New shop concrete poured

Re: stainless

Reed Gray

Well, I did see some of the green epoxy coated rebar in there for some vertical pieces, as well as what looked like stainless mats and tie wire.... I thought one of the reasons for not using stainless screws on boats for the submerged parts was because they corrode. They even replace screws and bolts in the life guard stations at my community center pool every couple of years due to corrosion. Maybe it depends on the mix and 'special' stainless....

robo hippy

Epoxy coated rebar

David Walser

The problem with epoxy coated rebar is that it the coating is often damaged as the rebar is put into place. Even a small pin-hole will allow water to reach the steel. Eventually, the rebar will start to corrode underneath the epoxy coating, and epoxy will start to bubble up along the length of rebar. So, at best, epoxy coatings only delay by a few years the inevitable.

But, generally, things aren't 'at best'. Rebar tends to be roughly handled when it's installed. Thus, instead of one or two small pin-holes, installers are apt to leave large gashes in the coating. In such cases, the epoxy coated rebar might not last any longer than galvanized rebar. Yet, it might give inspectors and project managers a false sense of security, so any damage might not be spotted as early or treated as aggressively as it otherwise would be.

Re: New shop concrete poured

John lucas

I would be concerned about machine vibration on a wood.floor, especially with the metal lathe.

Re: New shop concrete poured

Paul grover

I have a 10” south bend ,jet 16” lathe and a jet 15 “ planer never had an issue. I try to locate heavy machines directly above a furring strip.

Re: New shop concrete poured

Reed Gray

With my new shop, I have the lathe room on a concrete slab. The flat work room is framed floor, joists 16 inch on center with 1 1/8 inch ply, then hard wood floor. They did say I could go with joists on 24 inch centers, but I know better. I can make one of those floors bounce just walking on it...

robo hippy

Re: New shop concrete poured

Keith Newton

Dang, it seems like you just built a new shop only a few years ago. Are you a Nomad or something? Next time maybe you should just build a yurt that is more easily transportable.

I would never have guessed that there was so much knowledge about concrete on this site. Maybe Ellis ought to open a concrete message-board. I don't think I could add anything to what you guys have all covered about concrete unless you want to talk about countertops.

Re: New shop concrete poured

Roger

The floor in my 14x24 prefab shop is 4x4 stringers on 2' centers, 2x8 joists on 16" centers and two layers of 3/4" plywood on that. The whole works sits on coarse gravel 6" thick on a base of compacted shale 3' thick. My main lathe (home made) weighs just shy of 800 lbs. That plus my small Rikon and my old fat $%&@#, sets solid as a rock. An added benefit of the prefab is, if the wife runs me off, the shop goes along!!

Re: New shop concrete poured

mikeee12345

After reading this thread, with people building and moving their shops, it might be worthwhile to look at a Conex Storage Container to convert into a small shop. When you decide to move, you just pick up the entire Conex Container and move it and all of your shop equipment at one time to your new location.

portable shop?

John K Jordan

>>>with people building and moving their shops, it might be worthwhile to look at a Conex Storage Container to convert into a small shop.



I have some shipping containers for storage on the farm. Are the storage containers you mention similar? The shipping containers are 8' wide (one I use for hay storage is 8x8x40) and quit strong - the floor will support a fork lift.

However they are so narrow it would take some creativity to use for a shop. I know some have done so. Before moving one with lathe and bandsaw and such you might want to constrain things.

I know a guy who bought a portable building to use as a shop. Wood construction, easy to wire and light and strong enough for lathe, tablesaw, bandsaw, etc. His is 12'x40'. It would be more expensive to move across country but not locally. I had a 10x20 moved here recently and it was reasonable.

But most people don't move that often. For a shop, I'd personally far rather do like John L and pour a slab and put up a building.

JKJ

Re: portable shop?

mikeee12345

Just the thought of packing up the house, garage and shop to move to a new location is plenty of motivation to consider a mobile system. I guess sooner or later we could all migrate to a maker shop space if you lived close enough to one to make it practical. You could easily fabricate a doublewide Conex shop that bolts together and provides a wide open space in the central part of the structure. The company I work for has facilities around the world, many of these sites utilize shipping containers that are married together to create job site office areas, fabrication areas, welding shops, machine shops, break rooms etc. Whenever a large piece of equipment is shipped out in one of these one-way shipping containers they are quickly modified on site to be repurposed for various uses.

shipping containers as buildings

John K Jordan

Another thing farmers do is put two on the ground separated by some space, then put a roof over both and use the center as a drive through or wall in the ends.

If buying a shipping container, be careful with one made from steel. I've seen several with the top rusted out. Out of sight, out of mind, people don't keep the leaves and debris cleared off. Mine is all aluminum (except for a steel floor support and frame). Aluminum containers are, or at least used to be, harder to find and more expensive.

Ventilation is a problem with all of these, especially for hay storage, so I installed vents in the side and roof.

Another cheaper option might be a big rig trailer. I use a 45' long aluminum trailer with the wheels/carriage removed. They are also 8' wide but a big advantage over a shipping container is you can get them taller than 8' - mine is 9' high inside. Makes an excellent and inexpensive instant building (if you have a place to put it!)

You can sometimes find them insulated.

If using a portable/movable building of any type be sure to check with the zoning people. There are no zoning restrictions here on agriculture use (except for setback) but I think they are not permitted in some residential areas.

JKJ

Re: shipping containers as buildings

Mike Stafford

I don't recall his name at the moment but there was a member of WoW who did wonderful segmented work whose shop was either a shipping container or the trailer from a tractor trailer that had been taken off its axles.

My dad had the trailer box from a 40 foot trailer as the storage shed for his business. It was a real pain to find what you wanted in there and then maneuver it out.

A couple of shipping containers welded together would be as much shop area as I have now. Such a shop would serve a dual purpose as a work space and a kiln for drying wood as hot as it gets here.

Heating & Air Conditioning

Tom Colligan

John, have you decided on how you'll heat or cool your new shop?

As of yesterday.

John lucas

I went to a salvage shop to look at a bathroom Vanity my wife wanted. Got to talking to the guy because he also had several motorcycles. The conversation got around to my new shop and I mentioned that I was still trying to figure out heating. Next thing I know he is unpiling boxes and showed me a brand new Fridgadare heater/air conditioner. He had purchased it to use in the new store but ended up renting a different place that already had heat and air. Gave a price too good to pass up. Gonna pick those up Monday.