My shop build

[STx]

Eddie, you should be a distributor, I need someone in that part of the state and it'd be a little extra scratch for you.

I can't figure out how to edit with Tapatalk but, Wilbur would make a great sales pig!

 

[dstig1]

View attachment 499675

I get frustrated dealing with them because the rules seem kind of arbitrary and the ones that do make sense seen incomplete to accomplish what they're actually after.

That is kind of my feeling with the recent editions of the code too. The old saying was that the code was "written in the blood of those who have gone before you." And I get it. Breakers, grounding, GFIs, box fill, wiring practices, Ampacity, etc. on and on... They all make good sense. And then they ran out of common sense. For example there used to be GFI exceptions for garage door opener outlets on the ceiling and those for freezers in unfinished basements. Both were very logical as they were based on the "inaccessible" criterion, thus very unlikely to be a ground fault problem for people. Loss of common sense. We have a similar external switch requirement in WI that I ran into during my build. All utilities come into the shop first, as it was built first (and made more sense from an access standpoint). Meter has 2 sets of lugs, so I was going to use one for the shop feeder and one for the house feeder. NOPE! Since the house is fed from "another building" (even though the service is still outside, like normal), I needed to add a disconnect on the shop between the meter and house. Waste of time and energy. And money. I pointed out chapter and verse in the NEC saying this was not required. He didn't even know the answer so he had to hit up the state specialist for the real answer: WI addition to the NEC. They hate when you ask the very logical "Why?" question on nonsense rules.

They've got the power though, so I do what they ask and then make sure it's fully correct for my own peace of mind.

Bingo on the first part, and the second part is exactly the way it should be done!

 

[STx]

I got my forklift back today, $3,980 repair for a rebuilt steering axle and replacing a couple of bad radiator hoses. I'm glad to have it back (the loaner was a little large and the dog hated it) but, if' I'd known I was going to be spending close to $8,000 on a forklift, this isn't the one I'd have bought.

Oh well, it's behind me now. As my dad the pilot says, FIDO (forget it, drive on), no use getting hung up on mistakes in the past.

 

[STx]

So, "Safety Dog" isn't a huge fan of this forklift either. I might be strange but, I thought her reaction was pretty funny. Itchy - YouTube

 

[Citydude]

I have Boston Terrier that goes that when I chop vegetables. She's a safety dog as well.

 

[STx]

I've made a little progress getting organized and getting some electrical done in the last week. I wanted to get caliche in the front area and get it all graded properly so that I could get my fence and gate back up there but, heavy rain over the weekend killed that idea so I worked inside instead. I have another 9 lights here that I need to install and I've got to run a large conduit across the roof to the other side so I can swap the welding and cutting areas, right now my steel is sitting where the bathroom is roughed in and that won't work.

View attachment 502218 View attachment 502219

Yesterday, I installed my TV and started with the surveillance camera installation. Since I don't have any windows, and we've had a lot of theft problems down here in the past, I want to be able to see and record what's going on. I'm going to get the WiFi repeater installed this afternoon and get the shop connected to the network.

View attachment 502220

Hopefully the weather holds this weekend so I can get the caliche in and graded, rebuild the fence and gates and get some asphalt put down. It gets pretty nasty when it's wet and I can't take the forklift outside right now.

Once that's done, I'm going to finish up the electrical and start on the mezzanine so I can get the container emptied and start the house addition for my wife.

 

[ovrszd]

Lookin good!!!!! You've got the hard physical labor part done. Now it's all the time consuming little things that will transform it from a building to a shop!!!! Thanks for the update!!!!

 

[STx]

Lookin good!!!!! You've got the hard physical labor part done. Now it's all the time consuming little things that will transform it from a building to a shop!!!! Thanks for the update!!!!

I've always said it's the last 10% of the job that takes 90% of the time. All the stupid little finish work. I'd much rather frame a dry in a building than do the finish carpentry, drywall, paint, etc. I like to see big, visible progress. Fortunately, my wife enjoys the finish work and is very good at it.

 

[ovrszd]

I've always said it's the last 10% of the job that takes 90% of the time. All the stupid little finish work. I'd much rather frame a dry in a building than do the finish carpentry, drywall, paint, etc. I like to see big, visible progress. Fortunately, my wife enjoys the finish work and is very good at it.

