Truck crashed into my new shop

[Sam Layton]

After living in California my entire life, we decided to move to Idaho. We found the perfect house in the country. However, it did not have a shop. So we built one. The contractor that built the house, built the shop, with the exception of the electrical. I did all of the electrical.

This is my dream shop. It is 35 X 50, 1750 sq feet. The shop progressed well. I was days away from final inspection. I had progress photo't, however they were lost. Part of my lot goes downhill. So I needed fill dirt. I hired a guy to deliver the dirt, and do the necessary tractor work.

The truck arrived, and dumped the first load. That is where things went terribly wrong. The driver was driving a high lift dump truck. He said he had 24 yards of fill dirt on board. I need a couple hundred yards. As the driver started dumping the dirt, the truck tipped over, and crashed into my shop. He hit about in the center of the garage door. The shop held the bed of the truck up, but it was very unstable. For size reference, the shop door is 14 ft X 14 ft. Thus far, the trucking companies insurance company has been very responsive. Hopefully, my shop will be put back together soon.

Sorry about the photo, I could not rotate it.

IMG_1183.jpg

[Erik Loza]

Wow, just wow....

Back when I was in retail management, one of the stores I was based at took truck deliveries in front. A big-rig w/ liftgate would back up to the front of the store, then offload the pallets there. This particular store was in a strip mall, which had a covered sidewalk in front, with these vertical coulumns for support. Anyhow, this one time, the driver missed or whatever and backed the truck right into one of those columns. I was in the back of the store and thought we had an earthquake. The whole building shook. No idea how much or if permamanent damage was done but building managment had to come inspect it. Crazy how a vehicle moving maybe 1-2mph can still wreck a standing structure. Glad there were no injuries.

Erik

[glenn bradley]

I feel so much better about my lot in life. Thanks for taking the brunt of some of Murphy's wrath. Glad the insurance folks are actually doing something and hope things get back on track soon.

[Andrew Hughes]

Well that's terrible Sam, I hope you get it fixed up better than new.And that's more than a scratch on a new table saw top.I enjoy see creekers new shops The space you created sounds perfect.

[mreza Salav]

Think of it this way, be glad nobody was hurt. Stuff can be fixed. I know this is little comfort at this point but It shouldn't be too bad to fix it.

[John McClanahan]

Wow, at least the door header stopped the trailer. That could have been far worst.


John

[Peter Aeschliman]

Bummer... any other damage to the structure? Or was it just contained to that area?

[Stan Krupowies]

Glad nobody was hurt! Could have been a whole lot worse. Looks like a little "duck" tape and she'll be good as new!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Wow! As stated by others, glad nobody was hurt!

[Charles Lent]

I think you should report this to your own insurance company too. They won't want to insure the building if it isn't repaired properly, so they will likely help you get it repaired correctly, even to the point of going after the trucking company's insurance company if they don't fix it right and completely. The trucking company is entirely at fault, so it should be repaired "better than new" at their insurance company's expense. If you need temporary storage space and associated moving expenses for your shop contents, they should cover this too. You might even get "business loss" coverage to make up for lost ability to work in the shop during this and the follow on repair, if you push for it, but try to be nice to the Trucking Company so they will bring the rest of the dirt that you need.

Those trucks will tip easily if the ground under the rear wheels isn't almost perfectly level side to side when they lift the bed up high. The truck driver should have known this and positioned the truck better before attempting to dump the load.
Please keep us posted and take more pictures as this progresses.

Sorry that Murphy was working at your shop that day.

Charley

[Peter Kelly]

IMG_1148.jpg

From the thread title, I envisioned a pickup truck had just bonked into the garage door.

Hope it gets straightened out soon.

[Rick Potter]

Hang in there Sam, it's gonna be OK.

Now, we are all waiting for the upcoming shop tour.

[Mike Henderson]

Wow, that's quite a story. I hope everything comes out okay for you.

Mike

[John K Jordan]

Oh my, glad you were not in the shop at the time!! (and the driver didn't get hurt) I suspect the insurance will pay to put it back to new without any argument.

I've bought hundreds of tons of gravel with trucks usually hauling about 24 tons per load. Some drivers are more careful than others! I had one rightly decline to dump a load where I wanted it because of the same issue - the chance of tipping over!

JKJ

[Garth Almgren]

Wow, at least the door header stopped the trailer. That could have been far worst.

It does illustrate how strong those headers really are!