P-model arch steel building project

[Dirtnut]

this is a 30'w-50'l-15'h arch steel building i put up this summer. the building is 80% done. i took some pictures as it went, wish i would have taken more not thinking about posting them on TBN. didnt see any projects on here with this kind of building thought some of you would be interested. the building pad was leveled a few years ago,before i had a digital camera.alot of the gravel/ tractor work was done at night so no pictures sorry. but i did use my tractor with a jib i built & man basket to put the whole building up. i have enough pictures of progress i think hopefully to keep you all interested.

ps. dont know if i am doing this right,sure someone will let me know.

 

[bmac]

Heck Yeah! Let's see those construction pictures.

 

[Dirtnut]

took delivery of the building 2 pallets 6000lbs had to split them up onto other pallets so i could pick them 1500lbs max. i was amazed my whole building plus two others was on one 16' straight job truck. 1st pic is all the straight panels.2nd pic had to cut spacers to put between each panel to let air in.3rd pic not to good. eve,peek,panels, end wall trim angles, & buckets holding 5000 thousand nuts & bolts.

 

[Dirtnut]

took some thinking & many tries to get the panels 2' wide up to 10' long to stay standing in stacks till we were ready for them. these next pictures show the foundation forms all the rebar,wire,vapor barrier,stone. unfortunately no pictures of moving stone. i would be away from home all week & have stone delivered so when i got home friday nights 11:00 or later i would jump right on the tractor and get to work to dark for pics, plus this was stuff i could do myself. so when the help showed up at daylight they wasnt waiting on me this way i could work on the otherthings in daylight. it took 115 tons of stone i was in my glory moving that,lots of seat time. it took a little over a month just working weekends to get it ready for concreat. only my wife & dad helped me get it ready. we had to make 200 1'x1' rebar boxes for the footers to tie all the long lenghts together. i cut all 1' pieces with a chop saw & the wife bless her & her blistered hands wire tied the boxes together while i am away all week. the one picture i had to use the box scraper with a jig i made to heat & bend hooks on 3/4 rebar that are used as tie bars to tie the load bearing footers together.

 

[Dirtnut]

concrete day. it took just shy of 40 yards to pour the pad 16" x 16" at footer all the way around tapered down to 5" thick to floor. 4000psi with fiber mix. this is a free float frost protected monolithic pour. had to do it this way because i am on top of a mountian and my rocky soil is only 1' deep till it hits bedrock.

 

[Dirtnut]

building erection started out like a nightmare. the directions in the book tell you to put the half arches together on the ground & stand them up. what they dont tell u is that when using the opptional base plate this cant be done.the first arch was a near disaster getting up i wont get into that unless u guys really need to know. we did manage to get the first arch up only three of us & my tractor. the first arch is the most important, it must be right, plum,peek must be at right hight. this is why we have all the 2x4 props. it needs to be secured with ropes in both directions at top until a minimum of 4 arches are bolted together.this protects against wind. after the near disaster we decided to put it up like johnny cash sings one piece at a time. this worked well for us i tied two pieces of rope to the basket with s hooks on them,would hook them in the holes on the panel my dad would put me up into position & my wife would put a 2x4 prop with a nail in the end up in a whole in the previous panel to give the next panel something to hold onto till i could get a bolt in. we were able to get 2 arches a day done like this.

 

[Dirtnut]

arch progress and finished.

 

[Dirtnut]

will take pictures of the end walls tomorrow raining & blowing to hard now.

 

[tommu56]

Dirtnut

This looks great I would love to put one like that up at my camp.

tom

 

[weldingisfun]

That brings back memories.
Enjoying your narrative and pics, keep 'em coming.