MTFCA Forum

I havnt posted much this fall. I have been doing a project I have put off for ten years or more. My customers projects always come 1st. Since material prices have delayed a couple large projects for me, I pulled the trigger on my new shop.

I have collected materials including trusses that have been stored in my big barn for years. I 1st had to modify the leen-to on my big barn for hay storeage and horse shelter. Another factor in the project timeline ( didnt think my horse would live this long).

Then it was time to remove all the stuff I could use in my new shop from the old barn. I loved the look of the old barn but everything I put in there was covered in bird $hit. My garage/ shop was built onto the front of this old barn by a previous owner that thought it was a good idea. The back of the shop was supported by this old building that was leening and crumbling. I had to support 32 ft of the garage/shop to demo the old barn.

Then the building pad and retaining wall. Yes gravel packed tires for a retaining wall. Tired of beating gravel with a sledge! I will start posting photos and see how that goes. I think the T's will feel at home in my new T shop. Building to be removed More photos coming

Yes I had the beam, trolly and electric hoist The retaining wall will disapear with grass and some ground cover vines

There is a TT in the photos 8 inches of blown fiberglass in the walls and 16 to 20 inches in ceiling. Finally a shop I can keep heat in all winter. Anyone that has used reclaimed lumber knows the work involved to get it usable. Then sorting and making the most of your marerial as you cant go to the lumberyard and buy more.

100% of the interior came from the old barn I have a 4-5 week wait on my overhead door I could not resist using these boards with teeth marks and oozing character

VERY, VERY, VERY NICE Dallas!!!!!!!

The doors on this builtin cabinet have had 3 lives. My father inlaw built them for his shed. We updated the shed with steel doors and the old doors came to live on my old barn ( as seen in 1st photo) now they are living on, inside the shop. I think " The Big Green Truck" is happy with the new shop. He is the 1st T to spend the night.
I will hook up all the wiring tomorrow and be ready to install the led lighting when it arrives. We are going to my sons friday for Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving

Thank you Hank. Everyone says its too small but 20x30 is big enough to work on one T at a time. And I still have the old garage/shop.

Looks great, Dallas! Should'a bet the Amish about building it when you were racing them! When's the 24 coupe get to be worked on? I need to take a day and get up to see you when this virus crap settles down! Might try to get a friend to fly me up in his plane, a Cessna Cardinal that cruises about 130!

Nicely done Dallas. I was interested in the way you blokes do things. I am not familiar with the roof trusses which do not have the flat tie across the base. Do they have the same load rating as the triangular trusses?
I gather the corrugated iron is used to make the old timbers you had go a bit further. I did the same when lining our wool sales room, panelling the top two thirds with 6 sections of different feature timbers, some Oregon and your red pine included. Our really old corrugated iron came in 6' sheets. Longer sheets like you have in the ceiling are a much later development. Nowdays, almost al corrugated is colourbond coated and we are in the grey fashion era. The rest is zincalume. shiny but evenly coated, and not able to be soldered. To get a genuine galvanised sheeting we have to order heritage galv sheets, at greater cost.
I can sympathsise with your being fed up with filling tyres for a retaining wall. i had to fill just two truck tyres with soil just to put a small rainwater tank at a usable height. I coludn't even manage that and now the tank has a considerable lean.
If that is to become the home for your TT, you might sign the building as "Lander's Racing Stables"

Keep up the good work. Allan from down under.

I did the same thing 5 or 6 years ago with the old corn crib that I wanted to save from the farm but it was in poor condition so I took it down one board at a time and rebuilt it inside the pole barn to use as a workshop. I replaced the 2x4's with reclaimed lumber and only had to buy the floor joist for the loft on top of it and my old wood is on the outside of the work area so I don't set it on fire when welding. From the outside it looks like we built the pole barn around the old shed and it is also 20x32 so I can heat it and work on one at a time or two if I feel crazy and just want more clutter.
I never did get a good shot of it before the clutter showed up but for now this will do.

Hey Bill you are welcome anytime. My landing strip in the pasture is pretty short.

Thanks Allan, the metal on the ceiling was the old roof metal. Rusty side up and the large panels were exactly 10ft- 1in. Perfect length for new shop ceiling. Of course I planned it that way

Bob, I remember your building and was inspired by your shop.Very nice to be in a space like that to work on T's or anything for that matter.

Dallas,

I like yours better on the inside. I wanted to put the wood inside but also want to paint cars in this shop and the old wood holds way more dirt and dust to drop into wet paint so I was going to use drywall and ended up going with reclaimed sheet metal from an old pole barn that was getting re-skinned near me. I guess you could just hang plastic on the walls if you want to paint something big. I love the cabinet idea. Glad you saved the old wood and put it to good use. Anyone can buy new and it is easier to put up but nothing looks better than the old barn wood. You get an A+ on your project. Maybe others will post pictures of more like this.

Great idea Bob. A couple lenghts of black pipe clamped to my beam and some plastic could be a quick paint booth.

It looks very nice Dallas!! Bud.

Nicely done.

Inspiring! I like that size. Big enough to move around, but small enough that it won't cost an arm and a leg and hours to warm it up.

