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Building a truck garage?

Started by Woodhauler, April 07, 2014, 01:36:47 PM

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Woodhauler

My truck is 45ft or so empty, so how big would you build it? We have harsh winters up here so i think frost walls are a must. Most likely have heat in the floor to. I think i will build a garage and stick to one truck for now. But.................. if the right deal comes up on a truck ,you never know. :laugh:
2013 westernstar tri-axle with 2015 rotobec elite 80 loader!Sold 2000 westernstar tractor with stairs air ride trailer and a 1985 huskybrute 175 T/L loader!

thecfarm

I would have a partial cement wall too,2-3-4 feet high. I would go with at least 2,keeps the water splatter off the sides. I would also bring in enough gravel to get the whole thing up in the air. Over the years it sure will settled down and not up. Heat in the floor is good,but I would want something with forced air too. Open up that big door and drive in a cold truck,that will take the floor heat some time to warm the place back up.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

PAFaller

Build way bigger than you think you need from the get go, its cheaper in the long run than adding on. The sawmill I cut for has room enough in the shop for a wood shop with a parts loft over top of it, then if you park everything right a skid steer, a Cat 920 Loader, and the L9000 log truck. And you can still work on the bench, use the press, the metal cutting bandsaw etc. I think the whole this is 80x120. They 'heat' it, I use that lightly as its warmer than outside but not toasty either, with a giant home built stove that will take 4 foot slab chunks. Another thing I like about theirs is there are big sliding doors on 3 of the 4 sides. makes it easier to get stuff out if you have something else in the way and torn apart.
It ain't easy...

LittleJohn

Quote from: thecfarm on April 07, 2014, 01:42:33 PM
I would have a partial cement wall too,2-3-4 feet high. I would go with at least 2,keeps the water splatter off the sides. I would also bring in enough gravel to get the whole thing up in the air. Over the years it sure will settled down and not up. Heat in the floor is good,but I would want something with forced air too. Open up that big door and drive in a cold truck,that will take the floor heat some time to warm the place back up.

You would be amazed how fast the air temperatures come back up after openign a door.  Now warming up that 10 tons of truck is where the problem might be!  Also make sure they slope the floor good, cause nothing worse than having large puddles to work in .  Alos, make sure you insulated edge of slab, don't want to have to break out the lawnmover in January, casue grass around the buling is nice and green.

The old man has a 4k sf garage (rough estimate of 100 tons of concrete in floor) heated to about 55F, with only in-slab and he pulls in tractors and duallies all winter long.  Its not livable or anything but its a nice temperature to work and tools don't stick to you hands.  It also takes about 2 days to heat up in the fall, but once its there it stays there.

Woodhauler

Quote from: PAFaller on April 07, 2014, 02:23:16 PM
Build way bigger than you think you need from the get go, its cheaper in the long run than adding on. The sawmill I cut for has room enough in the shop for a wood shop with a parts loft over top of it, then if you park everything right a skid steer, a Cat 920 Loader, and the L9000 log truck. And you can still work on the bench, use the press, the metal cutting bandsaw etc. I think the whole this is 80x120. They 'heat' it, I use that lightly as its warmer than outside but not toasty either, with a giant home built stove that will take 4 foot slab chunks. Another thing I like about theirs is there are big sliding doors on 3 of the 4 sides. makes it easier to get stuff out if you have something else in the way and torn apart.
I am thinking one big door for my truck, one small door for cars or pick up to come in. 60-70 ft long,and how ever wide it needs to be. Kinda putting the second truck on the back burner! Getting to old to lay around outside to work on stuff. Been paying a guy 75-100 bucks a weekend to wash, grease , change tires or whatever. I would do 95% of it myself if it was inside. Tinker and drink a few cold ones on the weekend!
2013 westernstar tri-axle with 2015 rotobec elite 80 loader!Sold 2000 westernstar tractor with stairs air ride trailer and a 1985 huskybrute 175 T/L loader!

Woodhauler

Quote from: LittleJohn on April 07, 2014, 02:41:25 PM
Quote from: thecfarm on April 07, 2014, 01:42:33 PM
I would have a partial cement wall too,2-3-4 feet high. I would go with at least 2,keeps the water splatter off the sides. I would also bring in enough gravel to get the whole thing up in the air. Over the years it sure will settled down and not up. Heat in the floor is good,but I would want something with forced air too. Open up that big door and drive in a cold truck,that will take the floor heat some time to warm the place back up.

