The first step for my shop

[Frank S]

had a full day of repairing shovels hoes ax pitchforks rakes you name it, it was a day of farm & garden tools but still managed just before sun down to fly the remaining purlins  required to complete 1/4 of the roof

 I couldn't ask for a better functioning lifting system

[Harold in CR]

Starting to look like a shop, Frank. Well done so far.

[DanG]

These are the good old days.. .

[MattM]

I'm having trouble visualizing why...  a pole or poles aren't pulled and gently lowered down (for service) with the F.R. Anks Industries Mk-5 Skytrack pole plucker... Oh, wait, yeah yeah, guess its just me

That looks like an awful high load for a telescoping set of forks.

[Frank S]

So far everything works swimmingly well I just don't seem to be able to devote as much time to the project as I would like.
today about all I managed to do was to weld 2 more purlin in place and get my rolling scaffold repositioned for the next 1 or 2

[Frank S]

My window of weather may be closing on me soon but that is what it will be I guess. the wind hasn't been too friendly anyway even with the nice warm temperatures.
 And looking back I should have set some scaffold up on the far end of the container from the beginning so I could have started the second half of the side of the roof I am working on that way I could have just moved the bus forward and caught the next section as I went Moving that bus by myself is a pain because it has a small steering wheel and without the engine running it is Armstrong steering all the way made doubly hard since it is sitting still while I have to turn it then get in my pickup and either push or pull to where I need to go getting out and correcting the steering to jockey the correct position needed for the next couple of purlin..
 I'm almost tempted to fly some sheet metal up after I install the next couple of purlin that way I will have at least a 30 by 36 ft roof completed. But in my haste to want to get the purlin up I didn't screw on any bottom strips to support the insulation. Not sure what I was thinking or maybe not thinking at all, I do that some times LOL.

[Harold in CR]

Second guessing yourself. Boy does that sound familiar.    I think you are doing one hell of a good job, by yourself, Frank.

 Maybe spray foam insulation ?  Costly but big time saver at least on the roof ?

[Frank S]

Second guessing yourself. Boy does that sound familiar.    I think you are doing one hell of a good job, by yourself, Frank.

 Maybe spray foam insulation ?  Costly but big time saver at least on the roof ?

I used to have a rig for spraying foam insulation, one of my many things that never made it back from Kuwait



 I rigged it up to spray foam in the cladding on refrigeration pipes and to seal up areas in the 3 million cubic ft cold storage unit we built
 it would be perfect for insulating my shop

[Harold in CR]

Sounds similar to here. When moving and hiring a company, MOST of your stuff MIGHT make the trip.

I know you will get it figured out.  You are a very resourceful thinker.

[Frank S]

 Even after having to change a tire then go to town and do the go to town things this morning since no one was open yesterday. For the life of me I can't figure out why they can't take every holiday and to compress them into 1 week and be done with them. Anyway after our half day excursion to town I still managed to have a good install day. I got 4 purlin installed the remaining 3 on the side I have been working on a nd the top purlin leading down the other side. the trusses are over 6 ft tall in the center so the scaffold was more of a incase I fell the fall would be short rather than a work platform, as I had to climb the trusses to position and weld the purlin in place.
 So now I could sheet that section and have a 30 by 36 ft. roof which for many that would be a good sized work shop, but I think I will continue to install purlin until I have the whole 60 ft long side finished then sheet it before moving to the other side because I have a 3 axle Kaylin Siebert 50 ft trailer in the way on the other side that will have to be moved before I can get my rolling scaffold over there



 And I will have to remove the tent covering the axle set I have almost knocked it down already.

 Then once the roof is complete I will install these bar joists and the standing seam panels to form a 30 ft by 40 ft lean to on the south side of the building



 There is a couple 1000 feet of pipes in this pile ranging from 1" to 2 1/2" that will become the air system in the shop

[Frank S]

Well I got the power line to my well down off of the pole.
 I put on my safety harness and my belt then hung the fall arrest loop on the back of the harness in the snatch block hooked my lanyard around the pole bacl to the ring in the belt then hoisted myself up released the powerline from the pole then lowered myself back down total time from ground level back to ground level less than 2 minutes

[MattM]

That tarp contraption underneath looks like your x-brace ATM.

