Building a two car Garage from Pallet Racking

 
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davidmcbeth3
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Wed. Dec. 21, 2022 7:59 pm

ColdHouse wrote:
Wed. Dec. 21, 2022 6:01 pm
If they give me grief, I would consider putting two of the rows side by side and have them be 29.25 feet long by 81.5 inches wide. Grand total 198.66 sq ft. After approval put up temporary roof from top shelf to the right and top shelf to the left. Put roll out awning on both sides.
Heck it is not like I am not expecting grief over it. I did it with eyes wide open.
Is it LQTRS accessible ? LOL

 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Wed. Dec. 21, 2022 8:00 pm

On Long Island it used to be a game to find ways around the inspector.

Boat yard I worked in we built a 110 foot long building to haul up to 50 foot boats indoors, plus an engine rebuilding shop, a store, and second floor storage.

An inspector gave the boss a hard time about something to do with all the electrical outlets needing to be changed to meet code. The boss made a call to an electrician and described the problem which he agreed it would be expensive to correct all the outlets. Said he'd be right over with a much less expensive solution. He brought a metal box with a huge electrical socket in it and a junction box. Ran a big cable from the junction box to plug into that socket and power the whole building though the cable. Because of the removable plug the building electrical system was considered temporary and exempt from what the inspector wanted changed about all the outlets.

When a lot of people were adding a back deck to their house the inspector would give some a hard time about how it was done. Didn't take long for the deck builders to catch on that if the deck was not attached to the house, it was exempt from the codes.

Where there's a will there's a way.

 
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davidmcbeth3
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Wed. Dec. 21, 2022 8:13 pm



 
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davidmcbeth3
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Fri. Dec. 23, 2022 12:48 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:
Wed. Dec. 21, 2022 8:00 pm
inspector boss a hard time about something to do with all the electrical outlets needing to be changed to meet code
Inspector bosses make one actually read the code. Tight !

 
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Post by CapeCoaler » Sun. Jan. 08, 2023 10:13 pm

$27,000 in permits for a 3000 sq ft building here on the cape...
14 years ago...

 
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davidmcbeth3
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Mon. Jan. 09, 2023 2:16 am

CapeCoaler wrote:
Sun. Jan. 08, 2023 10:13 pm
$27,000 in permits for a 3000 sq ft building here on the cape...
14 years ago...
Permits are not supposed to be a money making opportunity...permit for a house should be about 2K to account for plan review and inspections. Taxachucettes


 
ColdHouse
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Post by ColdHouse » Mon. Jan. 09, 2023 6:06 am

CapeCoaler wrote:
Sun. Jan. 08, 2023 10:13 pm
$27,000 in permits for a 3000 sq ft building here on the cape...
14 years ago...
I am sure with the permit fees your home is very safe!

What I don't like about inspections with government agencies is they have zero accountability. After they make the builder jump thru hoops to get the permit and pass inspections, they are blameless when the structure fails. I think if an entity injects themselves into the equation, they should become the accountable entity. If they say it is good and it is not they should be liable.
There is a long hilly road that leads me to my dead end street. A few years ago they spent almost a year replacing it. They dug up and put in storm drainage and repaved. When they put in the storm drains they put every one of them level instead of on grade. They paved the entire road. Afterward they realize that at every drain the road flattens out. The solution was to dig up just some of the asphalt around the drains and reset the drains and patch the asphalt. Anyway, why was this the contractors fault? WTF? City inspected the drains. The road is still crazy because of the stupid mistake. Not a nice smooth road. All the new asphalt and patches are deteriorating.
Nothing is ever the fault of the government inspectors.

 
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Post by jack marco » Thu. Feb. 15, 2024 2:23 am

