Starting From Scratch (new garage/shop)

[mtne]

Of course with that big of a footprint I'd be looking to do geothermal loops with radiant for both heating and cooling. Central air is a loosing proposition in the long run. Have you considered radiant heat tubes?
As for insulating the slab, isn't that code now? OR is that just for living spaces? I can't imagine planning to heat a space and not insulating the slab. Pex is fuckall cheap and easy to put in, or are you figuring for the extra 2'' of concrete and you are pouring a 4" floor?

[Bo_9]

Insulation and vapor barrier is optional here. There is barely any code for this type of building here and they are more concerned with the square footage as it relates to the lot size? The only time I've seen anyone insulate a slab (even residential) around here has been when putting pex in for radiant. So insulating the slab adds a more than significant cost to the building.

[jae]

I went through the cost to hear the slab and for the pex and insulation under it would be more than a central heat and air unit. I really wanted to go that route but that big of a price tag for just heat didn't add up. I did verify with two different four post lift suppliers that the reinforced for info slab I'll have is sufficient to use their lifts. Ink not messing with a two post because it'll be used as a parking lift most of the time.

I've shopped around with several lift companies and they all seem to have about the same strength requirements (at least until you get up to the really heavy-duty lifts). When I contacted a couple of companies about the requirements as relates to how they build their slabs they all told me even the regular patios they pour would be rated high enough for the lift specs.

[Bigshankhank]

I went through the cost to hear the slab and for the pex and insulation under it would be more than a central heat and air unit. I really wanted to go that route but that big of a price tag for just heat didn't add up. I did verify with two different four post lift suppliers that the reinforced for info slab I'll have is sufficient to use their lifts. Ink not messing with a two post because it'll be used as a parking lift most of the time.

I've shopped around with several lift companies and they all seem to have about the same strength requirements (at least until you get up to the really heavy-duty lifts). When I contacted a couple of companies about the requirements as relates to how they build their slabs they all told me even the regular patios they pour would be rated high enough for the lift specs.

Thing to keep in mind about concrete slabs on grade, the real strength comes from the soil below the concrete. If you don't do what needs to be done to the soil, be it clay or sand or rock, your slab will crumble.

I prefer to go with turtles. Turtles all the way down.

[Bo_9]

On dirt...
On dry ground the excavator sank two feet in the middle section of the yard when getting into position. So we started poking around and found that under what would be one third of the building there was no solid dirt for about three feet down. So the entire footprint was dug out 4 feet on the deep end and two feet everywhere else, then filled back in six inches at a go with clay, compacting each layer.
So now it looks like this. They are going to do the final bit of leveling today.

[Bo_9]

Posts getting posted.


Plumbers plumbing.


What an erection.


Pipe laid in tiny bathroom.


Rafters!


Some metal up.

[Jaeger]

--Jaeger

[Bigshankhank]

I am simultaneously jealous and erect.

[AZRider]

OOOOOH! Progress!

[Bo_9]

Yes! It's all up but I haven't done more pictures yet. Will get more.
Getting set to trench for the electrical early next week.

[Bo_9]

Forgot that I had a thread for this...

Slowly moving into the new shop.
Making the floor semi-shiny-


Toolboxes are here!


They look so tiny...


I think it'll work.


Don't have heat yet, and the wiring isn't near done, but it'll all happen as funds allow.

[jae]

Gah, I am very jealous... not only of the new shop space, but also the E39 wagon. Definitely on my short-list if I ever retire my E46.

[Bo_9]

It's just the 525i sport. I got it kind of as an experiment to see if they really were expensive/hard to maintain. The six is not, but talking to the local indy mechanic he strongly recommends against the V8. I think there is a Chevy LS/six speed in this wagons future though.

[jae]

mine recommended the same thing, which is why I ended up with a manual 330i instead of the manual 540i M-sport I had been looking at. I'd love to pick up an i-6 E39 wagon and do the M3 engine/6-speed swap, but that's way more involved than anything I'm likely to ever get around to doing, because at that point why not just do a LSx swap?

[Bo_9]

I love the wagon. I might keep it forever whatever engine/trans is in it.
First project for the new shop is head gasket on the CB550f (my first bike and probably what my kids will get their license on) then a restore on the CB450 Bomber (my late brothers first bike). Someplace in the I want to find an E36 M3 to go through.

[Bo_9]

Huzzah!
Gigabit internet in the Shop! LOL
Absolutely ridicules.
We put a 2 inch pipe in the ground when we ran the power. Ran two direct burial (gel flooded) cat6 from the house to the shop terminated on a 12 port panel in the shop and wall plug next to the router in the house. Vendor at work gave me a fancy wireless AP and through that I can pull 600M which is still just stupid overkill. Debating on running 10 ports around the shop to the patch panel before the walls get closed up.

[DerGolgo]

Debating on running 10 ports around the shop to the patch panel before the walls get closed up.

I don't even know what you're trying to say there, that's how much I know about building a LAN that's more complex than plugging my PC into my router, and my router to my cable-modem.
But you do mention debate about doing stuff before closing up the walls.
Experience in plugging stuff together and finagling cables and things through my apartment on the wall, rather than in it, tells me: Do it. Don't question, just do it. And maybe run one or two empty cable-tubes (or pipesor hoses, you know the things I mean, for putting cables in walls), and pull some string into those before you install them. So that if you ever must run a new bunch of cables. All you gotta do is tie the end to said string, pull at the other end, presto. Done.
If you never need it, you will still enjoy the peace of mind that you could run a bunch of cables with little effort.
If you ever do have to run a cable. You'll feel like the king of the world, showing off to your friends how wily and clever you were, preparing like that, and getting the job done in five minutes, no muss, no fuss.
Pro tip: If you ever do use the string to pull a new cable into the hose, or the pipe, perhaps even into the tube. Pull another string along with it, so any empty space remaining in said tube or whatnot can be easily filled in the same manner as the other cable was installed.

[Bigshankhank]

Derg you are killing me. They are called conduit, and Bo I totally agree that you can never have enough spare conduit in the wall. Also, while it seems nice to run all that in cable why not install a couple WAPs and spread your signal wirelessly?

[Bo_9]

It's not complicated. Below is a picture of the panel. The first two ports connect to the router in the house (black cables) Blue cables go to wireless access point and for now a PC. I'll run ten more permanent cables in the walls spaced out around the shop and terminate them on the remaining ten spaces on the panel then if I need to connect something other than the WIFI AP I can just plug a jumper into port 2 and whatever other port needs sweet gigabit action.


BSH - I have a few things that we might want super-fast someday, like if we setup a gaming PC out there or something. Thus the pre-wiring. Plus right now I still have no idea where I'm setting anything up.

[DerGolgo]

Debating on running 10 ports around the shop to the patch panel before the walls get closed up.

Plus right now I still have no idea where I'm setting anything up.

Planning to plan for one's own lack of a plan. I like that plan!

[Bo_9]

Yeah, prior to this building everything has to be planned down to inches to fit into the 20x20 building. Now with nearly four times the space I really don't have an plan yet.

[Jaeger]

Yeah, prior to this building everything has to be planned down to inches to fit into the 20x20 building. Now with nearly four times the space I really don't have an plan yet.

Heh, these are good problems to have!

--Jaeger

[Bo_9]

So Many years on, building still not finished. 10x10 office built and insulated with a while streaming setup inside with mics, mixer, and multiple displays. Used rarely apart from during covid shutdowns. Since prices are finally coming down we might finally get the ceiling and insulation done...