Beam is up

[Adam Carl]

Been a while since I posted anything but I finally made some progress on my shop. The beam is up, it was added to support the second floor which is where the wood shop is located.

The Barn was orginally built around 1900 and is 24 feet wide and 36 feet long. The floor joints were 16 inches on center and made of real 2X12. 24 feet seemed like a long span especially for the machinery and wood I wanted to store. The was quite a bounce in the floor as well.

The beam I added was a W16 X 26 and it definetly appears to be up to the task at hand.

To smooth this over with the wife I centered the beam on the building and agreed to get 2 new garage doors. They are on order so now that the beam is up I can frame the openings.

[Dan Hintz]

I can't be sure from the pics, but it looks as if the beam is supported by screw-type lolly poles? That doesn't look like a ton of support there...

[Bob Riefer]

Ahh, barn saving.. near and dear to me (see signature). Really cool. Do you have more pics?

Btw, I used post jacks like that to lift my entire building, and have seen them in new construction to hold up homes as well.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Tell us about that hoist in picture #2. Anything that helps the hapless defy gravity gets my attention.

Also, the diagonal braces. I'm thinking a few collar ties and they are outta there.
.

[Adam Carl]

I can't be sure from the pics, but it looks as if the beam is supported by screw-type lolly poles? That doesn't look like a ton of support there...

In my area they are commonly used for basements. The telescoping posts are not allowed and can only be used as temporary supports. I had my posts custom made where I got the beam and they are 4 inches in diameter. 3 inch appears to be the standard post size for a basement post, I went with the upgrade. Just an FYI to anyone, standard 3 inch posts where $50 a piece while a custom 4 inch post was $120.

[Adam Carl]

Tell us about that hoist in picture #2. Anything that helps the hapless defy gravity gets my attention.

Also, the diagonal braces. I'm thinking a few collar ties and they are outta there.
.

My dad gave me that hoist. He got it at an airport 20 or 30 years ago, I guess that is what they used before motorized fork lifts. I believe it is rated for 2 or 3 tons and I goes up 9 feet or so.

It is big and gets in the way most of the time but man it made this job easy. We centered it on the beam and it did all the work. We used a John Deere with a bucket to get it in the building and on the lift.

Yeap the buidling had no colar ties, just those annoying braces. You got that right they are being replaced with colar ties.

[Adam Carl]

Few more pics

[David Helm]

Been a while since I posted anything but I finally made some progress on my shop. The beam is up, it was added to support the second floor which is where the wood shop is located.

The Barn was orginally built around 1900 and is 24 feet wide and 36 feet long. The floor joints were 16 inches on center and made of real 2X12. 24 feet seemed like a long span especially for the machinery and wood I wanted to store. The was quite a bounce in the floor as well.

The beam I added was a W16 X 26 and it definetly appears to be up to the task at hand.

To smooth this over with the wife I centered the beam on the building and agreed to get 2 new garage doors. They are on order so now that the beam is up I can frame the openings.

So you've ordered new doors. Are they barn sliders. You could make some nice ones onsite and probably get nicer ones than you could buy. Here is mine.158973

[Adam Carl]

So you've ordered new doors. Are they barn sliders. You could make some nice ones onsite and probably get nicer ones than you could buy. Here is mine.158973

Since the lower section is going to be used as a normal car garage we went with roll up doors. We ordered barn looking doors as shown in the attached pic.

A slider would be nice for the back.

[Dan Hintz]

The telescoping posts are not allowed and can only be used as temporary supports.
That's where I was heading... temporary. I have (I think) 4" posts in my basement, but they're not the screw-type.

[Alan Schaffter]

That will be a great shop- except for your high ceiling, it is about the same size as my second story shop.

I see you already moved some or all of your machines up to the shop, but if you plan to get more machines and be able to easily move wood up and finished projects down, you need a nice electric I-beam hoist. I designed mine so it folds up out of the way and stows totally inside my shop.

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/PC140048.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/PC140051.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/PC140053.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/PC140058.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/P6070008.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/P6070005.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/P6070015.JPG

[Mike Langford]

Wow, Thats one HUGE barn!....It just dwarfs your pick-up in the driveway! :eek::D:rolleyes:

http://sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=158950&d=1282276397

Nice job on the beam install....
.
.
.
.
.

[Adam Carl]

That will be a great shop- except for your high ceiling, it is about the same size as my second story shop.

I see you already moved some or all of your machines up to the shop, but if you plan to get more machines and be able to easily move wood up and finished projects down, you need a nice electric I-beam hoist. I designed mine so it folds up out of the way and stows totally inside my shop.



http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/PC140048.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/PC140051.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/PC140053.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/PC140058.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/P6070008.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/P6070005.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/P6070015.JPG

You are totally right about needing a way to get stuff up and down. I'm working on ideas for a hoist and this is very interesting. It seem like there is alot of weight on the pivot bolt. What do you think your max lift is? I'm looking to do 700 or 800lbs.

