Shop on the cheap?

[intrex]

Hey Everyone, 

 

I have completely out grown my parking pad as a smithy and my wife is getting a little sensitive about having the anvil, forge and pole vice sitting in the driveway :).  The neighbors have been stopping bye to see what is going on and I am sure someone is going to add a no smithing policy to the HOA if I don't do something in the near future.  

 

I have plenty of land in the backyard and am just starting to think about how to setup a shop.  I just smith as a hobby and have no plans in the near future to try to make money off of my work.  With family and my business I don't have time to build the shop myself and am looking for the most economic route to get something functional built.  I would love to have a power hammer and some larger equipment at some point but I don't see that happening unless I move to a new place that already had a proper shop on premise.  I was thinking I could get away with dirt or aggregate floor and a simple metal building.  Security isn't much of a concern where I am located.

 

Thanks for any input,  

[ThomasPowers]

Pole Barn or "loafing sheds"  the big box stores have kits for them but I did mine MUCH cheaper by scrounging hail damaged metal roofing, free used utility poles form the local co-op and used metal trusses off of craigslist.  (Bought my SDST metal screws and the purlons new I'm sad to say)  Even the roll up doors were used.

[Roy Ubu]

Teepees are nice work spaces, although your wife/neighborhood association may associate them with "undesirable" counterculture types. Pole buildings are pretty easy. My 34x22, slab floor, salvage metal roof, salvage windows and doors, rough sawn lumber and poles from my property cost me about $3000 and I had fun building it.

[ThomasPowers]

My 20x30' with 10' walls and a sand/gravel floor (courtesy of the local arroyo) was under US$1000

[Steve Sells]

I second the idea of going to a big box store and buy a prefab or kit,  you spend one day total for shopping/assembly and its finished ! they look even better when ya paint them to match your home. Neighbors do not think about it except yard tools when they see it.

[Bruno C.]

Intrex,  have  you thought about using one of them Home Depot style Car Ports ?  The aluminum ones, with no walls, and just a roof.    I figure if you get one large enough, and add a few walls using plywood or whatever,  or strategically placed vehicles to keep prying eyes away.  You can probably have something done for $1000 or less.   Slab is optional.

 

Or you can cement down some nice 4x4's, and throw a roof and walls on it and call it a shed.  The Neighbours can mind their own bizness.

 

Just a thought.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

All mine cost was some welding wire through the MIG.

The walls are freestanding, have withstood 50 mph winds,portable, and have tons of storage space.

The floor is made from railroad tie plates flipped upside down.

You could skin the walls with something the housing Nazis (oops-did I say that out loud) would like better.

[Charles R. Stevens]

In my neck of the woods, the companies that sell and install fre standing carports have different styles and add ons for enclosing them, I would recommend insulation as the sum hurtling an uninsulated roof will make it an oven, and the cools nights will lead to condensation. As far as least expensive, have some one else build it that's my recommendation. All the low buck alternative materials will eat you alive if your paying labore, especially to a contractor.

[VaughnT]

Living in a nice neighborhood with an HOA and the like, I would strongly urge you to put up a pre-fab building that looks nice.  The less reason you give the neighbors to complain, the better your life will be.  Nobody minds looking out their back door and seeing the neighbor's shed if it's a pretty one!

 

Personally, I'd look into horse 'run in' sheds.  They are designed with higher ceilings so the horses don't bump their heads and they give you at least three sides enclosed.  You can add doors later if theft isn't a real issue in your neck of the woods.  

 

They make a great place to store lawn equipment and smithing stuff. 

[Charles R. Stevens]

Vaughn, don't let Linda see that! She's will insist on having 1/2 a dozen!

[notownkid]

Just what I had built for my new shop except it's 16x20 and 2  4' rolling doors on the end nothing on the side because of snow falling.  Steeper metal roof line. 

 

I have 2 others larger for other shops or storage on the farm.  Faster to build,(2 1/2 days in our case) a lot less expensive than standard construction.       

[old rascal]

If you're looking for building materials at a great price look for building material auctions. I bought my siding, roofing, beams, and miscellaneous for my shed at a small fraction of what it would have cost at a big box store.

Here's one in your area.

 

http://www.peakauction.com/?page=schedule

[intrex]

I think I finally have a space worked out that would be perfect for the shop.  it is going to take a litlte bit of grading and cutting down some trees but it is completely tucked away.  I like the idea of the run in shed Vaughn but if I get that the wifes horse fever is going to go berserk.  Thanks for the auction site old rascal.  I will try to make it out to charlotte to check that out.  I am always looking for remodeling supplies for the house and the kitchen is next on the list.  it looks like they had a ton of kitchen cabinets from the pictures on their site. In the meantime I am going to be trolling craigslist to see if anything interesting pops up for trusses or building supplies. 

 

Thanks for all of the input, 

[DSW]

Around here there are a lot of prefab shed builders that make units very similar to what Vaughn posted. Some have wood floors, some open like the one he shows. They just bring them in on a roll back and drop them in place, or roll them over the yard on pipes. Many styles and designs to choose from.

