Forced to move with short notice

grandpaul

Author, "Old Bikes"
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Over the years, my siblings and I went back and forth on who wanted how much land from about 10 acres we all live on. I started with 1/2 acre right where I've lived since getting out of the Navy in 1979. I added another 1/4 acre and took over my dad's old boat barn (2-bay block building), then I bought my sister's double-wide and moved my 3-bay metal building shop/garage over behind the boat barn. As time passed, we discussed buying another 1/4 acre to just include all of that footprint, or to buy another acre to back all the way up to a creek that runs along the north property line. I never made a formal decision.

So, I got an e-mail last Sunday afternoon from my brother who is the managing partner of the family property, telling me I have 4 weeks to move the 3-bay metal building off the property, as they have a cash buyer on the line and they need everything removed that crosses the original north property line.

Over this last week I've wrangled 22 bikes from their resting places and packed 19 of them in like sardines in the boat barn and my shop, and left 3 of them over on a different slab where I park my bike trailer and john boat. I also struggled with extracting my old '60 woody runabout out from behind the shop, between the boat barn and my sister's cedar fence with about 3" clearance, then had to change tires, the old ones would not hold air at all. Dragging that hulk out to the slab was a nightmare.

I then proceeded to empty nearly 1,000 pounds of old bike parts off the shelves and sorted them into steel scrap, aluminum scrap, trash, and less than a hundred pounds of "keep", which went on my shop shelves. You just can't keep everything (although I'll probably need many of those parts in years to come, and will pay prime for them)

So, the shed is empty, the garage is MOSTLY empty, and I have contractors all lined up to relocate the garage to the front driveway next week.

That's what I get for not signing a deal to buy the additional land.

Pix to follow!
 
Okay, two weeks to get over the hump, here's the blow-by-blow:

It took me a week to sketch out some basic plans, work up a Bill Of Materials, solicit bids, and hire a couple of tradesmen to get he job done. There was no way on Earth I could have done this on my own, even with a helper. Two GOOD helpers and a month, MAYBE.

So, I worked 5 different guys down to compromises with 2. First guy, Luis (and his worker, Joe) would do the slabs and fence work including ripping out a section of existing asphalt. Second guy, Victor (and his 3-4 man crew) would do all the dismantling, then erect the building (including all the welding) in the new location.

Happily, my brother-in-law owns a metal supply company, and he cut me a deal along with a 30-day open account, so the materials were a piece of cake.

It all started out kinda slow, but after the second day everybody hit their pace and the job took off.

Shed roof out back, with a parts shelf; trike, chopper and scuffy project bike were stored here, out of the rain for the most part. Probably 1,000 pounds of parts became +/- 300 pounds of big parts (fairings, seats & tanks) that got crammed into the permanent block building, maybe 100 pounds of small parts I put in bins & boxes, and the rest is the 600 pound pile of scrap metal that will probably fetch about $30 max at the salvage yard.

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Basically, everything in this picture has to go, to a line just to the left of the open door; that's my shop and it can stay.

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Fence is also going back to that same property line.
 
The guys got right after it. About 2 or 3 hours and the shed roof was gone-

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It will get re-installed just outside the barn doors of my shop.

Next, they started on the garage roof panels-

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More roof panels, and a bunch of wall panels taken down-

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Starting in on dismantling the structural steel-

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In this photo, you can just see the property line stake to the left, at the corner of the cedar fence.
 
"Team 2" started in on forming up the slab to square off the front driveway and allow for a sidewalk around the new garage location-

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Garage 99% dismantled. About an hour after this photo, the last pipe column and 10" purlin were down-

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Slab forms done, almost ready to pour. I re-arranged and re-oriented some of the brick bats to allow for better concrete coverage at the top (you want the steel mesh right between the dirt and the top of the slab, about 2")

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After this photo, I carefully cut out the dirt surrounding the J-hooks for the anchor plates; those need to also have about 2" concrete cover all around.
 
