# Need workshop/shed ideas!!!!!!!!!!



## GFC Firefighter

Well my grandmother has offered me to build a workshop/shed to keep my tractor since I am paying off my tractor. 

I do need a place to keep my tractor and stuff out of the weather.

I was planning to do this awhile back but ran short of money.

I need some ideas!!!


I am planning to get some poles (wood) and build the whole area out and later on concrete some of the inside (where I will work on things). Also was planning to run some electricity (220v capable for welder).


I have posted another thread awhile back I think about the first barn that was crap and tearing it down and rebuilding it.





Ok. I need some ideas!


Plan to keep my tractor and equipment under it and also work on my trucks and probably store a truck under it for a later project.


So help me out, please!!! 


Thanks


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## Hoodoo Valley

Not sure what sort of time you have, but if moneys tight, run an ad on craigslist for tearing down a building or for free materials. You'd be surprised. Also, hit your local metal scrap yard if you have one. You can get vsheet metal roofing for dirt cheap. Sure it'll have holes and probably be different colors but who cares right?


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## Hoodoo Valley

Also check out this thread for some inspiration! http://www.tractorforum.com/f155/more-photos-my-free-3-bay-shop-13934/


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## TeamCheap

Well how much room do you want/need ? How much can you spend ?

What building restrictions do you have in your city ?
(wouldnt want to build something that the city will make you tear down)

Out in the rural area's you can usually build a nice pole barn but in most cities they dont allow them.


I have a 2 car garage and also 2 nasty sheds that need to go but I plan to build a 12x16 shed with a roofline that matches my garage and have it spaced 18-20 from the back of the garage so I can eventually build a ""carport"" in between the shed and garage.(12x16=192 square feet anything 200 square feet or larger needs a permit here)


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## Bamataco

There are lots of ideas on how to build low cost buildings. One place to look is at Mother earth .com. It depends a lot on what you have available to you. There are straw bale buildings you can make. There are sand bag buildings to. One I always thought of building is a log end building.What you do is set up railroad ties. As your framing. Then fill in with log ends. Pick your dimension. Fill between the log ends with concrete. It you live in the right area or have a lot of access to log ends this could be quite cheap.


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## TeamCheap

I seen today on Craigslist that someone is giving away a decent looking shed that is 19'x25' all you'd have to do is pick it apart and you'd have a decent start on a building.
I guess it was a 100 year old barn so they say.

100 year old barn with pics :winky:

Of course thats a lot of work but if you dont have the cash then doing a bit of work is the next best thing, much better than doing without.


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## dangeroustoys56

whatever you do - build it bigger then you need , itll fill up fast with stuff. I have a 12x16 shed- shoulda went for the 12x30 shed - mines stuffed full.

Definitly run electric to it, for tools, lights, fans or AC - also plan for a lift ( even if you dont ) make the concrete thicker in that area. My dads freind up the road bot a used lift for like $1000 ( normally $5000 new) - he put his in one of his garages- it can lift pops F250 up in the air easily.

You might want to plan for a small room as well - can keep a fridge n microwave , heck even a TV - oh dont forget some way to heat the place in the winter ( if you plan on working in it when its -20 below).


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## Tarp_man

Dear firefighter,
Fabric buildings are a lower cost storage alternative to conventional constructions. Check out the site below for a wide array of these buildings.


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## johndeerefan

Here is a pic of my workshop/garage. It is frame built, not a pole barn. It is a 30 deep x 40 wide with a 15 x 40 lean to on the backside with eave heights of 12'. The front porch area is 8' wide. This makes it nice for not having the doors stick due to icing problems. The inside has 12' ceilings and the ceiling is white metal. I haven't finished the walls yet. The doors are 12 tall x 10 wide with commercial door openers. I park our IH 1086 with the round baler attached in the garage with it all still hooked up along with my other show tractors. I keep my hauling trailer and user tractor in the shed area along with some of the implements.


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## Bamataco

That is one heck of a nice work shop.


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## TeamCheap

SOoooo how is this project going ???


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## Cublover

Bamataco said:


> There are lots of ideas on how to build low cost buildings. One place to look is at Mother earth .com. It depends a lot on what you have available to you. There are straw bale buildings you can make. There are sand bag buildings to. One I always thought of building is a log end building.What you do is set up railroad ties. As your framing. Then fill in with log ends. Pick your dimension. Fill between the log ends with concrete. It you live in the right area or have a lot of access to log ends this could be quite cheap.


Mother provided me with the idea to build a shop with scrap tires and dirt. Got 2 'courses' in, fixing the loader to move more dirt. Got a LOT of tires to hide! People will PAY you to take their tires!


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## wjjones

Cublover said:


> Mother provided me with the idea to build a shop with scrap tires and dirt. Got 2 'courses' in, fixing the loader to move more dirt. Got a LOT of tires to hide! People will PAY you to take their tires!



