Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT Fas-Tel's 38x24

[fas-tel]

After a couple of years of planning I am finally ready to move forward with my build. Its may be a bit large for my lot, but I am within the rules and am making sure it looks like the house (including having a brick front fascia). The plan is to have 2 bays for vehicles with the remaining area for office/lounge purposes.

Here are the particulars:
• 38x24
• 12.5' ceilings
• 2nd floor/Loft
• 2x6 framing with R23 blown in
• 200 amp service
• Full utilities - Gas/Water/Sewer/Electric
• Restroom with shower
• HVAC system - Comfortmaker Furnace and AC
• Bar/Kitchen Area

Special thanks to this board for helping with research. Also special thanks to sd171 and his 24x34 that I am using for inspiration as well as Sixfeet4 and his windows on the back of his garage - copied.

I used Punch! Home & Landscape to design this stuff, got it for $20 at Sam's Club. Took quite a while to figure it out but I think the mock-ups look pretty good overall. Still have some issues with the inside shots and textures/etc that I am working on.

I have a few questions still regarding lift placement and spacing/etc. Will post those later.

In the meantime here are my renderings.

[IMG}https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=730273&stc=1&d=1517028287[/IMG]

 

[Bib Overalls]

The angle, in relationship to the houses, would drive my military mind batty.

 

[felixgogo]

Could you not put the back wall of the garage on the set-back line?

Then the turn into the garage would be less severe, and you could keep that tree presently in the middle of the new drive?

 

[fas-tel]

If we moved the garage that far forward there would be about 10 feet between the house and garage. Also, both trees would have to come down. We were hoping to save one of them (for now).

This garage isn't going to be used for parking of daily drivers. I have a couple of Mustangs that will end up in there that combined get about 1-2k miles/year, so not sure I am that concerned about the approach angle. Also, we were going to store our camper on the right side of the garage towards the back corner of the lot, thus the need to keep the garage parallel to the right lot line vs. the back line or house. I did think about re-orienting the garage along the back line, but we would violate too much of the 35' setback rule. As it is we are just on the border of allowable footprint inside that setback. Such is life living in a subdivision while trying to build a detached structure...

I DO appreciate any/all input on this based on the collective experience of this board. I have the builder coming out on Tuesday to mark it in the yard so I have time to make changes to the placement.

Thanks!

 

[MagKarl]

I'd suggest at least one taller garage door, tall ceiling and short doors limit your options down the road. You also mention a camper, have you considered adding an open carport bay on that side of the building?

 

[madoc1]

subscribed. good luck

jim

 

[fas-tel]

I'd suggest at least one taller garage door, tall ceiling and short doors limit your options down the road. You also mention a camper, have you considered adding an open carport bay on that side of the building?

MagKarl: I wish I could do both! There is a township ordinance against residential garage doors taller than 8', and my subdivision prohibits car ports...

 

[fas-tel]

After careful consideration, I modified the placement of the garage such that it would have a much easier approach angle. Thanks for the input!

Attaching an updated diagram here. I left the footprint of the original angle visible. Should be much easier to work with.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Looks great!

I didn't understand your response on the setback. You're saying you can't build the back wall to the 6' easement? Just trying to understand.

What are the rear window specifics? I placed windows up high for light, and no burglar access. That's what those look like, is there more?

 

[fas-tel]

Sorry I was confusing the easement vs. setback. The left back corner is 6' and change off of the property line as required. The setback isn't that big of a deal for this structure so I was able to rotate it.

The rear windows will be crank open but very high up so doubtful anyone will go to the effort. Even if they do I will have cameras all over the place so I'm not really worried about it.

I specified 3' x 18" but the builder thinks 4' 18" would look better. I will probably stick to the 3' versions but have not made a final decision yet. I dont want them to be huge, just to offer some additional light.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Sorry I was confusing the easement vs. setback. The left back corner is 6' and change off of the property line as required. The setback isn't that big of a deal for this structure so I was able to rotate it.

The rear windows will be crank open but very high up so doubtful anyone will go to the effort. Even if they do I will have cameras all over the place so I'm not really worried about it.

I specified 3' x 18" but the builder thinks 4' 18" would look better. I will probably stick to the 3' versions but have not made a final decision yet. I dont want them to be huge, just to offer some additional light.

Mine are 18"x3' laying down and I think they look fine. But mine are single hung, on their sides, and too high to open without a ladder. Crank open sounds nice.

What does it do to your parking if you parallel the garage to the back line?

