New Garage - Lift Installed

by 74Malibu383 Mon May 23, 2011 5:21 pm

I've had a dream for a long time to build my own shop/garage. I wanted a place where I don't have to share bays with kids toys, bikes, or the dirt that comes with opening and closing the door multiple times a day. When looking for a new place to live a few years ago, one of my top priorities was to have room to do just that.

I've had plans for some time now, and started some "prep" projects in September. For example, since the garage addition will be attached, I had to move some A/C units to the complete other side of the house. I also had to move the natural gas meter, pool electrical lines, demo the old wall/gate, and build new ones. I'm doing a lot of the work myself, but am subbing out the big parts to different contractors.

Between obtaining bids, negotiating those bids, and actually keeping contractors to their word, it’s been a ton of work. Should be worth it though!

I thought I would throw some photos up here if you're at all interested.

Old wall in background – New in front:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-010

New Gate:

Demolition of old wall, gate, and pavers:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-012

Start of the footer dig:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-013

Footer dug:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-014

Footer poured:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-015

Stem Wall forms:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-016

Stem Walls poured:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-017

Pre slab:

Pouring slab:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-019

Finished slab:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-020

by dragons_lair59 Mon May 23, 2011 5:26 pm

by 74MonteCarlo Mon May 23, 2011 6:11 pm

Nice!!!

by 1973 454 MONTE Mon May 23, 2011 6:14 pm

nice.

looks like you might be able to live in it.

by 74Malibu383 Mon May 23, 2011 6:18 pm

For the time I've been spending out there, I feel like I already do.

by JB2wheeler Mon May 23, 2011 8:11 pm

A lot of hard work, but it will be worth it when you are finished. Only one problem with a well planned garage like that, when you are finished you wil say "I wish I had did this also while I was at it" and then you will kick yourself in the backside. JB

by 74Malibu383 Tue May 24, 2011 12:00 am

I really have tried to think of everything I would ever want/need and plan for it. However, I agree. I'm sure there will be something that I overlooked and or plain out missed.

by bigredlaguna Tue May 24, 2011 1:26 am

Impressive, I need to do something like that here- or just buy an old farm shop and build a loft to live in.

How many sq. ft. is it? It didn't seem very big in the footer pics, but if a concrete truck doesn't fill the floor space, then I think you may be doubling your A/C bill if you are going to cool that space.

by 74Malibu383 Tue May 24, 2011 11:37 am

It's 1250 square feet, with a 12 foot ceiling over 1/3 of it and a 14 foot ceiling over the rest. I won't keep the A/C on all the time. Just when I'll be out there working. It's going to be very well insulated, with a 15 seer A/C unit. Hopefully, it won't be too bad.

by Limey SE Tue May 24, 2011 2:29 pm

Looks very nice Buddy it will be out of direct sun that is a plus plus gives you room for working on a hoist as well. keep up the progress pics buddy

by pila Tue May 24, 2011 11:31 pm

It's gonna be great!! And you sure put a lot of work into getting ready for it! Very Happy

by 74Malibu383 Wed May 25, 2011 11:10 am

I plan on putting HVAC in the shop, so I’m building the entire building out of SIPs (Structurally Insulated Panels). They’re basically solid foam, sandwiched between two pieces of OSB. I went with 6” of foam for the insulation aspect. The walls have an insulation factor of R-24 which should come in handy in the Arizona summers. You provide the company with your architectural plans and they whip up a set of their own construction drawings for you to use during install. These things are like huge Lego blocks. They are all numbered and go together in a certain order per the shop drawings the company provides. Don’t underestimate the weight of the panels though…. Some were over 400lbs. They were a bear to move around.

Every panel has to be glued in place with a nailing schedule of 6" on center. We went through 40, 24 ounce tubes of glue and 6,000 nails.

It took the hottest Saturday of the year Head Bang

, 15 hours, 4 cases of water, and 24 Gatorade’s to install all the walls, but we got it done. Luckily my dad, and two buddies helped out. Without them, I would have been screwed.

