SpongeBob's New Home

[davidbrady]

(05-14-2014 03:48)mhughes01 Wrote:  David,

You don't really need more room for a pit because it is underneath the bus when the bus is parked in the shop!

My pit can get some water in it if the sump isn't plugged in. I had them build in a 2' deep box sump at one end below the foot of the pit. A small sump pump in there exits water outside and keeps it dry.

You're right Mike, I do have the space. But, I know I'll end up with a swimming pool! Anyone think a shallow above ground pit would be useful. I suppose if it's above ground it isn't technically a pit; it'd be more of a permanent set of steel reinforced concrete ramps. I think it'd be worthwhile.

(05-13-2014 00:40)Arcticdude Wrote:  Just play "government". There are no budgets!! Seriously, build whatever you want, just bigger. After its been there 6 mos, it WILL be the landscape. You won't see it anymore.

What's this??? Political talk on WaGu??? Come-on John, tell us what you really think, let the words flow... (or however the song goes,)!

I think you're absolutely right. If I do it tastefully, or even not , it'll soon fade into the landscape, plus I'm thinking of a stone facade. I have 16 pallets of fieldstone the previous owner left behind, plus we all know how lovely these Morton Buildings look anyway!

(05-14-2014 14:24)Gregg Wrote:  Hey David,
I know where you’re at, before we added our garage, I toyed with the idea of adding to our building. The MB rep was not the most enlighten, but he did spend a half day with me showing me what would work and where the problems were with what I was thinking about doing. In the end, we just went with the garage and carport. (Now I am going to have to walk outside and take a picture, so what I just wrote makes any sense.)



Is there a particular reason to add on? A separate taller building on a lower grade might look the same height from your home, giving you the attributes you want. I know for us adding on created a new set of issues that didn’t out weight the benefits.

PS save room for items which won't fit in the motorhome

Gregg, I've been around the block so many times on this thing my head is spinning. The last pic I posted is actually plan number 9! I've had the MB rep here several times scoping out alternative building sites, and we both keep coming back to an addition on to the existing building as the cheapest and most expedient. The existing MB has water, sewer, bathrooms, dump stations, two 50 amp hookups, and a roadway, not too mention a 22 sq ft house! If I can make it fit it really is a no brainer. I may be able to stretch it to 40' wide and as long as 75'. That'll give me 3000 sq ft. It's looking pretty good to me. Also, I know what you mean about the helpfulness of the MB rep's, or more correctly... unhelpfulness. If I have an idea they'll pursue some costs but they offer nothing in the way of ideas on architecture or design. We're meeting at the property again on Friday. I'll let you know what we come up with. Thanks everyone for your help!

[Arcticdude]

(05-14-2014 16:17)davidbrady Wrote:  not too mention a 22 sq ft house!

I'd recommend scrapping the house since it's only 22 sq ft! That won't be worth bringing a mistress to! Got this fancy P bus and a 22 sq ft house!! What is this world coming to??

[Gregg]

Hey David,
Sounds like you have lots of good reasons to add on and you have covered all possible alternatives. Looking forward to hearing what you decide.

[Deb N Randy]

(05-12-2014 16:45)davidbrady Wrote:  I'm going to see about pouring a layer of concrete over the existing driveway.

Would that work or be a option for me? Mine had cracks even before I started driving 48000 lbs. on it. I've heard that removing the existing the the most expensive part of fixing it.

[cmillsap]

David,

I'm a little cornfused (sic) after looking at the pics and drawings. Why are you changing ingress and egress from the end to the side of the building? Is there a good reason for not continuing the existing roof slope direction over 16' high walls? I'm not clear on how high the existing exterior walls are but it looks like they are already high enough to allow the H3-45 to clear. It appears you already have a paved drive that could be converted to the floor. Granted, it wouldn't be a drive through but you wouldn't have to install new driveways and it would be less expensive to build. Really, ceiling clearance doesn't need to be all that great. Think about it, how often you would need to access the top of the bus to do maintenance anyway.

Here are a couple of pics showing my bus under a 16' ceiling although the H3-45 will be about a foot taller. As you know, this is new construction and a little tight on the width as it is only 16' wide (15' less walls).

I am adding 2" of reinforced concrete to the 4" depth of the driveway portion where the bus will be rolling over to enter and exit the garage.


Chuck

[davidbrady]

Hi Chuck,

Wow! You're place is looking fantastic; nice going on finding a home for Mr 4Bs!

