Construct Facility

Once your business plan is complete and your building permits are in place, you are ready to construct your facility. In order to ensure the construction phase goes smoothly, your site must be properly prepared. The following is a step-by-step overview of what you'll need to do before your building materials arrive:

STEP 1: Prepare Site

The site must be cleared and the grading and drainage must be installed. This process can take up to a month or two. Below are types of grading and drainage:

• Surface drainage: water drains from the surface of your asphalt directly into your retention pond.
• Underground drainage: water drains first to catch basins then to the retention pond.
• Underground storage: water collects in the catch basins then goes directly to an underground storage tank where it slowly seeps into the ground.

Examples of grading & drainage

STEP 2: Pour Foundations

It is first important to understand which kind of foundation meets the needs of your region and site. There are three types of foundations:

• Floating slab: the foundation is 18" below the floor height only around the perimeter of the building. The center of the foundation ranges from four to five inches.
• This foundation can be used in areas that experience cold weather since the entire building is designed to move up and down to accommodate frost.
• Trench wall: a foundation where a wall is dug down to the frost depth. The trench can be 8", 10", or 12" wide and needs a 2' wide footing for support.
• This foundation is typically more cost effective than a frost wall foundation and is used more on climate-controlled buildings in regions that experience frost.
• Frost wall: a footing is formed at frost depth then walls are poured to the finished floor height.
• Since this foundation uses extensive labor, it is typically more expensive than the trench wall foundation.

Once you have decided which foundation to use, you will need to determine how much concrete is needed. Utilize our concrete calculator to get a rough idea.

If your site has changes in elevation, you will need to design your foundation to accommodate. Foundation steps can help achieve this by varying the elevation to follow the changes of the land.

• Typically, steps are built in increments of 6" to 12" but may be greater.
• The downside is that it can comprise the drivability of your site.
• If the change in elevation is considerable, you may need to install a retaining wall or stem walls.
• Retaining walls are utilized to hold back the land. Since they are job-specific, Trachte will need to know the soil bearing pressure to accurately engineer the wall.
• A soil bearing test is a study of how good your soil is and what design of concrete is needed. The International Building Code (IBC) allows you to assume 1,500 pounds of soil bearing capacity without a study, but it is in your best interest to have a study done especially if you are constructing multi-story buildings.

Foundations should be sealed and saw cut. The sealing will allow it to be easily cleaned and the saw cuts will minimize the cracking that can occur in the foundation.

Examples of foundations

STEP 3: Lay Driveways

Driveways can be made of gravel, asphalt, or concrete. It is important to have at least a gravel base in place before the building arrives to avoid a muddy site.

• Gravel driveways are utilized in rural areas and represent the most inexpensive option. Most cities do not allow gravel.
• Asphalt drives are recommended in snow areas because the asphalt helps to melt ice and snow. One problem with asphalt is that it will disintegrate over time and become a maintenance issue. To minimize this problem, a large base of gravel is recommended.
• Concrete driveways are popular where the difference in price between asphalt and concrete isn't significant. The concrete drive can be poured to a closer tolerance than asphalt to minimize ponding water.

STEP 4: Coordinate Installation

There are four ways to coordinate the installation of your self-storage building. Your Trachte regional manager can offer guidance on which option is best for you and your building design.

1. Trachte Building Systems holds the erection contract. View our installation services.
2. Choose an installer from a list of Trachte-approved erectors. We will provide you with a list of erectors that have experience installing our product in your geographic area. This option can be the most cost effective way to build your project.
3. Build the facility yourself. Trachte provides installation manuals that offer step-by-step instruction on how to assemble your self-storage building. We also have a technical hotline, available during business hours, to troubleshoot building questions. The hotline is most suited for our basic building designs.
4. Hire a local contractor. Trachte's installation manual and technical hotline are available for support during construction.

Once contracted, communicating with your erector is critical for a smooth construction process. Making sure that your expectations are identified in the contract will negate any issues that may arise. Below are some details to confirm with your erector:

• Building ship dates and procedures. Orders with multiple buildings may or may not ship on the same days.
• Roof ship date. Your roof may be shipped at a date later than your building. This is done to ensure that the roof does not sit on site for long periods of time risking damage, or if it happens to be a wide roof, it will be delivered after the building structure is up, so that the roof can be placed on top.
• Party responsible for providing a forklift or crane. A 5,000 pound forklift is needed to unload pallets. We recommend a crane is used for roof sheets 40' wide or greater.
• Anticipated time of construction. This will be determined by the size of the erection crew. You will also want to factor in weather delays and holidays.
• Change orders. We recommend they are forwarded immediately to the erector.
• Payment schedules.
• Final inspections.
• Job site conditions; i.e. trash removal, electrical service, toilet facilities, snow removal, Builders risk insurance, and site clean-up.

Once your facility is constructed, you are now ready to Open Your Business.