Goooodmorning!!!

[mkohler30]

CWK I think you are going in the right direction with a metal building.....depending on materials you use a pole barn style can be constructed with a slab and totally enclosed weather tight with your roll up door and walk through door. ...BIL built one minus the slab for his shop a 30x40 but it was the material he used that made it meet the standards your looking for...granted he had the drill stem and did not have to buy it...so his shop with a gravel floor was built for about 3500.

Good luck with your decision

BTW coffee is great today just sitting around getting my 25th and 26th unit of blood today having a nice conversation with the nurse....

Have fun and enjoy life

Mk

[rvpopeye]

There's a young guy on another forum that is doing a rebuild on an ambulance , turning it into an RV , very good work !
I turned him on to the CLACers today , keep an eye out for him.
His forum name is Baloo .......

[Lloyd in S.C.]

Hi All!

Deb is home, her and her new walker. I need to get a horn for that thing. She asked me to pass on a big thank you to all of you for your best wishes!

I'm keeping her doped up,,, she is in a very mellow mood.

L.

[guardrail53]

Good morning everyone!! Coffee was good today!
Charles, you are on the right track, with your building info! They make the pole barn type, and the all metal building type! The pole barns have wood rafters/truss's, and the all metal, are , well, all metal! Both can be finished the way you want, with insulation, concrete floor, wiring, It is what is going to be the cheapest for you, since you are not going to be in it that long! I would price both, and see who has the lowest bid, and who can get it done the fastest!! Also, I have seen the portable Carport's turned into barn's and very nice shops! Google is your friend! For the size you are wanting, I think the best will be a pole barn set up, and be the quickest to build! I have a lot of friends that have some very nice ones!
Lloyd, She has to come down sometime!! Mellow is good!! Give her our best!
MK, glad they are letting you have coffee, When I was getting radiation, they had a nurse that did not want me to have coffee, so I had to hide it from her, I called her "nurse crachet"!! Or the "Coffee Nazi" from the Jerry Sienfield show!
Everyone have a great day! 14 days Rail!

[Lloyd in S.C.]

Hey Rail!

I think Deb will have names for the physical therapy trainer later today,,,, if they don't make you hate them, they are not doing their job!

Raining here and 61*. Daughter is coming over to spend time with Deb, and freeing me to go ride with my son in-law. The rain is supposed to be done by 9 or 10am.

The new bumper for the Jeep came yesterday, very nice. It has built into it the base for a Blue Ox tow bar. I also went ahead and set it up for a winch, So sometime this weekend I need to get the Jeep in the shop, and install all that. Have to wire the lights as well, bought a nice kit from Blue OX that has diodes that allows use of the Jeep taillights when being towed, but prevents back feed into the Jeep wiring system. Once setup just plug the Jeep in and go. This is a good time to do this, Deb isn't using the Jeep these days.

Everyone have a great day. 28 days till I retire!

L.

L.

[Franka548]

Good Morning Gang,
Coffee was good this morning, only 3 of us so the morning coffee is about done for the season. a few people are pulling out every day now and as the weather gets better up north, more are heading for home.
Charles,
I agree with Rail on getting more estimates, also if you want a 12' door you will need at a minimum 13' ceiling height.
Lloyd,
Glad that Deb is home and doing her therapy. Sounds like a nice set up for the Jeep.
Have a great day all,
Frank

[guardrail53]

Good Morning Everyone! Coffee is very good today!
Lloyd, sounds like the (****) will be hitting the fan!!!, good time to be in the garage putting on that new bumper!
Man, I feel for the people in the north with all the snow flying! Hope is get's all done and over with before we get there!
Frank, what is the name of the CG you are in? I have been checking out all the ones in the area around Spring Hill and Brooksville!
Seems like the days are flying by, and I am glad of that!
Everyone have a great day! 13 days Rail!

[Franka548]

Good Morning Gang,
The rain is gone and the sun is out, temps took a nose dive down to 57 right now going to the mid 70's.
Rail,
Belle Parc is where we are at, it is located on rt 41 just north of town.
Frank

[cwk]

Good morning, all!

Terry and Lynne, Sorry about the snow. To me, it is another reminder of one of the reasons we left the northeast.

Rail, It's getting closer!

LLoyd, Hope Deb's knee is doing well. Keep reminding her, if needed, that all of this will be well worth the effort she needs to put into it right now. As I mentioned before, Bev has been there and can vouch for this.

Steve, you got me thinking about traveling again with your Alaska trip. I remember planning a cross country trip when I was about 19. I think that half of the fun was in the planning. And, the other half was actually finding and seeing the things that I had read about and planned. Part of the enjoyment, at least for me, was knowing something about what I was seeing in person when I got there. Too often we drive by some pretty amazing places without having any idea of the history or significance.

MK, Thanks for the info.


