Help me Design Building for Tractors and Pickup

[bsekf]

Minimum door height, at least 9 feet. Build it twice as big as you figure you need.

 

[gwhizz63]

Don't know if this is quite the right subforum for this, but...

I am tired of parking my Kubota L3710 and John Deere 430 garden tractor in the rain, so I am considering adding a steel building to my property.

It looks like I will need something that will at least slow mice down, since they have already built nests on top of the garden tractor's battery and inside the truck's hood insulation.

I want to be able to put the tractors, a utility cart, and my pickup in there, along with a few implements. I have a bush hog and a subsoiler, and I am about to turn my chain-on forks into a quick attach implement.

I was thinking of making the building about 1000 square feet in a square shape, to resemble my existing workshop. It doesn't have to be fancy. I just want a couple of power outlets, overhead lights, and a door opener. My other building has 100 amps and all my big tools.

Wonder if anyone here has suggestions on configuring the building. Would a long building make more sense for multiple implements?

Another option is to build a big two-car garage for just the tractors, cart, and pickup and build a cheap pole barn without walls for the implements, which rodents can't really hurt.

I had a problem with mice around the chicken coop and shed where l store their feed. There are a lot of non-poisonous options, so l decided to try spearmint and peppermint essential oils mixed in a water spray bottle. Have not had a mouse in the shed since l began spraying around entrance. Hasn't stopped the snakes though.

 

[rlipeles]

Don't know if this is quite the right subforum for this, but...

I am tired of parking my Kubota L3710 and John Deere 430 garden tractor in the rain, so I am considering adding a steel building to my property.

It looks like I will need something that will at least slow mice down, since they have already built nests on top of the garden tractor's battery and inside the truck's hood insulation.

I want to be able to put the tractors, a utility cart, and my pickup in there, along with a few implements. I have a bush hog and a subsoiler, and I am about to turn my chain-on forks into a quick attach implement.

I was thinking of making the building about 1000 square feet in a square shape, to resemble my existing workshop. It doesn't have to be fancy. I just want a couple of power outlets, overhead lights, and a door opener. My other building has 100 amps and all my big tools.

Wonder if anyone here has suggestions on configuring the building. Would a long building make more sense for multiple implements?

Another option is to build a big two-car garage for just the tractors, cart, and pickup and build a cheap pole barn without walls for the implements, which rodents can't really hurt.

There are plenty poisons and traps out there. Why not go that way?

 

[kenbgbill]

One comment. Nobody ever woke up one day and said I wish I had a smaller barn/shop/garage. Go as big as you can afford and install minimum 12’ door.

 

[SethK]

Don't know if this is quite the right subforum for this, but...

I am tired of parking my Kubota L3710 and John Deere 430 garden tractor in the rain, so I am considering adding a steel building to my property.

It looks like I will need something that will at least slow mice down, since they have already built nests on top of the garden tractor's battery and inside the truck's hood insulation.

I want to be able to put the tractors, a utility cart, and my pickup in there, along with a few implements. I have a bush hog and a subsoiler, and I am about to turn my chain-on forks into a quick attach implement.

I was thinking of making the building about 1000 square feet in a square shape, to resemble my existing workshop. It doesn't have to be fancy. I just want a couple of power outlets, overhead lights, and a door opener. My other building has 100 amps and all my big tools.

Wonder if anyone here has suggestions on configuring the building. Would a long building make more sense for multiple implements?

Another option is to build a big two-car garage for just the tractors, cart, and pickup and build a cheap pole barn without walls for the implements, which rodents can't really hurt.

So far I have found the best protection against rodents under the hood is simply to leave the engine compartment as open as possible. Three weeks after buying my tractor, and carefully covering it with a big tarp, my wiring harness was chewed through in several places. After getting the tractor back from the shop, I moved it into my garage for the rest of the season as a short term fix. Meanwhile, I put up a steel pole barn, open on all sides. Whenever the tractor is not in use it is parked in the pole barn, with the engine compartment wide open. It's been a couple of years now and no further damage. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I don't think so. The critters like closed-in spaces and the open tractor in an open pole barn is simply not appealing. YMMV, of course.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

There are plenty poisons and traps out there. Why not go that way?

Believe me, I am. But I live in the woods. I don't think getting rid of the mice is possible.

 

[davisarc]

Don't be above making a set of scale drawings (or blobs) of the individual pieces of equipment you own. Next make a shape for the tool chest or supply cabinet you always wished was in the garage. Also make shapes for the stuff you think you should have nearby like fuel cans. Photocopy a few times and cut out a set. Push them around on various Floorplan outlines. Remember that garage doors can be on 1,2,3,4 sides. Also, if you are looking at a prefab steel building please understand that you cannot ignore the subslab details and expect long life from the structure eve in warm climates. Have fun!

 

[Gord Baker]

Get quotes on a Permit, Concrete Slab, Utilities, Doors and windows for a Metal Building.
Add them up and add 20% for Roofing, benches etc.
You may find that there is room in your existing building.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Don't be above making a set of scale drawings (or blobs) of the individual pieces of equipment you own. Next make a shape for the tool chest or supply cabinet you always wished was in the garage. Also make shapes for the stuff you think you should have nearby like fuel cans. Photocopy a few times and cut out a set. Push them around on various Floorplan outlines. Remember that garage doors can be on 1,2,3,4 sides. Also, if you are looking at a prefab steel building please understand that you cannot ignore the subslab details and expect long life from the structure eve in warm climates. Have fun!

When i was in engineering school, we were the first class in the brand new Engineering Building. So, new the furniture hadn’t arrived.

I was headed to the counselors office, and the secretaries cornered me, and asked how i would figure out where all the new furniture was supposed to go. And, I told them that’s I’d get a big copy of the floor plan drawings from teh Campus Architectecht’s office, then call the furniture manufacturer, and ask them for the scale cardboard cutouts of the furniture. Then just slide the little card board pieces around until things fit.

The two secretaries looked at each other, and informed me that all engineers think alike. They had gotten the same answer from all the profs, and most of teh students. I laughed and said, by the time they graduate they will all give you the same answer.

I told them that good engineers are inherently lazy. Not that we were afraid of hard work, because you don’t complete the degree without lots of hard work. But, we generally don’t work any harder than we have to. And, sliding a bunch of furniture around a room, is lots harder than sliding little cardboard furniture around on a scale drawing.

 

[3gunr]

I have a 28x35 with two 10x10 doors i keep my tractor , 6 ft brush hog 6 ft finish mower 6 ft tiller pto spreader, A utv an atv And lots of small stuff Some of the implements are on dollies and that works great, I built a loft across the back that adds a lot of storage, The garage was a cardinal carports building . So far i have been very happy,