Finnish 2-car garage build, by-the-book

Matias · Mar 3, 2015

Finnish 2-car garage build, by-the-book: the floor is done!

Hi! Finally closed the deal on a new house, which will be constructed during this year. As I am not doing anything except cleaning the construction site, I have left the garage as a project for this summer.

I'm located in the south of Finland, which means warm enough summer, but especially cold winters with temperatures down to -30C (-22F?). And I want the garage to be a half-warm / warm one.

And, due to my location (Finland/town center), this means
1) a small lot with a only a small garage allowed
2) loads of rules and regulations

=> Hence the title, within the rules, have a garage that is as big as possible, with every inch and space used.

1) The lot,
- Size, a little over 1000m2 (~11 000sq ft?).
- Identical ones on the sides and other side of street.
- The house will be on the small crest, and the garage down near the street.

So the garage will be in the right hand corner of this pic.

2) Rules/regulations.

- Max garage size 50m2 (~540 sq ft?)
- max height 4,5m
- max width 6,5m
- roof 1:2,5-1:3,5
- attic not allowed (because not practical!?)

and ofcourse the normal construction rules here, so means a lot of insulation, everything needs to be done by certified persons (electrics, plumbing etc.).

Here's the current layot. The house is at the most top right on the lot as is allowed, and the garage is at the most bottom left (2m from road, 4m from neighbor border).

collmorgen · Mar 3, 2015

Looks interesting. I hope that you'll document the home build as well as the garage.

4xdog · Mar 3, 2015

Welcome to GJ, Matias.

Finland has a lot in common with parts of the US -- especially the amount of space people have and how much they value it. You may say you're in a town center, but there's still a lot of open area compared to most European town centers!

I spent some weeks each year in Central Finland (Äänekoski and Jyväskylä), and the construction standards -- especially insulation -- are really quite good!

PS: You might recognize my avatar...

Matias · Mar 3, 2015

collmorgen said:
Looks interesting. I hope that you'll document the home build as well as the garage.

We'll see it building up at the same time hopefully.

4xdog said:
Welcome to GJ, Matias.

Finland has a lot in common with parts of the US -- especially the amount of space people have and how much they value it. You may say you're in a town center, but there's still a lot of open area compared to most European town centers!

I spent some weeks each year in Central Finland (Äänekoski and Jyväskylä), and the construction standards -- especially insulation -- are really quite good!

PS: You might recognize my avatar...

Thanks. Yes, it's true that we have land and not a lot of population. The area now where the lots are allocated, was an unused old sports field. There are those typical 1950-1960 Finnish houses surrounding the area, that's also the reason why the regulations are more strict, than for example a couple of miles from here going outside of town. And I do recognize the avatar, happily not made any contact with a car before. Followed my father-in-law when he went hunting, and there got to see one quite close.

Did sketch a lot of versions (trying to get through the authorities)...

... and it is now the version 7.2 with which I'm going ahead.

The small space on the left of the door is to hold a couple of bicycles (or wheels

), and is on the opposite side and not to the street.

Erkka Herola · Mar 5, 2015

Hi Matias!

Welcome to GJ, good to see more finns on the board.

I'll follow your progress with lots of interest!

I live in Espoo in a '50s house and have approximately 40 sqm (5 x 8 meters) of space in my garage, located in the basement. With some renovation I'm hoping to get a bit more space in the future. No thread on GJ yet, I need to come up with a good name for the garage first.

Jhmt · Mar 5, 2015

Subscribed!

Hyvältä näyttää!

BB 70 Challenger · Mar 5, 2015

Good going, bro, keep up the good work!

Tsemiä, erittäin hyvältä näyttää.

Erkka, what about: "50´s style, sub zero"

Jhmt · Mar 6, 2015

4xdog said:
Welcome to GJ, Matias.

Finland has a lot in common with parts of the US -- especially the amount of space people have and how much they value it. You may say you're in a town center, but there's still a lot of open area compared to most European town centers!

I spent some weeks each year in Central Finland (Äänekoski and Jyväskylä), and the construction standards -- especially insulation -- are really quite good!

PS: You might recognize my avatar...

Glad to hear that someone still visits in Finland. There are at least 38 reasons why it is not worthwhile to visit

38 Reasons You Should Never Visit Finland --> http://www.buzzfeed.com/tabathaleggett/reasons-you-should-never-visit-finland#.yvjr3bNW1

(sorry OT)

Matias · Mar 6, 2015

Jhmt said:
Glad to hear that someone still visits in Finland. There are at least 38 reasons why it is not worthwhile to visit

38 Reasons You Should Never Visit Finland --> http://www.buzzfeed.com/tabathaleggett/reasons-you-should-never-visit-finland#.yvjr3bNW1

No problem for the OT, that was a good one. There must be some truth behind those images... I have already two French friends who lived here for a year or two during studies, and have both removed to Finland after returning to France after studies. And I'd say they are here to stay, with wifes and kids

BTW, thinking of the title _was_ the hardest part

There are sooooo many excellent threads here. If I remember correctly, I was brought here by seeing Jack Ohlsen's garage image in the Luxury4play "worlds best garages" thread (http://www.luxury4play.com/automotive/36568-worlds-most-beautiful-garages-exotics-insane-garage-picture-thread-50-pics.html).