[Frank S]

 Had a really good day Tuesday got 6 purlin welded in place and all 10 for that end of the side flown
 today was too windy to even think about it and tomorrow will be the same thing.
 then a truck and trailer showed up tonight I need to replace the rollers on the sliding axle group the shocks on the steer axle the shocks under the sleeper the belt tensioner, maybe change 2 U joints and the carrier bearing. install a second battery box so he can run off of his inverter more and not have to rely so much on the aux generator. try to locate a phantom air leak and a long list of incidentals plus he was hauling his dodge 3/4 ton that he had just had a transmission put in but has a front seal out he refused to haul it back to the transmission shop as they took a year to replace the transmission because they had lost or damaged the shift computer and couldn't locate one. I need to finish my shop LOL

[Frank S]

Now comes that all important time to get the first couple of sheets of the roof flown up and screwed down.
I have all the purlin on 1 half of the roof in place

[Harold in CR]

Sure hope the wind lays down for you, Frank.  This is an incredible 1 man project. Looking good. !!

[Frank S]

Sure hope the wind lays down for you, Frank.  This is an incredible 1 man project. Looking good. !!

Thanks Harold, I have more than enough 36 ft long sheet metal to cover the whole roof but I am thinking that for the first few courses I may use some of my shorted sheets to get started that way I can handle them easier and establish a surface to begin the laying of the longer sheets. it would be nigh on impossible for me to lay the very first sheet on the roof as a full length sheet by myself not having a bucket on a boom lift that I could swing from one end to the other You can not walk on a loose sheet Or I should say I will not walk on a loose sheet 

[Frank S]

 Briefly Friday during a change in direction of the wind there was a lull I wanted to get at least 1 sheet up and screwed down so I could say I have a roof on my building LOL
well the building now has over 100 sq ft of roof on it

[Harold in CR]

Lookin good.  Pretty windy here, also. If I was only closer. I would, at least, make a good groundhand. Too unsteady for aerial maneuvers, now. 

[Frank S]

After several days of wind and being tied up on another project I finally got back to the work on the shop
 26 this morning but the wind was blowing out of the North around 15 MPH. went out at 7 to feed the animals and break ice on their water bowls.
 Figured the day might be another wash out but around 10 the wind began changing direction and dying down the temp was in the upper 30's so hooked up an electric heater on the backhoe by 11 I tried to start it the wind had calmed I hoisted 7 sheets up then started screwing them down managed to get 4 before the wind decided to make a brief blow not real bad but enough to make it hard to drag the 36 foot long sheets around so took a brief break then got back up there and screwed down the remaining 3 then went and loaded 6 more hoisted them up by now it was around 3 in the afternoon had the last one screwed down by 5 then Jane told me we needed to go cut some more fire wood incase rainy weather comes in Tuesday like they think
 Any way I now have 40 feet of the 61 feet of the north roof completed

[DanG]

If sheet stock that long gets anchored in cold weather - does it heave around and lift/bow when hottest weather & sun happen? With Purlins at 36-inch I'd guess that is a non-issue. Maybe some extra snap/crackle/pop noises from warming/cooling?

Had any fasteners shear? Seems to be the bane of my projects, leaves 10x the work to correct... even the last stainless alloy concrete screws I used last fall saw three snap while installed within man'f guidelines - and bedded in softer concrete would crater the sill area trying to remove them...

I thought of that wondering how noisy 4000sqft+ of corrugated steel roofing would be across the seasons... wait till the walls complete the echo chamber, a perfect symphony of music for your ears I'm sure.

Stay safe.

