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Steel Framed barn anyone?
As Art mentioned the initial cost of building is slightly higher, but IMHO, well worth it.
My shop at home (my pic. # 2) is a 40' x 50' with 14' wall height. I set it up with two 12' x 12' doors at one end and a 15' wide mezzanine at the other end, the washroom, workbench, etc., is all under the loft. I still have 35' of full height space, more than enough for anything I need to put in there. I found I had too much shop space used up with 'parking' so I added a 4.5 car garage onto the end later.
It has worked out very well and if I had to do it all over again the only thing I would change would be to re-arrange the layout so that I had one bay where I could drive in the front and out the back, then when I am working on a big trailer I could drive right through instead of trying to fiddle around backing up, and to allow better cross-ventilation to get rid of welding fumes, dust from sand-blasting, etc.
Best of luck.
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Steel Framed barn anyone?
I almost put a gantry crane in my shop, for loading & unloading the mezzanine, but decided it wasn't worth it for the few times I need to move something that heavy. Then I thought about a forklift, but realized I already have enough things to find parking for so went with forks on the loader intead. I'm really glad I didn't enclose the second floor, access is great with it being open, I can set a loaded pallet on the deck directly where I want it.
My next project for the shop is an elevator for the mezzanine. Stairs and I aren't on good terms, especially if I'm carrying something heavy.
Best of luck.
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Steel Framed barn anyone?
The notion of running air lines below ground has been tried up here for years, inevitably, they never work.
Being the lowest point of the air system condensed moisture gathers there because of the cool (or cold up here) ground they run through, especially in warm, humid weather. The result is water being forced through or into everything, air tools included. This is a MAJOR pain if you intend to use an air sprayer for painting something, it also makes a sand blaster clog constantly. If they are steel lines they rot through in short order, and if they are rubber the constant freeze/thaw cycle does them in almost as fast and they are a nightmare to re-run after there is something else in the conduit like electric lines.
As for self-welded fastening, I wouldn't count on having any insurance coverage if it collapsed later unless you are an AWB certified welder and have the welds tested & certified and an engineer sign of on the building design.
In some areas there may also be issues with the strength of the building for reasons of snow-loading or hurricane-proofing. The big concern especially with wind damage is not your building coming apart per se, it is the welfare of the poor sod who gets hit by a piece of siding going 100+ mph, I'm not sure I would want that liability, and you can bet your insurance company won't either.
Best of luck.
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Steel Framed barn anyone?
I was hesitant to use any kind of Poly, even PEX, because of the extreme temperature swings, between winter & summer the interior of the shop ranges by well over 140 deg. F., that and sometimes it has been used at temp.'s below freezing even. I will be heating it to a constant mimimum of about 45 deg. F. from now on, then just warming it up when I am out there. Previously when I was away for much of the winter it was unheated.
I plumbed the whole shop with 1/2" copper water pipe. I used 80 grit emery cloth to roughen all surfaces before soldering to ensure a solid 'bite' between the two surfaces for safety's sake. I also put a ball valve on each run off the distribution pipe, as well as where the distribution pipe meets the compressor so I can isolate areas for maintenance, etc., or for splitting the distribution system.
This has proved handy several times when I wanted to do something with air in the wood shop, like painting, while somebody else was doing something like sand-blasting in the yard. I 'back feed' the wood shop with a small portable compressor I have for field work, filling tires, etc., via a double male fitting I made up for such purpose. This means I can have two totally seperate systems working at the same time.
The relative large inside diameter of the copper also means that on long runs there is little if any loss, this can be important with high demand uses like painting or sand-blasting. Of course the other benefit of copper pipe is that rust through is not a concern.
Best of luck.
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Steel Framed barn anyone?
I'm sure the PEX is more than up to the task. I never even thought of using it though. At the time I was putting it in I was thinking more of speed and convenience, the copper was available at the local building center and very inexpensive.
I have used PEX for in-floor radiant heating in my cottage though, it worked great for that. I do know it was a tough stuff but freezing was a moot point because the system uses an anti-freeze mixture anyways, it serves both to raise the boil point and protect the system when it's shutdown.
Best of luck.
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Steel Framed barn anyone?
I had a fitting blow off a rubber whip line, someone had patched it with a barb-type fitting but the Tridon steel hose clamp used to fix it in position failed. The fitting went across the shop then bounced most of the way back, luckily there was nobody in it's path.
Let me tell you I was VERY glad to have a shut-off nearby.
With 100 gallons of reservoir tanks at 130psi I think it might have whistled for some time before it drained the system.
Best of luck.
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