Anyway, got the rough plans for the garden from it's designer. Thinking that if I get the shed (in Finnish "varasto") placement through the authorities (2m from border instead of 4m), the I might just drop the extra mini-roof and terrace from the garage to have better access to the parking place between the garage and the stairs.

The varasto (red underline) is just the dashed rectange on the top of the entrace to the lot. The width between the garage extra piece and the stairs is only 3m on the right of the garage (red arrows). AP means AutoPaikka which means place for car.

Erkka Herola · Mar 10, 2015

BB 70 Challenger said:
Good going, bro, keep up the good work!

Tsemiä, erittäin hyvältä näyttää.

Erkka, what about: "50´s style, sub zero"

Good idea! I might modify a bit but that'll be close.

-Erkka

Matias · Mar 10, 2015

Trying to think about the inside, so that I can lock the sink/water locations as I think they need to be in some of the drawings.

The bigger car is where there will be a scissor lift. The smaller car is where will be the "washing place". Also, on the bottom left corner is the compressor in a box.

On the right side there's 4m of sturdy shelf for all the parts and engines/gearboxes etc. Then maybe a place to take a piss and a sofa from two car seats. Hmm, doesn't seem like a great idea to have those next to each other

The big blue box is the toolbox on casters.

This is version 1, I'm quite sure I'll arrive to version 10 before it's finished. Any ideas or comments welcome.

Matias · Apr 30, 2015

Well, March was mainly this:

A lot of details being checked, then double-checked. And still a lot of things I have not yet had the time to think about! The problem seems to be that you need to make the decisions now, for which you are learning the knowledge during the build :willy_nil

But, have to get the project forward, entered my permit the last possible day, and then, on the 27.4. got my permit! So what do you do? Start getting rid of the trees

Here's 4 trees, will need to cut them during summer...

Finally today, the constructor responsible of preparing the land for the base of the house, started working.

Lot of rocks.

He's coming back on saturday/sunday to finish the digging (tomorrow Friday 1.5. is a festive holiday in Finland), and we'll see if we hit solid rock (needs explosives) or can we just dig the ~1m we need to.

Matias · May 2, 2015

While I'm trying to find out how much of wood and stuff to build the garage (in order to get an offer), I'm on the look for inspiration and ideas. Some of them are from and from the luxury for play site (ultimate garages thread).

1) Outside lighting. It makes a lot of difference but doesn't cost that much. I wonder how this garage door light is done, or could be done, led strip? Would need something in front of it.

2) Small detail, but this red strip on the floor

3) When listening carcast today (Adam Carolla), he had a tip, that when making the concrete floor of the garage, make a small rectange somewhere, which is just a little lower (maybe half an inch?). In the rectangle, you can then place something on the bottom which is easy to lift out. Then, when sweeping the floor, you can just sweep everything into the rectangle, and the take them to the dustbin. Not that easy to explain with words, but let's see if I get something like this done.

Matias · Jul 1, 2015

Long time, no post, but here's some updates as things are finally moving forward in a way where results are visible.

First, the foundations were made for the house and garage (900mm high).

(here you can also see the pillars for the terrace)

Matias · Jul 1, 2015

Some photos of the house coming together...

Just as a curiosity, this is the base for the technical room. The places where all the cables and plumbing come through have specific places. The building company uses the same basevin all of their houses. Now it is in it's correct height, where the floor is going to be.

Here is our base for the second floor. It will be lifted in place when the walls for the first floor are in place.

The big day, element delivery from the building company:

At the end of the day inside:

The house is on the right:

I'm going to maximize the use of the supports from the building company, which are in place...

=> ...started painting under the roof and the roof ends.

Matias · Jul 5, 2015

So, then what about the garage then?... Well, now it's picking up the pace.

First, the outside of the base is prepared with styrofoam and then covered, and the interior is filled to correct level.

The yellow tube is for the electrics, the first grey one from the door is for the drain, then water and the last one is for the replacement air for the drain or something like that.

Then the truss I ordered arrived. Had to order them separately, as you need the strenght calculation papers etc to be delivered to the building inspectors. The smaller ones are for the little roof over the side door.

Then the contractors did the frame.

The frame were set inside the garage and the truss mounted in place.

Then when the lift came, they lifted the roof off, put the frames in place, and lifted the two halves of the roof in place and secured everything.

Now it starting to look like a garage!

Matias · Jul 5, 2015

Inspired by the garage photo above with the red stripe, I painted the U-metal red, and the angle iron black. We'll see how it will look like when finished.

This is the first layer of 50mm styrofoam, there will be three in total.

Luckily I had some help...

This was one the most time consuming parts, putting all the metal in place. The floor will be 150mm thick, with 8mm metal, so this will be a really strong floor. I wanted it extra strong as I haven't decided on the lift yet. If the lift is for example a mobile 1 post lift, the weight can be on certain points etc.

