My garage/workshop/machineshed/truck garage/b.s. area

[RedNeckRacin]

wushaw,

Those shelves look sweet, Where in the world do you find industrial/commercial shelving like that? My neighbor has some of the heavy duty retail shelves from a store that went outta business, but I was thinking of a rack or two that I could put palletized stuff on.


Tororider
Thats a dam good idea. And as far as the skylights I have no plans for the attic (considering the ceiling is going to be 14' or 16' and it would be a bear getting stuff into and out of it.) since I have thoughts of a mezzanine above the shop.


Well I think I decided that I don't want a three car garage in my building. I'm gonna need to put up a small garage near the house so the fiance won't have to carry groceries in the elements. I talked to my FIL last night and he said that he would level the land for my buildings if I pay for the fuel. I thought that was a pretty good deal especially if he lets me move some dirt with the dozer.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

well back to the disscusion board.

What do you guys think of buying a bulk fuel tank for tractor/truck use?

I am trying to figure out what kind of costs are involved as well as what kind of discount bulk fuel comes with

 

[getindirty]

You are a busy thinker. Look around. You can find used ones. 500 gallons. Slap some floor paint (the u-coat-it type epoxy) on it and it will never rust. Used pumps are usually slow but not a big deal. Diesel is dyed and not taxed for off road use. That will save you money. Around here there is no discount for me. I buy 100 gallons at a time. The gravity feed tanks are as slow as mud. But for a mower tractor lawn tools not a big deal. Filling a 20 gallon tank it stinks. It needs to be away from the buildings. Il is 20' I think.

Back to the shed... I built mine as a shell and concrete floor. Save a few $$ and do a little more. It stinks this way because now I have to work around stuff, the good part is I don't owe anyone for it. 40 x 60 x 10 was 25k for the shed installed and another 5k for the concrete. I installed tubes in the floor for heat. That is a mistake unless you are going to be in it everyday. It is slow to recover and I'm to cheap to leave it turned up to anything more than 40. I need a bunch more insulation though.

Again I have a 40 x 40 attic that added a usable 16' x 40' x 7' second floor with 6.5 degree pitch roof.

I would definitely add floor drains. Park your vehicle and tractors on it and just let it melt. Next day the mess is gone. Now that is where the 40 degree shed is useful. I keep the dirt out of the drain so I don't end up with plugged drains. Just throw a old towel or rag around the drain.

I'm soo smart I installed a corn boiler. Genuis!! Oh then corn went from $2.25 to $5.80. OOPS! I guess Ill add another source of heat this year.

 

[mjncad]

I installed tubes in the floor for heat. That is a mistake unless you are going to be in it everyday. It is slow to recover and I'm to cheap to leave it turned up to anything more than 40. I need a bunch more insulation though.

Another reason to avoid in-floor heating in a shop or garage is the possibility of hitting a tube should you want to bolt something useful like a lathe, mill, or other piece of machinery down to the floor. I don't care how careful one is at documenting the as-built condition of the building, the chance of hitting a tube and the $$$$$$$ repair that will follow is not worth it to me. I do like the floor drain idea though.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

getindirty

You are a busy thinker.

That such a bad thing? I never thought about the floor epoxy stuff though. Great idea! My friend suggested that it was a bad idea to do bulk fuel for trucks/tractors. He main reason was the initial cost and the possibiliy of the water getting into the fuel. Is this really much of a problem? The reason I ask was that I wanted to buy on and off road fuel for obvious reasons. (eventually both) I would think that a tractor would pretty much choke down whatever diesel it gets but a newer truck might throw a tantrum. Is a water seperator mandatory or a better question may be do they work?

mjncad
Avoid in floor heat? Man I dunno, I realize its expensive but I have been in a garage that has it and boy, I think I could lay on that thing all day ) I think that is a very good point about bolting stuff into the floor though. Is there a way around that somehow?



I need to store a couple thousand bales for the horses the fiance is training. I know barns keep gaps in the floor and walls for ventilation. So my question is, How much air needs to circulate? I was thinking of a elevated floor above a dirt floor or maybe slab. As you can probably guess I don't have an old style barn at my place but I am gonna need the storage. Any reccomendations?

 

[wushaw]

wushaw,

Those shelves look sweet, Where in the world do you find industrial/commercial shelving like that? My neighbor has some of the heavy duty retail shelves from a store that went outta business, but I was thinking of a rack or two that I could put palletized stuff on.

Industrial shelving supply house in Dallas, they cut to whatever length you want and I just added the plywood and 2x4s under the plywood. They are real simple to install and will hold alot of stuff.

 

[mjncad]

mjncad
Avoid in floor heat? Man I dunno, I realize its expensive but I have been in a garage that has it and boy, I think I could lay on that thing all day ) I think that is a very good point about bolting stuff into the floor though. Is there a way around that somehow?

I'm planning on in-floor radiant heat for the house I'm starting to design; but I'm leery of it for a shop where one may bolt stuff down. If you do in-floor heat in your outbuilding, document the crap out of where the tubing has been installed prior to pouring the concrete. You might be able to wrap a tracer wire around the tubing like they do on plastic gas pipe; that way a utility locator may be able to distinguish the tubing from rebar and/or mesh if you decide to bolt something down.

As for outbuilding heat, I'm planning on natural gas fired radiant heaters that hang from the ceiling structure. These are common in garages as they are easy to install and repair if something goes wrong. I wouldn't do forced air heat in an outbuilding because outbuildings tend to leak air much more than a tight house does. No sense heating air that will escape to the outside, while making the gas company's bottom line greener.

 

[keeney]

Easy enough to find the tubes - just crank up the heat and then mop the floor. The pattern of tubes will be visible in the concrete as it dries.

Also, if you use thick enough concrete for the floor (6" or so), you are unlikely to need to use bolts that long for anything. You could use some sand to increase the distance between the concrete and the tubes as well.

Finally, its not that hard to repair if you do damage a tube because finding the leak is the hard part and if you are drilling a hole and water start coming out of it, you will know exactly where the leak is. Then its just a bit of jack-hammering, a splice and patch the concrete.

- Rick

 

[getindirty]

I love the floor heat. It mealts the snow off the vehicles, no blowing air, super comfy when you are under the car.... I just do not like leaving it on when I'm not there. And if you turn it off it takes too long to warm up. If you are in the shop/house everyday floor heat rocks. Also if you leave the doors open very long it does not recover fast. Radiant ceiling heat would be my recommendation.

Shed's don't have to be drafty. Like a house, wrap it. I used wrap foam and bats and it is cooler in the summer than the house with no AC. 90+ outside and it never hits 80 in the shed.

As far as bolts in the floor. If you know where you want them install them before you pour. Use a "J" bolt and it will never wiggle. You can use the mop method if you are not sure where they go. But a floor bolted piece of equipment would be in the plan, I'd think.

 

[mjncad]

Shops change constantly, and what works on paper at first may look entirely different 5-years down the road. I used to work at a national research laboratory and those labs changed so frequently that there were bolt holes and Unistrut hanging everywhere with no apparent current purpose.

Pour the slab, use a rotary hammer (Bosch makes a great one), and use good quality anchor bolts for the task at hand. Lag screws and lead shields are fine for drill presses and bench grinders; but I would probably use something different on more substantial pieces of machinery.

As other posters have said, radiant heat in concrete floors reacts slowly to calls for heat changes, which is why most homes don't use it anymore for their in-floor hydronic heating systems.