Metal Buildings and Monster Size Garage

In reply to secretariata (Forum Supporter) :

Professionally (meaning sprayed for weeds and seedlings spaced appropriately) replanted by VDOF in loblolly pine.  The 20 acres across the street is just natural reforestation, still mostly pine; I am curious to see how the two sites fare over the next 10-15 years in growth.

Loblollies are a blast. The key is proper triangulated spacing  for optimal root development while keeping them close enough for forest growth. These are almost 3 years old and a third of them are over 12'. Some will hit 18' next year and will be very wind tolerant.

This looks awesome. Does the forested land generate passive long term income?

Twenty extra acres makes the cost of the survey a lot easiest to swallow.

Had a meeting with Virginia Dept of Forestry today, we hiked the whole property and they are sending me a timber management plan.  They said overall the timber stand is in pretty good shape, and growing well.  I also have to submit the plan to the county to keep the land in rural preservation use, which lowers the taxes vs. just regular residential. 

Also, I bought a farm truck for building fences and hauling stuff.  It tops out at 52mph and when in 4Low it has a 73.6:1 gear reduction and is unstoppable offroad:

OHSCrifle said:

This looks awesome. Does the forested land generate passive long term income?

Twenty extra acres makes the cost of the survey a lot easiest to swallow.

Hopefully!  In theory it will, when the trees are ~12 years old the stand is thinned, and that generates a small amount of money, and around year 25-30 the trees should be worth decent money.  I also might experiment with some solar panels and try to get a small solar farm going. 

Man, you are living the dream!  Nice.

I can't believe I skipped 2022 entirely with this thread.  I genuinely thought I bought this last October (5 months ago) apparently getting old (or working 7 days a week) is creating gaps in my memory.

Anyways, picking up where we left off, I am getting ready to put up a garage.  Started with a pretty basic drawing from Menards (they have a project calculator/designer that I now have a small crush on):

https://www.menards.com/main/buildings/c-834636628733788.htm

With a room above that may be an apartment or parts storage (depending on funds and long term plans):

In reply to Flynlow (FS) :

This is reverent to my current situation as I'm buying some land next week for my dream build.  I think I've decided on 60 wide to give me just one door entering the shop with parking to each side.

Some of you are probably thinking, "What happened to the Metal Building!?!  That looks stick built!"

Well, I spoke to a couple builders as SVreX and others recommended, and the consensus was that a stick build is going to seal WAY better against critters (and weather, temps, etc).  And the quotes I got for (finished) metal building vs. stick were pretty close.  So that's where I ultimately went.  Only drawback is 36' limit for clear span, vs. basically infinite for metal buildings.  So I stretched it to 64' on the long axis to compensate. 

Hopefully I will have the final plans wrapped up next week (they're very different than above), and will share with you all then.

In the mean time, a driveway is starting to shape up:

In reply to Stampie :

We need photos!  Eventually, if enough of us do this maybe the GRMers can all buy a county or state somewhere and slowly assert control :P.

Where is it exactly? I've been looking for land north of Richmond.

yupididit said:

Where is it exactly? I've been looking for land north of Richmond.

Duke had asked as well on the first page, and I had posted the overhead plot shots.  I know that's not quite what either of you were asking for...

Kind of a tough call for me on this, because while I'd be happy to share with any of you Dorks, this forum is publicly viewable by anyone without an account, and I am a little leary of posting my personal info in a public place.  I hope folks can appreciate that.

As a compromise, and as some of you know first hand, I am happy to host/show members of the forum around IRL.  If anyone would like to see it, send me a PM with dates when you're down this way, I am happy to find time to meet up for a beer and to chat. 

In reply to Flynlow (FS) :

That's fair, I was curious about what county. I'll PM you though! 

Time for the once a year check-in haha.  Progress!  Plans changed yet again, I had an awesome garage with apartment above it all planned out, but the total cost was above what I was comfortable with at the moment.  So I elected to put up a pole barn on the 2nd best building site, and hopefully I can add the garage/apartment in a year or three.  Should be built and finished by March!:

In reply to Flynlow :

What's the size of the pole barn?  I see wood truss.  Was there a limit on span with them?

PS - Hasbro didn't post very often but when I see his post it makes me sad.

Stampie said:

In reply to Flynlow :

What's the size of the pole barn?  I see wood truss.  Was there a limit on span with them?

PS - Hasbro didn't post very often but when I see his post it makes me sad.

40' x 64', that was part of the reason to go pole barn over the stick built I posted above, less restrictions on width...and with doors on the ends rather than sides, I can go 14'x14' and back in RVs and such.  My hope is this will be the "work" garage for welding, grinding, etc, and the eventual garage/apartment will be for the daily drivers, oil changes, car washes, etc. 

And yes. 

Hasbro was a horticulturalist. When he said something about plants, you could absolutely believe him. 
 

His back porch and yard looked liked a full blown nursery. A really beautiful nursery. 
 

He was good people. 

In reply to Flynlow :

The updates are great!  Keep it coming. 

Another benefit of pole barns, they go up quick!  Progress pics:

In reply to Flynlow :

Very nice.  Joist every 4 feet with post every 8?

In reply to Stampie :

Yep.  I'm already getting in my own head a little (I get decision paralysis all the time).  For another $15-20K I could have made it 80' long, but for that money, I could have the stick built posted earlier in the thread (though unfinished).  There's no right answer, but there's a lot of awesome answers :). 

In reply to Flynlow :

Can you get a picture of how the headers were done?  I understand the well I could have made it bigger thoughts. On mine I'm trying to limit the size so that I am limited in the amount of cars it allows me. 

Mind sharing what the foundations are and a rough idea of the cost of your pole barn?

In reply to Flynlow :

Glad to see you're still going. I'm still looking for land in that area. I have the money, I think lol, finding the land is still a task.

secretariata (Forum Supporter) said:

Mind sharing what the foundations are and a rough idea of the cost of your pole barn?

 Sure, I used the following website, it'll give you a quote that's very close on materials:

https://www.diypolebarns.com/quote/

Where it falls short is the labor, their estimate is way off.  Figure 1.5-2x your materials quote to have the building put up and concrete laid, plus all the site work.

yupididit said:

In reply to Flynlow :

Glad to see you're still going. I'm still looking for land in that area. I have the money, I think lol, finding the land is still a task.

Please keep me in the loop!  Would love to have some GRM neighbors to enable project ideas and have some friendly faces in the area.