 

 

Shipping containers also make great sheds, especially the 8 x 20  1/2 sized ones. The HOA may have issues with them. I was surprised to find out however that my local township doesn't treat them any differently than a normal shed, even if they are a bit ugly.

[intrex]

Thanks DSW, 

 

The shipping container is an intersting idea.  I will have to look into that as well. 

[DSW]

Take off truck boxes are another option if you don't mind being a bit "redneck". I have a small all alum Uhaul body off a small Ranger that makes a really nice 6x5 water tight "shed". I've seen plenty of guys pick up old roll door truck boxes from the scrap yard or used truck place when guys buy old box trucks and then want to convert them to flat beads or tank trucks.

 

Containers have sort of replaced old box trailers from 18 wheelers in many places due to how easy and plentiful containers are, however A box trailer has wheels and is mobile if needed in the future possibly.

[intrex]

After looking at all of the options I am leaning towards a tall 20 foot shipping container.  The location that I wanted to put the shop is going to be a nightmare to clear and it occured to me that I would only need to cut down the trees down to the ground and then build four concrete footers for the four corners of a container.  I have a friend that has a crane and said he could place it on the footers for me :).  I will need to do some modificatons to it (doors, windows and paint) to make it acceptable to the wife but I think I can do those on my own.  People are doing some crazy things with shipping containers and I have seen some really interesting designs.  The hardest part is probably going to be building a hood for the forge and getting electricity to it.  i will probably just end up running an extension cord just for the blower at first as that is exaclty what I am doing now.  The really cool thing is that if I end up needing more space I can just buy another one and put it on top of the existing one or right next to it then cut holes in them to join the space.  The cheapest I have been able to find so far is aout 2k but for ease of install and what I would get in the end I think it makes the most sense.  It is probably going to take several months before I can get everything together but I will post pictures once it is all setup.  

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

You will find that the 40' containers go for about the same price as a 20'. The 20's are up there because construction companies can toss one on a backhoe trailer, and they are only around 4k# empty. There is just more demand for the 20's in urban areas too. If your ypu can swing a 40', I'd go that route.

[bikecopXXX]

I vote with Vaughn on this one. the HOA will end up being a PITA (feel free to add other acronyms as applicable)
I would clear the container with them beforehand or they will make your life miserable. Yes i know from experience. Some Architectural committee folks with nothing else to do and newfound power will relish the idea of putting a lien on your property until you toe the line.

[johan1212]

the shipping container being all metal and not on the ground will act like a big sounding box ,like a guitar body and evry blow you hammer will sound out loud and clear. I would look at the pre fab sheads and set up on the ground to keep noise down. for the cost of a shipping container you can get a nice big well finished shead with windows and doors.

[SIlverSmelter]

im currently working on getting a car port style smithy it is 21x20x8 it was less than 2k that also includes the sides tin plus install. i was going to leave the gables open for temp. just throwing that out there cause you were looking at the container which is only like 8ft wide i think. i dont know what for rough lumber you can get a hold of but i figured less than 200 for each gable when i want to close it in. just my two cents for what its worth.

[Old Sneelock]

I bought a 10x16 shed with an 8' door for about $2700.00. Had it delivered and was ready to go the next day.
I'm finishing off the inside with a concrete paver floor and cement board walls for fire resistance.

[intrex]

Hey Everyone, 

 

I can't believe it has taken so long to get all of the regulations worked out.  I have been talking to city and county planners/permiting officers for probably a month now.  Everyone kept directing me back to someone else or wouldn't get back to me for week.  In the end it looks like somehow I wouldn't be violating any codes or need any permits to use the shipping container as a shop.  Of course I will need to get it inspected for electrical but that looks like the gist of it.  The main reason I was interested in the container is because it can be placed in the location I want to put the shop by simply cutting down a few trees, building 4 footers and then getting a crane to drop the container on the footers.  If I go with a traditional shop I will need to cut down the tress grind down the stumps or have them completely removed grade the entire plot and probably build a retaining wall.  Just getting the area prepted would cost more than the entire container build.  

 

It looks like venting the container and vibrations from the anvil are going to be my main issues.  I am planning to use a plasma cutter to put windows and a main door on the shop and cut a 22" hole in the roof for the forge vent.  I am still toying with the idea of putting a leaning roof off of the container where I could keep the anvil, pole vice and forge.  That would mean that I would store most of my tools in the container.  I was really trying to get out of the business of having to move all of my tools everytime I started up and shutdown the forge but it may not be possible with my current setup.  

 

Thanks for all of the ideas and input as the saga continues

[ThomasPowers]

May want to think about summer/winter set ups and only shift your anvil twice a year...

[DSW]

Might work to locate where you want to put the anvil and just pour a 5th footing for that. If you can locate things well in advance you might be able to do so before you set the box. If not, if you have already prepped the hole in the right location, you can cut the floor there and pour the footing level with the rest of the floor.

 

 

I know I could make something work before they set the box, but not seeing the site conditions or knowing your skill set, it's hard to make a call without more info.