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New 24’x34’ Detached Garage with Attic Trusses

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sd171

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Thanks for the compliments, sean_Buick_76 and miamivice. The garage is being painted now, so hopefully I will have more photos soon. Meanwhile, I am in need of some advice from fellow GJ members. Bear with me as I explain the background...

Remember my fire pit project? Well, it hasn't been going very well. After the footings cured, the concrete subcontractor poured a foundation wall. The idea was to use regular concrete below grade and then pour another concrete wall on top of it with integral color, which is more expensive. Here is the foundation wall:

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Since our lot slopes down toward the fire pit and our neighbor's property, I had talked to my contractor about grading the yard and locating the benches to ensure that we wouldn't be able to see over the fence when sitting at the fire pit.

After they removed the forms, I measured up from the top of the foundation wall (assuming that it was at grade) and, sure enough, the bench would have been located too high. I measured eve level while sitting down at slightly above the top of the fence. Eventually everyone agreed with me, so here was the solution after recalculating grade - cut off the top 1' of foundation wall:

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So the first crisis was averted. It would have been awful to have finished the project only to find out that we were staring at our neighbors every time we used our fire pit. To make sure that this wouldn't be the case, I removed the bottom step from our design, which also reduced the length of the walls:

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sd171

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Here is the look we were going for with our concrete walls and benches. Our contractor and concrete subcontractor both assured us that they could make a wall that looked like this.

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To ensure that the wall was smooth, they made forms out of cabinet grade plywood and caulked the joints. These photos were taken before they finished setting up the forms. They attached additional bracing before the pour.

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They did a good job embedding steel plates in the walls. The ends of the plates have 1" holes to provide better anchoring in the wall.

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Everything looked great before the pour started.
 
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sd171

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And here is what it looks like after the forms were removed this morning. The concrete foreman told me that they were able to vibrate the bottom part of the wall, but that when they started vibrating the top part it looked like the forms were about to give way. So they stopped vibrating and just used mallets to pound on the walls.

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At least the steel plates are level. That's about the best thing I can say about this wall.

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Jay_mc1

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SD,
that's a big bummer about the concrete not going how you wanted. What did your contractor say a out the wall after the forms were taken off? Is he offering to do anything for you?
I love the idea of the floating seat. Have you thought about acid staining the concrete? It might be a way to deal with the concrete the way it is.
 
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sd171

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As I see it, there are a few options:

1. Leave it as is and try to ignore the discoloration and voids. I'm not sure I can do this, because when I look at it that's all I see.

2. Cut it down and hire someone with more finished concrete experience to make a new wall. We've already lost the entire spring and summer to this project, and it's starting to get cold. If we hire someone else, we may have to wait until next spring to finish the yard.

3. Fill the voids and paint the wall.

4. Cover the wall with a rock facade.

5. Cover the wall with stucco. Our house is stucco, so this might be a good option.

6. Cover the wall with some type of skim coat. I worry about long-term adhesion with this option.

Does anyone else have experience with this type of problem? I suspect we are going to have to abandon the exposed concrete look.
 
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Msliechty

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When I did a concrete countertop a couple years back I used a slurry to fill the voids. It's mixed with water to create a pancake consistently and spread with a squeegee. Once it sets up it filled the voids Nicely. Might be worth looking to as a possible solution. Looks like your concert sub hadn't poured too many cast in place architectural walls. Garage looks great and I like the floating seat wall


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MacTexas

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I like this quote " Our contractor and concrete subcontractor both assured us that they could make a wall that looked like this."

Seems like they dropped the ball. I would be looking for a discount.
 
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sd171

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Electrical and painting are almost done. The interior trim has been painted but not installed and will be touched up after installation. The drywall texture is smooth. We decided on an all-white interior for now and will consider adding color after we have made a few more decisions about the interior.

All paint is Sherwin Williams:
Exterior Siding - Pewter Cast SW7673 satin
Exterior Trim - Extra White semi gloss
Interior Walls - Extra White satin
Interior Trim - Extra White semi gloss
Interior Ceiling - Extra White flat

The interior concrete foundation was primed with Sherwin Williams Concrete Masonry Primer before topcoating.

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The garage door is an Overhead Door Courtyard Collection model 18'x8'.

The outdoor lights are Barn Light Electric Co Original Wall Sconce 12" shade.

