Metal Buildings

[Chris Barton]

Hi Everyone,

I am contemplating building a new house on some acerage and thought I would first build a shop on site that would allow me to do all the cabinet and finish carpentry work. I have read some about the various metal building fabricators such as Morton Buildings. I am sure we have some experienced folks on the board and I am looking for your wisdom and suggestions.

Thanks

[Matt Meiser]

We came very close to having Morton build a building before we found a house that had one. Their price was higher than others, but was very complete. Around here, the best looking pole barns usually have their logo on the end.

[Kurt Strandberg]

One thing to think about, at least in the county we live in, you can't build a garage or polebarn on property without first building a house or by building the house at the same time as the shop.

thats how it is where we live

[Mike Cutler]

Chris.

I watched my neighbor put up a metal Pre-fabbed building over the last few months.
It's a nice enough looking building. The draw was supposed to be the cost vs. stick built. However, the concrete foundation work that was required, negated that cost savings.
In the wake of the hurricanes that we have been having in the SE the last few years. a lot of states, and the feds have imposed and are adapting some pretty strict building codes. This particular building was rated from the manufacture for sustained winds in excess of 110mph, and would withstand winds of up to 140mph for a specified number of hours. This was if the building were placed on a standard concrete slab.
The state required that each verical support member was to be installed on top of a 6' deep by 3'square concrete support, that had to be buried to a minimal depth in the ground. They also required that the bolting plates on top of the form had to be mechanically attached to the bottom of the form. It looked like he was buiding a freeway on ramp at times in his yard.This was some pretty extensive/expensive concrete work.
Point being, check with your local building department, and know upfront what site work will be required. A lot of these requirements are very new. It's hard to compare costs from last year to this year, due to the changes in requirements

Oh yeah.. We live in Connecticut, not exactly Hurricane country. At least I know where the strongest wind rated building in the county is, right across the street.;)

[Chris Barton]

Mike,

At present in my area there are no such special requirements for metal buildings and Morton has a wind warranty. I have not eliminated stick built from the possibilities but, my limited experience so far has led me to believe that in rural settings high quality metal buildings are far less expensive, go up faster, and are far lower maintainance than similar stick built structures.

Kurt,

In my location it is no problem to build the shop before the house. Additionally, I am considering about a 2,400 sq ft structure that would have a full bathroom and a bedroom (somewhere for me to stay while working overnight). Because of local codes and county regulations, this would automatically classify the structure as a "domicile," and mitigate any such restrictions.

[Larry Copas]

I had Morton build me a shed about 15 years ago. Quality is excellent with first class materials. They would be my very last choice for a work shop because they are hard and expensive to insulate. Just as an example my Morton has trusses on 12' centers...how ya gonna hang a ceiling from something like that?

I stick built the shop much like a conventional house and used metal to cover it. If you have the time and skill this is the only way to go.

[Matt Meiser]

One thing to think about, at least in the county we live in, you can't build a garage or polebarn on property without first building a house or by building the house at the same time as the shop.

thats how it is where we live

That is the case here as well. You have to pull the permits for both buildings at the same time. We wanted to use the pole barn for storage while the house was built, but that wasn't going to work out.

[tod evans]

chris, first and foremost check with your insurance agent about the continuing costs.......insurance folks love block buildings and firecode rock for ceilings. it`s quite possible that just the difference in premiums could justify a masonry structure and we all know the resale value compared to metal....only food for thought.

[Russ Filtz]

If you want something non-traditional that might even look better than metal, check out Cover-All systems. It's a tough fabric type building stretched over a metal truss. Supposed to be cheaper than metal (but you still need that pesky concrete under it that adds cost).

One up side is you can save on lighting cost during the day as it's translucent. You can put it on small kneewalls to save end space. One other feature is they allow you to "lease" the building too!

No affiliation, but I've looked at their stuff for industrial applications. I know they do some treatments to the steel that make it resistant to corrosive atmospheres (molten zinc per the website).

http://www.coverall.net/

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I had some personal experience that led me to build a stick built shop with a poured footing, wall and floor.

I owned a house that the previous owner had a slab poured and added a family room to the house. In the winter, snow up against the family room exterior wall melted and the resultant water ran in between the wall and the floor. Since I have not had a heated space that utilizes slab construction. My current neighbor had a huge shop built on a slab. He's had terrible problems with wind born rain getting into his shop between the walls and the slab and it's had some resultant damage to the siding.

