New Home, New Garage.

**I was not sure if I should put this in garage discussion as it is still being planned/discussed or here since if it all works out it will become a gallery. Mods up to you. Thank you**

Hello everyone- I thought I would make my own thread and document my whole house buying process and decision making. I have already looked at a bunch and the one I will talk about seems like the best. The other thing I would like to do is build a HARN, House Barn, but I don't think that is practical at this point in my life. I'm 24 and a year out of school with a good job and am tired of paying rent. I am located in Indiana by Purdue.

The main house I am looking at has a 28'x31', so very close to 30x30, attached garage with 9'6" ceilings.
It is everything I think I need. I was hoping that I could get some advice on what to do with it and what to watch out for from your individual experience.
Also any advice on what to look for during inspection, closing, or installing.

Here is a couple pictures of the garage.
Looking in


Two garage doors and the entire structure is ~2' lower than the house giving it the 9'6" ceilings.


And then for my current plan on what I want to do made using floorplanner.


View 1


View 2

Link to 3d design.


I am not exact on all the measurements but what is shown is pretty close and I will be able to update it later.
The great thing about this garage is:

• There is a heater in the back left corner that runs on natural gas.
• The size of it is huge for being attached.
• High-ish ceilings 9'6"
• 28x31 dimensions
• Drain in the middle of the floor. I still don't know where this goes.
• Its attached to the house so I can run water to it.
• There are a ton of outlets. I am not sure how many circuits, I believe at least 3. The main house has a 200A service.
  

The list of things I want/need to do is.

• The biggest thing while looking at houses is to be able to put a lift in it. I am the owner of a chump car and it is a pain to take that apart on the ground in the cold.
• I was thinking of running a 220v to the garage for the lift and to create its own circuit- Also would have an outlet to allow for a welder or bigger tools in the future.
• Paint, No idea on colors or type of paint or anything.
• Install a sink by running water through the basement and it is the shared wall so drilling a hole should be simple.
  I am not sure what to do about the drain, I don't know if it would be better to go into the house or to have a small line laying on the floor to dump into the garage floor drain. Currently this seems like the best option.
• If actual plumbing is available I would like a urinal as the bathrooms are on the other side of the house. Plus I have always dreamed of a urinal.
• I want to be able to park my miata on the lift during winter and then be able to pull my hood under it to still park close. Another car can be stored in the other bay or I can park the miata there if work is being done on the lift.
• I will probably need to remove the fluorescent light that is over where the lift will be.
• I am hoping the lift will be far enough back where it will not get into the way of the garage door track.
• Put in a bunch of shelving so that I can stay organized
• Make sure the attic ladder hatch is still accessible, Possibly put in a ladder type.
  
  

Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated.
One main question regarding the lift is should I have the concrete tested for 3000psi load if it is at least 4" deep or is 3000psi a pretty standard lower limit on pours.


Thanks

Updates

• I had my offer accepted and locked in my loan rate, 3.25% . Now time for inspection and finalize loan process.

Edits

• Got pictures working/Added 3d views.
• Made a whole house floorplan and one for the garage. House was originally `1000 sq ft and the garage is 900 sq ft

Here is the album of all pictures I currently have.

Updated with floor plans of the entire place. The garage is just about the size of the entire house.

I looks like you have a great place there. The floor looks really nice. You should be able to do a lot of great work. Keep us updated on your progress.

Looking good! That looks like a great space. Keep us updated. Oh, we all love pictures of your cars too...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Hey fellow Lafayette'r!

I replaced my overhead doors with insulated doors, really helped out in the winter. It is a rare day my garage gets below freezing now.

Tim.

I guess I will add an update before I respond.
I 'closed' on the house on the 4th as planned. I was so nervous waiting and second guessing myself and thinking of this 'massive' amount of money I didn't actually own but was loaning and all that. Is this the place, is this a mistake, and other thoughts of doubt stayed in my mind until I was able to say it was not a mistake and listed all the reasons.
Then my agent said there was a problem, the seller wasn't able to get a signature from the divorcing husband, who was oversees, so I wasn't able to get the deed until they got that. We proceeded with everything except the title company held the money the bank had wired until they were to get the required signature. I did get the key though so I was able to start moving/cleaning/ and able to call it my own.

Since then I have done almost nothing in the garage except set up some sawhorses, chop saw, shelves and use it to cut all the drywall, concrete board, and 2x4's needed to redo the bathroom.
I should pause and mention that my stepdad is a General Contractor and my mom is a self appointed interior painter so I had a lot of help and guidance.... No really they have done almost all of that work while I am at work during the day. Best Parents ever!
I have been tackling things like tracing electrical in the attic, running new electric to the bathroom, laying out wire to run a 220V sub panel (electrician will hook it up) in the garage, installing a sink in the garage, painting, pressure washing, cleaning, framing a new closet in the front room (as the two previous closets have been absorbed into the bathroom).

I've typed a lot.

My plans from here are to get the garage organized this weekend. Connect the water and plumbing, build my workbench, move the shelves to where they will go, install french cleats around the walls (Painted WRB and Gold), Paint my lamppost WRB and Gold, and try to keep the place clean from here on.

