On Wed, 15 Aug 2012 17:34:09 -0500, Roy
wrote:

On Tue, 14 Aug 2012 17:28:43 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:52:03 -0500, Roy
wrote:

Hi Larry. I was hoping you'd stick your oar in the water over this..

Huh? We're building docks now? I thought it was shop buildings.


SWMBO has finally retired and we're fixin' to abandon Houston and move to the
mountains of eastern Tennessee. The place we bought has a 5 year old metal
barn, aka, The Shop. The shop is 38x40 with 14 feet to the joists and has 8
large skylight panels in the metal roof. The former owner blocked off four of
these because it overheated the barn in the summer. There is an insulated room
about 12x20 in the back left corner of the building.

Unblock them and add opaque filters (white corr. fiberglass?) under
the skylights. It will give you the light without the heat. Be sure
to match up the position in the inner building's roof to let the light
into your environmentally controlled space.

I've been pondering how best to get the light down to the working space. I will
take a good look at what this entails when I get up to the new place. I would
love to have all the natural light I can get.

Have you talked with any of the steel building manufacturers about it
yet? The guys at FutureSteel were great to talk to, giving me all the
info I asked for, and then some. I decided against buying a building,
though. (no cashish)

I have not contacted the builder yet as I don't know who it is. All the
documents and drawings were left at the house and I have not been there since
the previous owners moved. I'll get up there in another few weeks though and
contact the builders.



I plan to heat with propane and install a/c in the shop area. I have not decided
how much square footage to convert to the shop, but will probably keep one bay
(13x38) unconditioned to store trailer, mowers, tractor, etc. I won't be there
until the middle of next month, so that's about all the info I can supply

Or maybe go with an inexpensive heat pump setup? Set the condenser
unit outside both buildings with a lean-to over it for added lifetime.

I'll have to work the numbers and see which is going to be cheaper. My Mom, who
lives about 8 minutes from the new place has this setup.

Find a place who will wholesale a system to you and then use one of
their guys (off the clock) to do the connection/evac/fill of freon for
you. It's easy enough to do the rest yourself. I saved a few hundred
by running the 240v to the disconnect and installing attic lighting
for my VERY short attic where the HVAC unit went, but I had them
install the thing.


So what is the best way to insulate this thing so the walls don't rust? Closed
cell spray foam? False wall with batt insulation and gap between it and the
metal siding? Other???

False wall/inside building would be my choice (wood's cheap here) with
2x8 or 2x10 ceiling & wall thicknesses. Use the top, under the metal
shell, for storage of your extra "stuff."


I shudder at heating costs with 14 foot ceilings. I'm willing to replace the
existing room walls if that is needed. That room needs more outlets anyway.
Maybe I'll only ramp the heat level up to minimum gluing temperature in the
winter, say 55-60F (13-16C, Jeff) .

Why limit yourself? With thick walls in the insulated space (say,
half the shop and 10' tall?), enviro costs will be minimal.


This new shop is the first time I've owned
anything with a metal skin, outside of my pickup truck and BBQ smoker. Couple
of my old trucks could have been mistaken for a smoker.

Metal roofs and buildings are said to have 50 year lifetimes. YMMV.

Thanks to everybody who piped in on this thread. Lots of things for me to think
about while I'm packing stuff.

Let us know what you decide on once you actually see the new place. I
have friends in D.C. who are retiring to their folks' place in
Tennessee when they retire. He's been with the gov't for 29.5 years
and was retiring in November. In May, the personnel office called him
and said "Oops. We made several tiny mistakes about 30 years ago.
Unfortunately, you don't -have-a retirement plan." I'm hoping to hear
that he got it straightened out, but he hasn't emailed that to me yet.
sigh This ought to be high on the list of "Reasons to go Postal",
huh?

--
Make awkward sexual advances, not war.