 

[fas-tel]

I really need the room on the right to park my camper. I took some detailed measurements for the camper length, slides/etc and came up with this angle as the minimum acceptable angle while still being able to park with the slides open. Would have been a super tight squeeze to get the camper through that opening if it were any smaller, keeping in mind that I will not be paving all the way to the property line.

 

[fas-tel]

We are well underway.

Before construction started I put up a camera on the back of the house to record all of the action. It worked out really well as they started when I was out of town on vacation.

It started with the plans being approved by the Township, or so we thought. As soon as we had our approval we moved towards having the trees removed.

We have some overgrown Maples in the back yard that we had to remove in order to make this happen. They are nice trees but they are killer on the grass when you have clay as your primary soil type. Also in this pic is the remains of the now removed play-area where there was a play structure for the kids.

Here is the before picture from a video screen cap:

 

[fas-tel]

Here is the after. It was a shock to the system to lose the 2 trees for sure, but we were either going to move or make this project happen.

 

[fas-tel]

Start of construction, digging the footers:

Construction continues, unfortunately they put a trailer right in front of my camera! Not too interesting to watch anyway:

 

[LXCam]

Ye haw, let the ground work begin! Congrats and good luck.

 

[fas-tel]

Things are moving (slowly) along.

We have plumbing completed and approved by the township.

I ran 2 conduits as well. I will use one for Cat6 (1") and will leave the other (1.5") for future use. I also laid in some burial grade quad shield coax in a landscaping tube for the cable feed.

We are waiting on the new gas line directly from the meter as well as the power to be pulled from the feed directly to the garage. I'm thinking right now I will be sticking with a second meter and see what happens. It will be very costly to run the feed from the garage back to the house - my electrician ballparked it at over $2k including the re-wiring needed on the house. I will see what happens with the commercial power rate.

In the meantime here are some pics of the progress.

Feed going into the garage:

Feeds in the garage:

The plumbing showing the bathroom/etc:

View across the back of the garage including the RV drain:

 

[sbosecker]

MagKarl: I wish I could do both! There is a township ordinance against residential garage doors taller than 8', and my subdivision prohibits car ports...

fas-tel,

What an odd and incredibly intrusive township ordinance... any idea what the history is on that?

Good luck on your project!

Best regards,

Scott

 

[fas-tel]

fas-tel,

What an odd and incredibly intrusive township ordinance... any idea what the history is on that?

Good luck on your project!

Best regards,

Scott

I dont know what the history is. I have seen at least a couple, one on a newer home and one on an older one. My guess is its one of those that may or may not be enforced and/or one that you can get a variance for.

Thanks for the well wishes!

 

[diiulio]

Is your sewer and water run in the same trench?

 

[fas-tel]

Is your sewer and water run in the same trench?

Yep, water/sewer 48" down.

 

[fas-tel]

Gone for a couple of days over the weekend. They filled the trench and applied and compacted 4" of crushed concrete base. The grooves are for the vehicle lift pads which will get 8" of concrete instead of 4" as everywhere else. Not quite done excavating those areas.

We had a lot of rain after it was done. I put the sprinkler on it and was testing the ground - its clear we have more work to do as I found some spongy areas.

 

[fas-tel]

Garage floor is poured.

I was amazed that 3 guys and a dump cart did this in just a few hours. Two of the guys smoothed it as it cured - it was pure artistry (or maybe I just havent seen it before).

They put down a vapor barrier and used steel reinforcement mesh. 4" thick except for the lift pads which were poured at 8" deep. 4000 PSI mix.

After it was safe to we kept it wet for 5 days. I'm going to hate my water bill.

 

[Blackhawks63]

Dumb question. What are benefits of keeping the concrete wet for so long?

Sent from my QTAQZ3 using Tapatalk

 

[fas-tel]

Dumb question. What are benefits of keeping the concrete wet for so long?

Sent from my QTAQZ3 using Tapatalk

My **** retentive engineer father-in-law was on me about it so I did some research. Turns out he was right, watering slows the curing process and strengthens the concrete. I did a google search for "water curing concrete" and found multiple sources for this.

 

[fas-tel]

Moving along now.

Lumber delivered.

 

[fas-tel]

First wall built.

We had some weather issues so it stayed there for a while.

 

[fas-tel]

4 walls up!

 

[fas-tel]

They stood the first ones up by hand.

They finally went to get the crane to stand up the last couple trusses.

 

[fas-tel]

Roof going on:

 

[fas-tel]

They screwed up the window height on the right side, they made it the same height as the window on the opposite side that is on the landing to the stairs for the loft. In the process of fixing that.

 

[diiulio]

What is your plan for the 2nd story? Just open space? I see the bathroom on the 1st floor in the corner with the toilet tucked under the stairs.