Sounds like she can pick up where you leave off then!!!! Great combination.

I'm very excited about your new building so I can only imagine how you feel. Good for a man's Soul to do projects like this!!!!

 

[smokinmad]

Should have bought a bigger one of these...

So how long did it take to dig all that?

Looking good tho...

Kids live in ATASCOSA TX.

 

[STx]

The digging didn't take long at all, to once I got the pit started, I'd just pull the mini-ex down in it and scrape the sides down. I could get about 60 - 70 yards loose in an hour and then I could load and move about 3 x 8 yard loads an hour. Spreading, leveling and compacting took up the majority of the dirt work time.

It took me about a month to get all the dirt work done but, that wasn't working every day, I had delays due to weather or equipment. It was probably only about 8-10 actual working days.

I do sometimes wish I'd gone a little larger on the mini-ex, other times it's just right. I only had $15k to spend though, this was the largest newish machine I could find in that budget and I didn't want to finance something to go larger.

 

[smokinmad]

So, did you load with a loader? Those lil' excavators are handy, would like one myself.

Doing it the cheaper way always does take longer, unless you got 10 kids. lol...You did a good job, looks nice, wish I had one....

 

[STx]

Yes, I loaded with the tractor. Would've taken forever to load with the mini-ex, I did try doing that with one load, took almost an hour.

Thanks, it was a lot if work, still a lot to do, it's coming along though. Sure beats being outside.

 

[mopardude318]

Nice project!!! I made the stupid mistake of trying to build a 24x32 shop on a hill side. Which is causing me to have a 10 ft tall 3 sided retaining wall engineered around the whole **** thing. LOL

 

[smokinmad]

Nice project!!! I made the stupid mistake of trying to build a 24x32 shop on a hill side. Which is causing me to have a 10 ft tall 3 sided retaining wall engineered around the whole **** thing. LOL

Ya know that could be a good thing....Lets say you stayed 10' away from your shed.. all you would have to do is add a "lean-to roof" from shed and fastened to top of wall..WaaLaa..instant Addition....lol

 

[STx]

Not making the big progress on it that I was but, I finally got around to installing the other 9 lights I bought. 15 of these in now at 10,000 lumens each. It's a lot better than it was with just 6 but, I could probably add another 10 - 12. I'm going to hold off until I get the mezzanine in though and see how adding the lighting for it and the downstairs affects things first.

View attachment 515378

 

[PhysAssist]

Not making the big progress on it that I was but, I finally got around to installing the other 9 lights I bought. 15 of these in now at 10,000 lumens each. It's a lot better than it was with just 6 but, I could probably add another 10 - 12. I'm going to hold off until I get the mezzanine in though and see how adding the lighting for it and the downstairs affects things first.

Hi STx,

Don't feel too bad about the slow-down.

It seems to me that once a building has been enclosed, wired, and even partly lighted- it's suddenly not just functional for use, it is somehow now suddenly become so indispensable that it's hard to stop using it long enough to finish it.

We lived in our current house from 1994 to 2012 w/o any large outbuildings- we just had a 6'x8' toolshed, and a wood shed that started at 4" x `12', and was eventually expanded with a 12' x 10' lean-to addition- all made of salvaged/scavenged or repurposed materials [except for fasteners ].

We bought our 2011 B2320 in 7/2011, and put up a 10' x 20' Shelter Logic temporary garage, because my SWMBO's "new baby" couldn't be left out in the weather, so by 12/2012, we had our 45' x 30 pole barn up, and enclosed.

[It was a big family joke that she got a tractor, the tractor got a barn, and I got nothing- but the bills...]

It took until 10/2014 to get our concrete floor poured, and required a full day of moving everything out so that we could manage it.

We temporarily ran some heavy extension cords out to it to use for lights etc, and didn't finally get it officially wired until 4/2016, and then I got all the lighting up before the end of the month-

XC for the back corner, where everything had been pushed to make room for the electricians- and that still isn't done.

There have just been too many other projects that need to use the barn, to allow me to do any more work on it yet.

Keep us posted when you do more, I for one, am really interested in your progress.

P.A.