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Thread: Pole Barn 40X64X16

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Bloomington, IL
    Posts
    6,009
    I will see what pics I can snap from the amish build.

    So far I am getting the site ready and claning up the yard.

    Also I spent $250 and bought a couple lights for the new shop off Craigslist like i said in one of the last posts. The CL Ad said I was buying 20+ commercial shop lights - make offer. I offered $200 sight unseen and they took $250. When I went there I opened the mini storage locker I found these. There are 45 metal halide multi tap lights. They lit the inside of a now closed Saturn car dealership. I bought them from the dealership that took it over and remodeled it.



    Glad its my shop I am responsible for - I only have to make me happy.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    North Metro Atlanta
    Posts
    15
    I can't tell from your post... Are those lights a good thing or not?
    Richard
    Former Captain of Horse & Keeper of the Peace, current Interpreter of Statute.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Bloomington, IL
    Posts
    6,009
    Gets the building lit on the cheap for now. Not the most efficient use of power though but I can afford to be inefficient for awhile. These lights are $200 ea with bulbs new.
    Glad its my shop I am responsible for - I only have to make me happy.

  4. #19
    I know some guys who put some of those lights in their shop. They seem to work pretty well, and they don't have all that many.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Harrisburg, NC
    Posts
    2,255
    I had those lights in my old shop and I am hoping to use them in my new shop. They work well but are designed for high ceiling, 15' and higher. If the shades are adjustable, you will need to move them as high as they can go to get the light to spread out quickly. They also require a few minutes to come up to full light.
    Last edited by Richard Wolf; 07-20-2014 at 8:48 PM.
    Richard

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    In the foothills of the Sandia Mountains
    Posts
    16,620
    Mike, you should be smiling, you made out like a bandit!
    Please help support the Creek.


    "It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone."
    Andy Rooney



  7. #22
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Rochester, MN
    Posts
    38
    Mike,
    I have a couple of those in my shop and they light it up really well. That was a good find.

    i had to replace a bulb in one of mine recently and in the process learned a bit about metal halide. One thing is that the bulbs are like a bulb within a bulb. The inner bulb produces the light and the outer bulb protects people from the UV light they give off and provides a shield in case the inner bulb, which is extremely hot, explodes or shatters.

    Apparently there are several types of bulbs so I'm mentioning this so that you make sure you have the proper bulb for the fixture you have. Some of the fixtures also have a glass or plastic cover for the bottom of the light to keep it completely enclosed especially if they're meant for mounting on lower ceilings.

    Jim

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Bloomington, IL
    Posts
    6,009
    Bottom of new shops trusses will be at 16'. These are considered low bay metal halide lights designed for 12-25' ceiling height. So far the Abolites have the marked balast and they are 320 Pulse start. I am going to test each one and clean them all up.
    Glad its my shop I am responsible for - I only have to make me happy.

  9. #24
    Last winter I worked with my lights, as seemed like I had to have the whole shop lit up to work, but I divided the lights up into "zones". I have the 3 lights in the tablesaw zone on one switch, the 3 in the routertable zone on one switch, the 3 over the assembly area on one switch, etc. That way I don't have to run them all to be able to work. Usually have 6 on at a time. They are 4 bulb 48" troffers. I have converted some to T8, waiting on others to go bad before converting them.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Bloomington, IL
    Posts
    6,009
    Found the 2nd half of the 1 1/2" XPS foam I needed today used. Picking that up Sunday.

    I ordered my pex and manifold today for the in floor heat. Going with a 2700' 1/2" pole barn Pex kit from Blueridge Company. Dan and Peter seem like great guys.

    Slow but surely acquiring what I need.
    Glad its my shop I am responsible for - I only have to make me happy.

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Northern Michigan
    Posts
    4,973
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Heidrick View Post
    On Monday I took down my existing meterbase and overhead weatherhead and conduit and lines to main house panel. I then installed a 400amp meterbase and two200amp disconnects immediately off of it. Then routed new wire into main pane in house. Also installed a second ground rod and new ground wires. The second disconnect will be where I connect the new pole barn too after it is built.
    .
    That's the way I did my new shop/house as well. One meter, one bill, simple.

    On the infloor heat, I always do a variable spacing. Closer loops on the outside and gradually getting farther apart as they get closer to the center. Cold comes from the outside, not the center. It gives a much more even heat.