We met our new neighbor on one side yesterday. He has a similar storage building in his back yard, although a bit smaller. It turns out that he is a fellow sailor (he did 4 years in the Navy) and is a good friend of the owner of our house. They knew each other very well before they were neighbors. Also, the owner is a fellow Chief (both he and I were Chiefs in the Navy), so we have a strong common bond. We learned a lot more about the neighborhood, metal buildings, local contractors, etc. The contractor that we are considering is probably the best in the county for what we need. There are a few others, but they seem to specialize in very small buildings or open carports.

We met with the contractor again yesterday, and are starting to finalize the plans and pricing. After laying out everything on (virtual) paper (I used the computer), we might increase the dimensions a tad. The floor is a monolithic slab, with footings, with saw cuts for stress relief in case of cracks. That will make it easy for me to roll equipment around a smooth floor. The slab will be strong enough to support just about anything including, and these are the contractors words, "a Class A Motorhome"! No, I did not mention anything about RVs! But there are a lot in the neighborhood. Anyway, this will qualify as a "metal building" instead of a "pole barn" since the structure's frame will be sitting on the slab instead of being mounted on poles buried into the ground. (I finally learned that from my new neighbor.) From the outside, they pretty much still look the same to me.

There will be a 12x12 garage door on the front gable end next to a 3-0x6-8 walk door. I might add another walk door at the back end of the building as a second egress point for safety. The sidewalls will be 12' with about 15' height at the peak. I never plan on putting a Class A inside this, so the 12' door is sufficient. I may occasionally put my 7x16 cargo trailer inside. It needs about 10' of clearance. My 33' Travel Trailer will stay outside.

Monday afternoon I will meet with him again, after I mull this over some more this weekend. If all goes well, I will probably give the go ahead early next week. I have my current work area until late May and really want the new building to be ready by then. Contractor is saying 6-8 weeks, so it is do-able. I plan on adding my own insulation, probably fiberglass batts/rolls and some type of vapor barrier, but I can move my equipment in and operate while that is happening.


By the way, while all of you up north are getting snow, we had a very strong rainstorm Friday night/Saturday morning that dumped about an inch of rain in a few hours. The roof patch (removed the broken skylight from my TT and simply closed it in) held fine. No signs of any water inside. That was my first RV roof repair and a learning experience. Evidently it worked.

Have a great everyone!

[beamisl]

Good Morning All,

22 last night and the white stuff is on the ground again. OHHHHH, I want warm weather. Supposed to get to 40 today though so we will see. Rhubarb and asparagus were coming up. Stuff is confused with the way the weather has gotten warm then cold again then cold again. Just want that warm stuff.

Rail, it's getting close, getting exciting, soon you will have your Mona. You will have to take some pictures when you get there and post them here please. Want to see you standing in front of her with your smiling face.

Lloyd, Tell Deb this time next month she will be in a lot better place. It is so hard at first but if you don't move you have a harder time of it later on. Best wishes to you both.

Charles, When you get everything set up it will be a much happier time for you. The planning stage can be frustrating but the finished product is exciting. Good luck with all of it.

Coffee was good this morning especially as cold as it was. I think it is time to make some French toast. Haven't had it in a while and have the hankering this AM. Hope you all have a wonderful day. Lynne

[guardrail53]

Good Morning Everyone! Coffee is very good today!
Getting the last min. things done now, for the trip, and just about have all of the travel things all booked, except the flight back up to Chicago on our return trip! Have not decided weather to fly up or drive up in a rental car. The only flight out of Decatur is early morning, and our flight does not leave O'Hare till 5:25 pm! A 7 hour stay at the airport before a long flight like that just does not "sit right" with me? Pun intended!!
Lynne, will do on the Pic's, and maybe a video too?
Charles, I would do which ever building is the cheapest, as you are only going to be in it for a short time. Also, I would ask the owner of the property if he would kick in on the building if you go with the 14 ft. door? Makes re-selling or re-renting the property higher if the building has a taller door! It would appeal to a trucker or someone with a MH with the taller door! Just a thought?
Lloyd, a horn huh? That might come back to haunt you? Give Deb our best!
Have not heard from Tim or Gordon for a few days? Traveling?
Jay was looking at a MH, last we heard? Wonder how that went?
Frank, I will check out your CG, and hopefully we can come stay a day or 2 there, before we head out! I am not going to get in too big of a hurry to get up north with all that crazy weather they are having!
Well, everyone have a great day! 12 days! Rail!

[Lloyd in S.C.]

Good morning all!

Thanks to everyone for all the thoughts and well wishes for Deb. She is getting a little bit better each day. The machine that she has to strap her leg in (it flexes the knee) is now set at 70 degrees. Each day it get a little steeper. She has to work her way up to my guess about 120 degrees. It hurts!

Sounds like Terry could write the book on knee replacement. Lots of practice!

