bought a garage, with a attached house (28x34)

Another first time homeowner, now seems to be the time to buy. I was garage shopping more then house shopping, I have my prioritys straight

I looked at some cheaper homes, one even had two 2 car garages, but it was a complete dump and needed to be leveled. I quickly raised my price range after looking at a few dumps. I really wanted a 3+ car garage, but I was starting to give up hope and looking at 2 car garages.

Then I came across this house with a 3 car tandem attached garage. It was 20 minutes from work, just on the outskirts of the suburbs. 1 mile to the north is farm land, 1 mile to the west there is a small private air strip community.

All the shopping I need/want within 20 minutes of me. Home depot, menards, fleet farm, lowes, northern tool, harborfreight, and bestbuy. Plus all your other standard chain stores.

The roof on the house was shot, all of the appliances looked about as old as the home... which was built in 1982. 3 windows were cracked/broken, and the plastic gutters were shot. A few other small details, but overall the house was in good shape, and the garage was almost perfect

Here are some pictures of the garage from when I first looked at the place.

First picture is taken from the basement entry, looking into the shop side of the garage. You can see a 9' garage door going into the back yard, to the right of that is another 9' door to close off the shop area. And the broken garage window is boarded up.



Now looking from the wall against the broken window, back towards the entrance to the house. They were kind enough to leave me with 2 broken gas dryers which I have yet to dispose of.



Then turn to the left, and looking towards the front of the garage. 16' door in the front.



couple shots from the front of the garage.





From day one, I wanted that dividing wall gone! I asked everyone who stopped by if that was a load bearing wall or not. Everyone agreed it was not.

Since I needed a new roof, I ended up with a 20 yard dumpster in my drive way. Perfect! Tear down the wall and take advantage of having the dumpster.



I found someone on our local wheeling board that needed a 9' garage door, so I I held onto that for a couple days, put it in a nice pile. Just having this much of the wall out made a huge difference.



And here is how it sits today, its been a huge task just keeping the garage clean as I go. I still have clutter every where, but it keeps getting better.





Even got my self a garage tv over the weekend, bestbuy had a 40" dynex on sale for $350. I was planning on putting in a $300 32" tv in the garage, for that price I couldn't resist going a little bigger You can also see my old bolens garden tractor, my temp work bench and a pile of steel to weld up a proper workbench frame.





And one last shot, taken from the roof over looking my back yard. Its a decent sized yard, unfortunatly with the hill I do not have a good place to put a shed for the yard tools and tractor... So I will have to keep that stuff in the garage as well. And I am not giving up the parking space behind the garage.




I do plan to finish insulating the garage this summer and sheet rocking it. Then paint the walls, install some decent lighting, and if I have time and money left over install a heater as well.

So far its a good start to a man cave, and its been keeping me plenty busy

Looks like it has good bones. I would try to figure out some kinda shed situation if you can, I wish I could get my yard tools out of the garage, my yard is just to small for a shed.

Maybe a small shed would fit in that bottom corner??? would be a long walk for some garden tools...

Great spot. Love the drive through garage.

Thanks guys

I might look into the city code to see if I can place a shed under my deck. The bottom corner isn't really a ideal spot, and might look a bit unsightly to the neighbors? I want to respect my neighbors and keep my place looking nice. And even with a shed, the tractor would be in the garage in the winter since I got a snow blower attachment with it. I will be giving my parents the walk behind snow blower.

It was nice working on my 4runner in the garage last night, and having top gear playing on my garage tv.

Mike_C said:

Thanks guys

I might look into the city code to see if I can place a shed under my deck. The bottom corner isn't really a ideal spot, and might look a bit unsightly to the neighbors? I want to respect my neighbors and keep my place looking nice. And even with a shed, the tractor would be in the garage in the winter since I got a snow blower attachment with it. I will be giving my parents the walk behind snow blower.

It was nice working on my 4runner in the garage last night, and having top gear playing on my garage tv.

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I totally understand keeping the neighbors happy.

top gear in the garage wile working on the ride...

That's a rad setup, I've looked at some houses that have small one car garages, but no room to go wider. So I've thought of putting a door on the other side of the garage to get into the backyard, but I've never seen it done. Even though that wasnt the original design, that's just cool.

Or just terrace that hill slightly and put it at the top where the clothes rack is. Looking good. Shame the roof is so low.

Well I haven't done much with the garage, but the work bench is coming along nicely. Welded up a simple steel frame, and tossed some 1/8" galvanized steel on top of the bowling alley. Going to add a few more braces to the frame before paint.



The steel is in two pieces, so I do have a seam in the middle. I need to square the edges up a little better. But considering I cut them down to size with a sawzall and cleaned up the cuts with a flap wheel, they are pretty close.




I also have decided over on the other side of the garage to build in some shelving along most of the wall, and go up about 4'. I plan to use the very top of the shelving to store my steel tubing. If I need more shelving above that, I can hang more storage along the walls. But I will need a space to store long sections of steel, that isn't to far out of the way.

Planning on using OSB along that wall, going up about 50" from the floor. Then frame the shelving with 2x4s, and plywood for the shelving. But before I can start on that, I need to redo the tile in my bathroom upstairs... Gives me time to think about how I want to go about this though

Looks great. I did that with my last house. Bought it strictly for the garage. It was 28Lx32W filled concrete cinder block with rebar (found that out from a neighbor after I bought the place). Came with A/C, in floor drain with water, washer/dryer for rags & coveralls, fridge & TV. I loved it.

I can totally understand buying a garage with a house attached as a bonus.

