new barn/workshop: the easy half is finished!

[brenthenze]

All,

Thought some of you might like to see pictures of the new barn/workshop as it goes up. So far I'm about halfway done, but it's the easier half: the slab (which I hired someone else to do), the walls, and the second story floor (aka first story ceiling joists). Three trusses are up, but there are some problems with the trusses (#1 problem: they're manufactured about 1" too wide for the building, and not all the breaks line up), so I'm working with the manufacturer on whether to have them all replaced or whether the problems can be remedied on-site. Hopefully that'll be resolved shortly so that we can get it dried in before September. (Unfortunately, school starts next week, so my available time is going to be greatly reduced from here on out!)

Without further ado, here are some pics (see more on my gallery space, or even more at my Kodak Gallery website here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePh...7_510904687605 ):

1. Some friends helping me frame the walls:



2. Me standing in the 9' opening for the double doors:



3. The walls go up...


4. The I-joists go up (that's me on the ladder):



5. The trusses get dragged onto the deck:



6. The first three trusses in place:



7. Here's a drawing of the finished product (fingers crossed). Obviously, the big hole at the top won't be there, and I'm still deciding whether to go with shingle or metal roof, but this gives the basic idea:


Cheers,

Brent

[nelsone]

Great looking project! Hopefully I'll get a "real" shop one day. Until then, I'll just enjoy watching everyone else build theirs!!!

[PChristy]

Great looking shop/barn - hope you get things straighten out with the trusses - send pics of the finished work

[TracyP]

You are gonna have a very nice shop there. I am turning all of the shades of green that there are, envy green that is
Keep the pics coming so we can drool.

[RandyJ]

Nice progress on the shop, Brent. Notice I didn't say barn? That's because we all know there will be very few animals and more tools in there.
You may have mentioned dimensions in another thread but my advanced CRS has kicked in. What size is it?
Keep the pics coming!

[jeff...]

Wow a new shop look at that, looking real good. I see a lot of steel in there... I guess I'm wondering why?

[Bas]

Brent, that is going to be one nice shop! But, without knowing the dimensions, I still predict it's going to be 10% too small

Thanks for sharing the pics, looking forward to seeing the finished product!

[Jon]

Looks Great Brent. How big will it be when Finished?

[Gotcha6]

Brent, is there any flexure in the Gambrel trusses? I'm thinking you may be able to put a stiff knee or jack in the center & pick the trusses up then fasten them to the plates. Otherwise, I'd just use a longer hurricane clip & let the boxing take care of it.
BTW, good looking shop. I'd say Bas' estimate about undersizing is a little low, though.

[brenthenze]

The dimensions are 24'x30 (so...let's see...carry the two...that's 720 s.f. on the ground floor). The gambrel roof upstairs is designed to allow pretty good storage space upstairs, too--at the peak, the ceiling is about 9' high, and it's just over 6' high at the pitch break. The "walkable" width (from pitch break to pitch break) is about 14', with another few feet on each side for shorter storage.

Gotcha6: you mentioned trying to flex the trusses. We tried to do that, but they're very stiff. They could probably be forced mechanically so that the heels rested on the deck, but only at the expense of distorted roof line at the breaks. Flexing them would work if the problem had developed during shipping or installation (since we'd be forcing them back *into* their correct profiles). Unfortunately, the errors occurred during manufacturing, before the gussets were installed. The members were batch cut (of course), and they appear to be correct. The problem is the joints. The assemblers evidently didn't pay very close attention to the joints before adding the gussets--there are several joints with gaps of up to 1/4", which causes two problems. First, it slightly changes the angles of the joints (which, over many trusses, will distort the roofline and cause the position of the breaks to not line up properly). Second, two or three of those little gaps add up to between 1/2" and 1" of overhang. (The feet are all between 24'-1/2" and 24'-1-1/2" apart). The feet are only about 3-1/2" wide, and the engineer says we need at least 3" on the wall. So we can just get there with the smallest of the trusses, but the other ones won't budge without mechanical assistance, which changes the position of the breaks.

The current plan, I think (I'll know soon), is to "widen" the deck by adding stock (probably just a 1x6) to the side of the building, flush with the ledger upon which the truss foot rests. We'll probably add it just to one side (the side where we'll add the additional shed roof anyway), then line up the trusses flush with other side. The additional material will provide sufficient support for the otherwise overhanging truss foot.

That doesn't completely solve the problem, since we still have the matter of the uneven angles to contend with. (Even with only three trusses up, it's clear that the profiles aren't all correct.) To remedy this problem, the manufacturer is recommending that we erect all the trusses, then scab on additional 2x4 stock alongside the short top chords to bring them all in line with the tallest of them. (Essentially, we're reproducing the correct profile onto to incorrect ones.)

I should say here that the manufacturer (or at least the local rep) has been pretty good about this. He recognized the problem, agreed with me that it was a manufacturing error, and agreed that if we need to get the whole shebang remanufactured from scratch, they'll do it. He and I would both like to avoid having to remove all the trusses from the building. (I had five friends come help me hoist them onto the deck; I don't relish the idea of having to take them off, even if the manufacturer agrees to hire me a crane to do so.) The mfr also is (of course) willing to pay for whatever material and labor is needed to correct the problem on site, and they'll replace the trusses even after we try the on-site method if I decide that we have to do so. So, though this part of the process has been frustrating, I think they've at least been dealing fairly with me so far (and I trust that that'll continue to be the case). I'm still wishing that I'd just gone with the original plan and manufactured the trusses myself. The barn plans came with instructions for doing so, and I'd been looking forward to doing it. But when I went in to Stock to order the I-joists, I learned that manufactured trusses would have cost about the same as making them myself, and I couldn't justify building them myself (and having to get a NC engineer to wet stamp the plan, as the inspector required) for about the same cost as getting manufactured trusses. Oh well...next time!

[brenthenze]

Originally Posted by Bas

Brent, that is going to be one nice shop! But, without knowing the dimensions, I still predict it's going to be 10% too small

Thanks for sharing the pics, looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Bas, I absolutely agree. Don't tell my wife, but I'm already secretly planning to add another (enclosed) wing on the *other* side of the building for use as a finishing room and to hold the DCS and air pump in a couple years....

[junquecol]

With trusses being an engineered assembly, I would insist that they be replaced. If you "jury rig" them, what happens after the first big blow? Who is then going to have to bear the replacement costs of damage? They should be able to have another set to you in less than a week. This is a cost of doing business. Remember that you had to pay for them with 100% good money, so expect a 100% good product.

[Mike Wilkins]

Looking good so far. Looks like a nice-sized space to make some sawdust. Let us know when you are finished so we can come over and drool all over the place. Mike.