[Frank S]

Hi Dan, I've never had a problem with long sheet metal doing a lot of expanding or contracting causing any issues.
 While over in Kuwait I had my own roll form machine for roofing material mounted in a special 3 meter wide 15 meter long shipping container mounted on a trailer we hauled it from location to location and often would run sheets right out of it straight onto the roof once the sheets for a Quonset style building with 4 meter side walls and 10 meters tall on the center and 3 meters overhang on both sides, on it we used 150 meter long sheets, I made a special trolley system that had a cantilevered arm to haul the sheets up and over the top advancing with each sheet installed to install the entire roof only took a couple of days for a building that was 100 meters long. We even amazed ourselves at how fast the project went
 I have my purlin spaced on 4 foot centers. the building the Sheetmetal came off of had used 14ga 2 inch round tubing for purlins 3 1/2ft centers on trusses spaced every 10 feet So I have to deal with the old screw holes but will probably do that with a coating overlay that has ceramics in it as a thermal heat barrier but that will be later on. even installing my insulation will have to wait until I seal the holes LOL
 I'm on my lunch break now and have only 4 more sheets to lay on this side to be finished   

[Frank S]

Woo-hoo, the north slope is done.

 Now I have to move a 50 ft. trailer and the axles to the north side before I can begin installing the purlin on the South slope

[SparWeb]

Frank,
You have to change your thread title.  You're wayyyy past "The first step for my shop."
Getting the roof up is, like, Step 341.

[MagnetJuice]

Frank reminds me of Edward Leedskalnin, except he uses power equipment to erect his 'castle'.

Stay safe Frank.

Ed

[Frank S]

Frank reminds me of Edward Leedskalnin, except he uses power equipment to erect his 'castle'.

Stay safe Frank.

Ed

 My equipment gets the job done but Edward Leedskalnin had a more magnetic personality

[Frank S]

 Well today was a busy day seems like the wife and I must have moved several tons of small things and the trailer bed
 I know there were at least 2 dozen scaffold frames that I moved 1 by 1 fifty yards from where they had been hopefully I wont need them again and can rely on the rolling scaffold mounted on the bus chassis for everything that requires getting up in the air.
 I had to move my A frame which was a chore in itself since I haven't had time to weld skids on the legs or put wheels on them I had to lift it with the bach hoe bucket but since I don't have the loader bucket on the machine the only way I could shift the A frame around was to swing it to the side a few degrees at a time then reposition the back hoe and put the our riggers down again even at that I could only just clear the ground. Then to lift the dozen tires and rims up to the trailer bed I slid 6 at a time on the spreader bar and flew them over the top beam of the south side of the building and lowered them to the trailer bed.
With 6 chains on each set of tandems turned cross ways at both ends of the trailer bed to use as dollies that move went swimmingly well
Here is what it looks like now in the building

[Frank S]

 Have everything moved the rolling scaffold in place and the purlin staged to begin the south slope today

[Frank S]

Yesterday and the day before  was a lot of moving around raising purlin, moving the bus scaffold
And I managed to get 4 purlin welded in place and 10 more flew up to the top



today turned out to be another of those climb up climb down walk back and forth run the back hoe Armstrong the steering of the bus scaffold climb up over and over
 I'm thinking I would get less of a work out in a Gould's GYM with a retired Drill sergeant as a trainer Almost any cardiologist will tell you that once you reach a certain age you absolutely need to walk a mile or 2 every day and climb several flights of stairs. But none of them have ever thought about doing this while clambering over steel trusses 20 odd feet in the air while pushing or dragging 3 to 6  80 lb purlin in place My cardiologist would have heart failure just thinking about it.


All purlin are on top of the building now
 7 are welded in on 1 section and 3 welded in on the other section so I guess all in all I managed to get 5 welded in place today at times the wind did get bad enough to make me head for the ground but it mostly cooperated

[MattM]

That scares the bejeezus out of me seeing it get so far along without any x-bracing or wall panels up.  The wall panels prevent the poles from twisting.  If one goes you may loose the whole top.  They usually start putting them up before getting too crazy with the roof load.

[Frank S]

That scares the bejeezus out of me seeing it get so far along without any x-bracing or wall panels up.  The wall panels prevent the poles from twisting.  If one goes you may loose the whole top.  They usually start putting them up before getting too crazy with the roof load.