I was getting tired of the lack of storage in my garage. I refused to buy anymore shelving, as I wanted to build shelving along most of this wall I have been using for storage. I also wanted to move my lawn tractor to the front corner and have a dedicated spot for the blower attachment.

So I picked up some insulation and a few sheets of OSB. I decided to hang OSB on the lower half of the walls, and I will be hanging drywall above it later. I wanted to added strength of OSB in the corner where I park my tractor, and behind the shelving that would be bolted to the walls.

I started the shelving around 7 feet from the corner, as that was the space I figured that I would need for the tractor with the blower attached. I also made the lower shelf shorter on this section, leaving a spot to park the blower attachment. Then I spaced the next section 2 feet apart, and later added a drop shelf for my chop saw.

Here you can see my tractor, and the blower attatchment.



started adding 2 more shelfs on the far section. I left enough room under the lower shelf to get the push broom under it, also ends up being a good spot to park my creeper.



Finished the lower shelf, started on the middle shelf. This is where I finished for the night.



I also picked up a kreg jig jr for this project. Its been really nice for securing the tops from underneath. Though I was not able to use it on the lowest shelf, as there is not enough room under the shelf to get my drill. So that one I will be securing from the top with drywall screws.

After I finish this section of shelving I am going to load it up with junk and figure out how much more shelving I need. I still have around 6 feet of wall left on the far end, but the rear garage door is only 8 inches or so from the edge of the wall. So I am thinking I will taper the last section in.

The other storage thing I need to work on is storage for steel tubing up to 24' lengths. Right now everything I have is cut at 10 or 12', as its easier to transport. But I could end up with 24' lengths at some point. The steel will have to go on that wall, as the other wall is already used up. But this wall has 2 windows in the way. So I am planning on building some heavy brackets that I can bolt into the studs, and space them every 4 feet or so, keeping the steel just above the window line. I will have to use a ladder to get the steel up and down from the rack.

Ok this post is getting to lengthy.... So I will end it with a picture of my two vices I restored. The big one is now mounted to my workbench, the smaller one is going in my hobby room.

Congratulations on the new garage. Already looking like you're making it your own.

I second/third/fourth the comments on trying to find a way to have shed. Our yard has quite a steep hill but sloping up rather than down as yours appears to in the pictures. We ended up cutting into the slope and creating a level area for the shed (10x12). Makes a huge difference not having to keep garden tools, potting soil, etc. in the garage!

You may want to think about adding some electrical outlets before finishing the insulation and wallboard.

Thanks

Thankfully there were plenty of outlets in my garage when I bought it. You can see the one by the tractor. Then there is one by the craftsman box, another directly behind the chop saw, one by the far window, and one more in the far corner.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, from all the photos you posted, and the demensions you gave- that wall you took out I'm betting was loadbearing. Generally, roof trusses with that shallow of a pitch and built entirely of 2X4- can't support that span. I would consult a structural engineer(PE). If you go to the convening authority (local building department) they'll say the same thing- then get you for no permit- and require a permit to fix.

I suggest replacing the wall with an I-beam that can carry the load, span, and about one thousand extra pounds for a trolley hoist.

One other note- you can't have combustible materials covering the walls (the OSB), it must be d/wall (or other fire rated material)- especially with the garage being attached to the house. If you do add heat&air be sure they are separate systems- don't tap the house system (CO). Also, it a good idea to use a self-closer on the door(s) that enter into the living space.

Thanks for the advise, I'll add a ibeam in place of the wall. I asked several friends if they thought it was load bearing. They were either unsure our said they didn't think it was.

As for the osb, I did ask the city inspector what codes I had to follow for a attached garage. He said I only needed drywall along the wall attached to the house. And any finish work done in the garage did not require a permit since code does not apply to the finish. I think I also asked him about removing the dividing wall and if I needed a permit for that. Maybe I wasn't clear enough with my questions I asked him? But I did ask before doing anything.

Mike_C said:

As for the osb, I did ask the city inspector what codes I had to follow for a attached garage. He said I only needed drywall along the wall attached to the house.

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I like his interpretation for your wallet! But for your safety and that of your friends and family- he's wrong.
Here's the code requirement from the IRC (International Residential Code). Look at table R302.6-
http://publicecodes.citation.com/icod/irc/2012/icod_irc_2012_3_sec002_par017.htm

Convening authories can amend the code to a stricter requirement but, they certainly can't make it less than the minimum standard.

Did a little drywall work and got some paint up. Still looking at attic insulation options before I finish the ceiling. Also looking at heaters, trying to decide what style and where I will be putting one.

I finally got around to building some storage racks for my steel this past weekend. I put it off all summer, and with winter just around the corner I finally found the motivation I needed.

All of my steel was pilled up in the corner of the garage, sticking into the rafters. This was preventing me from hanging sheet rock on the ceiling.



I looked at the racks my buddy had in his garage, and searched around for more ideas. Finally decided on what I wanted, and picked up some angle iron. Spent a few hours cutting all the pieces, and drilling holes.



Then I tacked all of the racks together.



Finished welding them up and called it a day.



Sunday I painted them, and mounted them on the wall. Some are closer then others, I could have had more even spacing had I used 5 instead of 6. Or if my 220 outlet for the welder wasn't in the way. But the close spacing lets me stick shorter cutoffs on the rack as well.



Loaded the racks up, I put the cutoffs on the lowest rack.



Next on the list is the ceiling, and some more lighting. Going to work on the electrical next weekend and hopefully the sheet rock the following weekend.

Mike youve got a great rack . I would be getting that ceiling up and some insulation in there ( depending on where you are located in the world ) winters commin .


Rick