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There are eleven American Fluorescent Contemporary Cloud light fixtures on the ground floor. Each fixture has four 4100K Cool White T8 bulbs. The fixtures are connected in an alternating pattern to two switches. With all of them on at the same time, the garage is lit up like an operating room. EDIT: One year later, the lights no longer seem overwhelmingly bright. I would say that they are just right for general garage purposes. I've gotten used to the light level by now, and the dark floor and wall storage probably reduce the reflectiveness as well.

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The HVAC contractor had to cut a second access hole.

The attic lights are Schoolhouse Electric Co Factory Light No. 6 Surface Mount.

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Toolbocs

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I have been working on the twin to your build all summer too 20x32 with an attic
 

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hemifalcon

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Union Grove, Wisconsin
Really nice construction... Very nice design and good finish work.. (except...) What's up with that very bottom piece of siding at the step down on the left and right side of your side entry door??
 
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sd171

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Thanks for the compliments. You're right about the lowest pieces of siding not matching, but I'm not sure anything can be done about that once the rest of the siding has been overlapped. I'm not crazy about the step-down of the siding and foundation along that entire wall. Hopefully we can camouflage it with landscaping.
 
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sd171

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There has been some progress on the garage since my last post, but not as much as I would like. I asked the builder to leave the attic floor alone and I would finish it. We priced different floor covering options and eventually decided on paint. Since it will be a studio space for the family, we wanted something cheap that we wouldn't have to worry about and could easily repair or switch to another flooring type.

I started by hammering in all the nails that were above the surface of the plywood or even flush with it, then filled the gaps between panels with paintable silicone caulk. There were gaps between panels up to 3/16" wide and some joints had no gaps but had vertical lips of up to 1/16". I didn't bother covering the recessed nail heads with caulk and I didn't do any sanding at all.

Next, I applied one coat of Sherwin Williams Multi-Purpose Latex Primer/Sealer. This product seems to have a high water content, and I probably wouldn't use it again on plywood or OSB. In two or three places it caused small sections of the top layer of plywood (about the size of my thumb) to separate from the second layer and warp about 1/8" above the surface. I used a painter's tool to scrape off these raised sections of wood to avoid splintering, leaving indentations in the floor. There were already a few voids like this in the floor, and it was a shame to add a few more.

I then applied three coats of Sherwin Williams Porch & Floor Enamel in Morning Fog. This product is pretty thick for paint, and it covered well without leaving roller marks. I had considered products like Rust-Oleum Restore and Behr Deck-Over, but the reviews weren't very good. It seems that these coatings are thicker than paint, but prone to separate from the wood over time. I like the way the Sherwin Williams floor paint worked out, and plan to use it again on the stairs with either a different primer or no primer at all.

This photo isn't a very accurate representation of the floor color. It's lighter than it appears here.

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This photo shows the color more accurately and is a good example of the finished texture of the floor including its flaws. The raised diagonal pieces are flaws in the plywood. The seam across the middle is an example of a vertical lip between panels that I smoothed out with caulk. You could walk barefoot on this floor and not get splinters. It's not slippery at all.

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After spending many hours reading about professional and DIY epoxy floors, I decided to install RaceDeck or SwissTrax floor tiles instead of epoxy. The only drawback I can see is that it won't be possible to use GoJak or similar wheel dollies with Free-Flow style floor tiles. I have given up on the idea of storing a third car perpendicular against the back wall, but I think the garage will be deep enough to park two smaller cars in tandem on the right side when the time comes (32'-8" between concrete retaining walls in the long direction). EDIT: I may be wrong about this. When I get more serious about a third car, I'll probably buy a pair of the heaviest duty GoJaks with the largest wheels and try moving one of my current cars around to see if it's possible on Free-Flow tiles.

With that decision made, I asked the builder to seal the concrete floor. He applied TK-290 with a pump sprayer. It has a strong odor even one week after application and makes the floor very slippery when wet. EDIT: Five months later, the floor is still extremely slippery when wet. I've walked onto a dry floor with wet Crocs and almost lost it more than once. It seems to do a good job as a sealer, but in my opinion it's dangerous on a smooth power troweled floor and I wouldn't recommend it if you aren't going to lay floating floor tiles over it. Hopefully I won't break any bones before my RaceDeck goes down.

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I don't have a driveway yet and it's already started to snow.

