Re: Man shop Ideas
 

He's rich, this shouldn't be a problem at all. :lol:

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

riiiight...If by rich you mean that I get a paycheck and then pay alot of bills with it then yeah.

I talked to my neighbor the concrete guy, he is supposed to come over this evening and talk to me, but he is pretty busy so I am not going to hold my breath just yet.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

you need to check out Garage Journal

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

WOW! You're not kidding! Great site. I notice a 1st Gen in this thread...anybody from the board?

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=4901

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

I saw that as well, no idea whos it is.

Also when it comes to building your shop if you need a hand let me know, I grew up doing construction, I know what it takes to get a building like you are talking about put up. I can tell you this much, it will eat the center out of a 25,000.00 bill pretty easy.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Yeah, I know it is going to cost a fair amount. From my estimations and considering my "frugalness" I think I can get a bare building with power to it for about $20K. (I have alot of friends in the area that deal with this sort of thing) Obviously, how elaborate I go with the doors, insulation, air/electrical connections, floor treatments, etc…I could easily go upwards of $40K. I CANNOT spend that much money. At least not upfront. This project will honestly be drug out over 6 months or so. I will pay for things as I can save up some cash. By the way, I have been saving for a while in preparation for this; it is something I have been planning since I moved here about a year ago. ;)

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

I am in the same boat. I moved to texas a year and a half ago, now I have 3 acres bought, have a small 1 car on it right now, eventually putting up a shop with an apartment upstairs.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

i'm on the garage journel site and it is great! i'm getting ready to build a 40'x60' pole building and one thing i will be adding is a "hammock" that i can hang from the 4-post lift. toilet and sink and possible shower also. the sky is the limit on shops. lots of money helps also!

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

NO KIDDING!

Well, I got a quote from my neighbor. $18K for a complete turn-key slab. That covers basic ground prep, 1’-2’ of base fill material (because of the small slope it is on), any plumbing/utility prep that I would like, a 4 inch slab, a mirror smooth finish, and all the steel inside that I would ever need to accommodate a lift and whatnot. It’s a little more that I was expecting (I was thinking $13K-$15K) but I know it would be done perfectly. I do have another buddy that is about 50 miles away that does concrete as well. I am going to get a quote from him hopefully next week.

I also called about steel pricing. My father used to be a welder for a living back in the 70s and 80s and suggested that a 3 inch pipe with a 0.216” thickness would be plenty strong and still easy enough for a few guys to work with. Rough estimates show that I can buy all the steel material for just under $3K. That includes the pipe structure, a slightly lighter 2 7/8s pipe for the trusses along with C perlin for the roof. Still trying to get quantity/pricing for the tin, but I’m guessing around $8K??? This would put my total for the bare building around $29K assuming I don’t find the concrete any cheaper. Time for my frugal engineering skills to kick in. ;)

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

You should check out http://www.steelbuilding.com they have pretty damn good pricing, and it would be way less work than doing it yourself.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Yeah, that is an option. I have checked out a lot of websites along these lines. What I would want all come out around $20K for the kit. I honestly think I can build it myself for around $12K, which includes the roll up doors, roof vents, and trim. Basically I am trying to compare apples-to-apples when I add up my building prices as opposed to the kit prices. I don't mind the extra work if it saves me $8K.

However, I might prove myself wrong next week when I start getting some detailed quotes on the rest of the building material. ;)

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Well for me I think I am going to go steel building, probably 36x40 with a 12' celing. so I can have a lift, not for sure yet, but we will see.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

I priced one out with them, 36x40, has a roll up door on the left hand side, 16x10H they want just under 20 grand delivered. I think that is pretty reasonable.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

wow I built a 30 x 40 for $14,000 about 3 years ago with only $2000 in labor not including concrete labor which cost $5500 for everything to backfill build cinder block wall and finish 22 yards of concrete which is slick as a baby's bottum . I would seriously shop that concrete work around (just my opinion) ,I enclosed a pic( not very good one though )for reference

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Concrete (and everything else including steel) has gone up a bit in the last few years. Sounds a bit high for that bid though. I suppose it needs beams around the outside edges (walls) and then beams and/or thicker slab where a lift would go. The 4" would be fine for basic areas just like normal flatwork. Most driveways and patios around here are just 4" with wire mesh. Just don't cut any corners to save a couple bucks now and regret it later. I'll run it by my concrete guys and see what they think. Don't know if they go down to SA or not.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

I agree on all accounts. If you have any concrete guys please ask them. By the way I live north of SA in Spring Branch. Basically at the intersection of HW281 and HW46.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Well, this is probably putting the cart before the horse, but I can’t help it. :) It never hurts to do your research early so you don’t jump in and make a bad decision down the road. I have looked around at a lot of different lift sites and catalogs; this one seemed to have a pretty decent selection and price.

http://www.americasprideonline.com/2...-.ViewProducts

Can anyone suggests which is better, a bar across the bottom or across the top for stability? The bottom one might make it difficult to roll jacks and things over, but the bar across the top scares me if I wanted to lift my Dodge 4x4 2500, how close would I be to hitting the roof???

By the way my Dodge 2500 (or a similar truck in a few years) would probably be the heaviest thing I would want to lift. IIRC it weighs somewhere around 7000lbs, so I was thinking that model NTO10A or something similar would suit my needs.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

If sparks melt it or a power tool slips, BAM. You'll have trouble getting your hearing back.

Spend the extra and do it in copper.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Great timing for this thread, I'm soooo there.

Just poured the footers. :clap:

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Dangerous is an understatement!!

I know a guy very well who had a 6" PVC fitting, while using it for air pressure, blow up and he ended up with over 140 stitches in his face. DON'T do it!

I just contacted a company that makes Pex tubing the other day and they say that their brand will maintain 160 psi. I'm going to try it in my shop.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

NICE! What are your plans? Dimentions?

I planned to use 3/4in threaded galvanized pipe for the main lines. It is a little labor intensive but it is something that I am familiar with installing. I don't know exactly what PSI it can handle but I'm pretty confident that 200psi wouldn't be a problem. I guess I should look into it.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Somewhere around 24' deep by 26' wide.

Making it fit on an existing concrete pad, otherwise it'd be deeper.

Single roll up door in front, not sure of the width yet and a 4' roll up in back for wood access under the deck.

Building it as a work shop not to park cars. :devil:

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Good choice!

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Well, a few people have asked about the location that I plan to build the shop on. I figured I would put up a few “before” pics and hopefully the “afters” will follow over the next couple months. ;) It is fairly level, maybe a foot or so difference in elevation. However, it is VERY rocky. Anyway, it will basically be in the center of these first two pictures, right where the trailer is more or less.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Severely Jelous