drivinhard
Well-known member
I’ve been lurking on the board for awhile, but the house/shop build is enough at the end I actually have a min to come up for a gulp of fresh air. So I’ll bring you up to where I’m at now (mostly done), and provide the final finishings in real time. Lol.
The board has been a huge help as I was working through this, although i wished I had been lurking a year before going into it, as I would have had more ideas.
We bought 4 acres from a friend and cut them into 2 lots, sold one, building on the other. It’s a pretty rural (woodsy) lot, that backs up to more woods, and is just a few miles from Road Atlanta. I’m a track junkie so this is a good thing.
I can go home at lunch break during a track day and bleed brakes and eat in my own kitchen.
I started cutting trees on the property Oct ’06 and cleared most of it myself over about 2 months. We fiddle diddy’d around for a few months head scratchin’ figuring how we’d lay it all out, permits and soil tests and such. Then started grading in April ’07. We are GC’ing this, as well as doing some (a lot) of the work ourselves. We don’t know what we’re doing so we’re slow.
Wasn’t sure if we’d do the house first, then the shop later, but decided to do both at the same time. It has turned out to be a lot cheaper that way. Original plans for the shop called for a 48’ (wide) by 32’ (deep) w/ 12’ ceilings. Jaw hit the floor when the county said you can’t do any accessory building larger than 1k sq ft. Realize I don’t live in down town Atlanta, or on a golf course. This is private, rural land (2.4 acre lot) in NE GA. Redneck-ville. Lol. Unreal how strict code is getting now. That’s another rant…
So by default my 32’ dimension stayed the same, and the 48’ got shrunk to 31’ wide (basically from a 3 bay to a 2 bay) to get it ~1k sq ft.. The 3rd bay was going to be mostly used for just project car storage, so I’ll just build a shed roof and the county can look at some wrecked or donor parts car now instead of another 17’ of building. So please enjoy the view.
12’ ceiling for the 2 post lift. The slab is 5” thick, and I poured large square piers under where the posts would be, even though they said 5” was ample. The piers are sunk about 15” and are about 4’x3’. Probably way overkill. The floor is sitting on hard grade (no fill) and has a re-bar grid, it should hold up well.
I used pre fab truss for the ceiling (just attic storage for later) and will have high lift garage doors. Width’s are 14’ for the open bay, and 10’ for the lift bay. 8’ height. Exterior is regular lap vinyl, roof is the same as the house. The 2 poured walls should make it basement-like, provide some warmth in the winter and help cool in the summer. Wall framing is 12’ 2x6. 1 pedestrian door, and 1 window. The shop is wired into the house’s security system. Also I’ve got water from the house, Cat6, phone, and coax. I won’t sheetrock it for now, will finish the inside later after I finish (tweak) my electrical, and air line routing. Kinda want to get in there and work first, and see what changes I want to make before I close the walls in.
It’s hard to dedicate much time to it with the house being the big hairy beast of time sucking, with both going up at the same time. The shop is 1/100th the work of the house.
Also on the house, I’ve got a regular parking garage w/ an 18’ door (25’x23’) and in the basement, another 8’ door and a nice shop/work area there. Probably won’t use it for car stuff much, but I can if I need to.
Will post more pics as we finish things up (we are farther along than the last of the pics posted here).
The board has been a huge help as I was working through this, although i wished I had been lurking a year before going into it, as I would have had more ideas.
We bought 4 acres from a friend and cut them into 2 lots, sold one, building on the other. It’s a pretty rural (woodsy) lot, that backs up to more woods, and is just a few miles from Road Atlanta. I’m a track junkie so this is a good thing.
I can go home at lunch break during a track day and bleed brakes and eat in my own kitchen. I started cutting trees on the property Oct ’06 and cleared most of it myself over about 2 months. We fiddle diddy’d around for a few months head scratchin’ figuring how we’d lay it all out, permits and soil tests and such. Then started grading in April ’07. We are GC’ing this, as well as doing some (a lot) of the work ourselves. We don’t know what we’re doing so we’re slow.
Wasn’t sure if we’d do the house first, then the shop later, but decided to do both at the same time. It has turned out to be a lot cheaper that way. Original plans for the shop called for a 48’ (wide) by 32’ (deep) w/ 12’ ceilings. Jaw hit the floor when the county said you can’t do any accessory building larger than 1k sq ft. Realize I don’t live in down town Atlanta, or on a golf course. This is private, rural land (2.4 acre lot) in NE GA. Redneck-ville. Lol. Unreal how strict code is getting now. That’s another rant…
So by default my 32’ dimension stayed the same, and the 48’ got shrunk to 31’ wide (basically from a 3 bay to a 2 bay) to get it ~1k sq ft.. The 3rd bay was going to be mostly used for just project car storage, so I’ll just build a shed roof and the county can look at some wrecked or donor parts car now instead of another 17’ of building. So please enjoy the view.
12’ ceiling for the 2 post lift. The slab is 5” thick, and I poured large square piers under where the posts would be, even though they said 5” was ample. The piers are sunk about 15” and are about 4’x3’. Probably way overkill. The floor is sitting on hard grade (no fill) and has a re-bar grid, it should hold up well.
I used pre fab truss for the ceiling (just attic storage for later) and will have high lift garage doors. Width’s are 14’ for the open bay, and 10’ for the lift bay. 8’ height. Exterior is regular lap vinyl, roof is the same as the house. The 2 poured walls should make it basement-like, provide some warmth in the winter and help cool in the summer. Wall framing is 12’ 2x6. 1 pedestrian door, and 1 window. The shop is wired into the house’s security system. Also I’ve got water from the house, Cat6, phone, and coax. I won’t sheetrock it for now, will finish the inside later after I finish (tweak) my electrical, and air line routing. Kinda want to get in there and work first, and see what changes I want to make before I close the walls in.
It’s hard to dedicate much time to it with the house being the big hairy beast of time sucking, with both going up at the same time. The shop is 1/100th the work of the house.
Also on the house, I’ve got a regular parking garage w/ an 18’ door (25’x23’) and in the basement, another 8’ door and a nice shop/work area there. Probably won’t use it for car stuff much, but I can if I need to.
Will post more pics as we finish things up (we are farther along than the last of the pics posted here).
