Concrete 50x80 Steel Shop - Don't call it a Barndo

TMFabrication

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I've been wanting to start a shop build thread here for a while, so here goes.

I'd have to dig back through my emails to see how long this has been in the works but I know the building sat in storage on the property for 2 years waiting for the county to issue permits.

So...it's a 50x80x18 with a 16x80 lean to with 13'6" clearance steel building from PBS in Woodburn OR. I think I bought it May 2022. It will have about 1200 sq ft of living space in the front corner (I know there are drawbacks to that but it's what were doing.) 14x14' door on the front and a 10x10' on the side. Possibly will add a rear door and/or 20x50 mezzanine across the back.

Anyways, everyone wants to scroll through pictures so here we go
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Felt like I could see the light at the end of the dirt work tunnel at this point. I had a good friend that does concrete work help me with layout and putting the forms in. He nailed it, two spots slightly bulged after the pour, but less than 1/2". Pretty good for the sandy soil we were dealing with. This is the beginning of the forms. There were many more stakes and braces added before the pour.
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More bracing and vapor barrier

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2" foam insulation

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Poured a 6" slab with 24" footings, wire mesh and fiber. Ended up being just under 140 yds. Anchor bolts for the building posts are suspended from the 2x8s on the slab.

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We had great weather for the pour, 60 and cloudy. The next two days it poured rain constantly, so we only had to use sprinklers the first night.

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Putting in footing drains with the wrong fabric and upside down according to the inspector. Pretty easy to cut and turn them and got the correct fabric for pretty cheap on VEVOR
 
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Finally got the steel off the trailer it had been sitting on for two years under the white container cover in the background. Don't have any pics of the GF running the mini slinging beams off the gooseneck. She did good though...only one near miss

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Friday morning standing the first posts up. Scissor lifts were on their way but 14' posts weren't too bad for unhooking the chain.

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Dirt work in the hottest part of the year and steel work in the coldest and wettest (or so I thought at the time.)
 
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Yep, it got a lot colder but frozen dirt is better than mud. I told the GF "The cold sucks but as long as it doesn't snow I can keep pushing ahead."

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At least I got all the base angle and doors framed in the day before it snowed. We were supposed to be doing siding and roofing 2/7-9 but now have to wait until the end of February, weather permitting.
 
TMFabrication said:
I've been wanting to start a shop build thread here for a while, so here goes.

I'd have to dig back through my emails to see how long this has been in the works but I know the building sat in storage on the property for 2 years waiting for the county to issue permits.

So...it's a 50x80x18 with a 16x80 lean to with 13'6" clearance steel building from PBS in Woodburn OR. I think I bought it May 2022. It will have about 1200 sq ft of living space in the front corner (I know there are drawbacks to that but it's what were doing.) 14x14' door on the front and a 10x10' on the side. Possibly will add a rear door and/or 20x50 mezzanine across the back.

Anyways, everyone wants to scroll through pictures so here we go
Click to expand...

This is an awesome project! Love that there is equipment in the photos to show the scale of the building. Your setup is how big I am looking into getting my building to in the next few years. For people that build things and do things, this is really a nice way to live. That 16 x 80 living space addition is what my place is lacking and instead I have an apartment above one side of the shop space.

wvracer821 said:
in my younger years I always wanted to do a big metal building like this with a small apartment inside. then the women I choose didn't want to live in a garage lol I can't wait to see more pics.
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This seems common and I have found the same thing to be true with a few women I have been with, especially now that I live in a similar setup. The last GF was all about it but unfortunately the problem for her with my place is my rather remote location from things. Granted I am fine with it but she never lived outside of a suburb or city.

SomeGuyFromOlympia said:
This is the first guy here that actually is building a respectable sized shop
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Hey now... am I out of the equation because my place was already standing? I live on 30 wooded acres inside a 40 x 80 x 20 ICF with an apartment living space in the top of 1/3 of the building, with a 2 story 16 x 80 foot deck down the front overlooking the main part of the property. 16 x 16 door on one end and two 9x10s on the other end. Metal roof too.

OP, please keep sharing. The forethought in the execution is awesome! Great place you're building!
 
I was going to go bigger but I don't have the space. I am across the road from the river and had to get a benchmark cert because they suspected one corner was in the flood plain. It wasn't. Slab ended up being 176', flood is 172'. No big deal just more money for another document to be filed. GF and I have been living in a 5th wheel trailer for a couple years now, so we are both looking forward to being in an actual framed house next winter.

Here's the plan for the living space. Not sure if I want to keep the upstairs the way it's drawn yet. I think there's a better way. The bedroom doesn't need to be that big
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Elevation is inside the shop looking forward. The shop office, bathroom and mudroom are single story because they can't be included in heated living space due to ADU permit limitations.
 