You will have to get us some pictures when you get a chance.....


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## Cublover

wjjones said:


> You will have to get us some pictures when you get a chance.....


 Other things got in the way, like paying bills. The project is still a 'go' but moving, actually, not at all right now. It looks like a stack of tires till you put the screen on and push the concrete in.
The 'boys' are not into doing it on their own. 

Now, here's a shop I threw up out of used lumber, then bought some OSB and new 5 rib metal 25x25 with a 13x8 outcrop to park the mowers.

the big door is 8 1/2 ft x 9 1/2. There is an 8X7 high door under the mower shed roof. 
I spent about $300. to build it and put it under mineral paper, $500. more, 15 years later to cover it with the metal. I scavenged insulation from roofing co's, gathered drywall from contractors, lights from electricians, etc. Then I bit the bullet and had the floor poured.
This is my $1,000. man-cave/ shop.
As you can tell, it is IN town! In a neighborhood where the average 'off street' parking is (0), I have 7 cars under roof and off street parking for 4 more.

At the farm, I bought one of those $1,000 carports, added snow load braces, closed it in and poured the floor. Then I bought more metal of the same color and hooked it to the house. 18x36 now, 9 ft door 12 ft ceiling.
Concrete, block work, building, I'm at about $2,400. on that one. No pics in this camera of that, well one, but it ain't very good.


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## dangeroustoys56

This one guy down the street used 2 purchased semi trailer containers, then built on top of them( minus the chassis/wheels) - youd swear it looks just like a regular barn, you have to look twice at it.

They have the 2 trailers and a large space between them thats open all the way thru - im not sure how the guy worked the permits for that tho....


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## Cublover

dangeroustoys56 said:


> This one guy down the street used 2 purchased semi trailer containers, then built on top of them( minus the chassis/wheels) - youd swear it looks just like a regular barn, you have to look twice at it.
> 
> They have the 2 trailers and a large space between them thats open all the way thru - im not sure how the guy worked the permits for that tho....


 I know a guy that bought 4 'office' trailers and stacked them 2 wide, 2 tall. It was a 'permit' nightmare! It looked like a 'real' house with a 4 bay garage in the basement.(from the outside)
Inside, it looked like a DEATHTRAP! For 3 years, he was told that if he 'occupied' it, they were going to fine him $100. per day for the violation. 10 years later, I don't know where he stands on it. It is still there, but he lives somewhere else.
Another guy couldn't get a permit to build a house, so he got one for a pole barn. Then he 'finished' the inside really nice and 'spends a lot of time' there.


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## GFC Firefighter

Update: I have bought 8 20' poles from where I use to work. Now I guess all I need is a plan, time, and money.


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## Hoodoo Valley

Get you some bigass rocks and sink em in the ground with just a bit sticking out above grade and dowel them with rebar and set those posts up on them.................


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## GFC Firefighter

Lol, I wish. Nothing but swamp around here.


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## Hoodoo Valley

GFC Firefighter said:


> Lol, I wish. Nothing but swamp around here.


Get in touch with your towns street department and nail you down some broke up sidewalk or better yet, some curb. This works great for footers..........


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## GFC Firefighter

Well I'm trying to figure out a dimension to build my barn. I plan to store a couple of my trucks in their and work on them, have a place to work on my tractor, have tools, air compressor, etc.

Hm.


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## murfanator

Hey GFC,
Hoping you are on your way on the barn. Some considerations of mine were what regulations did I have to comply to, what site and funding constraints I had. In the end I put up a 28X40X12. While it is not an ideal configuration for tractor maintenance I thought of features I might need to have in the future, other hobbies I have and what a future owner might want. The barn got a final inspection and sign off the other day. The total cost on the spreadsheet right now is 19,969. I have to add a few more items to the sheet but it should not total over 14,500. Since I have fun doing things mostly solo it took 12 months from pole plant to sign off but it was rewarding. I'm new to the forum so I don't know if it is appropriate to post my youtube channel but here goes. It has my videos of the main construction steps. I hope my experience helps you somewhat.

http://www.youtube.com/user/tractoring?feature=mhee

Cheers!


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## skippy

You could get yourself a small 20' shipping container and then run some electric to it for pretty cheap.


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## murfanator

Trying out my first reply on this forum. I'm going to try and attach a picture of my barn completed in 8/2012. The cost was about 15K. Built it mainly myself, and some friends helped me pour the slab. Some time lapse videos can be found on youtube if you search for barn and shingles, or look for "tractoring" channel. Anyway, I use it for working on and storing a few old tractors. Dimensions 11'6.5"X28X40. The swinging doors provide full clearance to the 11'6.5" bottom chord to slab height. There are pros and cons to the project but it fit my budget and uses. Good luck and it is great seeing everyone's input.


