#update 7/26/17 If this is your first time visiting this thread, there are a lot of useless notes, measurements, and ideas that are no longer valid on this page and the next. Page 3 picks up with actual work and progress.

edit 3/17/19

I bought chickens, here's the link to that thread.

Link to the chickens

So I'm starting this thread mostly as motivation to actually get the work done, and as a way to organize my thoughts. Pictures and measurements will come in the future. **check list** in no particular order Finally bury the conduit Sell the Windows Sell or dispose of tires Throw away old tarp Clean out leaves Get rid of whatever car parts are left that don't belong to the miata or jeep. Run power through the conduit, possibly add another sub panel. Wall mounted tire racks Make a better work surface than gravel Drag tool chest down once a flooring solution comes up. --- Walls and roof are good steel. It used to be able to fit a pickup truck and boat side by side, now it barely fits a miata. This needs to be solved. The words "shoe string budget" have never meant more to me. But aside from the actual wire and whatever floor comes up, I already have everything I need. Just lacking motivation. I'll be really interested to hear ideas about making a good work surface off of the packed gravel that is already there. By my estimates, 7 yards on concrete would give me a 4 inch thick pad, and while that is preferred, it's both expensive, labor intensive, and I might not be able to get a cement truck in my driveway so would require doing it in stages with a small mixer. I've also considered sand, though I don't know how much, to make the gravel level then covering it with marine grade plywood. Not exactly cheap, but I think it would work, at least better than just throwing plywood down. I've also thought about just making a pad 2ft bigger than the car so there's room for a Jack and possibly other tools, but a free floating concrete pad has it's own problems.

Don't do the slab in portions, you will hate the end result. If you do go for concrete get A concrete pump if you want get the truck close.

If you absolutely can't afford concrete......buy Portland cement, sprinkle on the gravel, wet it down and rent a plate compactor. If you compact the berkeley out of it it'll be at least harder then loose gravel. It won't last forever though

Where in pa are you located? I have a lot of wire left over from when we remodeled our house, i cam donate to the cause. If your nearby I can see whats what.

The open sides are 22 Feet 4.5 Inches

The closed sides are 25 Feet

From gravel to peak, it's 9 Feet 4.

I wish I could easily raise it up enough for a lift to go in, but that's really just wishful thinking.

Pictures in its current state

The previously mentioned conduit is against this wall, under some old vinyl siding from the house and the windows.

A lot of this project is based around cleaning, I guess, But getting a floor that is actually easy to work on is an attainable goal, I feel. It would definitely make things easier, especially if and when the motor swap comes around. I can't imagine moving an engine crane on this crap.

If I remember correctly, it was a base of 2 modified, vibe rolled, dust, vibe rolled, then the 3's that are there, again, rolled.

Down the driveway we've had terrible problems with the gravel sinking throuhg the years, but in the 10 years the car post has been there, that hasn't been an issue. Which does give me some hope for concrete.

Go ahead and laugh, but I at least know where every socket in that set is currently, which is more than I can say for any other tool box or chest I have at the moment.

In reply to nepa03focus:

45 minutes east of Pittsburgh. I've got romex galore, and also have a good bit of leftover 8/4 UV cable from when I put a 50 amp panel in my garage. Wiring is down the road, I'm just gonna bury the conduit soon to get it out of my way. It's been sitting there since... the last office building I put up so 2009? I think 7 years is long enough to sit around before being used haha.

Actually, has anyone built shelves into these before? It would be nice to have at least 2x12 shelving on the walled sides to keep things off the ground.

That's pretty big gravel to really compact well, a load of 3/4 minus with some fines would be great.

But really there's nothing like concrete

In reply to Antihero:

The only thing I'm hesitant about with concrete, even more than the overhead wires, is at the end of the driveway there is a large concrete pipe that the creek passes through. I'm afraid it couldn't handle the weight of a full truck pulling in. Although 10 yard dumpsters, triaxles of gravel, and our annual 3 ton pellet delivery do just fine, I just have to double check the weight of a full truck.

I don't have a power float, but I've done decent work in the past with just boards. It would also leave a lip as thick as the pad, unless I dug out the gravel thats already there. I guess making a small ramp wouldn't be bad.

I really want to do concrete, I think my local price is 100/yard delivered, which isn't terrible, especially for the hassle it would save. It's just further down the line than right now.