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I love the way the sink turned out. The base is from a custom cabinet maker. It was difficult to find a 20" wide sink with a 10" deep basin. Elkay makes a model carried only by Home Depot that fit nicely (Model # SLPF2020103). The faucet (Glacier Bay Model # 78CR557PELFHHD) and drain are also from Home Depot. The adjustable cabinet legs are from Amazon (PMI Como 8" to 9" Adjustable Cabinet Leg Brushed Steel).

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The small 6 gallon 1600 watt electric hot water heater fits nicely under the landing.

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sd171

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I painted the steps. This time I skipped the watery primer and just applied two coats of Porch & Floor Enamel directly to the steps. In total, I used 1.5 gallons of primer and three gallons of top coat on the attic floor and stairs.

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We filled the attic with mostly Ikea furniture. It helps to give some perspective regarding the size of the space. I like the way it turned out, and even better so does my wife.

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The attic floor and the steps are the same color - they just look different because of the lighting.
 
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Gentle_Ben

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Manitoba, Canada
framing37.jpg

I think this can be salvaged. My garage floor didn't look much better than this when our pour went all wrong in the summer of 2013. My contractor assured me he could fix it, but I disagreed and just went ahead and ordered race deck to cover all the ugly.

Had I listened to him, and believed what he said I may have held off on ordering race deck. He used two different compounds from Mapei, one to fill in the voids, and level the uneven areas, and then another for the top coat. He then used a belt sander to smooth the entire floor, and man does it look good (and continues to look good even a year later). Once he was done the concrete looked perfect. I think this process would work well for your application and would be super simple to do. Would take maybe a few days including all the drying time required.

He is currently using the same process to save my attached garage floor which has seen ~30 years of abuse and was poured incorrectly, so we are having to do quite a lot of levelling. We have raised the eastern side of it almost 2 inches using this process.
 
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sd171

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View media item 72105I think this can be salvaged.

Thanks for the compliments, Blue Seducer & mcleodross. Ben, I appreciate your suggestion about resurfacing the wall as well. I'll have to consider that option in the spring.

We decided to keep the fire pit wall in its current condition because we couldn't stand the thought of cutting it down and starting over. The Butterfield Color distributor our contractor used suggested one of their products to smooth the surface - T1000 Fine Overlay with Uni-Mix Color.

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Our contractor ordered some samples and began mixing test batches with different amounts of Uni-Mix added. They applied three test samples to the wall with a trowel. The sample on the right is without any Uni-Mix, and the other examples are with different amounts of color added.

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At first we were hopeful because we liked the shade and texture on the left. Unfortunately, after about a week of curing the colors started to change. The sample on the right without Uni-Mix started turning yellow, and not in a uniform manner. You can see this in the photo. The other two samples started turning chalky white - almost like they were dusted with flour. I could scrub the residue off with water and a brush, but it would reappear within a couple of days. I called Butterfield and they said the chalky residue was most likely efflorescence caused by the product curing during the night when temperatures were too low. They have a product to wash it off, but it has to be applied, neutralized and the entire wall sealed during warmer temperatures than we were experiencing.

When our mason visited to give his opinion, he wasn't too excited about using the Butterfield product because he didn't have any experience with it. That plus our concern about efflorescence caused us to abandon this solution. The mason suggested a Dryvit overlay with integral color because he has used it extensively. He had a few samples which we liked well enough to proceed with the fire pit and step foundation pours - this time without integral color added to the concrete. Unfortunately, the Dryvit product also has to be applied in warmer temperatures. So we did as much work on the fire pit as we could and will have to wait until spring to finish it. At that point we'll have to choose between Dryvit or maybe the products Ben used.

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The steel bench supports were primed and painted. The first row of bluestone was secured to the step foundation with mortar. The rest of the bluestone is floating. The adjacent patio is made of concrete pavers.

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And here is where we are today... waiting for spring.

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Blackhawks63

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Sep 25, 2013
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Northern Illinois
Great project. You are stressing out too much about the fire pit. There are several quality options for finishing that concrete to your liking that will look great. In all honesty, I think your contractor did the best possible job with a concrete pour of that nature. And I actually think it looks great just the way it is...and I'm a perfectionist.
 
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sd171

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Thanks for your perspective. Our stress was primarily due to the impending cold weather and knowing that if we didn't finish the wall before winter this project would stretch out to 12 months instead of 4-6 months like we had originally planned. Now that we can't do anything until spring it doesn't bother us as much as it once did. We are also pretty confident we will be able to find an overlay that we like.
 
