Building a garage revisited. Need alternatives to concrete

[Coldfinger]

I browsed the comments so may have missed this point - check your local building codes before putting too much thought into it.

Also, may want to consider a long term lease on the lot with defined rates, and/or a written rent-to-own agreement.

Also, what prevents the owner from jacking up your rent knowing that you probably won't leave if you've invested in a shop.

 

[coyoteman]

I'd go with one of those metal carports, you could frame it in and isulate it good enough to work in. I believe you can get about any size or shape you want.
There is no way I'd ever think of a wood floor for what you want, extreme fire danger. I have a portion of a shed with limestone screenings on the floor. It would work good to work part time on. I packed mine in with a skid loader after wetting and it stays very hard, if it gets dusty just give it a shot of water and it's good for several more months.

 

[bnorth]

I like the enclosed trailer idea, works great for toys and while you can't roll your truck inside it gives you a dry workspace and tool storage.

 

[turboxp]

shop

Build it with four skids under it pour cement in between them lots of rebar when ready it move lowboy trailer winch tractor suck it on move to new house.Seen it done it works well and if you move to new location they might not tax you on it because it is not permanent structure.

 

[cateye5312]

If you are looking to build a moveable structure (which you have not asked about but I will give you my 2 cents) find a local mobile home dealer, get two modular home frames and build your shop on top of them. I did that with a cabin I built and it worked great. When I sold the land I took the cabin with me.

Are you familiar with panelized construction? You build each floor and wall section as a unit and then bolt or screw them together. That would give you another alternative to allow you to disassemble the structure and take it with you.

As for your original question for a floor, I can think of 3. All of them require you to build a sturdy subfloor. 16" oc should be good enough and if you can handle working with uneven surfaces the railroad ties would be a good choice. On top of the subfloor either use 1) cement board such as Dura rock, tape the joints with thinset and then paint the whole floor with a good quality two part epoxy concrete paint. I think that would make a good floor for the welding but carbides are going to tear it up so use dollies. 2) Use polybead laminate flooring over the subfloor. It's pretty expensive ($100 a sheet in the US) but it will hold up really well to the carbides. The welding will probably damage it though. 3) Cover the subfloor with sheet metal. It's really pricey but it will handle the sparks and a limited amount of carbide abuse.

I am enclosing a portion of my barn to make a shop this spring and now you have me thinking about alternatives too! A concrete floor is $5 a square foot here so I can spend alot and still be cheaper. I don't like the thought of the asphalt chips or the limestone because I think both of those can move.

 

[roughrider99]

after some research i have a couple ideas to go on,

option #1 a cement on wood foundation with 3-5 in slab has been done and it can be done properly, with reinforced concrete.

option #2 3/4" sub floor with cement board, Its fireproof/resistant, flexible, easily replaceable.

option #3 is a tiled floor i have found commercial tiling that is wicked strong, broken tiling can easily be replaced, just that its suseceptable to burn marks from welding.

thanks for the structure idea cat eye as there is a mobile home dealer right next to my workplace. I learned that parking garages are built with beams with a "pan" to pour in concrete.

So at the moment i'm gonna look into a levelled site dug then refilled with tamped gravel for good stability and drainage, build as very solid treated railroad tie foundation, heavily reinforced concrete slab poured in "pans" so i can have the shop floor in multiple sections to make the building moveable if need be. I wont be moving it as its gonna be my moneymaker along with the rennovated home when it comes time to sell.

I will looking into what a mobile home dealer can do for me as the factory is also only 4 hrs from my house. I will also also doing as much as possible to follow building codes, most mobile homes have additions or outbuildings that are the farthest thing possible from code and they seem to get away so my setup will be a diamond in the rough. my budget is 30k but thats flexible so I should be able to get what i want.

 

[rdr99]

40ft sea-container...

 

[mckinney]

What about old freshly painted train car. You can get them when rail road retires them. Just a thought.


mckinney

 

[polaris dude]

blanket fort outside? Might wanna look into it

 

[LoudHandle]

They use a lot of steel structure / fabric exterior up here in the arctic for out buildings that are not "intended" to be permanent. Typically set on railroad ties or treated 12x12's or larger for the base. In fact Anchorage, Alaska just erected a sports stadium complex "The Dome" using this technology. Multiple connex's with trusses over them are common as well. If you live near a port where they retire them economically. I picked up a 40' aluminum reefer connex years ago for a temporary shop. About $2 or 3 grand and another $400 to ship it to Valdez. I cut the reefer end out full size and put a garage door in, but all I did out of it was sleds.

 

[roughrider99]

After checking in with district office I'm limited to 310 sq ft ( single car garage) per building and any larger requires 4 ft frost footings as per district rules, so I can't even go with a larger floating slab on grade if I wanted too. So putting up 2 garages with 3/4 subfloor and a friend that is a home builder is setting up with this epoxy/plaster that sets up hard and is actually structural when thicker than 1/2 ". This will get me by for the short term.
Plan is to sell out to move to an acreage for a larger shop.


Thanks for the useful suggestions