building stud walls inside car wash bay

[Waxman]

do you have any advice for building 2 x 4 stud walls inside my automatic bay? One wall is corrugated steel liner panel and the other wall currently is concrete 4 feet up with steel liner panel on top of that.what has worked for you? walls Will be 10 feet high and about 35 feet long. I will be adding a ceiling on top of the walls. I plan to use extru-tech plastic wall liner panel on top of the stud walls and on the ceiling I've talked to a few people about this. Some say to use two courses of pressure treated at the base of the walls others say use pressure treated for the wall studs and top plate as well. Would pressure-treated for the whole thing be overkill or justified? The span is 15 feet in width and the walls will be 35 feet in length. Do you think that I should use two by sixes for the ceiling joists or two by eights? Thanks in advance.

 

[washnshine]

do you have any advice for building 2 x 4 stud walls inside my automatic bay? One wall is corrugated steel liner panel and the other wall currently is concrete 4 feet up with steel liner panel on top of that.what has worked for you? walls Will be 10 feet high and about 35 feet long. I will be adding a ceiling on top of the walls. I plan to use extru-tech plastic wall liner panel on top of the stud walls and on the ceiling I've talked to a few people about this. Some say to use two courses of pressure treated at the base of the walls others say use pressure treated for the wall studs and top plate as well. Would pressure-treated for the whole thing be overkill or justified? The span is 15 feet in width and the walls will be 35 feet in length. Do you think that I should use two by sixes for the ceiling joists or two by eights? Thanks in advance.

I would probably go with pressure treated for all of it. Using only two courses on the base will only get you a few inches off the floor before the studs start and with the environment of a car wash, that is too low in my opinion. I know it won’t be exposed, but it probably won’t be completely water tight either - I’m guessing.
2x6 for the ceiling should be enough. The panels are not that heavy. Are you dropping whatever ceiling booms you have to the new joists? Does 6 give you enough “meat” to attach them to? That would be what I would use to make that determination. The ceiling panels alone should be fine with 6, but consider the booms.

 

[mjwalsh]

Do you think that I should use two by sixes for the ceiling joists or two by eights? Thanks in advance.

In the past when I have had questions similar to that & possibly for exploring even more options ... I actually touched base with not just more than one structural engineer but several ... also with a specific local building inspector who through local grapevine information had proven himself to not be a jerk. That is where a bit of networking with my local chamber of commerce membership has proven to be of value!

 

[Waxman]

no booms; it's the bay for my automatic.

 

[MEP001]

I would try to come up with a way to keep the wood off the floor. Maybe some 4" square stainless tube, cut into 4" long pieces, maybe use a piece of threaded rod epoxied into a hole through the tube and long enough to bolt down the bottom plate. I doubt you'll be able to to keep water 100% away from that wood - even treated wood will rot in that environment.

 

[Randy]

I'd use galvanized 2" x 4" steel studs. Don’t put them directly on the floor but use a spacer to keep them about 3/8” off the floor. I’d probably use marine plywood as a backer board on the walls so the plastic extru-tech wall paneling has something to mount on to.

 

[John J Spokas]

I have done this with all pressure treated wood to create a protective wall at an IBA with no back room. I left about 1/2" under the bottom plate but I do not recall how I did this, I'll stop at the site during my travels and "remember" how I did that.

 

[Waxman]

Has anyone ever used zip panels ? they were recommended to me but i haver no experience with them.

 

[New Washdog]

Has anyone ever used zip panels ? they were recommended to me but i haver no experience with them.

Wood wicks moisture. Metal corrodes quickly in corrosive environments. PVC solves that. I would look into something like the products Extrutech offers. The are more than wall paneling. https://www.epiplastics.com/index.html

 

[Waxman]

Yes, I am planning to use extrutech on the walls. I'm thinking that the plastic decking may be the ticket for the bottom plate of the walls, so the wood is up out of the water.

 

[lucky dog]

this is a joke right ? who in their right mind would do any of the things that have been suggested

 

[MEP001]

this is a joke right ? who in their right mind would do any of the things that have been suggested

You really want that to be your fifth post in nine and a half years?

 

[lucky dog]

opps I ruffled some feathers, yes any one that would even think about putting wood products in a carwash bay needs help. and yes its my 5th post in 9,5 years.

 

[MEP001]

A lot of car washes in coastal areas are built with a lot of wood because steel will rust out very quickly. You didn't ruffle feathers as much as you made yourself look ignorant.

 

[lucky dog]

 

[Waxman]

I built a metal car wash building. The steel structure has held up very well over 15 years. There have been a couple rusty sections that I have replaced but nothing major. I think using pressure treated wood behind plastic wall paneling is just fine for the base and keeping it up out of the standing water on the floor will make it last long.

 

[Waxman]

These Morton Buildings are wooden KD studs under the plastic sheathing.

Wetzee's Wash & Wax

From basic to bold, Morton Buildings builds the finest pole barns, equestrian buildings, steel buildings and more. Learn about post-frame construction here

mortonbuildings.com

Arkansas Valley Petroleum's Car Wash

From basic to bold, Morton Buildings builds the finest pole barns, equestrian buildings, steel buildings and more. Learn about post-frame construction here

mortonbuildings.com

Nick's Car Wash

From basic to bold, Morton Buildings builds the finest pole barns, equestrian buildings, steel buildings and more. Learn about post-frame construction here

mortonbuildings.com

Super Shine Car Wash

From basic to bold, Morton Buildings builds the finest pole barns, equestrian buildings, steel buildings and more. Learn about post-frame construction here

mortonbuildings.com

 

[washnshine]

I have seen “drying rooms” in tunnels constructed the same way you are talking about Waxman.

 

[traveler17]

So 10 years ago I moved to coastal NC From central Florida. It’s where I cut my teeth in the car wash business owning a full and self serve. Prior to me moving here my brother in law informed me of a SS for sale in the area I was moving. I knew The car wash and felt I could move it along. My wife came up and closed on it for me. Upon my arrival I realized my building was 90 percent treated wood. I flipped my lid because Ive never heard of such a thing. Building the Majority of a car wash out of lumber?? its the last thing I ever expected and my own fault but never gave it a thought as to how it was built. It is treated and has FRP as the cover. The building is 23 years old and still solid. It has withstood some strong hurricanes. However, there is dry rot above the footers in the bays. I would be scared to replace the panels because of what I might find Underneath. It is what it is and I have to deal with it. I am in a rural town and have tripled the income since taking over. Its an issue that will undoubtedly worsen. 2 choices I feel. Sell and move on to another place or Start replacing material in the bays. I value this forum and everyones opinion here. I’m all ears for suggestions if you were in this situation. Thanks!!

 

[Zal]

I have two washes. One concrete block and the other is 2x6 framed construction.. (2 SS and 1 Auto) In the framed building all walls set on concrete stem walls about 16" above the floor. Interior is2x6 studs, plywood, black roofing paper and then Extrutech plastic on walls and ceiling. Most of the walls were relined about 12 years ago with the Extrutech material. Prior to that it was FRP. Automatic bay has steel channel within the framing and tied together in the attic. This building is about 30 years old and still very sound. I have owned it about two years but get to hear from the guys that worked on the construction when it was relined. They say it was amazingly in good shape. I guess my take is always elevate the plate on concrete if possible. Maybe a course or two of 6" wide blocks with rebar pins into the concrete. This is very easy and cheap even if you hire it done All in all I would do the framed design again do to the ease of maintenance and price point. Morton buildings are local to us and also provide great car wash options with the water issues being addressed from the start.