3 out of the 4 corners are tied solid 2 are tied to the top and bottom of the container
 the South west corner is a 7" sch 80 post tied to the crane mount at the half way point between the ground and the top
 Am I taking some chance at not having cabling braced from top to bottom? Yes of course I am. I'm hedging a bet on the weather of not getting a freak 12Inches of snow and 50 MPH winds with the load before I have the roof complete and the Hero column installed near the center of the East side which will be the basis for a 30 ton trailer rotisserie and having my 2 House hold goods trailers positioned against the South and East walls and those tied into the building as walls.
 Admittedly I do think I need to at least add some cables to the South East corner even if they are removed at a later date and I can add them to that corner now that there are enough purlin on the top of that section that the scaffold does not have to be pushed and pulled through that area. and the trailer project has been relocated out of the way which is now next tot eh container
 The container is not going anywhere it is sitting on 16 concrete pads and has 30,000 lbs of machinery inside. and 4 of the 5 columns on that side are welded to the top of it The school bus body is not tied to it and is just sitting on the top it really should be welded to the container but I'm not at all sure that I may not have to slide it about 6 inches to the east so there will be room for the door on the west side all of these things will have to be done before I get up there and sheet the  gables though

[Frank S]

Only 3 purlin left to weld in place then it is time to dig some holes and add some columns

[Frank S]

the last 3 purlin are welded in place and the bus scaffold is outside now time for something else
I'm preparing the base for the beam column that will be in the east wall. Later on more steel will be added to the column to make it the head piece for a rotisserie , which will also double as a weld positioner and an anchor post for frame pulling it will also the door stop for the double sliding 26 ft. door that will be on that side
 But I wanted to have an extremely solid embedded base under the column so I started by excavating a hole just over 6 feet deep or about a foot and a half into blueish white clay
.
 then dropped in 3 truck rims and used my plate packer to vibrate them into the floor

The worst thing was before I could even get started compacting I had to pull the carb off the engine and clean it as the last time I used it I forgot yo drain the gas and pour in a small amount of $30.00 a gallon stabilized chainsaw fuel then run the compactor a couple minutes on that stuff


As you might see the gin pole set up is proving to be quite the asset


dirt back filled and packed and scrapped away to expose the rims for welding a connecting beam to them

The connecting beam welding in place, more wheels and beams to be added tomorrow

[Frank S]

Had a little snow recently well close to 14 inches to be exact



Most of the snow was gone in 3 days and on the 4th all of it was gone in the 76° temp. we had that day.
had 2 clear days to get some work done then on Monday back down in the low 30s and rain most of the day rained off and on all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning then dropped to the low 20s before warming to the low 40s in the afternoon although a little windy.
This is what I am trying to get finished fabricating to go in the large hole I have dug
In the construction industry it could be called a HERO or HERCULES or Master column which is usually the strongest column in an building and may or may not have more than a single specific purpose.
Which this one will be and will have.
More that just being a column to support the near center of the end truss and to help prevent racking or twisting of the building in high winds. this column when calculated in conjunction of the to corner columns on the opposite end of the building form a triangle of support but this one will be employed to serve as the basis of a rotisserie or power end of a spit for turning trailer or other large items on their side or upside down this will also serve as a rotary positioner for fabrication of large weldments as well.
Given the nature of the future intended use and strength I wanted to build into the column I figured it would also be prudent to include a hard mount for future jib cranes to be swung from the column. Once the column is in place and later the corresponding tabernacle bracing which will run the length of the building connecting the trusses together and radiative bracing leading from the attachment point of the master column to the next truss I will be more than able to secure a pair of 20' long jib cranes from the hard mount I have fabricated, which will allow me to hang 2 ton hoists or larger from them. If I were to limit the length of the jib cranes to 12 feet or less I could safely install 4 ton hoists from them once every thing is tied together as I anticipate eventually doing.
Part of the reason for the elaborate pipe work on this column was due to the 12" beam I had planned to use turned out to be about 8 feet too short so I had to use my 10" beam which was only 19 lbs to the foot and only has a 4 inch flange making unsuitable as a standalone beam for the column without a lot of build up. Of course the face which will have the elevating power head would eventually have more structure added to it anyway but that would not ad sufficient section to the column to resist twisting forces and bending moments of jib cranes so other that the power head it would be little more than a glorified door stop
Now as it is with over 80 feet of 3 inch pipe welded to it I think all will agree I have accomplished 80% of what I was seeking with a safety factor of 2.5 or better