Panels delivered: (They recommend having a forklift – I don’t! Manual unload it is)
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-021

First two panels installed:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-022

Four panels installed:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-023

Header for South garage door:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-024

Six panels installed:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-025

Eleven panels installed:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-026

Thirteen panels installed:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-027

Seventeen panels installed – Done!: Beer

by abajc3 Wed May 25, 2011 11:51 am

nice garage!! i wish i had one that big! love the arizona weather too, nothing better than sunshine and heat!

by 1973 454 MONTE Wed May 25, 2011 5:20 pm

its looking good.

my brother lives in AZ,and just put in a pool.

by bigredlaguna Thu May 26, 2011 12:37 am

That is neat! Like putting together a Snap-tite model! Does that company service the entire USA or just a certain area?

BTW, what's with the gap above the garage door header?

by orange Juiced Thu May 26, 2011 1:39 am

Looks like ur in a HOA neighborhood, are they not giving u a hard time for it? My brother was building an outdoor fireplace/pizza oven and a outdoor grill with bar, and the fireplace measured about a foot taller then the wall. The HOA was making a big deal, and was trying to stop him.

Looks good

by 74Malibu383 Thu May 26, 2011 11:31 am

bigredlaguna wrote:That is neat! Like putting together a Snap-tite model! Does that company service the entire USA or just a certain area?

BTW, what's with the gap above the garage door header?

Pretty much, but WAY more glue! You just have to make absolutely certain that the bottom plates are square and 100% perfect measurement wise. If your bottom plates are off, you're screwed. You also need to make sure that all walls are perfectly plumb. If one is off, the others end up being off too.

Premier Building Systems is the company. They serve the entire U.S. and have dealers throughout. They have some pretty cool videos on their website if you are bored.
http://www.premiersips.com/

That gap was a mistake by the company. They cut the damn thing wrong. I had to skin one side with OSB, fill it with spray foam, and then skin the other side. Found out there is a reason the instructions tell you to wear gloves. That crap doesn't come off your hands!

by 74Malibu383 Thu May 26, 2011 11:35 am

orange Juiced wrote:Looks like ur in a HOA neighborhood, are they not giving u a hard time for it? My brother was building an outdoor fireplace/pizza oven and a outdoor grill with bar, and the fireplace measured about a foot taller then the wall. The HOA was making a big deal, and was trying to stop him.

Looks good

Yup, we have a strict HOA as well. They are a PITA!!! Anything that can be seen from the street needs approval. Before I started, I submitted an architectural change request. I then had to get the sign off of a couple of neighbors as well. One was hesitant, but I explained the sign off sheet is just to make them aware I am building something. It's not like they can tell me they don't like the design. They suck anyway, I hope they have a problem with it. Smile

by abajc3 Thu May 26, 2011 1:51 pm

yeah spray foam can be pretty tricky to wash off. i recommend buying a special cleaner and if the foam is still fresh that thing will melt it right away

by 74Malibu383 Thu May 26, 2011 2:58 pm

Yeah... well if it dries on your arm, be prepared to lose a patch of arm hair!

by The Dude Thu May 26, 2011 3:52 pm

Would that be considered man-waxing? Laughing

by abajc3 Thu May 26, 2011 4:12 pm

74Malibu383 wrote:Yeah... well if it dries on your arm, be prepared to lose a patch of arm hair!

happened to me before, but it wasnt sprayfoam, it was gasoline Laughing

by JiMi_DRiX Tue May 31, 2011 12:58 am

That garage looks amazing! I'm planning on building one in my back yard, but I dont have nearly that large of property. Cant wait to see more pics!

by 74Malibu383 Tue May 31, 2011 1:00 pm

As I mentioned before, there was a lot of small items that had to be modified to attach the garage to the house. The stucco’d eves had to be removed as well as three windows. These had to be done before a furred out wall and roof could be installed. It took quite some time, but I was able to remove everything and skin the openings with sheets of OSB. To get through the stucco and not destroy everything in the process, I used an 4 ½” angle grinder with a metal cutoff blade. Talk about a mess…. Since shards of concrete like to gravitate directly into my eyes, safety glasses weren’t even cutting it. Had to go with the full dirt bike style goggles.

After that stuff was removed, I hired a local company to install the trusses and build the non bearing walls. Thought about doing it myself, but didn’t feel like climbing up 14’ with heavy @$$ trusses on my back. Besides, when there are six guys that all have their own nail gun, skill saw, and tool belts, it tends to get done quicker. Not to mention they do it day in day out…. Took them 3 half days to furr out the East walls, prep/install the trusses, and sheath the roof. Guys were good.

Photo of demo work of eves:
New Garage - Lift Installed 2011-029