Shop "Shell" Completed!!!

[Jim Fitz-Gerald]

Well, We finished off the base structure today:)! Excited and a little let down after 10 yrs of waiting, 6 days goes by fast, but now the rest of it starts. Anyone have 60 ton of gravel lying around.....

Regards to all, I will keep you posted, working towards the floor and walls next.

Fitz

[Bob Riefer]

Congrats Jim, that looks great!!!!!! I'll watch your progress with interest. Good for you!

[Jim Rimmer]

I'm jealous. Looks nice. And you have a good helper.

[Joe A Faulkner]

Love the setting, and the building looks like you will have plenty of room to grow into. I too look forward to seeing how you outfit the interior.

[Joe Shinall]

Looks great Jim. I wouldn't be let down at all. Should be glad you could finish it in such short time.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Congrats Jim! You sure aren't wasting much time.

[Donny Lawson]

I think it all looks great.You will be working in it before you know it. Keep the pictures comming.
Donny

[Jim Fitz-Gerald]

Looks great Jim. I wouldn't be let down at all. Should be glad you could finish it in such short time.

I think that is going to be a more enjoyable process, once I can sit inside and ponder with a few friends. Right now I have an enclosed, secure, 30X40' open deer hanging shop - the open ceiling will come in handy!


But alas I have already started working on the floor and moving gravel this afternoon. I was 9" out of grade with my pad so we place the skirt board 4" off the high point. The obvious result is I have up to 13" to fill with gravel in a large portion of the shop and another layer of lower skirt boards to attach as you can see in the images. One upside is that the bldg is in a dry area and this will not hurt. But it will cost some for the stone to start. I will likely install an overhead door inside before all is said and done, and keep the sliding door as a storm door so to speak, since it does not interfere the way I installed it.

I used post protectors and glu-lams for the beams, 48” deep which is far more than VA requires. Dry mixed concrete in the bottom with uplift plates, then tamped in VA red clay, no concrete contact with the posts. The interior beams are finger jointed to regular lumber 6-7’ up, lean-to is 100% 0.6 CCA pt, glu-lams. My plans for the walls are to pour concrete with anchor bolts for a sill plate then put down 2x6 or 6x6’s between the posts joined to the headers. I know this is stick building and in the end will likely cost me more, but this allowed to erect the structure in an abbreviated time period then I can do the rest as I go, and enjoy the space. Not being proficient in carpentry, this was my best option, at least the outside will look good….

Inspector came today for the final, he was early and we were not done (sound familiar) as it was supposed to be an afternoon inspection, so he would not sign off. He had no issues at all with the bldg, just the opposite. But he did have me put added support under the lean to header, see attached. Or he wanted bolts thru. He will be back in the morning. I might do both, I have added the scabs on already.

Jim

[Jim Fitz-Gerald]

I'm jealous. Looks nice. And you have a good helper.

Kids have loved this experience, they want to camp out there this weekend, why not, I figure it will be a good, safe, dry campsite!

[Jim Fitz-Gerald]

Congrats Jim! You sure aren't wasting much time.

Ken,
With 4-5 of us, all the materials prepped in a good package, knowledge, and nice weather, along with a nice site and hydraulic auger on a big bobcat, alot happens fast. Faster than I thought. We used only one piece of large equipment on the entire project, the auger. The rest was all by hand, the old fashioned way, slow but steady.

Jim

[Ted Calver]

Jim..that's fantastic! Can you give us a ball park on what it's cost to put up the shell?

[Don Bullock]

Jim, your shop is looking great!! Congratulations on what you have done and I wish you the best as you move foreword.

[Jim Fitz-Gerald]

Jim..that's fantastic! Can you give us a ball park on what it's cost to put up the shell?

Hi Ted,

Sure, the bldg and lean to has run me a total of $19K. And I had to do alot of ground work last year was $8K (we moved alot of earth and put in pipes etc..I wanted it right) and I paid some of the crew to lead it, with me as the homeowner contractor, as I am no carpenter by trade. I have $27K into it right now. I could have built the bldg for alot less to be truthful (like $10.5K total for a 30x40 with 10' ceilings and no lean to). And even less as several of you have pointed out.

I went with 12' ceilings, better posts, thicker metal, better paint lifetime, heavy on the lean-to with 2x12 construction, heavier man doors and one over sized at 4', both with deadbolts, and a nice finish package to make it look decent, that is part of it as well. The lean-to was alot more expensive than I thought it would be, all said and done is cost me about $5200.00, but I saw alot of new model carports last year - flat ones! I have read about bldgs failing on here, a few in particular made me pause. Even with what I have done, we will be adding more support in the truss area and bracing - after the inspection. Wood is far cheaper.

From what I have read on this site, this price is definitely not cheap (and no concrete yet!), but around here things are high I guess, even though I went with an outfit for the materials package out of PA. I chose them because there are several bldgs nearby they have built/supplied materials for and they are of great quality and had no issues with the recent heavy weather here in VA (a couple of 20-30" wet snows last winter) where other stick built and pole bldgs failed. I also had to pay folks which added into the cost. Based on my abilities (which can only improve) and what I wanted, I am pleased with the final product at this stage and I think that is significant from what ya'll have posted.

Regards,
Jim