What did you use for sheathing, 1/2" OSB?

Is your bottom (sill) plate pressure treated for the walls?

 

[fas-tel]

What is your plan for the 2nd story? Just open space? I see the bathroom on the 1st floor in the corner with the toilet tucked under the stairs.

Since I will have a lounge area on the first floor we will most likely use it as storage. End plans are TBD.

What did you use for sheathing, 1/2" OSB?

Yes

Is your bottom (sill) plate pressure treated for the walls?

Yes. Builder also used a vapor barrier between the sill plate and the cement blocks, and the sill plates are bolted to the foundation every 3-4'.

I've read that many have supplemented by using foam sealant under the sill for additional protection from bugs/drafts. Any particular recommendations here? Was thinking of something moisture and critter resistant.

 

[fas-tel]

Additional pics:

Doghouse dormers framed in:

 

[fas-tel]

Trying an easier way to attach the pics. Photobucket is a pain.

Window height fixed.


Electrical meter box waiting for power. Been calling and waiting for DTE for nearly 2 months with an open trench. Someone finally came out on Monday, hoping for an actual install within the next 7 days.

Cant seem to get the photo straight, sorry.



Stairs are messed up, waiting to get them fixed. Headroom at the top was around 6' 2", I am not very tall but was hitting my head. Had the entire staircase moved but finalizing the first set of steps is still work in progress.

 

[fas-tel]

Nice shot of the front, showing the completed windows and roof.


And, nice shot of the right side and rear with the completed siding.


Still have some trim work to do as well as the gutters. Left side is close to being done:

Sorry again, cant seem to get the portrait photos to line up after uploading.

Waiting for the entry door to come in so we can begin work on the brick front. Unfortunately it doesnt look like it will come in for another 10 days

Starting work on the electrical. Hoping to get the interior wall done for the bathroom and the loft stairs completed soon.

 

[fas-tel]

Well, here we are over a year later. Outside is pretty much finished save for a few trim pieces. Inside is still a work in progress.

Looks like I lost a bunch of photos in the thread due to Photobucket. I will have to replace them as I go along.

I've learned a ton since I started the construction.

One of the most important was drainage. I had drainage issues prior to construction but did not resolve them. As a result the yard was a complete mess during the project and it caused some cracking in the garage floor. The cracks are not too serious but they are there nonetheless.

The other lesson was to not start a second project while the first one was still in progress. Even though the projects required different subs from the main contractor, he was super distracted by the second job thus significantly delaying the first.

The last not so fun part was my HOA. They were none too pleased with our garage project at were considering a lawsuit at one point. They didnt have a leg to stand on thus no lawsuit. I knew it was a very large structure for my neighborhood but I never imagined that would happen. I suppose part of me regrets even building it. Water under the bridge at this point so I guess I will have to just enjoy it for what it is!

Since its been so long I guess I will start posting where I left off over a year ago. Next up would be the brick front.

 

[fas-tel]

It was really cool to watch as they were able to do all of this in one day.

Finished:

 

[fas-tel]

HVAC:

I wanted a unit that could basically heat/cool the place at will just like a house. Therefore I used the same basic furnace/AC combo as I had in my house: A Comfortmaker 80k BTU unit. There is also the emergency spare parts benefit in case the main house unit goes out….

The plan is to keep it heating all winter and use the A/C sparingly in the summer, perhaps only when it gets 90+. I asked my contractor about a mini split but since I wanted to heat/cool both floors it would not have saved me any money.

I was originally hoping to put the furnace in the loft under the attic trusses. They tried to squeeze it in there but they just couldn’t do it. It would have been a maintenance nightmare….

So, I ended up having to put it over the bathroom. It turned out to be a great spot for it.

The ducts run through the first floor ceiling to both the first and second floors. I would have preferred ducts down the walls but it didn’t work out. The ducts exiting the ceiling is enhanced with ceiling fans so I made sure I pre-wired for those. Having the large duct run near the back of the garage also will require it being enclosed.

 

[Unruh]

The last not so fun part was my HOA. They were none too pleased with our garage project at were considering a lawsuit at one point. They didnt have a leg to stand on thus no lawsuit. I knew it was a very large structure for my neighborhood but I never imagined that would happen. I suppose part of me regrets even building it. Water under the bridge at this point so I guess I will have to just enjoy it for what it is!
.

I had an issue with our HOA at our previous house. I know how much of a bother that can be, but wow, your garage has to be one of the best looking buildings on the street! Great work. I’m sure once you get all the way moved in and some projects happen in there you’ll wonder why you waited in the first place.