My New House & Workshop

[1990RangerinSK]

You can have half inch gaps between the two by fours and it doesn’t matter. The plywood plates screwed in with glue are what carry the strength. Yes, my 27 x 45’ shop is put together with Elmers glue!

If I had an engineer tell me that, I'd fire his backside so fast he wouldn't know what hit him. You've weakened your truss. I'd think you'd want as much contact as possible, to bear as much load as possible.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

Want more good news? On the “vinyl” floor tiles, are they 9x9 or 12x12? I’d they’re 9x9, 90% probability they and their glue is asbestos, but that’s manageable.

Ditto, if the staple ceiling is from the 70s or earlier....

I can guide you how to deal with it and work with it safely.

Remember, life is an adventure!

That's bad advice, right there. The advice you SHOULD have given to Jim, is HIRE A PROFESSIONAL. NEVER deal with asbestos on your own.

 

[franklin2]

The bathroom seems to be a sticky problem here. Are you insisting the middle of the building be boosted in height because of aesthetics? It does look good that way, but what would it look like if you popped the building up on one end or the other and avoid the bathroom area?

 

[Rick W]

The front and back sections of the roof, if they taper down like the front, Will be harder to work with, but yes, but it doesn’t give you this flexibility.

& to my detractors ;-), of course you shouldn’t have gaps in the 2x4s, I was saying it to demonstrate the strength of the glued plywood plates. Having said that, even with gaps, it would be plenty strong to hold up the roof, but I agree with you it would be better and stronger if there were no gaps.

as regards the asbestos possibility, I was not going to advise anything illegal. Along the way I got all my asbestos certifications and I’ve done tons of abatement. I was simply planting the seed in Jim’s head, so he could take a look and send some pictures, so I could tell him how to get it sampled and removed if necessary at the lowest possible price, like all my advice on this and any other project. Don’t jump too soon boys, I’ve got all of his best interests at heart and I don’t have any dog in the hunt myself, no reason to propose substandard anything. Be calm, the final plan will be that, the final plan!

 

[Rick W]

@franklin2

Any decent designer will tell you it’s function over form, utility has to always come first, and then you make it pretty. That’s what I’m trying to do here, is do a design that meets all of Jim’s functional needs first, and then I tweaked it without adding 2% of the budget to enhance his property value and appearance. If you bump it up in the front, you lose at least one car space and you have a long tunnel in the back. If you bump it up in the back, you have to pave all the way across ‘Jim‘s property and he loses his backyard.

 

[franklin2]

I would give him all the different ways of doing it, and then he can decide what is best. I can tell he does not want to move the bathroom, and doesn't seem to like it right in the middle of the garage/parking area.

 

[franklin2]

Oh, and he wants a wider door. The customer is always right

 

[Rick W]

I would give him all the different ways of doing it, and then he can decide what is best. I can tell he does not want to move the bathroom, and doesn't seem to like it right in the middle of the garage/parking area.

Hmmm, let me think about that a minute. Yes, I’m happy to do this for jim at no cost, but that doesn’t mean that my time is free and unlimited....

Oh, and he wants a wider door. The customer is always right

I heard him loud and clear, but he also said he wants to keep the bathroom where it is. I’ve actually already proposed three different plans with double wide doors, but the bathroom kills two of them.

If we just put a Doublewide door in the front on the street, he can probably only fit a 16 foot wide door in there. If he’s parking trucks and trailers side-by-side, that’s awfully close, and doesn’t allow any room at all on either side for shelves or tools or whatever.

he could tear down the 2 x 4 wall 30 feet deep On the left, and maybe get two vehicles deep on that side under his 7’ 6” to 8 foot ceilings. On the house side, he’d be limited to 30 feet of depth before he hits the bathroom.

you could narrow the bathroom across the width, the 18 foot dimension, if you move the sink and just framed in the commode. But it would be extremely tight to run anything past it further back, and you still have 7 1/2 to 8 foot ceilings.

and I didn’t put it in my latest design yet, but I would add several windows in the backstop wall, in the walls above the original roof, and over the garage doors and pedestrian entrance to provide as much natural light as possible.

also, when we creep up on the final spatial design, then we can look at electrical, exhaust fans, heating, plumbing, etc. etc. etc.

and I’ve realized if I’m going to continue to do this, we have to find a 3‘ x 3‘ area at least 6 foot tall for the complaint box!!

I’m taking the rest of the day off folks!!!

 

[Rick W]

& @Jim Oaks, As regards the two double doors on the Alley: the door closest to the street, you can block it up, but I would block it up to about five or 6 feet, and then put a security glass window at the top for security.

As regards the other double door, you have to maintain that as an emergency exit. I don’t know if that’s code, but that’s an awful big building if there was a fire in the middle. It faces the alley, so you could paint it or finish it to be attractive, you can put a crossbar on the inside with a lock for security, but you’re not my friend anymore if you don’t put in emergency exit in it!

 

[Rick W]

OK, another final thought for the evening, I thought on economics.

The cost of a new 22 foot truss versus the 30 foot truss is pennies. You will have about eight more sheets of plywood and that many more shingles.

The 8’ x 30’ slab is pure cash, but JIM has also thought about pouring a slab for a garage next to this building or a separate building. Unless you keep the footprint of the building as is, you’re going to have a concrete cost somewhere. And again, the cost of a yard or two more or less is peanuts compared to the labor to prep and finish it.

The reason I would pre-frame stub walls to go over the block is because it’s cheap and easy and very easy to install so it saves on the schedule when the roof is torn off. It’s easy to make it cosmetically appealing and match the house, and block is block. You can paint it, but it’s lipstick on a pig. Wine said that!

For the bump out section, you’re talking about about 30 -35 +/- 2x6 x 10s or 2 x 6 x 12’s to frame the wall, cap it and saddle it. I’m thinking they’re $10 each, so 350 or $400 one time to all get all that utility.

all of those kind of thoughts and analysis runs through my head like crap through a goose. I’m sure a couple of you guys think that’s an incredibly accurate analogy. Having said that, I’m very happy to analyze any suggestion from anybody. Having said that, I believe this is the least money unless you don’t bump out the wall anywhere, and I think that would be an incredibly compromised result, still spending 75% of the money!

 

[Jim Oaks]

With the garage door on an end, the man side door could be an emergency exit.

I just paid a plumber $1,400 to clean out my sewer line, replace about 6 feet of it, and add a clean out at the main sewer line. I really don't want to mess with the plumbing anymore. Hell, I haven't even turned the water on in there and tested it.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Is building stub walls cheaper than laying block? Block is $1.50 each.

 

[Rick W]

See my private message. Let’s chat about what you want to accomplish, and then zero in on which would be the least expensive alternatives. I’m just like you, I worry about money first, but it’s just pissed away if you don’t accomplish what you want to accomplish. And if we look at a broader plan, and then you decide to reduce it, the advantage of that is you really know that you’re getting the best bang for the buck.

I’ve got to sign off for today, exhausted

 

[franklin2]

Is building stub walls cheaper than laying block? Block is $1.50 each.

So what are you thinking now? Tear the complete roof off, build a stub wall all the way around, and then put new trusses and a new roof in place on top of those?

 

[Jim Oaks]

Rick suggested building stub walls. Wondering why he suggested that instead of adding more block.