Gotta feel nice to be seeing progress! I'd put your laundry upstairs, adjacent to the bedroom. Living space layout is one thing paying a good architect is worth the cost.
 
Nice! I was just talking to my brother about my future shop. Can’t wait to see more pictures!
 
AlxJ64 said:
Hey now... am I out of the equation because my place was already standing? I live on 30 wooded acres inside a 40 x 80 x 20 ICF with an apartment living space in the top of 1/3 of the building, with a 2 story 16 x 80 foot deck down the front overlooking the main part of the property. 16 x 16 door on one end and two 9x10s on the other end. Metal roof too.

OP, please keep sharing. The forethought in the execution is awesome! Great place you're building!
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I want to see pics of this. We will eventually put a roof and a deck on half the front. Should be able to see the river from up there
 
Don't blame her, it sucks. My setup is an apartment in the back so have to walk through the shop.
Pretty much imagine putting your bed in your garage as far as smells and dust.

One that sort of wasn't horrible was the shop side was separated by a ~4ft wide hall which was also the entrance. So go in the main entrance and right door for the shop, left for apartment and straight went out to the back. In the hall was room to hang winter gear, boots, etc.
Was sort of 2 seperate shells but under 1 roof.

A house in a shed keeps property taxes down I suppose, mine are $0 as it's under the exempt amount.
4.4 taxable acres (just under 5 actual) but it's a corner lot so 2 roads easements steals .5 acres valued at $70k and 30x42 shed/apartment is $61,000.

BUT it also had been on the market for 4 months during the buying frenzy and I paid $75k less than they first listed it at... no one wanted to live in a shed.
I sold my old house (regular 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage) at the same time for 10k over asking before it was even officially listed

Even all the places I lived with attached garages, it would stink up the house if I painted something or used brake clean.
 
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Closet off the bathroom only sucks.
That hallway upstairs is wasted space.
Put a window from the bedroom to the shop so you can see out.
Two beds in master with all that room - wife and I did this with ours, two queens, best sleeping ever....she can be hot, I can be cold, she can be firm, I can be soft, she can go to bed early, I can go to bed late...it just works.
Laundry/mud/shop bath on the heated side.
Pocket doors should never be used on anything frequent (aka bathroom).

Edit, one more, don't put the stove in the island....venting for that sucks.
 
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SomeGuy said:
Comments:
Closet off the bathroom only sucks.
That hallway upstairs is wasted space.
Put a window from the bedroom to the shop so you can see out.
Two beds in master with all that room - wife and I did this with ours, two queens, best sleeping ever....she can be hot, I can be cold, she can be firm, I can be soft, she can go to bed early, I can go to bed late...it just works.
Laundry/mud/shop bath on the heated side.
Pocket doors should never be used on anything frequent (aka bathroom).

Edit, one more, don't put the stove in the island....venting for that sucks.
Click to expand...
Pics are loading now, and agreed.

Someone mentioned an architect did the plans??
 
SomeGuy said:
Comments:
Closet off the bathroom only sucks. Agreed. I'm going to add a second door into the bed room.
That hallway upstairs is wasted space.
Put a window from the bedroom to the shop so you can see out. GF runs on a different schedule than me. Need maximum insulated walls between the bed and shop. Still might not be enough. I may have to become a morning person.
Two beds in master with all that room - wife and I did this with ours, two queens, best sleeping ever....she can be hot, I can be cold, she can be firm, I can be soft, she can go to bed early, I can go to bed late...it just works.
Laundry/mud/shop bath on the heated side. It's about permits. No one likes a cold shop.
Pocket doors should never be used on anything frequent (aka bathroom). Agreed as well

Edit, one more, don't put the stove in the island....venting for that sucks. I am going to put a wall mount oven on the outside wall in the space between the post and back wall. I should have put a duct in for a vent in the slab. Cook top may be moved
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Thanks. Still a few years from separate beds I think. A lot of wasted space upstairs. Part of the problem with living space in a shop is you only have two walls with windows. Don't want to put the closet on an outside wall. It would work better rotated 90 degrees but then the stairs become a problem.
 
AlxJ64 said:
Best I can get with the snow and all. I can try to dig for some other ones.

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That is cool. I'd love to have 20+ acres. I'd build something like that for a house and garage.

AKnate said:
Pics are loading now, and agreed.

