For almost 60 years, I have attempted to work on my projects in various “arenas”. First it was at a rented house with a decent small garage. Then our first house had no garage and the work was done in the basement or in the yard. Our next house had a pretty decent garage, but the projects still seemed to overflow the area. When we moved to Evergreen in ’76, the house had a reasonable size two car garage. However, my equipment and Pat’s car (in the winter) relegated me to a small area to try to build my cars and work on various projects.

In assembling photos of my projects, every project file had at least one photo of me working in the snow or rain (if you make it thru the various pages you may see a few)! It is fun to think about all the weather related hardships, but it sure will be nice not to have to face the problem in the future!!

I had always dreamed of a large shop. Because of the frustration of building the toterhome in the elements (read rain and snow what seemed like most of the time), I decided that I would build a garage big enough for the toterhome and maybe even a bus conversion (to a motorhome) someday. The design ended up being 36’X56′ with 14 foot tall walls.

I planned to do most of the work to keep the cost down. Turns out that even the best laid plans and budgets don’t always work out. I ended up contracting out the concrete work, but the rest of the project was done by me.

The following documents some of the updates that I posted on a previous webpage:

May 20, 1999. The fabricated steel beams arrived. This is a building system designed and fabricated by Miracle Steel. The design is for a steel building, but uses 2X8 purlins for the roof and 2X6 girts for the walls with tabs welded on the beams for attaching these planks. Instead of a steel exterior, I will use a composite roof and wood siding so that I will be in compliance with our covenants.

June 10, 1999. Excavation begins. The two critters in the picture are our grandsons. They sure had a lot of fun on the dirt piles.

We hit rock at almost ground level at the back of the site. This was about 5 feet higher than the base of the foundation. This called for an extensive blasting operation. The blaster drilled over 150 holes over a two day period beginning July 13, 1999. Unfortunately, the blasting did not take place until September 14, 1999. Part of the problem was a lot of rain during that period. However, the real problem was the blaster–he really did not give my project any priority. He was in serious financial trouble and was apparently going for the high dollar jobs. This sure put my project behind schedule!!.

We began the rather complex concrete work in late September and did the first pour on October 2, 1999. Because of the size of the building and the beam construction which concentrates the loads at the base of the beams, the foundation was very hefty. It started with 4’X4’X12″ pads at each beam base (18 total). Then, 2’X2′ columns were formed on each pad (minimum height was slightly over 2′ and the longest was over 3′ (variation due to the soil/rock conditions). The front foundation was a wall that was 2′ thick and an average depth of over 2′

Then the floor was formed. It had turn down of 2′ (12″ wide) on the three sides and a pad thickness of 6″. It has 1/2 re-bar on 18″ centers. I fabricated several chain tie downs and two large I beams, all of which were formed into the concrete. This will give me various options in the future. I also laid hydronic heating tubing in the floor for future use in heating the building.

 

October 13, 1999. The floor and turndowns are poured. Because of the rebar and the hydronic tubing , we had to use a concrete pumper. The floor and turndowns took 52 yards of concrete. The total concrete for the project with the footer and columns was 72 yards!!

November 27, 1999. The first beam is placed. I had built a 24 foot boom on the back of the motorhome (see below for more information). The beams are fabricated in four parts. I assembled the parts and then raised the beam as one piece. I used a load spreader bar which was made of a 20 foot length of 6″ channel. I also fabricated a 6′ tall scaffold mounted to the Scrambler. That placed my feet about 12′ off of the floor and I was able to reach most of the roof structure.

Those of you who know me can relate to the fact that I emulate Tim Taylor (Tool Man) far too often. This held true on this project. During the assembly of the beams, I managed to drop the beam on a toe and fracture it in two places. Also managed to smash a finger as well. The clinic folks could only shake their heads!!

For this project, I fabricated a 24 foot boom that was mounted on the back of the motorhome. It is powered by a 12 volt 10,000 pound winch. This picture shows the testing of the boom after it was first constructed. It is lifting a trailer that I am building.

In addition to lifting the beams, I used the boom to raise the lumber for the roof. In this photo you can see the fixture I made to hold the lumber .

In this photo you can see the OSB sheet being raised to the roof. In the background you can also see the 2X8 purlins for the roof. I finished the roof on January 1, 2000. I guess I should say that I finished the roof for the winter. (just beat the snow that occurred that day). The OSB (75 sheets worth!!) is attached and the 30# felt is stapled on. I will install the asphalt shingles when the weather clears up this spring.

As of March 19, all of the OSB is installed, the front wall built and the garage doors installed (the were installed the day that Brandon was born!!).

On 4/9/00 the sons-in-laws and Damon plus a friend of Toms came up and we installed two sides of the T1-11 siding plus the cedar siding and fake brick on the front. What a job, but it was sure good to get the work done. The north side was still frozen at the base and I had to install the siding after the ice melted.

I started installing the shingles on July 4 and finished on July 26, 2000. Could not have picked a hotter time of the year and this was a very hot July!. Because of the heat, I worked in the early mornings and evenings since the shingles were too hot to handle during the middle of the day. I carried 72 bundles (70 pounds each) up the ladder The felt I installed in January had to be removed because of damage due to weathering.

I started painting the doors and siding on 8/24/00.

The above photo was taken August 28, 2000. There is still some paint and brick work to do, but it is starting to look like a finished building!