New shop at the soon-to-be-mine house in the country

[Kent A Bathurst]

Bill, not quite to Eaton Rapids. If you imagine a straight line heading East out of Charlotte, and a straight line running South out of Potterville, the new house would be pretty darn close to the intersection of those lines.

I like the area as well. A nice mix of "city" (theater, shopping, etc.) with a large dose of country peace. Easy to get pretty much anywhere from here.

Not to mention the annual Gizzard Fest in Potterville..........you forgot to mention that.

Lived for 12 years on S River @ Hamlin in Eaton Rapids. Cross S River, down the walkway, across the footbridge, and I was in Island Park. Cross one more footbridge, and I was at the hardware store.

[ray hampton]

keeping the posts dry will be hard to do if the rain or snow get blow in under the building

[Kevin Bourque]

The above suggestion (Kevin's) is quite good, as far as it goes. But it doesn't take into account building loads, i.e.: if the pole spacing of the building is different than the spacing of the footings, undue loads may be imparted on the laminated beam (the 3-2x12s). It also doesn't take into account live loads of your equipment. A 16' span is pretty far when loaded up with cast iron shop machines and other accoutrements of a wood working shop. If it were mine, I would plan for an additional beam down the center of the floor (to limit floor joist span to 8 feet. I think it's advisable to make at least a tentative layout of your shop and place additional footings.

Unless, of course, you plan on a cast-in-place concrete slab on grade, in which case you need only worry about supporting loads from the timber frame. But again, were it mine, I'd want a really nice wooden floor above grade, that I could insulate.

I neglected to mention that a center beam ( structural steel) should go down the middle of the building to support the floor load and any bearing wall loads.

[Zach Dillinger]

Well, I took delivery of the frame today. Got some pics of it and the site (gotta love the view!). Still working on the foundation, but the soil is very sandy and I'm leaning towards putting it up on skids. The long beams in the last photo are the new sills (the current sills have some rot and I want to replace them).

back view.jpgbench view.jpgdoor.jpgin pile.jpgon trailer.jpgspread out.jpg