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## GFC Firefighter

Hey fellows....thanks for the advice. I think I have found me a place on the farm to build me a pole barn BUT I need to clean it up.

I need to either rent a bulldozer and frontend loader or just a front end loader. We had some guy buy one of our OLD OLD tobacco barns to use on his project and he promised to come clean it up...but never did. So I got to clean that up.


I was wondering how much it cost to rent a front end loader because I need to rent a huge dumpster too because we have had trashed piled up around the property for ages and I am tired of seeing it.


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## Hoodoo Valley

Hey GFC! It's been a long long time.


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## Cublover

A bobcat would most likely do your dirt moving. Around here, if you rent on Friday afternoon and return on Monday morning you only pay 1 days rent.
Get your ducks in a row, (a game plan) and have a guy on the ground with a chain and you would be amazed how much work you can get done over a weekend.

When doing this sort of clean up, we stack what will burn in one place, what will recycle in another. All the rocks and rubble, etc, we push into the low spots for fill.
PS, welcome back!


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## GFC Firefighter

tractor beam said:


> Hey GFC! It's been a long long time.


Hey man. I was up yer way this summer. I was in Malad City, Idaho and Portage, Utah on a wildfire. The rest of my crew went to the Beaver Creek Fire and got fed by Bruce Willis.  Oh well, it was another good trip!



Cublover said:


> A bobcat would most likely do your dirt moving. Around here, if you rent on Friday afternoon and return on Monday morning you only pay 1 days rent.
> Get your ducks in a row, (a game plan) and have a guy on the ground with a chain and you would be amazed how much work you can get done over a weekend.
> 
> When doing this sort of clean up, we stack what will burn in one place, what will recycle in another. All the rocks and rubble, etc, we push into the low spots for fill.
> PS, welcome back!


Hey man. Thanks. Been away for a bit. Yeah, I won't burn anything manmade..it's illegal and I write people unlawful burn notices for burning manmade items and if I burn manmade stuff...I would be twofaced. Haha. 

Yeah, I might rent a bobcat. Wonder how much it would be? It's just alot of rotten wood, garbage, etc. 

I can't wait to get it cleaned up! Ready to get this barn up!



Question. Would yall get the poles up first then concrete the floor then?


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## Cublover

GFC Firefighter said:


> Hey man. I was up yer way this summer. I was in Malad City, Idaho and Portage, Utah on a wildfire. The rest of my crew went to the Beaver Creek Fire and got fed by Bruce Willis.  Oh well, it was another good trip!
> 
> 
> 
> Hey man. Thanks. Been away for a bit. Yeah, I won't burn anything manmade..it's illegal and I write people unlawful burn notices for burning manmade items and if I burn manmade stuff...I would be twofaced. Haha.
> 
> Yeah, I might rent a bobcat. Wonder how much it would be? It's just alot of rotten wood, garbage, etc.
> 
> I can't wait to get it cleaned up! Ready to get this barn up!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Question. Would yall get the poles up first then concrete the floor then?


 If it ain't roof shingles or tires, God made it. Light it off, ( as per local laws)


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## GFC Firefighter

Oh yeah.



What size boards should I use for the roof? 2x4s? What about trusses? 

Figuring out my list.. :fineprint


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## Cublover

The most common practice is to construct the building, then pour the floor. Sometimes years later. The only concrete you need at first is enough to keep the building standing. ( around the poles, etc.)


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## Cublover

The primary goal is to keep rain from running over your tools/toys. Get that part done. The concrete floor will cost about 1/3 the cost of the building. A load of gravel is WAY cheaper.


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## GFC Firefighter

True.

I'm going to have my poles laid out and get some concrete mix from Lowes and pour in the holes. 

Get the top built too.

I'm thinking about making one part of the barn a workshop as I mentioned to wear I can roll in stuff to work on it then lock it up when I leave and leave the other stalls open.


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## Cublover

GFC Firefighter said:


> Oh yeah.
> 
> 
> 
> What size boards should I use for the roof? 2x4s? What about trusses?
> 
> Figuring out my list.. :fineprint


What part of the country are you in? The Mennonites and Amish around her blow the SOX off everyone else for prices. Their quality is also unsurpassed. Avenues that need explored... The Amish guys built our 38' X 125' pole building for $15k a while back. 
The Mennonite guys won the bid for the bus shelter a couple years back, but I was not privy to the details. Just sayin. There are people out there that do this stuff for a living. Shop it. How much is YOUR time worth? Some things are better left to the 'pros'.


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## GFC Firefighter

I'm way down South, in the land of Cotton, old times that are not forgotten. Look away, Look away, Look away, DIXIE LAND. 

My location is Southeast GA...about 90-100 miles from the Atlantic coast.