You would be amazed how fast the air temperatures come back up after openign a door.  Now warming up that 10 tons of truck is where the problem might be!  Also make sure they slope the floor good, cause nothing worse than having large puddles to work in .  Alos, make sure you insulated edge of slab, don't want to have to break out the lawnmover in January, casue grass around the buling is nice and green.

The old man has a 4k sf garage (rough estimate of 100 tons of concrete in floor) heated to about 55F, with only in-slab and he pulls in tractors and duallies all winter long.  Its not livable or anything but its a nice temperature to work and tools don't stick to you hands.  It also takes about 2 days to heat up in the fall, but once its there it stays there.
Most likely will have a wood heater inside if insurance allows it. If not I would go with a boiler outside and heat house and garage.
2013 westernstar tri-axle with 2015 rotobec elite 80 loader!Sold 2000 westernstar tractor with stairs air ride trailer and a 1985 huskybrute 175 T/L loader!

47sawdust

You will never regret having a warm place to work.I have a 3 bay garage,much smaller than what you have in mind,The center bay has an Alaskan slab,side bays grade beam with crushed stone.The center bay is heated and is multi-functional.It is built similar to a monitor barn,gable roof on the center bay with shed roofs on the two side bays.
This is the time to do it as soon as the frost gets out of the ground.By next year at this time you will be wondering why you never did it sooner.
Good luck and have fun.
Mick
Mick
1997 WM Lt30 1999 WM twin blade edger Kubota L3750 Tajfun winchGood Health Work is my hobby.

snowstorm

you dont need frost walls and the price will go up quite a bit. a 40x60 would take 45 yds of crete. post it 16' with a 14x14 door with opener along with a smaller one. mine is 40x40 and it isnt quite long enought.

snowstorm

my slab is 6" thick and 12" around the edge. its going to crack they all do. when i did mine i rented a vibrating screed it gets the air entrapment in the crete way down making it stronger

snowstorm

another 30yds or so for frost walls with the footing then fill the inside will make for more hand work. then drainage around it

Woodhauler

If i keep the floor heated, imost likely won't go with frost walls. Had a couple of concrete guys already recommened the 12 inches around the edge and less in the middle. Going to measure my truck, it will be built 20 ft longer then my truck is. Like they say it costs twice as much to add on! If you are coming up snowstorm you can give me a price on my dirt work. I have gravel thats close ;D
2013 westernstar tri-axle with 2015 rotobec elite 80 loader!Sold 2000 westernstar tractor with stairs air ride trailer and a 1985 huskybrute 175 T/L loader!

snowstorm

will be over tomorrow will let you know when. the iveco guy is coming in the am

jwilly3879

Heated floors are nice to work on but in our cold climate any municipal garage I've seen with in floor has major condensation problems. Several people I know have abandoned the floor heat and gone to forced hot air. We just retrofitted our highway garage with spray foam insulation and supplemental forced air heaters. The infloor seems to evaporate any water on it quickly and raises the humidity plus there is very little air movement.

snowstorm

i have 2 modine heaters in mine and it works well. when i insulated the ceiling i used 3"foam with the fiber on bolth sides it was made by firestone. they use it on flat roofs with tar on it. it worked pretty good screwed to the trusses

Mark K

Our shop has heated floors. Big enough to park two tractor trailers in there side by side. Plus a tool room and a bathroom. One big door on one end and a 16ft door on the other. I would highly recommend another heat source. Open the big door on a below zero day and it takes a while to warm back up. We put two floor drains in. Ran 2" pvc line around the whole shop to run air lines off of. We put an air hose end on the air tanks of our trucks so if they do lose air from sitting in the shop we just hook an air hose up and build pressure. That way trucks arent idle in the shop. 
Husky 372's-385's,576, 2100
Treefarmer C7D
Franklin 405
Belsaw m-14 sawmill

Wellmud

I built a new shop about 7 years ago, 60x120 on 4 foot concrete walls with 4 overhead doors 12w x14h, a trench drain in the center of the floor, fully insulated walls and 12 inches in the ceiling with white metal on the walls and ceiling, with the downturn in the economy I had to halt spending on the building and never got a heating system installed, most winters the coldest it has gotten was 38 deg. but this winter (worst in several years) it hovered around 32 deg. for a couple of weeks. I really like the concrete walls and the trench drain, when I pull the trucks in, in the winter time the slop drains to the center and not toward my doors. The only thing that I would have done different would be to have gone with 14 x14 doors, 12 foot is wide enough but you have to pay attention to your mirrors.
Woodmizer LT35 manual, Kubota L3130, Farmi 351, Stihl 029 super, 3 Logrite canthooks

