Took the first step towards building my shop

[Crusty]

Kinda reminds me of a bear outhouse.

[Toolmaker51]

Kinda reminds me of a bear outhouse.

This explains lots of things...

[Frank S]

This explains lots of things...

The picture is actually quite fitting since if you look closely at my picture you will find the welding machine and behind it a diesel can, where the diesel can is sitting is almost exactly where the toilet will be located

[Toolmaker51]

Epic.
No other suitable term applies.

[Frank S]

Epic.
No other suitable term applies.

In the past few weeks we have watched pile after pile of materials diminish and in some cases completely disappear.
It is hard to believe or even imagine that at one time with the exception of 5 pipes 4 I beams and a stack of purlin all of the materials for this building was hauled here as salvaged materials. I would have barely been able to have built a bare bones 2 car garage for the amount of cash I've spent on this thing.

[metric_taper]

In the past few weeks we have watched pile after pile of materials diminish and in some cases completely disappear.
It is hard to believe or even imagine that at one time with the exception of 5 pipes 4 I beams and a stack of purlin all of the materials for this building was hauled here as salvaged materials. I would have barely been able to have built a bare bones 2 car garage for the amount of cash I've spent on this thing.

Being in the right place at the right time to harvest that original building helped.
But it's your sweat equity to do all the work to dismantle and haul away, and erect at your site, that enabled this.
Your support columns are clever in using scrap wheels and drill piping, and knowledge of clay subsoil mixed with cement.
Delivered concrete has gotten crazy over the years. That is a minor hurtle to you.

[Frank S]

Being in the right place at the right time to harvest that original building helped.
But it's your sweat equity to do all the work to dismantle and haul away, and erect at your site, that enabled this.
Your support columns are clever in using scrap wheels and drill piping, and knowledge of clay subsoil mixed with cement.
Delivered concrete has gotten crazy over the years. That is a minor hurtle to you.

I have been watching several different auctions again lately.
The thought of eventually needing well over 100 yards of concrete plus the distance to the nearest plant has started me thinking about the possibility of maybe finding an old but working portable batch plant. a screed, power trowels and all other needed article's then once the pour and any additional slabs are done sell everything.
My reckoning is I could probably cut the cost of my slab by 70% even with hiring labor. Plus who knows if folks within 10 to 15 miles of me knew I had a batch plant I could wind up needing to provide small amounts to them to be hauled in a 1 1/2 or 2 yard trailer. I used to rent them all the time and they are nothing to build

[metric_taper]

I have been watching several different auctions again lately.
The thought of eventually needing well over 100 yards of concrete plus the distance to the nearest plant has started me thinking about the possibility of maybe finding an old but working portable batch plant. a screed, power trowels and all other needed article's then once the pour and any additional slabs are done sell everything.
My reckoning is I could probably cut the cost of my slab by 70% even with hiring labor. Plus who knows if folks within 10 to 15 miles of me knew I had a batch plant I could wind up needing to provide small amounts to them to be hauled in a 1 1/2 or 2 yard trailer. I used to rent them all the time and they are nothing to build

You think big with getting your own batch plant!

At my local home supply, 1cuft bag of cement is ~$10. How much is that bulk I wonder. I think the current price of concrete delivered here locally is $160-$180/cu.yd. It was $48/yd in 1988 the last time I had it delivered. And that's made with crushed limestone aggregate, which is too soft in my opinion (and why the life cycle of roads here is short, as it is porous to the salt water in the winter, and freeze-thaw spalling is common). I paid extra to have washed river gravel from igneous rock used. But under the entire state is only limestone near the surface. The mix is a 6bag per yd of cement to make the strength yield using limestone.

[Toolmaker51]

Hey, Frank S, metric_taper;
you guys should check out homemadetools.net. People there lap this kind of thinking like big bowls of lime sherbet.
Ohh, wait a minute....

Like Iowa, our soils can be poor support to concrete pours. The perimeter of my building is unpaved, floor is acceptable, but really want [need] 4' under my DeVlieg. That's about 18 yards. There also is a walkway/ forklift ramp needing rebuilt.
While getting a personal batch plant is thinking big, there are potential customers afterward. I see them likely completely unaware there a truck shop and machining facility of considerable size connected to it. A safe bet is 10-or 15 miles is 1/3 or 1/4 the possible customer radius. One then feeds the other.
That's basis of my intent, instead of concrete I'll rent hard to find tools. Very low cost, high deposit, and agreement guarantees they have NO liability protection. Two pages of 8.5" x 14" legal boiler-plate un-needed, a simple "Receipt of this warrants user has no recourse to injury or property damage, public or private."
.......but then "Shall not be infringed" is unclear to some, and over past several decades.

[Toolmaker51]

At one time, my fertile brain pondered why ready mix truck drums were so shaped.
Let fertile here also mean too young for sorting out that stuff. Seems I was never too young to wonder or ask "Why?".

Besides center of gravity, sufficient volume without pouring out, keeping minimal surface exposed to air [drying too quick]; sometimes the tapers aid removal of a dried plug. Of course it has to be dismantled and circumferences torched open...Also told they keep sacks of rock salt in the cab in the event of trouble, to retard or throw the mix out of drying cycle, but ruins the load.
Frank S; I relinquish the floor....

A peremptory response to my DAMHIKT; ~ 2008 economic crisis [properly labeled, compared to COVID 19 'crisis'] I was laid off.
My region was a little distant from a real metro area and decent employment. I went to work fixing rail cars, which is considerable business around here. Anyway, two concrete chassis arrived with cement stuck to the walls, about 4" thick in places.
After freeing up the sliding dump shutters, guess who was smallest and newest to climb inside with sledge, engineer hammer and a few chisels...
Ohh the 08"s, such good times; brought to us by a bank who's name only gets mention as perpetrators.
I only know how much it set one family back, many caught up far, far worse.