Excellent job!!! I like the way you reclaimed the tires. Definitely something to be proud of.

Thank you all. I am hooking up all the wiring now.

Hey Bud, you will have to stop in and see it next time you go to see Emma.

Dallas Landers wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 26, 2020 3:56 pm

Thank you all. I am hooking up all the wiring now.

Period lighting? Just curious.

Jeff my eyes are not good enough for oil lights.

Dallas Landers wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 27, 2020 12:51 pm

Jeff my eyes are not good enough for oil lights.

Hard to pump oil/gas thru romex.

You could always hook up the tank from your torch for lights. Sort of a giant Presto-Lite tank.

Just finished ceiling boxes for my 5000 lum led lights. I have 14 lights to hang. I may need the welding helmet if they are all on

You could grow some plants when you have those lights on, that you can sell in Illinois.

Love your shop. I'm in the process of finishing my shop too. It's a converted 40' x 24' old former horse barn pole building. I drywalled the interior and insulated the walls and ceiling with 6" ridged foam that I recycled from a warehouse flat roof. I sprayed the entire interior white and when the sun is out the sunlight shinning in the windows makes it very bright inside. I Have LED shop lights to hang and need to do the wiring. It's been a long hard one man job and I'm not as young as I think and hanging 10' drywall by yourself was a challenge. I'll be glad when it's done.

I know the feeling Dennis. I wish I had done mine ten years ago. Things seem much easier then. Must be really tuff when your old.
Sounds like your shop is a bit bigger than mine. I have been working 10-12 hrs a day on mine to beat the weather. I just came in from hanging lights.

Dallas, the TT sure looks at home there, better be careful when that '24 coupe gets in there!! Are you going to go Coyote hunting in Jan. again? You need to come down for some more parts. Dave

Dave I plan to call the dogs again this year. Part of the reason the shop is this size is I know how they multiply when there are 2 or more in the same shop. The 24 will make it in probably late winter. I have a few things to finish on the TT and my buddy's 27 sedan. How is that sweet 25 coupe in your new shop?

Today was an exciting day. Lights and moved the lathe in. Looks at home I think.

To be correct, pour some old nasty motor oil here and there, reverse the suction on a shop vac and make it dusty. And take a chipping hammer to that too nice of concrete floor. Remember Dallas, patina is truth!

Your Down Yonderland Friend,

Hank

After walking into Dallas' warm feeling shop is an old lathe? Absolutley!
Looks fantastic! Agreed, spill some oil.
We'll be waiting for a test bar from the lathe in its new digs. To be certain it's straight as a good arrow.

How exciting for you, Dallas! Kudos to you for recycling the old barn materials. That is a lot more work, but it gives it a warm feeling inside.

Hank, I will have Model T's in here. There will be oil in the floor soon.

Duey my buddy is going to bring his precision tools to make sure the lathe is level. If I forget to close the oilers, there will be more oil on the floor.

Mike, thank you. Even the beam for my winch is salvage from a bridge crane that was in a local factory. The steel bench came from a friend when he retired and closed his machine shop. I have a 2 inch thick butcherblock table top my late uncle made that will be at the end of the steel bench. Seems everything in here reminds me of something. That just makes it a joy to work in here. Sentimental? Maybe. Mental definately.

A standard size T fits a bit better than a TT with a 9ft bed. Two T's will fit end to end if needed but one is perfect for working.

That looks great Dallas.

I like the rammed-earth tire thing. It's something I've been watching the guys at Earthship Biotecture do for several years now.

Trust me Don, watching is the way to go.
Thank you. Your T would fit right in.

When we moved to our present location about 20 years ago the first thing we built was the shop building. I had guessed that our old house would take at least six months to sell, so there was no rush to start on the house. But as it turned out, the old house sold within three weeks and the buyers wanted a short escrow. So the first use for the new shop was storage of all our worldly goods.

The shop was erected very quickly and we began moving in storage stuff plus shop equipment as soon as we could lock the doors. Coming from the desert to a coastal region, I didn't think much about rust. What a surprise ! All that moisture from the fresh concrete slab migrated right into our stored goods, especially the steel tools and machinery.

I relate this story for the benefit of anybody else who is anxious to move into their freshly built shop. If I had to do it over again, I'd somehow delay moving in for at least a few weeks and let the building stand with all the doors and windows open to dry out that slab.

Alot of moisture in concrete and even lumber stored outside. My concrete is about a month old. The lumber inside is dry as a bone. The entire reason for this shop was to have a heated space to stop anything metal from rust. My old shop/garage had 5 single pane windows 2 overhead doors and a slider on the back into the old barn. Heating it all winter was not an option due to cost. I wont be opening the new overhead door into my new shop 2 to 4 times a day like a garage would be. The new door will be polyurethane filled for R 17.3 factor. I have heat in the shop now with 2inch foam in the OHD opening. Pretty toasty setting it up now.

Aw, man... That's the cat's pajamas, what ya got there, Dallas!! Looks fantastic.... And here I am, downsizing the space I rent. Have fun with it!!

Bee's knees, Dallas! Something to be proud of for sure!