Garage/Workshop Build

[Henro]

I laid down 'ice and water shield' on 100% of my house addition back in 2014. while 'code' says only required for the first 3' (ice dam protection...), decided to protect the ENTIRE roof, cost was minimal compared to alternatives like 'tar paper' that WILL blow off during a bad rainstorm....
For my 24by24 garage the 'experts' said only 3 roof vents needed. I had to add 2 MORE,even then it's still dang HOT in the attic area. I also have 100% continuous soffit venting,something else 'they' said wasn't necessary(same cost BTW).

I did the same when I re-shingled my home built house around 16 years ago. I needed immediate protection after stripping the old shingles off. Being mostly a one man show putting the new shingles on, it took time to get it done. Also my roof pitch is low, at 3 in 12, another reason.

BUT that stuff is NOT cheap. Price is the disadvantage. Otherwise it is great stuff. I had a footprint of roughly 30x80, plus 2’ overhangs. Happy I spent the money though. Since that product has a sticky bottom, it performs as good as a finished roof until you get the shingles in place.

 

[awesome]

This was a lot harder than i thought. After the 1st gable, I decided to get anothet set (4 sets actually) of scaffolds. Them the other gable was easier. Tomorow we're gonna get the rest of the trusses up and I hope to be able to get the first row of sheating on both sides.

My new neighbour is a truss installer. How convenient! I asked him if he can sell his brain, not necessarly his muscles, for tomorow. I'm gonna have 6 guys here to help out. We've got muscles and we have brains (we're a bunch of computer geeks), but we don't have the brains required to do this. To anyone reading this and attempting to do the same: you need scaffolds, you need someone that knows how this works. There are many mistakes you can do that can be either costly or dangerous. It's really dangerous, I'm not kidding!

I almost broke an arm today when one of the gable fell and squeezed my arm between the plate and the gable. Fortunately, my father in law was able to retain the truss. But if it went 1ft more down, that would've been a broken arm.

But satisfaction is at 100% today.

 

[Jsjac]

The '35 year' shingles on my roof lasted about 7 and 1/2. went to steel(Hy-Grade) for $2K, back in 2014.
2 reasons to buy steel
1) it's the LAST roof YOU have to put on YOUR house
2) it APPRECIATES in value, when you sell the house.

ANY kind of self-sealing covering 100% of the roof sheathing is a good investment

I think the best part of a steel roof is that it's self bailing. Meaning I no longer have to shovel snow off the roof.

It is a lot easier to move the snow at ground level.

 

[Thunder chicken]

One issue I’ve seen with metal roofs is, and it’s likely due to our extremes of weather up here…. (-40c to +40c) the metal expands and co reacts just enough, screws will work loose, rubber washers will fail or if not installed properly will fail. I know one guy who has had to re-screw his roof a few times. He claims the mfr had a lifespan on the screws of 7 years if I remember right….. plus they get dented with hail….. valleys can be a pain with snow sliding tearing the ribs apart. Snow sliding off needs to be planned for with roof rakes or knowing what’s in the path!

 

[Jsjac]

One issue I’ve seen with metal roofs is, and it’s likely due to our extremes of weather up here…. (-40c to +40c) the metal expands and co reacts just enough, screws will work loose, rubber washers will fail or if not installed properly will fail. I know one guy who has had to re-screw his roof a few times. He claims the mfr had a lifespan on the screws of 7 years if I remember right….. plus they get dented with hail….. valleys can be a pain with snow sliding tearing the ribs apart. Snow sliding off needs to be planned for with roof rakes or knowing what’s in the path!

We have a standing seam metal roof with no exposed screws.

 

[awesome]

So my neighbour (the guy that installs trusses for a living) came to help us today. He made us tear down everything we did yesterday. Haha. I wasn't laughing at first, but seeing the results now, I realize: wow: this guy knows his job! Look at the result:

I was so impressed to look at him doing this. I had 6 guys here to help me but I would've been fine with just 2 guys if I knew we'd get his help. 100% satisfaction today.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

gee that's purdy !!!!
Bet he got you to install the rear truss, then lay them upside down, flip,nail, repeat until all done ?
some will preinstall peak 'blocking so truss is nailed onto the last 'blocking',poof,poof, done.
Sure is a pretty spot, but you'll need to trim the lower branches on the right. (yeah ANOTHER job on the 'todo' list.

 

[awesome]

We built a temporary beam that goes lenght-wise. Then lifted all trusses up and that created a "floor" on which we could work. He sheated both gables, attached the overhangs on the gable and 2nd truss then flipped it. All of this on the truss bed. Did that on both ends and then we fliped the rest.

I checked this morning and everything is perfectly square. It's impressive.

What I've learned in this is that it's ok if things don't add up perfectly. You also need to correct small errors. I would have expected that all trusses would be perfectly 24" appart, there was a 1/4 off between the two last we did. And it was all so natural for him to measure each sheets needed instead of just assuming they'd land perfectly on 24" each time. This changes the way I think about this stuff. It's better to know how to correct errors as you go than to try to make everything perfect. Because wood is not perfect.

 

[Old_Paint]

haha. I know I can do everything even the concrete floor (with the help of my dad who's in the trade). But soffit is just a PITA. I don't have the patience nor the proper tools.