According to a concrete estimator, it's 7.1 yards, or a royal E36 M3load of bags.

edit: 4000 lbs per yard, average truck weight of 26000 unloaded.. This could be really tricky unless I rented/borrowed a power cement dumper. I think it's too far from the road to the car port to pump cheaply or easily, especially with powerlines in the way.

I'm going to have to hunt around and see if I can find receipts from past gravel purchases to figure out how much they weighed and compared.

Get a line pump instead of a boom pump, no problems with wires then.

A float finish isn't the most durable of finishes either. At least hit it with steel a time or 2 imho

Got ya, awesome posts, keep up the good work. I love living vicariously through you all. One day I will be able to build a garage or wood shop.

Well, my dad got the car port and had the gravel setup. One of the times we got a load of gravel for the driveway, we had our excavator come out and do everything. Dust and "2B modified" spread out, graded, and rolled and the pad for the carport setup as it is. Couple guys showed up the next day and setup the car port.

Now that he's gone and I'm living in the house again, it's slowly becoming what we always talked about and what I need. It's kind of a pointless venture on my end, as the house is beyond repair thanks to termites and age. But appliances need replaced, and I need places to work. And having a kid means I need to up my standards of dwellings a little bit, so bandaid and repair as necessary.

The garage here is useless. There's a steep ramp on the patio to a 1940's single car garage. It could barely hold the tractor and generator, let alone a car, or something as low as my Miata, so I'm trying to fix up what I can. It serves as storage, but may in time become a small wood shop or metal shop so I have an excuse to buy more tools, err, can work inside out of the weather.

I'm not adding this to the budget for the motor swap I want to do, but that's pretty much what it's for. I'm just the wrong side of 25 to be screwing around on gravel or taking up asphalt at a friends house.

Is it feasible to pour a pad closer to the reach of the truck w/o compromising the concrete pipe? 23 X 26 or even partial of that and relocate the carport there.

Not really. Best option if a truck can't get in the driveway is ensure the neigbor is at work, block it off and pump from there. Or talk to an old contractor friend of my dads and see if I can borrow his power barrow, and park the truck across the street. I might have to call him anyway, see what kind of price he'd charge to see if it's worth doing myself or not.

Those stupid berking rocks are the bane of my existence, and I'm patiently awaiting the day I teach my daughter how to melt rocks with thermite. Longtime Property dispute, involving a crooked (now former)state senator and his surveying company. Everything has been at a ceasefire for a while, but with the primary PITA living in Florida, friendships may be renewed soon. I miss using that pole barn at my neighbors house.

I've had triaxles of gravel delivered in the past, so it's only an extra 5 or so ton by rough estimates. Weight might not be the problem I think it will be.

What you can't see because this is all google would allow me to zoom in, is where the creek goes under the driveway. I'll take some pictures soon, although there is a lot of plant life there blocking the view. It's a tight fit. A good driver wouldn't have a problem, but it's a tight fit between the rocks and the edge.

I guess I should also note, as it's hard to see, but the car port starts on the first flat spot in the yard. it slopes uphill (left) for a good while.

Final note: if you break down in my area, flatbeds can get in and out no problem, and there are parts stores nearby.

Georgia buggies, aka power wheelbarrow are horrible and moving 7 yards of concrete with it would miserable. You will be moving 14 tons of something that gets less workable every second. Line pumps are not at all spendy, for 7 yards.....something like $300 and really really really worth it.

Concrete is an investment, I always recommend doing and spending a little more than cutting corners. If done properly it's a lifetime investment

Help settle an argument. This had been going on for a while, and I've honestly switched sides myself.

Original thought was to cut and add length to raise the roof of the car port 4 feet, giving 13 foot of height and allowing a full size lift. I tend to believe this would involve a crane, as the car port needs cut in half, moved, extensions welded in, then moved back and finish welded. Lots of work, especially on a 100ft extension cord. Bolts and brakes also an option, but still requires moving the whole top half.

Option B: move the car port, pour the slab, with rods stocking up around the sides, lay 4 feet of block, and attach the car port to the concrete blocks. Not entirely sure that would require a crane, just maybe more people than I can come up with.

This is also tied to the debate between a quick Jack or a 4 post lift. My buddy has it in his head he can do alignments and such, and is willing to split the cost of a lift. Aside from his F250, a quick Jack would be fine for all of our current vehicles(miata, vue, grand Cherokee, Saturn sl2) though I do hesitate because I've been thinking about buying a ranger or even a big truck.

A quick Jack would not require raising the roof or running 240 to the car port, like most of the cheaper lifts I've seen would require both.