[Adam Carl]

Wow, Thats one HUGE barn!....It just dwarfs your pick-up in the driveway! :eek::D:rolleyes:

http://sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=158950&d=1282276397

Nice job on the beam install....
.
.
.
.
.

Nice one. It is a big barn, especially for a village house.

[Alan Schaffter]

You are totally right about needing a way to get stuff up and down. I'm working on ideas for a hoist and this is very interesting. It seem like there is alot of weight on the pivot bolt. What do you think your max lift is? I'm looking to do 700 or 800lbs.

There are three 1/2" thick steel tabs securely welded to the top of the beam and the pivot bolt is either grade 5 or 8, but in any case at 1/2" the shear strength distributed over the three tabs is tens of thousands of pounds and certainly exceeds the capacity of the hoist and cable. The only things limiting me from lifting anything heavier are the Harbor Freight hoist motor brake and the cable. I'm sure there is a wide safety margin in the cable rating. I exceeded its 1300# dual line limit by lifting that planer which weighed close to 1500#.

I also had thought about a hoist over a trap door in the shop, but didn't want to go through the hassle of cutting a hole, making a safe and sturdy trap door, moving machinery out of the way, or giving up valuable floor space. Since you have a barn you can mount a fixed I-beam. To keep rain from leaking around the beam you can build a "hay hood" (extension of the gable roof or a smaller roof just above the loft door) to cover where the beam penetrates the wall. I didn't want that on the end of my residential garage so that is why I designed it to fold up.

[Adam Carl]

There are three 1/2" thick steel tabs securely welded to the top of the beam and the pivot bolt is either grade 5 or 8, but in any case at 1/2" the shear strength distributed over the three tabs is tens of thousands of pounds and certainly exceeds the capacity of the hoist and cable. The only things limiting me from lifting anything heavier are the Harbor Freight hoist motor brake and the cable. I'm sure there is a wide safety margin in the cable rating. I exceeded its 1300# dual line limit by lifting that planer which weighed close to 1500#.

I also had thought about a hoist over a trap door in the shop, but didn't want to go through the hassle of cutting a hole, making a safe and sturdy trap door, moving machinery out of the way, or giving up valuable floor space. Since you have a barn you can mount a fixed I-beam. To keep rain from leaking around the beam you can build a "hay hood" (extension of the gable roof or a smaller roof just above the loft door) to cover where the beam penetrates the wall. I didn't want that on the end of my residential garage so that is why I designed it to fold up.

I already have a 1 ton electric chain hoist so I am all set there. The trap door idea has cross my mind but I keep going back to the I beam out the front. I think I am going to center the hay door and have the been stick out there. Questions for you. What is the size of your door and how far does your been stick out? Thanks for you advice.

[Jerome Stanek]

If you are in an area that gets a lot of snow then You don't want a slider. I always hated going out and shoveling snow away from the door just to get to the snow plow.

[Dan Hintz]

How about a slider with an inward-opening door in the middle of it?

[Jerome Stanek]

My tractor won't fit through a small door. It has a 5 1/2 foot front endloader and a 6 foot back blade

[Alan Schaffter]

I already have a 1 ton electric chain hoist so I am all set there. The trap door idea has cross my mind but I keep going back to the I beam out the front. I think I am going to center the hay door and have the been stick out there. Questions for you. What is the size of your door and how far does your been stick out? Thanks for you advice.

Adam,

Here are some numbers for you:

The beam extends out 44" from end of building. The middle of the hoist cable drum is offset from the end by 3" - 4" however so the cable is 40" from the end of the building.

When stowed, the bottom of the beam is 4 feet from the floor so I may bolt or have an extension welded to the beam to make it easier to hoist and load 4X8 sheets of ply which now require that I swing them away from the building to turn them to get them in the door.

The door height (sill to jam) = 86" (It was built as a standard 80" opening but that was not high enough, so I raised the header and jam for 86". I reused the same doors by adding the small window section to the top)

I-Beam height (flange to flange) = 6" (due to the pivot assembly, when the I-beam is deployed the bottom of the beam is 8" below top jam)

The electric hoist and trolley (from bottom of the beam to bottom of cable drum) adds another 8"

Total distance from top jam to bottom of cable drum = 16" which leaves 70" to the sill. (I plan to add drip lips to the bottoms of the doors, so I can eliminate the raised sill.

When you add rigging- cable/chain and hooks/shackles, etc. you are left with even less room.

The bottom line is make your opening is plenty tall to account for all this stuff so you can hoist and load tall items, and make sure it extends out far enough so you can hoist and handle sheet goods and long stock.

Also, make sure the header and jack studs are plenty heavy duty if you plan to mount an I beam to that. My beam pivots actually mount to two vertical pieces of angle iron which are bolted to the header at the bottom and through-bolted to a large microlam ridge beam at the top, so the I-beam is well supported by the structure of the garage. The diagonal braces also mount to the bolt in the microlam ridge beam. (this arrangement made it easier for the welder to fabricate so everything was square and level when installed.

[Adam Carl]

Just in case anyone wanted to see the doors.