I am looking for plans or photos of a small (20×17 or so) two-story building that can be a woodworking shop on the lower level and a hobby room above. The upper floor will be accessed via an outside stairway.
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Replies
Clint,
Try your local Home Depot. Here in Texas, they have partnered with "Tuff Shed" and have various display buildings on their parking lots.
Tuff Shed wants $20,000 to build a 16' X 24' or $25,000 for a 16'X32' two story gambrel roof...plus foundation costs...and only bare studs inside....but looking at how they build their product, you can make your own plans and bill of materials....
Personally, I would beef-up the outside walls and go for 2"X12's on the second story floor joists. Here's a copy of the front page of one of their info sheets, since you asked.
Bill
Edited 1/28/2007 7:31 pm ET by BilljustBill
I recently ATTEMPTED to purchase a Tuff Shed building from HD. Took 3 weeks for delivery and then the wrong one showed up. Refused delivery and was told I would have to pay 15% restock charge. HD manager very arrogant and also not too swift on Tuff Sheds. Big communication gap between me and HD and Tuff Sheds. HD lost a pretty good customer in me and I warn people be careful when dealing with HD and Tough Sheds. Fingers always want to write something else when I write Tough Sheeeeeeds. The old saying is a fish rots from the head down. Well the head of HD recently took extremly big bucks and said see you later.
.
s
Tex,
Home Depot concerns me, too. I've seen a slip in store quality and more of a hard line toward admitting to their problems.
The local store no longer sells "culled lumber". Lumber which is bowed, twisted, or has split ends. They used to paint the end a color and sell it for .51 cents to $4.03, depending on what size, length, and defect...but one could get some good stock from those boards...
Now, this store cuts the lumber into 3' and 4' lengths and rolls it to their indoor dumpster... One specific case was when I bought 37 sheets of edge-damaged Hardiboard vertical siding for $10 a sheet. At the back of the store was a cull-cart stacked with 20 ft long 2X6's. With the heavy weight of all those sheets of cement siding, I told them if I could buy all those long boards for half price or less, I'd pay to have them deliver the siding and the long lumber. The fellow at the commerical desk called the office and asked. He hung up and looked with a bit of disgust at me, saying: "They said we no longer sell cull lumber."
I drove back home to get my little two-wheel trailer and carried home the siding. Home Depot took the fifiteen to twenty 2X6's- 20' long and cut them into trash.... That kind of attitude with be their undoing....
Bill
Same with broken rock tiles and porcelain tiles. They break them all the time and I could use the broken pieces for other projects. They throw out tons of this stuff. I tried to get them to sell me the broken stuff and they refused saying they are not allowed to. That store is getting on my nerves also. It is to the point I have been looking for other alternatives in shopping for materials. Also because I did furniture repair and refinishing for 8 years I became very chemically sensitive to finishing products and etc. Whenever I go to home depot I get ill and a splitting headache within a couple hours if not immediately. That place is toxic and those chemicals can effect personalities. It is just like drugs on the system. Maybe that is why those people act the way they do?
And I'll bet Home Depot had no trouble making you pay in full when you ordered it?
Bill
texmark,
Home Depot can't afford to give your money back to you. They have to pay their CEO $220 million so he can leave the company.
I will remember this when dealing with Home Depot. I was thinking of custom ordering a building but there are other options. Log Homes makes nice looking small 2 stories for cheap and others Tuff Sheds are not your only option and personally I would build my own from scratch I want to do so on sleds so if I move I take it with me. Why make a nice shop to have someone else enjoy it? Sorry to hear HD ripped you off. My son in law use to work for them and they made him pretty upset with them also since he was working odd hours all the time for dirt for pay as a supervisor. He left there recently.
I built mine about that size - basically just a single car garage 'cept I'm going to put swinging doors instead of a rollup (springtime project.) I used 2X10 on 12" centers for upper floor joists and went up 4' above floor on outer walls to create useable space on second story. Mine is used for lumber and other storage. I searched the net & found picture of a structure that would fit and then hired a young man who was working for a contractor to dry it in for me on his own time.
Diz,
A couple of questions, please. I'm trying to get a handle on the dried-in cost of a building like yours.
What type of siding did you use? Did you use a plywood sheathing and house wrap?
What's a good price for the size building you did?
Thanks,
Bill
Monte Burch has written at least three books on this subject,
http://www.amazon.com/s/002-5015561-8254414?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link%5Fcode=qs&field-keywords=monte%20burch&sourceid=Mozilla-search
You may get some ideas from them.
84 Lumber also sells plans for garages and outbuildings and also kits or will do a material take-off from your plans, if there's one near you (they're in 35 states). If I recall, they're next behind the HD, Lowe's, and Menards in size.
Edited 1/29/2007 3:47 pm ET by byhammerandhand
20 by 20 with 200 sq. ft. of loft accessible from inside - great for getting pending projects out of the way
More pics
I built mine for around $4,000.00 so far and basically only the inside to finish. It is in the colonial barn fashion. I wanted to make it look like and old building since our town is mid eighteenth century. I will attach pics tomorrow. I built a 16x24 1 1/2 story with 9' first story walls. If I really wanted, I could have applied for a variance for increased height so that it could be a full 2 story. The 2nd story is 6'4" from the floor to the peak, but is workable and will probably use it for wood storage, office, and maybe finishing room. Here is the site http://www.betterbarns.com that I got the plans from for $30. I also got the book that has more detailed info called how to build a shed like a pro that highlights this companies buildings.
Try this site for some good small building plans:
http://www.backroadhomes.com
I've never dealt with them, but some of their buildings look interesting.
oldfred
Edited 3/10/2007 11:25 am ET by oldfred
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