And so it begins..... my new garage

[747mopar]

Sit and wait now... damn weather!! -4 degrees this morning, seeing how your not supposed to pour on frozen ground and we have at least a week of this crap it'll probably be frozen deep enough that I'll be shut down for awhile. Going to look into enclosing it so I can heat it or find somewhere to buy a pre poured slab to just plop down. Sucks that I literally missed the last bit of warmer weather by a day but being Christmas weekend there wasn't any concrete trucks running. Got a few tons of gravel to throw down but that's it. Just made the call and bumped up to the 750 model.

 

[Riverdawg]

The house my brother bought a 1.5 years ago has a woodfired boiler. Great setup. Heats the house and the Large pole barn. it keeps the barn about 70 degrees. It was already in place so I don't know off hand what size lines were used.

 

[747mopar]

Finally mother natured played nice.... That and I found reliable help!! Never having poured concrete in the winter I did my research, biggest concern was not pouring on frozen ground so the ground was kept covered until pour time which to my surprise worked. Several inches of gravel was also layed down to help isolate it and allow the water to escape while curing then lots of rebar. Dad rigged up this bucket extension for the Steiner making it a walk in the park.. almost! Went very well except about the time I could get on it for final trowel it started raining forcing me to cover it up. Wasn't until 9:00pm that I got back on it but got it done.

 

[747mopar]

Finally got a start on the work bench and it's gonna be a doozy! I had 8 3.5"X6" 10 long pieces of white oak left over from the bridge so looks like once I run them threw the planer I'll have a 24" wide, 3" thick by 20ft long bench. After looking at the boards they were so straight that I just put 3 beads of liquid nail on the mating surface and bolted them together, good glue squeeze full length. They have 4 pieces of 1/2" all thread going all the way threw them with the nuts ressesed well within the edge so they aren't going anywhere.

Started prepping the old barn chestnut for the frame, they were 8X8 but taking them down to 5X5 allowed me to saw the sides with nails and rot off making them planer happy. Cutting them was the fun part, 2 passes on the table saw then a sawzaw just to get it workable!

I included a picture of our small wood shop. The tops are being built in my old shop since it has 3 phase to run the 24" planer.

 

[747mopar]

Planed the tops last night with dad's help, wow are they heavy!!! Dad has a small work top on casters that can be raised and lowered via a hydraulic jack and we needed it, I'd guess each top is 250lbs!! With that kind of weight the planer needed all the help it could get feeding them then flipping them over.... I was ready for bed when we finished. The rest will be much easier and I guarantee when you wrench on the vice something is gonna give and it won't be the tops.

 

[747mopar]

Boiler arrives Monday..

Wish I was ready for it but truth be told once I got started in my basement I could stand working down there. I never got around to wiring or anything else in the back utility room and went ballistic on it. Drywalled, mudded, primed and finished the whole basement... there now I like working down there lol. Still needs some work but pretty happy with it. Tried a new idea on the ceilings, painted everything flat black then hung T8s.. Really like it, ceiling disappears while leaving everything accessible.

 

[747mopar]

Here's what I decided on for heating the garage. Picked up a Bryant 100K BTU propane furnace for $250 on Craigslist. Plan is mount the heat exchanger in the plenum for boiler heat then have propane heat if needed when the boiler isn't running and also have the ability to add central air. Now where to put it??? I'd like it up on the mezzaine but it only gives me 24" of plenum, plenty until you go throwing an A Coil in it.

 

[747mopar]

Here's the results from my first attempt at pouring concrete in the winter, pretty happy. Think I overkilled it, 8" thick and 1/2" rebar on a 16" grid but with it sitting over top of a fresh ditch figured I better. Ready for a boiler

 

[snakeyes]

very nice looking good

 

[ws27]

That furnace is convertible to horizontal, you could hang it from the ceiling or put it upstairs.

 

[747mopar]

That furnace is convertible to horizontal, you could hang it from the ceiling or put it upstairs.

I was wondering if I could but it says upflow, how can you tell if it can be mounted horizontally and what is needed? They mounted the one at work horizontally but it's a heat pump so it only has elements in it. Also the one at work uses an A Coil mounted in the horizontal duct, that alone would solve my problem.

 

[ws27]

Get the directions, the only thing you really need to consider is how the condensate from the furnace drains. A coils also have two drains on them so you can use them either way.
If you need help PM me.

Call me if you still have my number.

 

[747mopar]

Get the directions, the only thing you really need to consider is how the condensate from the furnace drains. A coils also have two drains on them so you can use them either way.
If you need help PM me.

Call me if you still have my number.

Thanks again. First I want to look into horizontally mounted A Coils, I assume the drain pan would be the only big difference?

 

[747mopar]

Yesterday I was trying to clean up my mess in the woodshop from building my workbench and thouht instead of dragging the Chestnut back to the garage let's just throw together a bathroom door. It will be stained like the workench which evens the color out nicely.

 

[Brandy]

Wow, you have way more skills and energy than I ever had, or will have again. impressive!

 

[747mopar]

Wow, you have way more skills and energy than I ever had, or will have again. impressive!

Nah, you'd be amazed how easy this stuff is with the proper tools. Planer, edger, table saw and a set of dado blades is all it took.

 

[747mopar]

Big day today, boiler is here! Now the mad rush to put it to use. I'm glad I opted for the newest model and the biggest they had, this clean out door in the back will be a huge plus and it's stainless with a few other added bells not to mention I can fit in the firebox! I'll have 1 left over set of ports so future additions like a heated pole, hot tub or additional building are all on the table.

 

[747mopar]

Making some progress on the boiler installation that should have already been done but instead I decided to drywall the basement. Little bit more to go and the house is ready then on to the garage.

Managed to spend a few hours in the woodshop and got the bathroom door for the garage sanded and stained.

 

[747mopar]

Not much getting down on the stuff I'd like to be doing but did sneak this in, mounted and polyurethaned the bathroom door.

 

[snakeyes]

hows that new heat system working for you