How I built my sculpture studio
A WORK IN PROGRESS
This is the saga of how I built my sculpture studio - what I did, how I did it, and what I'd do differently.
In the beginning, there was green upon the land and my wife said, "Go ye forth and build one big ass sculpture studio." She also mentioned stopping the welding and plasma cutting in the basement, all the "metal crap" filling our garage to the exclusion of our car, wanting some peace and quiet, and, "Jim, you really need a place to sculpt properly." My response?...Yeah, Baby!
So, in the summer of 2017, at the age of 67, with lots of plans, alternative plans, alternatives to the alternative plans, and almost no money, I started.
I planned for a 32' x 56' foot-print with a 4' side/foundation wall and a gambrel roof. My plan called for pole barn style construction. The gambrel trusses would be placed across the width of the building, spaced approximately 8' apart, and connected with 2x4 purlins (cross members) for the length of the building. It would be covered with steel roofing (my biggest single expense, I thought). I wanted a completely open space inside for large scale sculptures, so each gambrel truss needed to be sufficiently braced at each joint so that it would be fully self-supporting (no cross beams).
The first step was leveling my building site. I chose a site that would allow the long side of the building to face due south for future solar plans. After placing orange stakes in the site corners, I attached a simple site level to an old camera tripod to "survey" the site. The lowest point of the site - the southwest corner of my studio to be - became my zero reference point. With a compass, I set the site level to due North and adjusted the tripod's height to be level with the base of the stake at the northwest corner of the studio. Then, I measured from the ground up to the center of the site level to find out how high above my reference that corner was. I did the same with the other two corners. The heights for all corners were: SW@0', NW@3', NE@3.5', and SE@2.5'.
I decided that I wanted to dig out the space so that the whole floor was at my zero reference level. That meant moving a LOT of dirt. I figured that the dirt removed could be used to bern the sides later on to provide good drainage and some natural insulation.
My wife told me to call a local contractor, Digger Bob, for an estimate. This was near the end of June. Bob came over right away, and using his laser system found my "survey" to be accurate to +/- 1". That made me feel pretty good with myself. Shadows on the ground made us look up to see about a dozen turkey vultures circling overhead. Slightly ominous - we laughed. His rough estimate was $1500 to $1800. I frowned - this was well out of my expense range at the time (or so I thought). I decided to rent a Bobcat for a day (~ $400) and try to do it myself. Maybe I should have taken the "omen" more seriously? Click on photos to enlarge.
This is the saga of how I built my sculpture studio - what I did, how I did it, and what I'd do differently.
In the beginning, there was green upon the land and my wife said, "Go ye forth and build one big ass sculpture studio." She also mentioned stopping the welding and plasma cutting in the basement, all the "metal crap" filling our garage to the exclusion of our car, wanting some peace and quiet, and, "Jim, you really need a place to sculpt properly." My response?...Yeah, Baby!
So, in the summer of 2017, at the age of 67, with lots of plans, alternative plans, alternatives to the alternative plans, and almost no money, I started.
I planned for a 32' x 56' foot-print with a 4' side/foundation wall and a gambrel roof. My plan called for pole barn style construction. The gambrel trusses would be placed across the width of the building, spaced approximately 8' apart, and connected with 2x4 purlins (cross members) for the length of the building. It would be covered with steel roofing (my biggest single expense, I thought). I wanted a completely open space inside for large scale sculptures, so each gambrel truss needed to be sufficiently braced at each joint so that it would be fully self-supporting (no cross beams).
The first step was leveling my building site. I chose a site that would allow the long side of the building to face due south for future solar plans. After placing orange stakes in the site corners, I attached a simple site level to an old camera tripod to "survey" the site. The lowest point of the site - the southwest corner of my studio to be - became my zero reference point. With a compass, I set the site level to due North and adjusted the tripod's height to be level with the base of the stake at the northwest corner of the studio. Then, I measured from the ground up to the center of the site level to find out how high above my reference that corner was. I did the same with the other two corners. The heights for all corners were: SW@0', NW@3', NE@3.5', and SE@2.5'.
I decided that I wanted to dig out the space so that the whole floor was at my zero reference level. That meant moving a LOT of dirt. I figured that the dirt removed could be used to bern the sides later on to provide good drainage and some natural insulation.
My wife told me to call a local contractor, Digger Bob, for an estimate. This was near the end of June. Bob came over right away, and using his laser system found my "survey" to be accurate to +/- 1". That made me feel pretty good with myself. Shadows on the ground made us look up to see about a dozen turkey vultures circling overhead. Slightly ominous - we laughed. His rough estimate was $1500 to $1800. I frowned - this was well out of my expense range at the time (or so I thought). I decided to rent a Bobcat for a day (~ $400) and try to do it myself. Maybe I should have taken the "omen" more seriously? Click on photos to enlarge.
Day 1, starting to work with the Bobcat.
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War Zone - worst bobcat driver in the world!
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As you can see, I am the worst Bobcat driver in the world. The result of a days work looked more like a war zone than a leveled floor space. A few things contributed to this: inexperience (obviously), the diesel exhaust seemed to be vented directly into the cab so that I had to stop every hour to breath fresh air, and wheels on the Bobcat instead of tracks. The exhaust fumes left me feeling nauseous and light headed for the next 2 days. As to the last, my site is primarily sand/loam - the wheels tended to dig in and spin.
Realization: I should have spent the money and hired a contractor or at least somebody that knew how to drive a Bobcat.
First major plan change: I would have to dig by hand, but would raise the floor at the lowest point with material that I removed from the higher side. This would put the overall floor level about 18" above my zero reference and substantially reduce my digging requirements.
So, I started digging. Between the heat, lack of much previous physical activity, and a few aches and pains, I was able to put in 4 to 6 hours of work on non-rainy days. After a few weeks, it began to look substantially better ... and I lost some pounds.
Realization: I should have spent the money and hired a contractor or at least somebody that knew how to drive a Bobcat.
First major plan change: I would have to dig by hand, but would raise the floor at the lowest point with material that I removed from the higher side. This would put the overall floor level about 18" above my zero reference and substantially reduce my digging requirements.
So, I started digging. Between the heat, lack of much previous physical activity, and a few aches and pains, I was able to put in 4 to 6 hours of work on non-rainy days. After a few weeks, it began to look substantially better ... and I lost some pounds.
Lookin' better.
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Clam Falls Gothic.
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Loosening things up with the rototiller.
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Sieving out the stones and rocks.
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Fondation post holes
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I started sifting the dirt/sand and made an ever growing pile of stones and rocks from 1.5" to 6". I also picked up an old rototiller for $25 at auction that made the digging much easier. Getting a bit anxious to see something more than leveled ground, I dug holes and poured the footings for the concrete posts that would support the gambrel trusses.
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