ColdHouse wrote:
Wed. Nov. 23, 2022 5:43 am
I originally was thinking of using pallets of coal strategically stacked to form a structure that I could cover and park some things under. After I got the coal home, I realized the skids were not as tall as I envisioned and not great when stacked. The concept of having more covered parking had planted a seed that I wanted to germinate. After many hours of contemplation and looking at all sorts of portable garages and thinking and thinking I developed what I thought was a brilliant idea. Purchase industrial pallet racking and clip them together in a way that creates a garage with storage. Use the pallet racking as my structure. So I found a defunct business that had a huge warehouse and procured pallet racking uprights and beams. I had mentioned this in the Brace Yourself thread but decided it deserved its own place and didn't want to derail that thread anymore than I have already. So here is where the documentation and progress of this endeavor will be recorded.
Understand that I took all the materials down at the place where they were purchased. My son helped me load. The building of this structure is all done by one person. Me and I am nothing more than a 5'6" Sixty one year old guy. No help from anyone. Uprights are 14 feet tall and probably close to 100#, beams are 113" and probably 40#. I got the material here Sunday and want to get the structure in place by Friday so I can pour some concrete under the upright legs. It is supposed to not be freezing Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
IMG_6078.jpeg
This is the load before leaving the place we bought them. I decided to negotiate a price on much more material. I bought 85 uprights, and 335 beams. I will go alone starting next Monday to dismantle as much as possible and bring home beams. I will then schedule a time to have my son help me get what I don't want to do alone. There is no power inside the facility and the place is huge. Material has to be manually moved a long way to load. I expect my garage to use 24 uprights, 10 will be used for the roof, and about 60 beams. My thought is the building will be a click together and therefore easily taken down if so desired.
IMG_8867.jpeg
The plan at this point is to get one row where I want it. I tamped down some gravel and leveled the area. I placed a couple cement blocks and leveled them. I turned an upright that was on the trailer 90* and eased it to the ground and stood it vertical. I then walked it over by moving each leg a foot or so at a time right then left then right and keeping it vertical. I had a little giant step ladder set up close to where I wanted the first upright to go. When I got the upright where I wanted it on top of the blocks, I used vice grips to secure a piece of aluminum to the ladder and to the upright holding it where I thought I wanted it. I had already leveled a second set of blocks with the first set so I was prepared for the second upright. I got a second step ladder and used it to hold the second upright. Then I got my first beam and maneuvered the uprights to where they needed to be to accept the beam. These beams and racking system are very nice. They have spring loaded pin clips that when placed inside holes in the uprights, they lock the beam so you cannot remove it without removing the pin. So at this point my goal is to get some sections put up with vertical uprights and a couple beams locked in on each side. I first had them set up and my neighbor came over. He mentioned that the back of my garage will be too far to the right when finished. So I was glad he came. I decided to move it over several feet to the left. So where it is now is where I will erect it.
At first I thought I would pour piers before putting up the structure. Then I thought I would put it on blocks or pressure treated wood. I started with the blocks. I tamped down the gravel, added sand and leveled pretty meticulously. But that is too much work! I have decided to get it pretty close as quickly as possible to erect the structure. It is the locked in beams that will dictate where things need to be and keep it secure, especially when those pins are inserted locking the beams in place.
So the first day I got 3 uprights put up and 6 beams and the creative juices flowing. I have it planned that there will be three rows of racking that will be about 30 feet deep when assembled. The center row I will keep at 14'. The row to the left and right will be cut shorter allowing for a 4/12 pitch on the roof. Positioning of my left and right rows of shelving will be critical to achieve success. I developed a plan that at around 10 feet plus or minus, I would click in a beam on the center, the left and the right. This beam will have remnants of the cut off uprights welded to them. So these special beams will click into place and be able to accept beams perpendicular to the rows. This next picture shows the beams. Understand that they are down low now but will get moved high later. The reason they are low is so that I can easily determine where my left and right row needs to be and get them positioned. Once my structure is further along these special welded beams will get moved high and hold the building right to left and lock it in place.

IMG_8868.jpeg
Here is a picture of my custom welded beams that will accept perpendicular beams to keep the structure solid from left to right.
IMG_8870.jpeg


A mathematical calculation was done. I know the actual size of an upright is 34" deep. the uprights are 3" wide. So if I have a 34" upright and weld a 3" scab piece of upright to a beam and attach a 113" beam to that and another 3" piece of scab upright that is welded to a beam, my width from outer left or outer right to inner center upright will be 34+3+113+3=153". This is critical to know. Because before I put up the right or left upright I need to cut off the extra length and use that for my scab pieces. My plan is to probably make the top middle section flat because of the limitation of my upright lengths that will be used for my roof rafters/supports. But that is not important now. What is important is that on the left or right side of my center row, I have 14' from ground to roof. If I have 14 feet up and want to have a 4/12 pitch I need to know how far away my outsides are. Well we already figured that is 153 inches. So (153/12)*4=51" So I know my total height on the outside of my left and right upright needs to be 51 inches shorter than 14'. Then if I take that 51" and divide it by 153 inches in width, that tells me that for every inch I move in my height needs to go up 0.3333333 inches. I know my uprights are 34 inches so when I multiply 34x0.33333=11.3333. So what that tells me is that if I mark my outside edge of my upright 51 inches down and the inside edge of my upright 51-11 3/8=39 5/8 that will get me close enough for my pitch. I draw a line between those two marks and cut my uprights.

IMG_8869.jpeg

So I have concluded that putting this structure on top of cement blocks will not yield an end result that will satisfy me. In the essense of assembly, an assembled structure locks itself together and would resemble a finished product. So I have determined to asseble the structure without worrying about being to level or perfect. Get uprights cut, get some beams locked into uprights and pinned and get perpendicular beams locked in and pinned. Once all uprights are in position and some beams are locked in on the entire structure, I use beams that are locked in way down low to jack up and level the structure. I jack up each section until perfectly level and support the lowest locked in beams with whatever I have available to support them. With those low locked in beams supported, my structure will be supported and perfectly level. I will be able to remove whatever I had under the uprights initially, and put some J-bolts into the upright frame and pour a small pad under each upright foot that is in place. I can elect to keep those supports under the locked in lower beams forever. Notice in this picture on the far right those low beams. They are locked in and I jacked them and shimmed between the upright supports and the concrete blocks to achieve level. Today I will make better progress. I need to weld more beams, cut uprights, and do more assembly.
IMG_8871.jpegIMG_8869.jpeg
wow, that was a good idea, I looking for an idea on how to use pallets rather than packaging. and this nice idea, I had recently purchased a storage unit in which I found a lot of pallet rackings.

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