    Recently a homeowner had a system designed by a company in a warmer climate, and against my recommendations, in writing, he installed it as they speced. We tore it out and put it in my way when it would not get the house to 50 degrees mid winter. $100K mistake. So, I am a big fan of overkill on infloor systems, as there is no going back.

    That will a nice size shop. My new shop is 36 x 50, a bit small but was there when I bought the property. My old shop was 140 x 56, and that was too big to heat and maintain once things slowed down.

    How far are you from Valpo? I get down there to see my daughter/grandson once in a while.

    Larry

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Bloomington, IL
    Posts
    6,009
    Larry THANK YOU for the advise. Man I need as much as I can get. I am in Bloomington IL which is about 2 hours from Chicago fairly middle IL. You are welsome ANY time to visit. (Same with any members.

    The shop will be 3X the space I have now so I am excited and will have room for a loft in the future. Right now it is all I can do to afford this shell of a project.

    I am concerned how the heck they will pour this floor with all the lines ran to a far corner where the power is coming in. Not sure how you do a large radiant heat floor poor and reach everywhere with all the pex lines down. I will be talking to my concrete guy about that tomorrow I guess.

    Need to some up with some DIY pex uncoiler, a romex uncoiler, and a large cable spool unroller for the main line from the shop to house - that spool is very large. Plan to use the 3pt on the tractor to help with that.

    Larry, do you do this work for a living??
    Glad its my shop I am responsible for - I only have to make me happy.

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Northern Michigan
    Posts
    4,973
    Mike

    I do not do heating specifically, I am a general contractor. A lot of the homes I work on have infloor heat, and after the first one I had done failed to heat the house I did a lot of research so as not to have to deal with that embarrassment again. Other than the house I have just finished that is forced air [Money] ,my last three homes had infloor heat systems that I designed myself.

    Some things I have learned.

    If you are in a wet area with high ground water, provide a gravel base that will drain under your insulation. Water will carry away heat faster than dry dirt. Providing a dry base breaks that mechanical connection.

    Don't be talked into an instant heater type boiler or one of those high tech water heaters. The best and most economical results I have seem are with conventional high efficiency boilers using a valve that mixes return water with boiler water to come up with the right temp. I like two smaller boilers on a big house rather than one large just for the redundancy factor. It gets very cold up here and most of the houses I build are vacation homes so I like the idea of a second line of defense. In the case of a shop your size with a boiler on each end it will cut down on the length of runs, I like to see no more than 250' on a run. Because of the shear size of you're shop this may not be possible but something to keep in mind. Water can only carry so much heat and after 250 feet the temp is getting down too low. I would however overlap at least one run from each boiler to keep the other end warm in case one of the boilers fails, especially in the area where there is water such as a bathroom.

    A good base for the floor is critical, severe shifting of the concrete can sever lines, so if you have loamy soil have it scraped out and use a good base such as crushed limestone. One of the failures I saw was a half mile long concrete driveway that was not given a proper base, and it shifted in several spots from frost severing the lines. We get about 4' of frost, and I did not consider the driveway environmentally responsible, but it did fail because of poor preparation. Insist on steel reinforcement in the concrete. Contractors will try to sell you on the fiber concrete as being just as good, but it is not. Its easier for them. If there is a cold joint, poured in more than one day, make sure the joint is pinned well with rerod. It is easy for them to do, they just have to drill holes in the bulkhead that stops the pour and insert rod through the holes a foot each way.

    Do some reading on oxygen permeation. If the tubing you use does not have a good oxygen barrier, a form of scum can start to develop inside your tubing and eventually clog your system. I have used Stadler [spelling?] tubing in my own homes and insist on it in the homes where I have a say for my customers. My oldest system is over 22 years old and my ex wife says its working just fine.........

    I recently moved into my new house and I already miss the infloor heat. At the old house I had to walk outside to know what the weather is like as the huge mass of the floor kept the temp constant, even in the summer. As well as my new house is insulated, extreme to be sure, I have a lot of windows and can feel the weather changes. I may have to buy slippers!

    Gotta go work on my greenhouse..........

    Larry

  14. #29
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Bloomington, IL
    Posts
    6,009
    8am 7/28/14



    3pm 7/28/14

    Glad its my shop I am responsible for - I only have to make me happy.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Virginia and Kentucky
    Posts
    3,364
    Well it looks as though someone moved some dirt and flattened your spot. When do you really think the construction will start?

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