I normally spend time over on the spinny folks forum but thought I would share my adventure. Earlier this spring I started building a new shop while a local builder built our house on the 2.4 acres we purchased last fall. I decided I would use a metal quonset for the outer shell. I purchased a 30' x 60' building with no end walls. I hired a contractor to pour the slab for me as I was too busy at work.
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The shop will have infloor heating as our winters here are quite cold.
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The build started by assembling the arches for the shell, 9 pieces per arch and 30 arches. I also bought the industrial base plates for the building which is much easier than forming a trough for the arches to sit in.
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Next it was time to erect the arches, the manufacturer's instructions were to use ropes and scaffolding to raise them. At 18' tall I thought there must be a better way to lift the arches than pulling them up on a rope while standing on scaffold. I came up with a spreader bar that attached to the bolts at the connections just above the lower bends. This allowed the use of an electric scissor lift to hoist the arches to vertical and move them into place.
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5820 bolts later we had all the arches in place.
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Next came the framing of the end walls. I chose 2x6 framing to allow for more insulation. The trick was how to attach the wood to the metal walls? I came up with a solution that used a 2x8 on edge that would be attached by screwing through the metal into the 2 x8. Once the framing was complete the walls were sheeted with 3/8" OSB. Stay tuned for Part 2 the inside......