Wow, guess there is some interest in this, only gone a few hours lol.
So, 6'ish years ago wife and I bought 27 acres in the country. Until this year our closest neighbor was about a mile away. Now, closest neighbors are about 1/4-1/2 mile on either side, still surrounded by about 2000 acres of unimproved land, mostly mesquite trees. Not only can I not see anyone elses home from mine, I also can't even see the road and my house can't be seen from outside my property. We have deer and wild hogs as well as other varmints. It's rough, but I live here so other folks won't have to.
Anyway, 6 years ago the plan was to build a 3br Barndominium with a small shop/garage and in a couple of years build a house and turn the barndominium into a larger shop and single bedroom guest house (basically demolish part of the living space to increase shop space). Well, kids were in high school getting ready for college and we decided no need to build a new house. This was a good decision with the exception of there would be no increase in shop space.
I like to think I was able to sway my wife's thoughts, truth is she probably just lets me think that. I started telling her that if I had a new shop, she could have a garage to park in. Talked about how nice it must be to get into a car without having to step into the rain or cold. Whether I changed her mind or she just quit fighting, we decided to build a separate shop building.
So here we are today. The plan is a 30x40x12 metal weld up shop. I will be building, starting with 24' lengths of square tubing and cutting it to fit. Metal frame with painted R-panel exterior. Weld plates are already set in the concrete for welding columns to. I will have one 10x10 roll up door, and two 3' walk doors. No windows as I find I like wall space better and it makes it easier to heat and cool. May put one single emergency light in for a power loss. I will have the building sprayed with closed cell foam insulation. The shop will be for both wood and metal working and general whatever work. I will have a room for the mill and lathe. I will have one section divided from the rest for welding, grinding, cutting and other dirty metal work. The remainder of the area will be woodworking and general work.
As someone pointed out I already have electricity mostly ran to the shop. I have dual lugs on my meter base, put a 200amp disconnect next to that at the house and ran 4/0 aluminum to the shop. Do I need 200 amps? probably not. But I have the capacity with a 325amp transformer so why not. Running a heater as well as machinery.....better to have it and not need it as they say. Shop will have A/C and Heat, mostly likely a central heat and air unit. I just want to be able to work when its hot or cold and be comfortable. If I can get it down to 80* inside when it's 100 outside I'm happy. Likewise 60* inside when it's in the 30's outside is all I'm aiming for.
I also am running water to the shop. The location of the building in relation to my septic system made it very hard and very expensive to put a restroom out there. However, a sink can use a leach field if no fecal matter is going down, so a large shop sink will be inside for those times I need water.
Nothing under the slab, so dust collection will have to be done with a stand alone unit.
Concrete was today, this weekend will be collecting steel as it might be a bit soon to be on the slab with more than just walking. Next weekend starts the building up from the slab. I'll keep a running log of the build going here, but just understand I'm doing this on my day off and weekends so progress will be slow.