Thanks @top gnome . Yeah, I mostly did that for the looks. It's gonna be a real challenge to do. I am not at all in the construction business, this is a big project for me.

@rc51stierhoff : You're right, it's gonna be tight. But our car garage is 20' deep and I can do it. Not easily but good enough.

@GreensvilleJay : I stacked them this way on purpose to prevent them to twist. I moved all of it in the car garage now, but stacked the same way. I didn't wanna leave that OSB in the weather.

Didn't know there were any special tools needed for soffit. Did my first ever vinyl siding when I built my shed last year. I think the most advanced tool I used when I did the soffits was my angle grinder with a cut-off wheel in it for making cleaner cuts on the vinyl, and a pair of snips to make a couple notches on each piece to let me access the screws. More than one person has asked me who did my vinyl.

I even made my own trusses. I elected to go with a metal roof, and sorta wondering why you didn't too, considering all the snow you deal with. Snow slides off metal roofing a lot easier than it does off shingles. That gets a lot of weight off that roof.

 

[awesome]

You only need special tools if you do it from flat stock. If you buy the pieces pre-made it's more expensive. But you still need to use flat stock if you wanna do anything fancier like boxes on the corners.

The reason I went with shingles is cost and also because I wanna match my house. I'm installing the same siding, same window colours etc. Shingles are a pain to get up the roof tho. But once that's done, it will be easy (scary, but easy)

 

[Dieseldonato]

Hmm prices must have went way up from last year on metal roofing.
Any way, shop is looking good. Must say I'm a bit green with envy, lol.

 

[awesome]

Electrical is done. I have 2x 20amps circuits for all outlets. 1 15amp for lights and 1 30amp for the heater (5000w)

If you see somethong wrong, please let me know. The big cable is still not connected up in the house panel. I should be ready for this now

I buried the cable with some special indicator tape

 

[GreensvilleJay]

you asked....
1) no cable clamp on the main feed entering the box
2) no main feed breaker or disconnect
3) no cover over the 'black wire buss'
4) no spare circuits available
5) ground and neutral are supposed to be disconnected
6) no mounting screw top center
7) main feed cable should be pulled back(out), goes with #1
8) foreskin needs to be cut of the orange wire

9) tidy up the wiring,

remember you asked ...

 

[awesome]

you asked....
1) no cable clamp on the main feed entering the box
2) no main feed breaker or disconnect
3) no cover over the 'black wire buss'
4) no spare circuits available
5) ground and neutral are supposed to be disconnected
6) no mounting screw top center
7) main feed cable should be pulled back(out), goes with #1
8) foreskin needs to be cut of the orange wire

9) tidy up the wiring,

remember you asked ...

Thanks!
Here are my answers:
1: right, but the cable is a direct burial and has internal metal shielding. So it's protected.
2: the panel doesn't have this. I'm gonna check if it's code. And add a switch.
3: what? There was no cover that came with the panel. Never seen such coverw either
4: meh ...
5: but ... I wont get electricity if I do that. Not sure I understand
6: will add one
7: makes sense
8: I did clean up those things after taking the photo
9: absolutely.

 

[awesome]

BTW, I should mention that this will all get inspected by an electrician friend of mine. But I appreciate comments I get here too so that I'll look smarter when he gets here to inspect

 

[Mrlunchbox]

Thanks!
Here are my answers:
1: right, but the cable is a direct burial and has internal metal shielding. So it's protected.
2: the panel doesn't have this. I'm gonna check if it's code. And add a switch.
3: what? There was no cover that came with the panel. Never seen such coverw either
4: meh ...
5: but ... I wont get electricity if I do that. Not sure I understand
6: will add one
7: makes sense
8: I did clean up those things after taking the photo
9: absolutely.

Other than cleaning up the wiring, IE cutting back the Romex sheathing to about a quarter inch inside it seems ok. Sub panel does not require a disconnect at the subpanel. Ground and neutral should not be bonded which it appears it is not here. Your main panel would have a bonded neutral and ground. Extra circuits for a sub panel is also not required. As far as covering the buss, again main panel stuff. Sub panel like this is different. However NEC is about to change again so who knows what kind of updates they'll put it in. What it comes down to, especially if you don't have to meet any code, is making sure nothing will cause a fire. Other than cleaning it up nothing screams out. Just remember clamps and no more than 1/4" of sheathing entering into the box.

 

[Henro]

I don't see a heavy enough wire that would be used to connect the sub panel to a ground rod, which I believe is required by the NEC and probably locally if you are being inspected.

That being said, I did not put a ground rod at my tractor shed/barn/whatever you want to call it. Twenty years ago.

BUT I recently decided I should, and plan to. ONLY because it is a code requirement and cannot hurt.

Edit:

1: right, but the cable is a direct burial and has internal metal shielding. So it's protected.

1: WRONG! Love to be there when you tell this to your local electrical inspector...LOL That statement alone will guarantee the inspector goes over EVERYTHING with a fine tooth comb. No inspection, no worry though...

 

[Mrlunchbox]

Henro would be correct grounding wise. If this is to be to code NEC requires a grounding rod(s) for an outbuilding subpanel.

 

[Mrlunchbox]

I just realized you're in Canada... tad different than what's required in the states! haha Carry on!

 

[awesome]

Yeah I was wondering about the ground rod. But no one around here does that so I guess it's not required. It must depend on the distance to the main panel (total resistance).