I'm looking at sharing a space with someone, essentially one end of an existing industrial building. I can't make permanent changes to the existing floor to put drains in, so what I was thinking about was building a "brewing deck" inside the building, raised somewhat above the current finished floor. This also gives a bit of a loading dock at the end where the rollup door is, though I don't want the deck too high up.
The ceiling height is very good, so no worries there. The construction uses light gauge steel (LGS) framing, a thicker gauge than steel studs, probably about 16 gauge. Some sort of waterproof floor would go on top, sloped to a central trench drain running the length of the deck. The trench slopes to a sump (either at the end, or the middle), where a pump would lift the effluent to the built-in sewer connection in the building.
FVs and other heavy equipment would sit on top of the deck, with extra framing below to carry the load directly to the slab floor, without suspending the weight on the deck itself. All the wet operations would take place on the deck, except possibly keg filling, so that the kegs don't have to be lifted up and down. Brew length is currently planned to be 3.5 bbl, with 7 bbl FVs.
Structurally, this is pretty easy to do; for example, if the brewing deck was 16 feet wide, and 24 feet long, you could run the joists lengthwise for a clear span of 24 feet, though I'd probably put a center footing in place. Running joists lengthwise like this makes it very easy to slope to a central trench. You can actually order all the steel structure cut to length, so it's not so hard to install.
Any thoughts on this approach for brewing?
What would be the best and/or most economical floor? For e.g., Gyp-Crete over steel pans, or perhaps pressure treated flooring panels? Would you put a urethane finish directly on that, or would you want something else first.
Thanks in advance!
Mike Sharp
The ceiling height is very good, so no worries there. The construction uses light gauge steel (LGS) framing, a thicker gauge than steel studs, probably about 16 gauge. Some sort of waterproof floor would go on top, sloped to a central trench drain running the length of the deck. The trench slopes to a sump (either at the end, or the middle), where a pump would lift the effluent to the built-in sewer connection in the building.
FVs and other heavy equipment would sit on top of the deck, with extra framing below to carry the load directly to the slab floor, without suspending the weight on the deck itself. All the wet operations would take place on the deck, except possibly keg filling, so that the kegs don't have to be lifted up and down. Brew length is currently planned to be 3.5 bbl, with 7 bbl FVs.
Structurally, this is pretty easy to do; for example, if the brewing deck was 16 feet wide, and 24 feet long, you could run the joists lengthwise for a clear span of 24 feet, though I'd probably put a center footing in place. Running joists lengthwise like this makes it very easy to slope to a central trench. You can actually order all the steel structure cut to length, so it's not so hard to install.
Any thoughts on this approach for brewing?
What would be the best and/or most economical floor? For e.g., Gyp-Crete over steel pans, or perhaps pressure treated flooring panels? Would you put a urethane finish directly on that, or would you want something else first.
Thanks in advance!
Mike Sharp
Comment