OntarioAl

Definitely go with the in floor heat.
1/ insulate, insulate, insulate (specially under the floor) its cheaper than fuel in the long run.
2/ put an air exchanger in to control humidity and freshen the air.
3/grade your floor towards the center of the shop and make a sump 12" wide x 2" deep maybe 1/2  the length of the building  cover it with grating. It will in addition to sockets, nuts and bolts it will collect water or any oil or fuel leaks. The hydro carbons can then be collected with spill cloth the water picked up with a shop vac.
4/70 F floor temp seems to be common locally
The local Chev Dealer has in floor heating that was designed for our climate which can be extreme with the opening and closing of doors and entry of frozen vehicles the
employees love it. But the system was designed and built to meet the job specs.
Al
Al Raman

Woodhauler

My neighbor has a truck garage, big enough for 3 tractor trailers, has heat in floor. Never seen a day it was below 60 in there . This is a working garage.
2013 westernstar tri-axle with 2015 rotobec elite 80 loader!Sold 2000 westernstar tractor with stairs air ride trailer and a 1985 huskybrute 175 T/L loader!

justincase

Built mine when I had a loader truck 75 by 30.  6 inch Slab on grade rebar 16 inch square. 6x6 posts every 8 feet with trusses 3 foot on center. Built a 30 by 16 shed roof on back and 75 by 16 shed roof down the side. Sold the truck 2 years ago and since have accumulated a lot of stuff. Just barely got my skidder in this week to work on it. No matter how big, it still isn't big enough. Concrete cost as much as all building materials for me. We milled a lot of materials ourself.

Autocar

I have some friends that park two knuckle boom trucks with pup trailers and a loader and skidder during mud season . It has 12 inches of cement with copper hot water heat in the floor . They heat it with a wood fired boiler thats made in New York state but did use a Greenwood boiler like mine. Take two loaded trucks and trailers covered with ice and snow by morning everything is as dry as a summer day. Temperature runs in the 70's during the coldest days. They also have a slight slope in the cement floor with drains running the length of the truck and trailer you never have to push any water off with a broom. Big dollars to build a building like that but sure bets laying on a peace of cardboard or tin like I do. I have a big pole barn I park my stuff in but thats about all you can say its a place to keep them dry.
Bill

Ken

I agree with the comments about the size.  Make it bigger than you think you need.  Also a slight slope on the floor with a drain in the middle would be a must.   Would this be wood framed or a steel building?   Concrete poured 2-4' above the floor would be good to reduce risk of fire when welding or torching.  I'm hoping to build a shop within the next couple of years and have also considered an outdoor boiler that could heat the shop and house that will also be built on that site. 
Lots of toys for working in the bush

Woodhauler

Quote from: Ken on April 07, 2014, 07:20:07 PM
I agree with the comments about the size.  Make it bigger than you think you need.  Also a slight slope on the floor with a drain in the middle would be a must.   Would this be wood framed or a steel building?   Concrete poured 2-4' above the floor would be good to reduce risk of fire when welding or torching.  I'm hoping to build a shop within the next couple of years and have also considered an outdoor boiler that could heat the shop and house that will also be built on that site.
I will be wood framed with steel inside and outside.
2013 westernstar tri-axle with 2015 rotobec elite 80 loader!Sold 2000 westernstar tractor with stairs air ride trailer and a 1985 huskybrute 175 T/L loader!

xalexjx

our shop is 42' x 68' with 16' ceilings, my garage at the house is 32x40 with 13'6" ceilings, Both have 4' of concrete wall inside and full frost protection (4ft), the garage at my house i have radiant heat with 2" foam underneath the slab, it is easy to heat but have to keep it at 68-70 deg or i have moisture problems, our shop we leave at 55 and the has a heat exchanger and we pull the trucks in there every night and wash them a few times a week and dont have close to the moisture i have in my garage. If i were building a new shop Id go same size but with a combo of infloor heat and forced air, because the heat loss when you open the doors and the temp gets down it takes a while for the radiant to catch up. Go plenty big the first time.  ;) (Both are heated by outdoor wood boiler)
Logging and Processed Firewood

Onthesauk

Floor drains if code lets you.  Drive in with the wheel wells packed with snow and then a nice warm shop, need somewhere for the water to go.
John Deere 3038E
Sukuki LT-F500

Don't attribute irritating behavior to malevolence when mere stupidity will suffice as an explanation.

Brian_Rhoad

If I was building a shop to work on trucks and equipment I would have a pit to work on the underside of the trucks.

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