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sd171

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I installed two tire racks from Tire Rack over the holiday weekend. The wall track for each rack is split into two pieces for shipping. Here is where the two halves meet, allowing the interior ends of each half to share the same wall stud.

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Unfortunately, the exterior ends have too much steel hanging past the mounting holes to **** a second rack tight against the first and share the same stud. Since my wall wasn't long enough to skip a stud between the racks, I used a Dremel tool to trim the end of the track for the second rack. The second track now slides into the first so the holes overlap.

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I also cut the second rack a little short at the far end to fit the wall and drilled a new hole at that end. It was easier to cut the track and use as many existing holes as possible than to drill new holes to match the stud layout.

Each mounted summer tire weighs about 65 lbs, and the bottom of the rack is about the height of my forehead. I didn't want to risk a back injury moving eight tires down and eight tires up on tire changing day, so I came up with a hoist system to make it much easier.

This is a 4:1 boom vang using 1/4" line. I bought the two Harken pieces from Annapolis Performance Sailing (Micro 22 mm Fiddle Block — V-Jam, Becket – Part No 245 and Micro 22 mm Double Block – Part No 226). I have a carabiner at the top clipped into a screw eye that is sunk into a 2x10 floor joist. The joists are doubled at that location because a truss was skipped to allow for the staircase. I used a simple webbing strap with a cam cleat wrapped through the eye of the double block and around the tire. The upper fiddle block has an integral jam cleat (meaning that I can cleat the line and walk away even with a tire hanging from the hoist). I think the 4:1 purchase is appropriate and am glad I didn't use the 3:1 system.

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It's pretty easy to hoist the tire using only the rope. Once it's slightly below its final position, I push it over the rack and lower the hoist until the tire is sitting on the rack.

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If I had to do this over again, I would consider the Griot's Garage or HyLoft racks, which look like they have a better mounting tab system that allows two racks to mount side by side without modification or skipping a stud. They also aren't plastered with Tire Rack stickers which took some time to remove. These racks seem very sturdy, and it will be nice to have the off-season tires out of the way.

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sd171

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Thanks, captain14. The fire pit isn't the only unfinished project that will have to wait until spring. My contractor didn't get the concrete driveway poured before the ground froze, so he put down crushed rock. It's a little annoying, but I try to pretend that I live in the country and a rock driveway is normal.

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sd171

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I hung two adult bikes from the ceiling using model 2007 RAD Rail Hoists. They are listed on Amazon as "RAD Cycle Products Highest Quality Rail Mount Heavy Duty Bike Hoist and Ladder Lift - Quality Bicycle Hoist." Because the rails run perpendicular to the joists where I wanted to mount them, I cut 1x3s to span the joists and then mounted the hoists to the 1x3s.

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I agree with the Amazon reviews - the hoists work well, but the rope is poor quality. At some point I'll probably have to replace it. EDIT - I did have to replace it after raising and lowering the bikes about 10 times. The supplied "rope" frayed so easily that it wouldn't release anymore and I had to climb a ladder to manually hold the cleat open. I replaced it with some cheap rope from the hardware store that works much better.

For the kids' bikes, I bought two stands listed on Amazon as "Feedback Sports Bicycle Storage Stand."

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My goal with the kids' bikes was to get them close to the garage door for easy access. I figured if I could get the kids to use racks instead of kickstands, then the bikes would always be left in the same place and would take up less space. These racks work well, but they slide across the ground too easily. When I install RaceDeck tiles, I plan to zip-tie them to the tiles. I'm not sure yet if this is the best location for them, but they are out of the way of swinging car doors.

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sd171

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I waited to start installing cabinets until we had used the garage for a while. Because the left-hand car has to approach the garage at an angle after driving past the house, its front bumper swings wide of the garage door opening while inside the garage and it took me a while to figure out what to do with the south wall (the one with the windows). This wall is also on a direct path between the door and the attic steps, so I have to keep it relatively clear so a person can comfortably walk past a parked car.

When I was planning the garage, I knew that I wanted to have speakers upstairs, downstairs and outside as well as video downstairs and outside (via projector). I figured that the south wall would be a good place to locate a receiver - up high so it wouldn't get in the way (controlled via Wi-Fi from a smartphone app). I thought about making soffit cabinets like I've seen in other builds, but I didn't want to hang weight from the ceiling joists and I wanted to have a clean look that I didn't think I could achieve with drywall and self-made doors. I also wanted to install cabinets in stages as I started to put things away.

