I have a steel building which was built as a stable. It is 70' wide and 80' deep. It is not clear span. There are two sets of engineered trusses which meet at the 40'/30' mark. The base of the 40' truss is approximately a foot and a half higher than the base of the 30' truss. I assumed that was done to create more height in the riding arena area and that part makes sense to me.
The 30' x 80' section was built for stalls, etc., and wouldn't need that height so, again, that makes sense to me. Where I'm lost has to do with the floor. While it's a dirt floor, the 30' x 80x section is about a foot higher than the arena area. If it were just the floor itself I could write that off to cleaning the arena and not replacing the dirt removed. It's not just the floor level.
The vertical dimensional lumber is actually on full board (approximately 12") higher there, too. The terrain seems to naturally go that direction but I've never seen anything like this in a building before. Is there some reason having to do with it having been a horse/stable operation that might explain why this was done this way?
My intended us for this is simply as storage and a workshop. I eventually hope to concrete the entire floor and would like to do it at the same level even though I'm going to have different ceiling heights inside regardless. Does anyone have any thoughts on this for me?
[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Gary, I think if it were me I would probably step the floor the 12' in a way that made sense and was not an impediment to the intended useage. Sometimes in a storage building.....especiallly if it is on uneven terrain.......a stepped floor might make sense. It seems to me that if you thought it out carefully and chose wisely, a ramp wouldn't be too hard to work with. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] I know how these things can evolve sometimes. We are doing this grainery-to-shop conversion now and it has been TWO YEARS in the planning because we had to make OUR plans fit into the EXISTING structure. What we are ending up with is going to be really nice......finally, and from the sound of it, with some wise decisions, your setup could be pretty good as well.
Reply With Quote
