Shopping metal building contractors

[bobs94formula]

You guys that got spray foam insulation how thick did you go with it?

[mk5.0]

I am in Royse City, how much is it to have someone do the floor coatings? I think it would be a good move.

Just do it yourself its not that hard. I did my 24x30.

[Mike K]

Just do it yourself its not that hard. I did my 24x30.

I didn't know doing it yourself was a viable option. Do you recommend a product or a link for more info on what you used?

[Rreemo]

Just noticed it's been a while since I posted back in this thread.....

So you've got a bottom purlin, then one 7' up, and then the top purlin for attaching the sidewall metal to?

On a 10' side wall you should have had on at 12" off the floor, then two to split the difference between that.

Roof can be done at 4-5' spacing on the Z Purlin. I like 4' with 26ga, 5' with 24ga.

Unfortunately not - I have angle at the floor, purlin at ~7', and then the top one...that's it. The end walls do have more support, and there are added vertical purlins around all of the windows, but I'm still disappointed that I don't have one horizontal running about height of the bottom of the windows. Here's a pic that shows it pretty well....

Concrete is 6 days old for the pad, has a bunch of hairline cracks all over, is that normal?

I had some as well...they weren't too bad though. I watered the slab twice a day for about a week after it was poured. The epoxy on the floor covered all of mine, and I haven't seen any more since....concrete has been down about 15 months now.

You guys that got spray foam insulation how thick did you go with it?

Mine is roughly 3" thick. You'll want to use closed cell foam too...it goes on thinner and is more durable than the open cell type that they use in houses. More suited for industrial type applications. I also painted mine (used an airless sprayer) within a week of it being put in, and I highly recommend that too....seemed to help seal it even more. it's still nice and bright, holding up very well. One of my friends had his shop done this past summer, he didn't want to bother with painting it afterward, and it has already darkened up a lot and turned yellow.

I did business with this guy and was very happy - http://www.nrgstarinsulation.com/

[Rreemo]

Since I never did add any before, here's some pictures throughout the process. A couple things to point out and advise on....

- Floors - If you are going to do it, be sure that you do your floor coating early-on, before you move anything in, and I recommend a solids based epoxy vs a water based like UCoatIt, or the big box store stuff. I purchased mine from a small operation called "Progressive Epoxy Polymers inc."....they are in New Hampshire, and the guy was extremely helpful over the phone. He is an expert on Epoxy in-general, and actually started off specializing in marine applications. I spent just a little under $1000, but did end up with an extra gallon, so could have gotten by a little cheaper. Prep is the biggest thing, and I cannot stress that enough. I spent 3 days prepping...the actual application of the epoxy only took 3 of us about half a day. You want that concrete clean and porous before you start applying.

It has been down over a year now, and it's holding up great so far.

This was the day it went down....



About a month later....



And this is how it looks now....

[Rreemo]

Work tables - Steel tables are what you want, if you can find them cheap enough. I got lucky and stumbled upon a company that was going out of business (they remanufactured automotive AC compressors), and scored these heavy steel tables on the cheap....




Cleaned them up and used my grinder with a heavy wire brush, then coated them with a product called Aluthane (also recommended by the epoxy guy above - he gave me a free sample). This stuff makes an amazing coating on anything steel...I've hammered, beaten, rebuilt a trans on one, slid engine blocks across, etc. and it's holding up perfect! Apparently this product got it's start coating grain silos up north. Very good stuff....

[Rreemo]

This is my bench area across the back wall - LED work lights installed over the benches....they are the 4' fixtures that you can get at Sam's or Costco...last time I was in there, they were around $32each. You can also see my disco LED lights up on the top purlin in this pic



You can see how bright they are on the back wall in this pic....



This is the after hours look....



Temporary heater has since been replaced with a 4-ton Carrier AC/Heat Pump....

[Rreemo]

These are some of the early construction pics...

[Rreemo]

[Rreemo]

I also bought a new 80 gallon Quincy compressor, had them extend a 5'x5' pad with the foundation, and built an outside shack for it. I used black iron pipe from the compressor into the back wall of the shop, and then picked it up there with a 3/4" kit from Rapid Air. I recommend that stuff as well, really easy to work with, and quite a savings over doing it all with iron pipe. The kit was a little short on some things, I did have to buy some additional clips and an additional manifold for my overhead hose reel, plus some pipe adapters, but overall still way less than using iron throughout, and much easier to install.



The Shack serves 2 purposes....1) it saves the space that the compressor would take up inside, and 2) No Noise! This is a pretty quiet compressor to begin with, but I don't hear it at all being in it's own space now.

[snacksnack]

Super jelly.

[Baron Von Crowder]

No cowskin rug.

5/10, would not do.

[Mach1]

damn, nice pics, thanks for posting!! my junk needs a lot of work still

[Rreemo]

No cowskin rug.

5/10, would not do.

I can only wish for cowskin status....maybe one day!

damn, nice pics, thanks for posting!! my junk needs a lot of work still

That looks like a nice shop! I like the way you setup the space, and I really like those windows! Wish I had done horizontal sliders like that. Looks like you ended up with all the right purlins too. Did they do your power also?

Man, it just takes time...I'd say for the first 4-5 months, all I did was work on that damned shop in my extra time...I didn't get anything else done, and it killed my bank account too. I've come to realize that the initial cost of the shop itself is about half of the overall cost.

...and I've still got more that I want to do. I'm planning to put up some interior wall & peg board this winter, and I've decided to extend my driveway around one side and add an awning on that end, so that I'll have a better place to park my trailer. I'm also toying with the idea of adding a front awning too. Been shopping tire machines and plasma cutters now....just keeps adding up. Ugh.

[Mach1]

I can only wish for cowskin status....maybe one day!



That looks like a nice shop! I like the way you setup the space, and I really like those windows! Wish I had done horizontal sliders like that. Looks like you ended up with all the right purlins too. Did they do your power also?

Man, it just takes time...I'd say for the first 4-5 months, all I did was work on that damned shop in my extra time...I didn't get anything else done, and it killed my bank account too. I've come to realize that the initial cost of the shop itself is about half of the overall cost.

...and I've still got more that I want to do. I'm planning to put up some interior wall & peg board this winter, and I've decided to extend my driveway around one side and add an awning on that end, so that I'll have a better place to park my trailer. I'm also toying with the idea of adding a front awning too. Been shopping tire machines and plasma cutters now....just keeps adding up. Ugh.

Thank you, funny you mention the purlins, I went to Mueller and picked up 4 more for the roof because I wanted 4' centers instead of 5' centers. The girts were necessary because of the 14' height. They were running behind so I had a family friend do the electrical. The interior pic is super old, once I get things sorted out I will try to update this thread. I got my lift in, I built a 24x10 room inside for a clean room and an office + storage on top. The rest of the place is a mess ATM, I need some slat or peg boards, some more metal tables, etc.