I finally found a solution when I stumbled across a thread from bshusted where he made plywood cabinets using a Kreg pocket hole jig and attached manufactured doors from Ikea. Thanks, bshusted, for the inspiration. My cabinets are a little bit different than those - I used full back pieces instead of smaller strips, and the sides of my cabinets are full height (compared to bshusted's which have full width tops and bottoms). I mostly followed the steps in the following videos except that I used full backs, manufactured doors and wood glue but did not use face frames.

Part 1:
Part 2:

I bought the Kreg Jig K4MS Master System and a box of Kreg 1-1/4" coarse thread zinc coated pocket hole screws. I used 3/4” birch veneer from Home Depot. It had the occasional void, but I arranged the pieces to hide most of them and filled the few visible ones with wood putty. Since I painted the cabinets, I could have used a lower quality plywood as long as it was smooth.

I built and mounted an experimental cabinet to begin with and learned a few things. Driving the screws tends to move the cabinet pieces unless they are very tightly clamped, especially when using glue. I don't know how the guy in the video managed with only one clamp, but I bought a second Kreg right angle clamp to make things easier. My experimental cabinet was 14" deep, but when I set up my receiver the maze of cables was so bad that I changed to 18" deep cabinets for the final version. I made a fence like in the video for my circular saw and thought I could use it to cut to finished lengths, but found that my accuracy was +/- 1/16" so for the final cabinets I used the circular saw only for rough cuts and finished all cuts on my table saw with a Freud LU80R010 10-Inch 80 Tooth blade which worked really well - no finish sanding necessary.

Crosscutting full sheets:
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Not shown: finish cutting cabinet pieces on table saw.

Drilling pocket holes:
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Drilling holes for 5mm shelf pins (I drilled a third set of holes in each cabinet wall in case I decide to install shallow shelves):
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Sherwin Williams Mini rollers (I used these same rollers for the outside surfaces as well - much faster than brushing and a good finish):
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Two coats for interior surfaces of cabinets using paint left over from garage walls:
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Assembling cabinets. Each cabinet uses 36 screws plus glue and should be plenty sturdy enough for anything I will keep in it:
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Not shown: painting cabinet exteriors. One coat of tinted Sherwin Williams Premium Wall & Wood Primer followed by two coats of Sherwin Williams Pro Industrial Acrylic semi-gloss color matched to the doors. The paint guy recommended a prime coat and single finish coat with a thick application so that it would self-level, but this didn't work for me - it didn't self-level and just looked sloppy. So instead, I applied two regular thickness finish coats with a light hand sanding in between. It turned out noticeably duller than the very glossy doors, but I still like it. You can barely see roller lines in certain lighting and vantage points, but overall the finish looks good and has a texture like half-used sandpaper.

Mounted cabinets:
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Mounting doors:
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Finished cabinets:
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I'm pretty happy with the way the cabinets turned out. I haven't decided if I care enough to adjust the doors further. The Ikea doors are from the BESTA line of cabinets and are the TOFTA model in High Gloss Gray. They come in one width and three different heights (these are the medium size). They include European hinges, which are fairly straightforward to mount.

EDIT: In the spring of 2015, Ikea made some changes to the BESTA line. They now package the doors and hinges separately, the hinges are soft-close and these doors are no longer white along the tops and bottoms. Instead, the top and bottom edges are the same color as the faces. The gray color appears to be exactly the same as before, and the dimensions haven't changed.

Dimensions of cabinet pieces:
door 23-7/16"W x 25-1/16"H
side 25-1/4"H x 18"D (obviously, they can be any depth you want)
top/bottom 22-3/16"W x 18"D
back 22-3/16"W x 23-13/16"H

Finished dimensions:
23-11/16"W x 25-1/4" H

The string in the final photo is to mark the possible location of lower cabinets. I haven't hit the string yet with my car, so I hope to start making additional cabinets soon. I still need to install door handles.
 
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55cadillacking

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I've enjoyed following your progress. You have the right spirit! You see a need, and you satisfy it. Keep it going!
 
