for poor maintenance. They have had more outages there than in my part of CA this summer.

At this point we're hoping that a decent battery system is not too much more expensive than a propane whole house generator. The solar will have to be sited so it can feed the batteries, so I can't put solar on the shop which has a better aspect. And the system will need a generator input port for a gas generator Just In Case.

 

[Carl_NH]

If it comes down to it I have a quote from a pole barn company to put that up. They are Mennonite builders whose word actually means something, not like all these others who have been ghosting me. If by the end of 2024 if my GC is still having issues getting going, I'll pull the trigger on having that company get the shell up.
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I would inform your GC your intent to hire the Amish in 2 weeks if they cannot provide a start date and shell completion date.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm a contractor. I do remodels and repairs to homes. If a client gave me a deadline, I would inform them that I'm not the person for them, and good luck with your project. For me, that's a huge red flag, and I would not work for that person.

In my opinion, it's a good sign that your contractor is busy, and can't get to you right away. I'm booking jobs into next year. My wait time is usually six months, but it's been as long as a year.

If a contractor can start right away, you gotta ask yourself, why isn't he busy?

 

[ETD66SS]

I'm a contractor. I do remodels and repairs to homes. If a client gave me a deadline, I would inform them that I'm not the person for them, and good luck with your project. For me, that's a huge red flag, and I would not work for that person.

In my opinion, it's a good sign that your contractor is busy, and can't get to you right away. I'm booking jobs into next year. My wait time is usually six months, but it's been as long as a year.

If a contractor can start right away, you gotta ask yourself, why isn't he busy?

I get it, but I gave the first version of these plans to the GC in Feb 2023. And the stamped plans in Feb 2024. It's been 8 months and he is still "gathering numbers". I don't think it is him as much as it is the sub-contractors.

I think again the problem is New York State. The State seems to be allergic to small business and makes it difficult for younger people starting out. A lot of these sub-contractors are at or over retirement age. There doesn't seem to be anyone taking their place...

 

[ETD66SS]

Anyone have a sheet roll door in their shop similar to this: DBCI 2500I

I wanted to have roll up doors in the area where my shop crane will be but after researching, they seem very flimsy and not well insulated. I priced out the segmented roll up doors that have much better R-Value and are much sturdier, however they are 5X the cost of a normal OH door.

With normal OH doors I lose about 10" of crane height vs roll up doors.

I was targeting 14' of hook height, but if I go with a 5-7 ton crane it will be a bit less than that. Maybe I step it down to a 3-4 ton crane and have a smaller section height I-Beam.

As far as progress, I finished my drainage basin:

I ended up signing on with the Amish post frame builders, they start in a month or so, put down a deposit. So no turning back now.

 

[LouNY]

Have you considered the bi-fold type of door?

 

[ETD66SS]

Have you considered the bi-fold type of door?

You mean vertical bi-fold?

Not sure if I like the concept. Would have to think about it more. Can't open the door if say an incapacitated machine is close to the outside of the door.

 

[LouNY]

You mean vertical bi-fold?

View attachment 1870425
Not sure if I like the concept. Would have to think about it more. Can't open the door if say an incapacitated machine is close to the outside of the door.

They seem to be popular, also the disabled vehicle would have to be quite close to interfer

 

[EddieWalker]

I can't comment specifically to your question about your door options, but I have a few comments about roll up doors compared to sectional garage doors. I have both. I'm in East Texas and heat is my biggest issue, but we do get into the teens in Winter, and we've been below zero a few times.

The roll up door is horrible for keeping the outside temps out. It's not bad for wind, but plenty of air gets past it. Originally, I liked the size of it and felt it was a great value for the price. I had a 12x12 roll up door on my previous shop, and a 10x10 on my current shop.

My garage door is insulated, well sealed and night and day better and keeping the outside temps out. I do not have windows in it, just solid foam insulated panels. Cost of that door is triple what I paid for my much bigger roll up door.

I would never buy a roll up door again, it's just too big of a difference in dealing with my East Texas heat.

 

[ETD66SS]

I can't comment specifically to your question about your door options, but I have a few comments about roll up doors compared to sectional garage doors. I have both. I'm in East Texas and heat is my biggest issue, but we do get into the teens in Winter, and we've been below zero a few times.

The roll up door is horrible for keeping the outside temps out. It's not bad for wind, but plenty of air gets past it. Originally, I liked the size of it and felt it was a great value for the price. I had a 12x12 roll up door on my previous shop, and a 10x10 on my current shop.

My garage door is insulated, well sealed and night and day better and keeping the outside temps out. I do not have windows in it, just solid foam insulated panels. Cost of that door is triple what I paid for my much bigger roll up door.

I would never buy a roll up door again, it's just too big of a difference in dealing with my East Texas heat.

I have not seen any in person, but through my research I came to the same conclusion as you have.

So the change I plan to make is switch to scissor trusses in the shop and have the OH door tracks follow the ceiling pitch. This will give me as much headroom as possible for a future crane. The crane could get about 6 ft from the door openning at the closest to gain any height from the change to scissor trusses, but I think that will work for most lifts.