Someone mentioned an architect did the plans??
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Someone recommended. I did the plans with my brother who builds/remodels houses. Needed something close enough to get the permit issued. I am doing everything myself / with help from family and friends and with no debt. There's better, probably faster ways to do things. I don't do that lol

Also, going to do my best to seal the apartment off from the shop. It has to pass a blower test for efficiency on the permit. I already have a big, shuttered exhaust fan that will be mounted in the rear gable.
 
AKnate said:
Don't blame her, it sucks. My setup is an apartment in the back so have to walk through the shop.
Pretty much imagine putting your bed in your garage as far as smells and dust.
Click to expand...

That was why I always wanted a detached shop. In the house I grew up in, my father had his shop (mostly woodworking) in the basement and an attached garage. Complaints about noise, dust, dirt, and fumes/smells were a constant thing from my mother and sister - well, and from my father when I was working on something and he wasn't...

The other thing is fire separation. Face it, welding, cutting, sparks, fuel, chemicals, etc increases the risk. And then think about something smoldering after you've gone to bed "next door." That also applies to CO being sucked into the living quarters. Also an "all your eggs in one basket" thing. You say you need a blower door test, so I take it you have to meet basic building codes. If not required by code, I'd be sure to have an integrated smoke/CO/fire alarm so that anything on either side alerts the entire building. I'd also consider an easy exit from the second floor. A window is likely required to be sized for egress, but give yourself an easy way down from that window.
 
PAToyota said:
That was why I always wanted a detached shop. In the house I grew up in, my father had his shop (mostly woodworking) in the basement and an attached garage. Complaints about noise, dust, dirt, and fumes/smells were a constant thing from my mother and sister - well, and from my father when I was working on something and he wasn't...

The other thing is fire separation. Face it, welding, cutting, sparks, fuel, chemicals, etc increases the risk. And then think about something smoldering after you've gone to bed "next door." That also applies to CO being sucked into the living quarters. Also an "all your eggs in one basket" thing. You say you need a blower door test, so I take it you have to meet basic building codes. If not required by code, I'd be sure to have an integrated smoke/CO/fire alarm so that anything on either side alerts the entire building. I'd also consider an easy exit from the second floor. A window is likely required to be sized for egress, but give yourself an easy way down from that window.
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I only have an attached garage, it shares two walls and ceiling with the house...it's just typical drywall sealed for vehicle fume reasons per code. I have never had issues with smell or main dust (other than what's on my shoes) getting into the house. I added a small 110cfm exhaust fan and if I'm welding or doing anything particularly dirty, it's enough to put the garage into negative pressure (you can feel it in the door to the house) that you don't smell anything in the house at all. So as long as OP has enough exhaust and actually uses it, along with decent normal air sealing, it's probably sufficient unless he is running a CNC plasma without water table all day long lol
 
Finally got a break in the weather to try and get the walls and roof up...almost. We got started Saturday about noon after redoing some stuff on the base angle and flashing.

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Got about 1/3 of the lean-to side wall done before dark. There was a lot of figuring things out. Eventually things started smoothing out and we got into a rhythm. Sunday went well and we finished the lean-to wall and started the other side.

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By Monday night, we were trying to get started on the back end wall but drilled the stack on wall panels before we thought about layout. No big deal really, we just had to start on the south side of the wall instead of the north.

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Around 2 on Tuesday the rain came back too much to keep going and we ran out of butyl tape. We were happy to at least get halfway across the back wall. We will get back on it Thursday-Friday and should have the walls up. I found some extra 90* flashing that I am going put across the front since we will be pouring a concrete porch and parking area across the full width.

Hopefully, roof will be going up this weekend.
 
71PA_Highboy said:
Why didn't you do the roof first? Is would have kept you (and the insulation) dry and allowed you to continue to work?
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The roof overlaps the wall trim, that's just the way PBS designs it. I would have loved to do the roof first.
 
Sick build. I wanted to do a steel building here, but the price went up $100k in the year from the idea to time to build. Went pole barn, 60x80 with 22' eves. Needed 20' , should've been 21', to bottom of trusses for my crane to be tall enough and still rotate 360° under the trusses.
 
Finally getting a break from the rain and back on the building. Actually, the first break of more than 3 days without rain was the weekend of the Stumpjumper's Desert 100 race and poker run. It was a great long weekend and I got a lot of riding in sweeping the event
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This is about a third of camp and this is somewhere around mile 24 I think

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Sunday I moved a bunch of dirt since the next project after the roof is power adn the dirt pile was right in the way.

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Monday we started and finished the lean to wall. Everything is ready to start laying roof panels on Tuesday morning. Boom lift was dropped off just as we were finishing the wall. We were able to use it to cut everything that ran long, install the end closure and run tape/sealant. It was just getting dark as the first piece of insulation went up on the lean to.

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