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sd171

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Thanks, Rick! I also have to thank you for documenting your build so well. I think it's the best example on this site of a clean, organized space that doesn't just relocate the awkward items to a shed. I don't have a shed and don't want to look at one in my yard, so it's great to see how you've managed to create a beautiful and functional space that includes kids' toys, bikes, roof racks, etc.

I forgot to list a couple of dimensions. The cabinets are 5" down from the ceiling so the doors won't hit the overhead lights and to save me the trouble of trimming them to the ceiling. The bottoms are just above the window trim so I can add more cabinets later. This leaves 83-1/2" of headroom underneath the cabinets, which is enough to not feel like I'm going to hit my head. It's also low enough for me to reach the controls of the receiver while standing on the ground.

After thinking more about it, I've decided not to mount lower cabinets. Instead, I'll add a couple more high cabinets to this wall and a few on the opposite wall. It's so nice to have plenty of room to open car doors and comfortably walk past the cars that I'm reluctant to give it up. I have some ideas for lower storage, but will have to think more about the options.
 
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sd171

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Thanks, mrzoop. It's funny how much of a difference it makes to increase the dimensions of a structure only a little. Your garage footprint isn't much bigger than mine, but that plus your dormers has given you a real living space upstairs. Nicely done!
 

dubber

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Jesus! Don't know how i missed this before. Truly exceptional. I really enjoyed reading through your build; garage build, design, loft and back yard "chill area" are all top notch!
 
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sd171

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Thanks, dubber. I've enjoyed following your progress on the single and now double garage. I wish I had the energy to make improvements as quickly as you have, but this site is a great way to stay motivated. Thanks for the encouragement!
 

Styx

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Fraser Valley, BC. Canada
that looks great... I love the fire pit too... how functional is the up stairs??? would it make a good man cave or is it too small??? Could you set up a big screen tv and/or drums and other band equipment???
 
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sd171

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Location
South Dakota
Thanks, Styx. The attic is a compromise. There is plenty of headroom down the middle, but you can't stand along the sides. We are using it as a studio for art projects, and we've also had a small party up there. It's a great space for kids, and they can play music as loud as they want without bothering anyone. There would be much more living space if it had dormers, but we didn't want to visually overwhelm our small lot so we opted not to do that. It's not very wide, so if you wanted to install a large TV, it would probably have to go where the couch is now located unless you didn't care about blocking the other window. I think there would be enough space for drums and other equipment, but it would be better with dormers.

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Keep in mind that it doesn't qualify as a living space - it is technically "storage." There isn't enough headroom at the top of the stairs to meet code, but that probably could have been solved by moving the bottom chord of the attic trusses down another foot or by adding a couple of feet to the width of the garage. I assume it would also need a door to separate the attic from the garage space, but we wanted to leave the stairway open. If you closed it off, it would be more difficult to get furniture or long items up the stairs. The hip walls make it possible to turn the corners at the top and bottom of the staircase while carrying a couch or a long piece of lumber.
 
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mustangmike6996

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Messages
1,180
Location
Detroit MI
This is a great build. I love some of the garages on here but they are much more than a practical add-on or remodel. This is great because you used all of the space accordingly, everything has a spot and everything came out excellent!

If you dont mind me asking, what was the finished cost for garage tear down and the new structure (not including the fire pit)
 

dubber

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 31, 2012
Messages
5,326
Location
Canada's Capital
Thanks, dubber. I've enjoyed following your progress on the single and now double garage. I wish I had the energy to make improvements as quickly as you have, but this site is a great way to stay motivated. Thanks for the encouragement!

Thanks man, i would however say your energy level is on par.
 
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sd171

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 3, 2010
Messages
135
Location
South Dakota
This is a great build. I love some of the garages on here but they are much more than a practical add-on or remodel. This is great because you used all of the space accordingly, everything has a spot and everything came out excellent!

If you dont mind me asking, what was the finished cost for garage tear down and the new structure (not including the fire pit)

Thanks, mustangmike. If I had to guess (because a few items were quoted together rather than broken out between the fire pit and garage), I think the garage by itself would have been about $90,000. This includes electrical, water, sewer, heating and cooling as well as tying all services into the house below grade. Driveway demolition and reconstruction are not included.

We ended up building what was essentially a small unfinished house rather than a traditional bare bones garage, which is why it took us eleven years to commit to a project like this. The construction market in our area has been strong for a couple of years, so our timing could have been better. We used a small homebuilder as a general contractor who self-performed the framing and siding.
 
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