I KNOW, THIS IS ALL USELESS WITHOUT PICTURES! wait till you see the bathroom, I intentionally didn't describe it.

metalhead140 said:

Looking good! That looks like a great space. Keep us updated. Oh, we all love pictures of your cars too...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Click to expand...

I forgot about this and once I remembered I have been way too busy to update it. I have been taking pictures though so it will be a massive upload when I get to them.

WanderingSol said:

Hey fellow Lafayette'r!

I replaced my overhead doors with insulated doors, really helped out in the winter. It is a rare day my garage gets below freezing now.

Tim.

Click to expand...

I know 2 laffy's now! 1 I met off site though.
I will definitely look into this. The doors do seem pretty good and there is a good seal. Come closer to winter I will see what I do.

I am kinda wondering why you are making the lift bay closest to the house and not the far side?

Love your virtual plans. I need to do something like that for a space I am working on.

Chris

Looks like a good use of the space.

edit: It seems like the pictures might be too big, so here is a link to the album

So I am embarrassed by how slowly I have been moving. I have the money set aside for a lift, a new 9000lb Titan if you were wondering, but I drove past a motorcycle a couple doors down that is out on the street and well. I adopted the little big guy.

And since the camera was out I figured I should take some pictures of my driveway as it will be the only time all of my babies are home for a while. Enjoy.




Some people were asking for pictures of my cars so here are some closeups of the fun ones.
Middle of winter


1990 CRX si Chump Car


Bonus Picture I found of the trophy for the winner at Road America last fall.


2005 Saab 92-x Linear STi.


1997 Miata M edition


Another view at Tail of the dragon


Other side of the 78 Yamaha xs1100


Not pictured -1997 Honda Accord, 1999 Nissan Frontier, 2012 VIP Future Champion,

Autorotica said:

I am kinda wondering why you are making the lift bay closest to the house and not the far side?

Love your virtual plans. I need to do something like that for a space I am working on.

Chris

Click to expand...

Not pictured in the plans is a heater on the ceiling on the far corner. I didn't want a car near this. Another equal deciding factor was that it would be close to the wall as I need to leave it lined up so the car sits evenly between the the garage door rails. The motor will be fine as it is higher. I could have messed with it some but I think overall for these reasons it works better in the right bay.
Another factor is that now that I thought about it more I will be putting the workbench on the side wall next to where the lift is pictured.
Too bad I won't be getting a lift for at least a month now. Yay Bike.

Hey Bosque, ran across your link to your garage. What a nice space! You have wayyy more cars than I recall ! The lift is a great idea!

For any garage, I recommend several pairs of these:

http://www.harborfreight.com/set-of-2-l-shape-hang-alls-68997.html

Mount them onto some 3/4" plywood strips about 2" apart, then mount that strip to the studs on the wall. Put up your rakes, shovels, etc between the two big hooks. You can get about 4-5 shovels on each set. Or hoses, etc. Very handy getting all that stuff off the floor and up high. These are a great deal and much better than the cheaper ones they sell. - Paul

Well it has been a long time since any updates. Re-reading the thread it seems to have been even longer than I remember.
Since Then I had moved my workbench to the wall against the house, I didn't like it there so I moved it to the back wall in the garage.
I ran the 220 to the garage over the summer and installed a hot tub at that time. I had a wire ran for a lift circuit at that time as well as a plug under the old bench location. I don't have many pictures so I will have to do a proper update, but I wanted to share this one picture I took.

The top cross post goes into the attic and is set up normally up there. Its not braced against anything.
I found the rotary used an hour before I called the local store to buy a cheap made in china brand lift for the same price. This lift has the single side lock release that is SOOOO nice.

Gotta love the supreme confidence haha. Lets see some more pics, but smaller haha

I wish I had a garage like that when I was 25.

Looks like you have the approval of your female helper.

It isn't letting me reply Its eaten my reply twice now.
So an even shorter response, sorry

Dubber- Thanks, I will get those soon. And yeah the picture was big, I fixed it.

Texas- Thanks, I am very grateful for what I have and it makes everything so much easier.

The garage is starting to actually come together and I took some pictures (I never take pictures - Sorry, I know this makes me a bad GJ'er) so here we go.


Overall view #3cargarage








2 post bolted down. I still am waiting on a deepwell to come in the mail today to torque the last 2 bolts.


Holes in the ceiling. Since this is an overhead, I have it connecting in the attic. At this point there hasn't been any downsides to this and it seems to be working really well.


The rest of the garage,
Here is the view right in front of the lift, and the oil rack in the background. Also the heater is in this corner, it is natural gas.


Main workbench, I have a lot of plans for this, but we will see what actually materializes.


Close up in case you missed it.


Shelving and storage




Future sink location.


So that is pretty much all. At this point there have been 5 vehicles up on the lift, 6 rotors have come off, brake lines, oil changes, gas tank repair.
The ceiling is only 9.5 ft so its not massively high, but it is a very workable space. Doing a clutch this weekend so we will see how that goes. Shouldn't be a problem.