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## Cublover

GFC Firefighter said:


> I'm way down South, in the land of Cotton, old times that are not forgotten. Look away, Look away, Look away, DIXIE LAND.
> 
> My location is Southeast GA...about 90-100 miles from the Atlantic coast.


Sorry about your 'location'! Not too many Amish there.


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## GFC Firefighter

No place like it. Humid and hot. No Amish here...think we have some Mennonites somewhere I think.


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## oldguychuck

I built my shop about eight years ago and still would like a concrete floor.

What I did was use soni tubes per attached pic - one at each corner and one every 8' around the 4 walls.

What you do is dig the holes down about 6' (hopefully with a backhoe,, then drop the preassembled tube and base down the hole, level it up real good for both vertical and spacing between, and in a straight line, then backfill. Then run a string for level for all tubes and cut the top off to the string, say about 8" to 10" above the ground level, then pour. when the pour is done, insert a "holder"in the top of the wet concrete (various types and sizes). When the cement is hard, put your 6x6 upright on top and brace it in place until you have built the wall.

Look up "Bigfoot" on the web for more...

Good luck

oldguychcuk


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## Cublover

oldguychuck said:


> I built my shop about eight years ago and still would like a concrete floor.
> 
> What I did was use soni tubes per attached pic - one at each corner and one every 8' around the 4 walls.
> 
> What you do is dig the holes down about 6' (hopefully with a backhoe,, then drop the preassembled tube and base down the hole, level it up real good for both vertical and spacing between, and in a straight line, then backfill. Then run a string for level for all tubes and cut the top off to the string, say about 8" to 10" above the ground level, then pour. when the pour is done, insert a "holder"in the top of the wet concrete (various types and sizes). When the cement is hard, put your 6x6 upright on top and brace it in place until you have built the wall.
> 
> Look up "Bigfoot" on the web for more...
> 
> Good luck
> 
> 
> oldguychcuk


The Mennonites used those on the bus shelter. It holds 10 medium sized buses and is over 100' long. Our pole building was just post holes drilled and 6x6 poles cemented in.


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## pogobill

oldguychuck said:


> I built my shop about eight years ago and still would like a concrete floor.
> 
> Look up "Bigfoot" on the web for more...
> 
> Good luck
> 
> oldguychcuk


That's what my barn is sitting on, 16 bigfoot footings and 10" sono tubes, and rebar... it ain't goin anywhere!


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## Cublover

pogobill said:


> That's what my barn is sitting on, 16 bigfoot footings and 10" sono tubes, and rebar... it ain't goin anywhere!


Figured it out. The pole building was done on the cheap. The only things we have had to repair was when a Chevy truck ran through a door and a go-cart hit that same doorway last year.
There has been no 'down side' to a post hole digger and cemented poles after 25 years service.


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## GFC Firefighter

They probably live in tornado alley is why they got it strapped down good.


We get tornadoes here too but I'm on a budget...as always. Would be a great idea though as they mentioned but I have no backhoe...just a ford 3000 and various implements.


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## GFC Firefighter

Nvm they live in Canada eh.


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## GFC Firefighter

Found the location on the farm where I want to put the barn. Cleaning it up. Old 1800s tobacco barn use to be here. It's next to the field I am renting from my grandmother; my cousin was renting it to farm but erosion was eating away at it and dirt is pouring into the pond I am trying to clean up around (*WILL HAVE A THREAD ABOUT THE POND ON HERE SOON, need some advice*).
Plans is to let the field turn back into a pasture...but undecided. 

Anyways, here is the area I am going to put the barn.


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## GFC Firefighter

Damn, it has been awhile since I have posted anything about this. You're probably thinking..."When is he ever going to do anything?", "Still nothing?", "Slow ass".

We have gotten the area cleaned up...got a layout flagged off but still.....no construction has been done yet. :lmao:

Here's the area now with it marked off. I forgot the dimensions but it has like 4 stalls that have 10-12' bays. I might change my idea. You can see two post sticking up...that's from end to end of the area






I tried leveling the area off but I might just have to bring in a load of dirt to level it off for good. I know I am going to have to cut that big pecan tree in the far back because it is dead. 

My idea was like

1st bay-storage (tractor)
2nd bay-shop (mechanic-welder, hand tools, carpentry)
3rd bay-shop or maybe storage
4th bay-storage (truck/projects)


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## Hoodoo Valley

Did you ever build it GFC?


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## bmaverick

GFC Firefighter said:


> Damn, it has been awhile since I have posted anything about this. You're probably thinking..."When is he ever going to do anything?", "Still nothing?", "Slow ass".
> 
> We have gotten the area cleaned up...got a layout flagged off but still.....no construction has been done yet. :lmao:


Should you need something for just winter tractor storage, this thread has been going really good this week. 

https://www.tractorforum.com/threads/winter-home-for-tractors.42507/


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