Yes, the linear extension following the existing roof line is still on the table. It would require that I place the bus close to the center of the building. The scissors trusses have a lower chord with only 12'6" of clearance at the side walls. This slopes upward at a pitch of 1 in 12 to a clearance of 14'8" at the center of the building. SpongeBob is 13'5" tall. I'd have to be sure to that I reserve room in the center third of the building to make this work but it is doable and it is probably one of the cheaper alternatives. The big problem is that Suzana thinks the building will look like a commercial chicken operation - you know those mile long buildings built close to the ground with few windows... LOL!

If I lift the roof to 16' and extend the gable linearly to the existing gable, with the idea of not using any space within the original building and consequently having ceiling clearance to park the bus anywhere in the addition, then I'd be adding another 50' to 55' in length to the building. This won't fly with my architectural committee!

There's no doubt that for aesthetic reasons the building needs to be broken up. Here's some 3D renderings I did with a cross-gable design. Everything in stone is the new addition. It'd measure 40'x75' for 3000 sq ft of new space. Those are 14'x14' garage doors and the roof height is 16':

BTW, the kids came down with walking pneumonia. I issued them all buckets! The plan was to get to my garage on Monday, then Thursday, and now Sunday! I'll pick up the ammeter then.

[mhughes01]

(05-15-2014 20:18)cmillsap Wrote:  David,

I'm a little cornfused (sic) after looking at the pics and drawings. Why are you changing ingress and egress from the end to the side of the building? Is there a good reason for not continuing the existing roof slope direction over 16' high walls? I'm not clear on how high the existing exterior walls are but it looks like they are already high enough to allow the H3-45 to clear. It appears you already have a paved drive that could be converted to the floor. Granted, it wouldn't be a drive through but you wouldn't have to install new driveways and it would be less expensive to build. Really, ceiling clearance doesn't need to be all that great. Think about it, how often you would need to access the top of the bus to do maintenance anyway.

Here are a couple of pics showing my bus under a 16' ceiling although the H3-45 will be about a foot taller. As you know, this is new construction and a little tight on the width as it is only 16' wide (15' less walls).

I am adding 2" of reinforced concrete to the 4" depth of the driveway portion where the bus will be rolling over to enter and exit the garage.


Chuck

I can't quite align David's Future-state drawing with the current state photos to make sense of where things are as the existing two sliding doors aren't shown, and there are no end views of the current building on the drawing.

Re the pit. If I recall, mine is around 5' 5" at its deepest, and has a slight slope to the sump end. It is optimized for me for both head clearance and reach to suspension components. I have had a couple of feet of water in it in wet years when The sump has been unplugged for one reason or another. (I've yet to run wire through the pre-installed conduits into the pit).

I plug it in, and a half an hour later the water is gone. My building is up on a couple of feet of solid fill as well, making the ground water that much lower, and it is highly variable where we live. Some years, a fence post hole dug on Saturday will be full on Sunday, other years, not a drop in it in two weeks.

I've yet to install my stairs, so just use a step ladder when the pit is needed. It's not the full length of our bus either. I didn't know I was buying a 43' Bird when I built it, and I thought about making it longer, but glad I didn't as I like to park my baler at the far end of it, and that is hard to back up perfectly straight for more than about 30'. I had optimized it for the wheel base of our old Empress pusher plus a bit to get in and out. I mainly built it for family cars and the farm tractors, and it's nice to have a non pit area at either end. I always worry about driving over the 2x6 boards that cover it with anything (those will be replaced by something much better some day - it's in the "job jar"). Certainly I never get near them with anything heavier than me, or maybe a quad or Harley if I'm pressed for space to maneuver (my shop needs a serious cleaning).

Practically speaking, if I am changing oil, I back the ass end over it, if I'm doing front end stuff as well, I have to turn it around. If I was doing it again, now owning the bird, I might build a 50' pit. You never know how handy they are until you have one,mor what a pain in the butt they are to maneuver around either! We actually park our bus on the other side (non pit) side of the shop, but at some point, when I get the mezzanine up, the Bird will live over the pit.

[davidbrady]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the detailed description of your pit and how you use it. I have contractors coming over today; maybe I'll be able to get their opinion on ground water and run off and whether a pit is feasible.

Check out my previous post for 3D renderings which might help in clarifying what I'm attempting to do.

Mike, can you share some pics?

[mhughes01]

Will try and get some when I get home next week.

[davidbrady]

(05-15-2014 17:47)Deb N Randy Wrote:  Would that work or be a option for me? Mine had cracks even before I started driving 48000 lbs. on it. I've heard that removing the existing the the most expensive part of fixing it.

Randy,

The concrete man said to overlay existing concrete with new requires a minimum of 2 inches of sand and then 4 inches of new concrete.

You're right about the cost of removing the old stuff. It costs as much to remove, haul, and dispose of the old as it does to lay down the new.

Experimenting with garage doors: