buy a building?

First thing is check with the tax laws and local zoning laws. Friend of mine put up a similar work shed and the city came by and wanted to up his taxes... needless to say the taxes cost more than putting up the shed... so he tore it down.

Mike

I did what you are planing.

I can only speak from TN. You are in Nebraska.  In this state as long as it's a "portable building" your taxes are not affected the same way as if it was a permanent structure.

A permit is required. It will be inspected to make sure you don't place it to close to the property line or another  structure on the property.

Other issues you may want to think about are. I'm just suggesting you might want to think of the following.

Floor, walls and ceiling insulation.

Electrical sub panel and all wiring.

Covering the walls after insulation and wiring is completed

Climate control reverse cycle air heat unit. Based on sq ft of building

Good Luck with your project. It was the best thing I ever did for my trains.

Larry

I would be very interested to know how you make out, I have a 25 X 36 sitting on a pallet in a garage waiting to be built. Its a steel building but i got a good price on it and it is the same type that i worked out of when i was stationed in Iraq, spray foamed on the inside is quite a nice comfortable and practically maintenance free and no support poles. I'm waiting to build it because I am retireing in a few years and the wife wants to move out of Ct. So if i can't find a house with a large unfinished basement I was thinking of using it for my train room.

    Anybody know of a nice place to live in Kentucky preferably next to some good fishing.

The initial cost might seem reasonable but you need foundation, insulation, wiring, heating to make it useful for a layout room. You may need a building permit with various fees and inspections. Some inspectors will give an owner-builder a hard time; they prefer to deal with professional contractors who know how to jump through the hoops (experience of a friend).

Depending on the climate, a metal building can "sweat": when it's cold it accumulates condensation, sometimes enough to actually drip inside. Plan on insulation, figure the added cost. If you insulate it, some localities will not accept it as a "temporary" building.

 Sometimes metal buildings collapse from unusual weather conditions like heavy rain after a heavy snow, or high winds. Check the ratings for snow load etc.

My attitude is, a good comfortable layout room in the house is better than a larger unfinished garage or attic or basement space or outbuilding that has temperature swings, more dust, less conveniently accessible, etc.

I have a 16ft by 20ft (exterior) "stick built" storage building in the back yard.  I think the siding is called T111 wood siding?, ONE window at about 3 inches above the floor.  I have my AC UNDER the bench in the center of the "narrow" wall. 

The layout is a "duck under" entry.  Since you have to step UP to get in, just "hunch your shoulders and stay ducked as you take one long step into the building.  When I built the building, I went to the City building inspectors who informed me that I could cover a specific portion of my lot (city code for rain absorption) so that limited my size.  I also had to position the building based on "set backs" and existing underground plumbing or electric and natural gas lines. 

I built the building in the very early 90s and 220vac for large window AC was common, so I built in the capability to have 220vac which included a breaker panel just for the building rather than simply a circuit from the house breaker.  I also took advantage of the 220 and installed baseboard electric heat (8ft long baseboard heater that heats a fluid.)  I have a conventional roof with shingles and the building is painted to match the house trim.

A friend from church helped me finish the mud and tape on the sheetrock walls.  Then he stuck around and helped me sand the seams so it looked nice.  Next, I carpeted the floor with USED carpet.  $100 to a contractor and I had the same friend from church install it.    (Sheet rock done and painted walls and ceiling before the carpet was laid.  I elected to use a sky blue for the wall paint, plain white for the ceiling.) 

YES, the building is on the tax roll for my property.  Every state does property taxes differently so I was prepared for the change...and honestly I don't even feel it these days.

The interior is 15ft wide by 19ft long.  Back when I built the building, I was modeling in HO so I designed for that.  I have the exact same bench work set up today as when I first started.  The long wall shelves are 30 inches wide.  The baseboard heaters are on the two long walls about 4 inches above the carpeted floor.  The entry door is along one of the long walls and the layout narrows to 24 inches over the entrance.  By the way, I ran sheetrock over the top of the door to hide the door.  That was a very good choice. 

The narrow shelf on the wall with the AC is only 18 inches deep.  The opposite short wall has a 30 inch deep shelf, but it also has a 4ft by 10ft peninsula that attaches to that short end shelf.  That same short wall plays host to the staging.  There will be a façade of structure flats to hide the two stub end storage tracks.  There is also a disguised continuous run connection on that same short wall.

The entire layout is a flat table.  My plan was always to build scenery above the table top (Homasote on top of plywood sheets).  Because I changed track plans several times in HO and then changed scale, I am VERY glad I did not opt to build open grid. 

The top of the bench work is 53 inches above the floor.  Why, I measured my armpit and subtracted 2 inches.  I can stand flat footed and still reach the back tracks.

I would point out that my layout theme is industrial switching district.  I like to run reasonably close to prototypically.  I am not real sure I will follow every Rule...I don't know most of them that well anyway.  But every freight car will go to a specific door on the various industries.  There is NO engine terminal.  The concept is the operator is working an 8 hour trick (or up to 12 hours) on a switching district for the Santa Fe in 1963.  (I like ATSF zebra stripes from my childhood.)  So, I am freelancing my version of a real Santa Fe industrial switch district in Oklahoma City.  The branch (OKC Stockyards District) had lots of other customers besides the stockyards and the packing plants.  While I could accommodate a second operator, I did not specifically plan for that.  Rather than have trains from the switching district originate from the main OKC yard, I am changing reality so that union rules dictate that stockyard crews stay on their district or get paid extra.  So cars are dropped on the connection track to the ATSF mainline by the "south local switcher" (GHA) which is not modeled.

Regrets?  I am unhappy with the length of my runaround tracks.  On the long shelves/long walls, I can position "about" six cars and caboose inside the switch clearances.  DOES NOT INCLUDE LOCOMOTIVE.  I am trying to restrict cars to 40ft with the exception of gondolas and flat cars.

Beyond that, I am OK with what I have.  Would I like 24ft. OH YEAH!  Would I be happy with 12ft wide?  Not so much.  I would be happier with 24ft by 18ft.  That would let me use O-72 around the end of the peninsula.  That would free me up for secondary main line with a couple of small towns and hidden stage.  Maybe some distance between the towns with space for a small limestone crusher (no coal in my part of the state).  Sigh....(sob...what could have been...sob.)

Would I do it again?  You Betcha!  I would change little things.  As I noted above, more space would be nice...and I did not need that much HEAT and I need a larger AC because the 220 unit died (compressor) and the 110 model is not quite enough for my room.

Go Thunder.

By the way...after all that I forgot to mention:

She who must be obeyed was the financial officer that approved and encouraged moving trains out of the 10x12 spare bedroom into a "yet to be built" building in the back yard.

She wanted her room back!

(Hmmm...sounds familiar, no?)

In California a house building permit can cost $50,000 or more.

Backyard sheds are being rents on airbed for $100 a night and more.

Country taxman wants 1% up to  2% of "market value" on resales or "new construction" per year.

You could build it for 5,000 and find it apprised for $50,000, with a $1,000 a year tax bill.

Friends in rural area call train buildings "farm sheds" and are left alone by the country taxman.

Its hard to hide from google earth, unless you have lots of trees on your property.

John Armstrong addresses this in his book on layout construction.  He calls an outdoor free standing building the most expensive square footage for layout space.  After the fact I laughingly  shivered  at his statement "..Even if you lie to your self you can not avoid the costs".   He delineated a point by point break down on all aspects of use and construction.  Like a fool, I read all that and still did it.

Well after providing a 859 sq ft building of heavily insulated, high tech HVAC, well lite octagon influenced new construction I can well attest, he was right.  He also stated that nothing is more efficient than  a spare room or basement and gave a break down on the rainbow of shared expenses those areas have of pre existing fixed costs.

As things turned out I sold that property and purchased a 2000 sq foot ranch which also has a 2k sq ft basement.   Just wish I made this move much sooner.  No more getting all bundled up in winter and dodging the rain to go work on the RR.  Even after two layout design down sizing, at this stage of life I will be lucky to have any degree of completion.

Each story is different and each locale has it's own unique construction quirks but I would strongly advise reading his comments and take them to heart. I wish I did not let my ability, budget and ego get in my way.

Photos of my previous building follows.  The bump out is for deep trackage for a first level and third level passenger terminal.  That township had a 860 sq ft separate structure limit so I built using angled corners which conversely added to the straight runs.  They charged me 1 sq ft for the concrete column so that is the why of 859 sq ft for the building it's self.