While stick built is more expensive up front, by the time you make a pole barn air tight and insulated, I wonder if you really save a lot.

When I built the current shop I'm finishing, I got bids for both a pole barn and stick built. For a 30'x24 pole barn, the bid was over $9,000 and the stick built came in at $16,180. It wasn't difficult for me to do the insulation and finish work.

Good luck with your decision Chris!

[Dan Racette]

My building is a cleary building. I have part of the roof insulated where I "thought" my shop would be. Ended up I needed 9 more feet, and just a group of co-workers out to insulate the next section. I used mostly reflective foil insulation and it works fine.

My building is by cleary, who's corp hq is just up the road.

30 x 45. powered two car garage door at one end. manual single door at the other. 9 ft on center trussing. It was about $11,000, but I got some "deals". Things like factory installed windows and cupola's and other stuff like that increase your total quickly. I got 4 inches of crete for $3500 but had a guy "doing it on the side". light with only 6 metal halide lights, not the "best" lighting. but I like it. I get headaches from flourescent tube flicker. I would have had to use electronic ballasts to do that, and that was too expensive. Plus the halides last for a few years and were only $80 a fixture w/bulb.

Here is what I would do if I could do it all over again.

spray foam insulation. (biobased.net) there is a soybean based spray foam that I would much rather have done, even on the ceiling. It is done when the building is empty and takes less that a day, and does not require any framing.

I have OSB on the shop walls, but I had to build up the walls first with 2x4's to accept insulation and to have a place to nail the osb to.

Pm me for more info, or pictures.

If you are handy, you could do most of the interior work, but I would ask for factory ceiling insulation, unless you own scaffold.

I have a Hot Dawg heater, but again, I didn't have the forethought or money to put in radiant floor heat or I would have.

[RANDY PAULK]

chris

I am more of a lurker, however my wife and I are doing the same type of project. we purchased 40 acres of land for our final home. We built my shop a 60x75 x 12 steel building first. It has an area 34x44 dedicated for woodworking. also built a 10x16 tool room inside and a 10 x 12 office. The remainder of the building is for my other toys. Completed it approximately 3 years ago.

We are now building a steel building structure for a house. It is 38x48 living area witha 10 ft porch all the way around and 10ft ceiling height. We did all the work except for the finishing of the concrete floors and continue to do so on the house. I am in florida and the concept has worked well. Both buildings have been through hurricanes Ivan and Dennis without problems. we just finished the electrical, plumbing and gas rough-in on the home. we are about to install the a/c duct work. I would do it again. The costs were less than wood frame. However, I previously was a building contractor and have the necessary tools and equipment needed, which skews the cost somewhat. The cost of steel has risen dramatically since I bought the materials for my home; however, so has the cost of everything else down here in hurricane alley.

Can provide other information if needed. It would take too long to type all the particulars. You can give me a call if you wish. pm me and I will provide a number.

0ne other thing I might add. Metal buildings are less likely to catch fire considering the use as a woodworking shop.

[Donald Hofmann]

My shop is a Morton building.

This link will show you my shop and how I fixed up the inside of the shop.

http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules.php?set_albumName=albus46&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

[Ed Breen]

Hi Chris,
I have two steel buildings in my backyard. Each one is 30 by 50 with 10' to the overhead joists. Each has a single entry door and one has two sliding 10' doors, the other (my wifes shop) has one 10' slider. As you can see I'm rural Oklahoma, no laws against building a shop first.
The two shops were built one year apart. The erection was done in two days, and each was cost under $8,000. The slab for each was about $2,000. Here in Oklahoma many folks are building their shops and then building their homes.
Good luck with your project.

Ed
From the west heading east

[Barry O'Mahony]

Just as an example my Morton has trusses on 12' centers...how ya gonna hang a ceiling from something like that?Pole buldings around here usually have trusses on 12' centers, with purlins 2' O.C. running between them. Some guys just use spray foam, but then you have to sheetrock it or fire becomes an issue. However, you can get fiberglass insulation intended for commercial structures with a white poly low flame spread facing that can be left exposed. It can be had with extended flanges that allow installation of batts that are thicker than the purlins themselves. No need for a ceiling.

There are alot of variables to decide the best way to go; e.g., frost depth requirements in your area (determines how expensivethe foundation needs to be), winding loading, sesmic loading, how "maintenance free" you want the exteror, how finished you want in the interior, etc.