Current thought for electricity is 2 20 amp brakes, one for some lights and one for a few outlets. Although I guess 240 would be nice if I bought another welder, his mig is 110 and does just fine though.

How rigid is the car port? If you could move it easily enough and bunk it behind the block wall you could pull it forward onto the wall with a comealong

In reply to Antihero:

That's kind of my thought process. I figure get it started up on, and then pull it with a come along or strap. Although I was first thinking of pouring the pad to hold down the carport all together, If I can figure out how to move it out of the way, I'll move it and block up a 4 or 5 foot wall. I should probably find out exactly how much head room I need for a lift.

He seems to think he can cut and weld it to make it taller, and I'll at least let him voice an opinion because he's offering to split the cost of a lift in exchange for labor and being allowed to use it. How much weight his opinion carries though, that's another story. I tend to over think things to make them easier, he wants to turn everything into the most complicated and cheapest thing he can come up with.

It's rigid for sure, 2 inch square tube frame, and some really thick sides (16ga I believe) and roof all secured pretty much everywhere. The question is can we move it at all once the mobile home anchors are pulled? Maybe we could drag it with a truck over some plywood...

I picture it weighing between 500 and 1000 pounds, but I honestly don't know. My mom may know where the paperwork is from when we bought it that could give me exact specifications, but I guess that's another thing I need to look into. It was bought from a fly by night Mexican guy on craigslist. Contractor for some company, but I don't remember which.

The odds are pretty good the majority of the work will be done by myself and my buddy, but I can probably recruit 2-3 others to help. I don't have a big pool of friends, which is why I've been holding off big projects.

I really wish I knew how to use my dads old stuff. He was an estimator for ~25 years before becoming a site supervisor. I've got books, construction masters, all kinds of blue print measuring stuff. I just don't really remember how to use it. I could sit down and figure everything out ahead of time for a change, which would be really important with this build.

All I can say now, it's going to be an interesting couple of months. This thread may be slow going, but it'll be enough motivation to keep me working on it.

this is kind of a rambling post, feel free to skip it

I stopped and took a look while I was pretending to clean earlier. I thought I saw something strange near the roofline inside the car port, and sure enough, saw this.

Every rib has that setup to hold the roof on, 8 ribs per side. This would only require moving the roof to raise it up, no cutting, no trying to move the whole thing. This is something that could be done with ladders or sitting on top of the E250 van my buddy has as a company vehicle.

The downside, would be leaving open space between the existing walls and the roof. Plastic, plywood, hell cheese cloth, corrugated steel or plastic. I guess there are a lot of options for that.

No block work, tie the whole carport directly into the concrete at the base, leave a good, already square and level form that wouldn't need to come off... This might be the way to go. Those fancy waterproof bolts/screws may be a little pricey, but I know how to use a caulking gun.

That black is a rubber that never hardens, every single screw and bolt has it, I think it was like a crush washer on the installation hardware. I'll have to look on amazon and McMasterCarr.

I guess I need to figure out exactly which lift we want and what it needs for foundation and height clearance. He's pushing for a 4 post lift so he can learn to do basic alignments. I'm thinking a 2 post lift for more options like say raising a car body and being able to adjust the arms to reach all different vehicles and to make suspension work easier. I also don't see a problem with him doing level and line alignments, I'd rather take my car to a real alignment shop, someone who's been doing it forever and will help me set specs. But, I want to build racecars and play trucks, he wants to fix his appliance vehicles.

How high of a ceiling do I need to walk under a 96 F250?

Maybe, instead of centering the lift in the car port, making the parking situation a bit tricky, I could offset it to one side.

Comes back to what lift. Hmm. God I wish I knew how to use photo editing software.

Yay cleaning. 3 contractor bags full, 1 half way, and still more to go.

I've unearthed the conduit though, so i may get that buried this week to get it out of the way.

There's a possibility, maybe 40:60, that my buddy could bring home the scissor lift from work. If he can do that, and it fits inside the car port on it's trailer, we know how to move the roof no problem. I'm wondering if the roof should come off before the concrete comes to make pouring easier. I'd rather wait until we've sourced extension beams to raise the roof, so we can take it off and put it back on the same day though.

Wow, having a build thread is more motivating than the 10 years of berking around on gravel.

Deciding to hedge my bets though, spend the extra money, and pour a 6 inch floor. Full wire, rebar perimeter, 3000psi, a 6 inch floor should be overkill regardless of the lift type I wind up getting.

