Back in the late 1990's, I ran into a deal on about 10,000 pounds of 6 inch tall wide flange "I" beams, and about 15,000 pounds of painted steel siding.
IIRC, I paid 10 cents a pound for all the steel (scrap price) and $600 for the 18-wheeler to deliver the materials.
Since I am not, nor have ever been much of a carpenter,, the only course of action for me was to weld together a shed for my tractor(s).
The building was gonna be 20X30 feet, but after I acquired the cheap steel, the building grew to 57X45 feet, and up to 22 feet high.
Two areas also got a mezzanine, since I had the metal.
I had a neighbor install hardwood floors in the two mezzanine locations, the one in the pictures below is a 16X27 floor.
Another friend installed some windows, using treated wood to hold the windows, and a 36" door was installed using wood.
So, I myself never drove a nail,, the entire building was welded, then siding was screwed on.
All welding was done with 1/8" 7018, all beam and angle cutting was done with an oxy-acetylene torch.
We did not have cordless tools back then, so, to install the siding, three corded drills were used.
The siding was attached either to the 6" beams, or 1/4" thick 2" angle.
As the material was so thick, to use the "self-drilling" gasketed screws,
one drill had a drill bit
one drill had a #10X32 tap
one drill had a 5/16" magnetic driver bit.
Thousands of fasteners were installed, only about 3 taps were broken.
No screws were broken.
The building was so low of cost, that in the end, I "splurged" and bought an OVERHEAD DOOR COMPANY rollup door.
The door is 11 feet tall, and 18 feet wide, it cost right at $5,000 installed.
The door cost more than the rest of the building combined, even including the concrete.
I just spent a week cleaning this mezzanine, so, I thought I would post a pic.
(This hardwood flooring is nailed to about 7 or 8 rough cut pine 8"X12" beams that came out of a 125 year old bakery.)
So, my question for you guys,,,
I have been thinking about painting the walls, What do you think? Should I paint the walls, or leave them alone??
IIRC, I paid 10 cents a pound for all the steel (scrap price) and $600 for the 18-wheeler to deliver the materials.
Since I am not, nor have ever been much of a carpenter,, the only course of action for me was to weld together a shed for my tractor(s).
The building was gonna be 20X30 feet, but after I acquired the cheap steel, the building grew to 57X45 feet, and up to 22 feet high.
Two areas also got a mezzanine, since I had the metal.
I had a neighbor install hardwood floors in the two mezzanine locations, the one in the pictures below is a 16X27 floor.
Another friend installed some windows, using treated wood to hold the windows, and a 36" door was installed using wood.
So, I myself never drove a nail,, the entire building was welded, then siding was screwed on.
All welding was done with 1/8" 7018, all beam and angle cutting was done with an oxy-acetylene torch.
We did not have cordless tools back then, so, to install the siding, three corded drills were used.
The siding was attached either to the 6" beams, or 1/4" thick 2" angle.
As the material was so thick, to use the "self-drilling" gasketed screws,
one drill had a drill bit
one drill had a #10X32 tap
one drill had a 5/16" magnetic driver bit.
Thousands of fasteners were installed, only about 3 taps were broken.
No screws were broken.
The building was so low of cost, that in the end, I "splurged" and bought an OVERHEAD DOOR COMPANY rollup door.
The door is 11 feet tall, and 18 feet wide, it cost right at $5,000 installed.
The door cost more than the rest of the building combined, even including the concrete.
I just spent a week cleaning this mezzanine, so, I thought I would post a pic.
(This hardwood flooring is nailed to about 7 or 8 rough cut pine 8"X12" beams that came out of a 125 year old bakery.)
So, my question for you guys,,,
I have been thinking about painting the walls, What do you think? Should I paint the walls, or leave them alone??