Anchor plate line-up. These will need to have the concrete drilled and plates set with 1/2" wedge anchors-

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Steel structure completely knocked down-

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Shop corners will need cover caps after I carefully trim off the chopped-off steel framing stubs-

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95% of the old materials will get carefully re-used

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The guys got going on ripping out the asphalt to prep for the new driveway slab

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Alex got a HUGE thrill when the concrete truck arrived

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Setting up the chute position and testing the first pour-

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Smoothing out the second-to-the-last pour

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Set up a 10x10 pop-up shade to TRY and keep the live oak pollen pods & leaves off the completed slab

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Back yard looks like a bomb went off; Joe got the back fence line down (10 posts) in one afternoon of HARD work

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New material arrived Friday morning-

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Detailing materials, screws, etc.

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The welders showed up a little late, but hit the ground running. Here they started stripping the old pipe columns of girt hangar clips and tabs

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Removing the existing facia trim revealed it was never correctly sealed...

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This pile of leaves came out of the front facia trim!

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First of (6) 3" pipe columns going up, welded to 6"x6" j-hook anchor plates set in concrete (new slab), and anchored with (4) 1/2" wedge anchor bolts each (existing slab)

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(3) 10" C-Purlins form the main roof structure, spanning 23'-6" pipe to pipe, (east to west). Roof slopes away from existing building, so each pair of pipes is 2-1/2" shorter than the pair to the North

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(3) 8" Z-Purlins spanning 31' North to South, spaced at 11'-9" on centers, pitched away from existing building

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I'm going to add 2 more of these 8" longitudinal purlins first thing before any more work on the roof.
 
Eight 4" C-Purlins Spanning 23'-6" east to west, spaced at 4' on centers. Roof panels will be screwed to these

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Last of the roof framing going up (other than the two 8" purlins next week)

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Done for the day, slab swept. No photo, but the asphalt is all removed for the new front driveway slab (kids bike & scooter yard).

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Lookin' good!

I bet it will be nice to have all your stuff under one roof.
 
Yes, it will. I'll also have better lighting, shelving, and room to move around.

Hopefully, I can remove some shelving and "stuff" from my shop into the old block building, and have a bit more working space in the shop itself.

I already have a bit more space where the old passageway was between shop and garage; that's where I'll put my band saw & belt grinder. That'll be a plus!
 
Yesterday was slow, only the slab & fence guys showed up. At least they got all the back fence posts set, they'll do the front fence today.

I spent the day cleaning up all the mess and stacking pavers that my wyfe bought for the dog pen that will no longer exist. Also filled all the old post holes with the broken concrete from the old posts (they sure were set well)

I did pick up some additional materials that I had to re-calculate once the roof was complete, they used tighter spacing on the roof purlins and I wanted whole sheets for the roofing instead of cut pieces.

Pix later.
 
Back fence relocation in progress...

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I didn't like the fact that they thought the main 10" purlins would be just fine with only the edges of the lip welded to the pipe columns. I directed the welder to use heavy angle plates in addition to the "tack" welds. I could imagine the result of a fully built up roof with two guys working up there, and only these two little welds at each of the 6 main structural points!

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THIS is MUCH better...

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Front fence move starting-

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Garage door frames were moved as a unit, and welded in place a bit more neatly than the previous move (that's right, this is the SECOND time this garage has been moved)

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Walk door frame also welded in place (camera sometimes makes the angles look "off", but they're square)

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Garage door tracks getting ready to be re-installed, you can just make out that the front fence top rail is done, just needs the mesh pulled in

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Front gates almost done with relocation-

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A little hard to tell, but I made the guys add 2 more 8" Z-purlins running north-south. The old setup had 4, and they didn't want to re-use one that had it's bottom lip chopped off (hack welder on the previous move). I made them use 3 scraps of 8" Zs at each of the joints with the 10" purlin below. Now there are 5 of them, at 5' on center; 4" top purlins above are on 6' centers.

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Front fence & gates done (needs detailing still). We have a 4-year-old boy that will go walkabout if we don't keep him in an enclosed yard.

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Walk door, and the first of the wall panels finally going up

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I also had the welder tie the new structure into the existing block building, so that it would be a bit more sturdy when you slam doors, etc.

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East wall almost done, took these guys a lot longer than they thought it would

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Driveway slab prep work beginning, garage door leafs mostly in place

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Starting to feel like a garage...

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Steady (albeit slow) progress; although the welders showed up late, they're doing well today

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I decided to empty out the remainder of the old ridge cap; 2 wheelbarrow loads of organic material in a 12' section of approx. 4x4 sheet metal-

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