At the risk of rubbing it in, we had great weather here over the weekend, a little cool, but Carolina Blue Skies throughout.

CWK, I have a building I built myself 5 years ago. 42x50. One thing I learned as I investigated. If you are just going to do a shell, and not finish the inside (insulation, sheetrock (or something else) than a pole building is the way to go. However, if you intend to finish inside a stick building works out about the same,,, and it is A LOT easier to finish. Finishing inside of a pole building requires you frame inside for you interior, and in the end labor and materials match.

I went stick building, with metal siding and roof. Very happy with it.

L.

[Harley1994]

Good Morning All, CWK, we used to be a dealer for a metal building supplier, in fact we had one for a motorcycle repair shop, finished it off inside, they weren't too bad to finish off, the studs were 4 ft. apart. Lloyd, tell Deb it does get better! yup I have lots of practice in Knee and hip, last knee replacement the hospital had a separate wing just for those kind of operations and the day after the op. they have group physical therapy, They had me leading the group! I knew all the moves . LOL. At my last check up the Dr. is amazed at how much ROM I have, but I don't think anyone should ever stop exercising the ROM stuff because it gets stiff, but maybe that's just me.

[cwk]

Good morning, all!

Thanks for all of the comments for building ideas. They are very helpful.

Since I am going to "finish" the inside, pole barn is out. Conventional stick-built, with wood framing, is probably overkill for this project. This will probably be a metal building, horizontal metal siding, vertical 2x3 supports, and a monolithic concrete slab. The contractor increased the size of the verticals from 2x2 to 2x3 when I told him I will be insulating. It might also have had something to do with the 12' side walls???

The neighbor next door knows the owner very well. We will probably be the last renter before the owner returns to retire here. His plan is to return in 9 years. So, we might stay a few more years past 5, IF that fits with OUR retirement plans at that time. So, a 14' door is not in the plans. I don't need it. It would increase the cost. If I owned this property and planned on retiring here, then a 14' door would be in the plans.

To make the building functional for my purpose, I need to insulate. Then, I may add some type of wall covering (at least up to about 8'?) so I can get some hanging space on the wall. I am leaning toward some type of 3/4" board (plywood, OSB, etc.) for the interior walls. The walls above 8' and the ceiling should be fine with insulation showing.

I do need to consider what/where for a vapor barrier. I need to keep the interior humidity low to prevent my equipment from rusting, and my wood products from warping, etc. I am in Florida, not the cold north, so I need to figure out where the barrier goes. I think it is on the inside, just under the plywood walls. On the exposed insulation, I think it would also go on the inside. That means when I look at the roof I should see the vapor barrier. I believe something like 6 mil plastic (we used to call it Visqueen) should work fine.

We had this vapor barrier conversation sometime earlier in this group discussion, but I don't remember the details. I do know that I had a 20x22 stick building built for me at my present location a decade ago. It has wood framing, vinyl siding (never again), and a concrete slab. I added electric, insulation, a vapor barrier, and sheet-rock. Without any heating or cooling, the building keeps a relatively consistent temperature and humidity. I do run a dehumidifier in there to protect my equipment from rusting. I did have a window/wall unit heat/cool air conditioner that kept it at a perfect temperature, but it died of old age a few years ago. I never found the need to replace it.

I meet with the contractor again this afternoon to iron out some of the detail questions I thought of yesterday. Again, time is of the essence since I need to be out of my current workspace by the end of May.

Regarding competitive bids, I did a lot of online pricing over the last few weeks. Our contractor seems to be competitive with them. And, he can handle the job from local permits, concrete, building, and final inspections. I do have to coordinate electric and a powered, insulated, overhead door. He only handles roll-up doors but has a referral for the overhead door. If I had the time, and inclination, I could consider acting as my own GC, and even doing my own construction, but work is keeping me busy 7 days/week. I would be losing money instead of saving it if I took time off from work to do this myself. Also, I have delivery commitments to customers that need to be met.


OK, enough rambling about me. I do appreciate the comments and suggestions, but I don't want to hog this discussion. However, your comments have helped me a lot. Thank you!


All you guys up north, sorry about the weather. A quick look at the weather radar a few minutes ago surprised me. Most of the country is dry, but you guys are getting hit with frozen, wet stuff. Yuk!


Rail, Less than two weeks to go.

Terry, Hope you find the power issue source and its not too costly.

Lloyd, Tell Deb to keep it going. Your job is encouragement and support, of course. But, you already know that. It will not be too much longer before she will want to get out of the house and get back to normal. Tell her to be patient and follow the PT instructions all the way. It will be fine.

Lynne, I do enjoy the planning phase, but it can be a bit stressful with the time limitations. But, the end result will be worth it. I don't have all of the details worked out yet, but if the basic building plan is correct the smaller pieces will fall into place and everything will be fine.

Everyone, have a great day!