Trying to decide between wood or metal shelves. I've got scraps of 2x12 laying around so wood may win out, either way I've got to build mounting brackets.

It would be great if this berkeleying humidity would go away. God I miss California on days like this. 95F doesn't suck nearly as bad when the humidity is nonexistant.

Just saw on that other forum I'm on, that the quickjack is back at FM. And a certain model is on sale dirt cheap. Aside from getting in the way when I do the frame rails, I'm really not seeing a downside to getting it over a 2 post. portable, gets the car where I need it, probably won't work on a big truck, but I don't work on big things all that often. Not to mention small and light enough that any truck could deliver it. Plus cheaper, and supporting a company that helps me way more than I deserve for not having made a purchase there yet.

Can almost fit a second vehicle in it again That solid bottom rail goes down both sides. Which will make moving the whole thing easier, if we go that route. I really did find the conduit. Haven't done anything with it, but at least I found it.

Slowly making progress. Neighbor agreed to help with the work if I do it on a weekend, but I still want to get a couple quotes before I make a solid decision. A few hundred dollars versus learning another new skill? Spending a little extra to know it's done right is worth it to me.

If you are doing a lift I strongly recommend you use rebar thru out instead of mesh with a rebar perimeter

Honestly, the hardest part of concrete is the prep work, getting all the forms right, the pad graded and everything that goes with those two are the hardest part, pouring concrete itself and doing the finish work is cake. if you do all the prep work yourself, the concrete costs only a couple hundred bucks for a truck of premix at your doorstep

Just wanted to put this somewhere I can find it easily. Page 1 of a watched thread is way easier than page 19.

NOHOME said: Buy the Lincoln wire. Cheap wire is made from crap they sweep off the floor and it sucks. Buy the small spools and if you don't use it quickly, buy a new role or at least remove and store in a bag with desiccant pouch. To adjust your rig: Point it at the tin and pull the trigger, Count to two. If it made a hole, either lower the juice or count to one. If it did not blow a hole, raise the juice and count to three. Your perfect setting is somewhere between the two numbers and settings. The small weld dot that you are aiming for should look the same from both sides of the panel. Now, all you do is move the tip over 1/2 of the dot diameter and repeat. The ideal timing is to do a dot, move over half a dot and just as the red-glow is going away, hit it again. You will soon figure out that you can do more of an elongated dot if you move the tip a small amount, but regardless it involves a lot of trigger pulling to weld tin with a Mig. I fit panels with zero gap if at all possible. I never understood the gap thing since all it will do is introduce warping as the bead shrinks when it cools.

NOHOME wrote: Here you go, I doodled up a quick tutorial for "How to MIG weld a butted seam with no experience". I use lots of light so that I can see the weld dots and the seam I use two hands to control the position of the cup. I actually hold the cup steady with one hand. I clean the heck out of both pieces of metal at least 1" either side of the seam. The gap is not supper critical. Try not to get wider than the diameter of the wire, but don't sweat it. Zero gap works just as well as a wide gap. Use the single dot to tack your panel in place every 6" or so with the goal being to move join the positioning tacks. Disclaimer. I am not a welder. This is a process that I learned that works for me and several people I have trained. It will not make you a welder, just some guy who can stick sheet-metal together.

Those carports are assembled in about a day usually with 2 people.

Take it apart, and put it back together. No crane necessary.

In reply to SVreX:

No E36 M3, about 3 hours by 4 kids under 15. Their dad drove the truck and trailer, measured out and put down the corner anchors, then laid down and took a nap while the kids put it up.

I'm afraid the metal siding won't line up again if I take it apart. It's been together ~10 years now, and I just have visions of bent walls and big gaps. The idea of replacing the vertical ribs with taller ones came up a few times. There are still a few companies selling them around here, just not the place we bought this one from.

I've got about half the money put back to get the concrete, hoping I have the rest of it soon. Got a text reminding me I hadn't paid my phone bill for a while, so that took a bit of money away. A couple of late night searches on homeadvisor and Angies list reminded me that no businesses in my area have picked up on this whole "internet trend", 1 company at each site for concrete work. And one of them is writing out a quote without even coming to look at the site, which is turning me away from them. If you can't be bothered to come look and check out the base, how can I be sure you're estimate will be close to final price?

I almost think I need to get away from this board, I keep adding projects onto my list of E36 M3 to do instead of actually finishing anything. Like the kitchen cabinet I started building in June that still isn't done.