And this is how I made the iron forms. I attached the piece of iron, then slid the green tube on it and bended with the tube to have an exact angle.

With some help, I put the iron nets in place...

... and started working on the door opening.

And here about ready.

Then prepared the side entry floor, net in place and did the surroundings for the cast.

motofool33 · Jul 5, 2015

nice project

Matias · Jul 5, 2015

motofool33 said:
nice project

Thanks.

Shameless selfie, while putting the heater cables on the iron net with wife on the evening before the floor was to be made. Kids were past their sleep time and watching a dvd in the car

Two 106-meter 2200W heater cables should be enough for the 50m2.

It took about 1000 zip ties (10 packets of 100)...

Matias · Jul 5, 2015

Re: Finnish 2-car garage build, by-the-book: the floor is done!

And the floor was to be done next morning:

They have also put a coating on the floor of the garage. Some kind of powder which is put at the end and mixed with several passes with a machine.

Sunbimmer · Jul 5, 2015

Good documentation on your build progress Matias :thumbup:

Very interesting what you are doing over there, thanks for sharing and please keep us posted.

Jagmandave · Jul 5, 2015

Wow, so you heat your floor with electrical resistance wire? Interesting!

Is electricity really cheap in Finland?

Matias · Jul 6, 2015

Jagmandave said:
Wow, so you heat your floor with electrical resistance wire? Interesting!

Is electricity really cheap in Finland?

I wish the electricity was cheap but that's not the case. However, the garage needs to be heated some way, and there are not that many ways to choose from.

You have oil (but nearly never used anymore in new construcion), geothermal heating, district heating (heat done in a factory and distributed to houses nearby), different kind of air-souce heat pumps and electricity.

So oil is out the question, district heating not available, so this leaves me with geothermal heating, air-source heat pump or electricity.

Geothermal heating, which means for example drilling a 100-200m deep hole and putting pipes in there. There is liquid flowing in those pipes, which is heated by the warmth of the ground, and that energy is then collected and used to heat the water, and the water used for the ground heating (same thing as the electrical wires, except that you have tubes with water). Why anyone is choosing anything else than this free energy, is because of the initial investement. I'd say roughly a system like this costs around $20 000, and you still need electricity to pump the liquid and water around. The costs are saved in the long run, it takes I'd say closer to 20 than 10 years depending on how electricity costs are evolving.

The problem with a normal air-source heat pump, it doesn't work under temparatures near zero, so you need something else.

Electrical heating is usually done by either wall mounted radiators or the electrical cable running in the floor. Many choose this because initial investment is low, and add to this an air-source heat pump. For my garage, the two cables cost a little over $400, and require just sensors/temperature adjuster to get going. I may be putting an air-source heat pump, to help heating the garage. Those cost around $1000-$1500 installed.

In the house, I have an air-source heat pump, which takes the air going out of the house, and re-use heat energy contained in the warm air leaving the house. Then if the need is more than what is gathered there, the rest of the energy is created by electricity. This heat is distributed to the house by running water tubes in the floor.

Matias · Jul 6, 2015

Here's the heating plumbing in the base floor of the house.

Beenman · Jul 6, 2015

Matias said:
It took about 1000 zip ties (10 packets of 100)...

Will the zip-ties not burn through when the heater wire is switched on?

bazzateer · Jul 6, 2015

Beenman said:
Will the zip-ties not burn through when the heater wire is switched on?

Surely they don't heat up enough to melt the ties? Once the concrete is heated it will retain much of the heat (thermal mass and all that) and gradually radiate the heat to the room over time. :dunno:

Matias · Jul 6, 2015

bazzateer said:
Surely they don't heat up enough to melt the ties? Once the concrete is heated it will retain much of the heat (thermal mass and all that) and gradually radiate the heat to the room over time.

Yep. Also, you can notice the wire is red, because it has a red insulation which feels very much the same as a normal household electric wire, I don't know how different it is...

Beenman · Jul 7, 2015

bazzateer said:
Surely they don't heat up enough to melt the ties? Once the concrete is heated it will retain much of the heat (thermal mass and all that) and gradually radiate the heat to the room over time.

Perhaps you right.

Never done any underfloor heating install, so was not sure. Just though plastic cable ties on a heated wire is not ideal.

ajohno · Jul 7, 2015

Great photos.
Thanks for sharing.

motofool33 · Jul 7, 2015

Beenman said:
Perhaps you right. Never done any underfloor heating install, so was not sure. Just though plastic cable ties on a heated wire is not ideal.

if its gonna get hot enough to melt the cable ties dont you think it would also melt the wires coating?

we used this kind of method to melt the ice off our roof when we lived in washington. never melted anything but the ice.

Matias · Jul 7, 2015

Thanks for all the comments.

As I'm a little bit confused what to do next, I started painting the edge of the roof. I figured this will be easier now, than when the tiles are in place next week Friday.

Matias · Jul 10, 2015

Re: Finnish 2-car garage build, by-the-book: car trailer

I've been wanting a car trailer for years, as I have project cars which don't move on their own. Never got SWMBO to understand though. But now, I was able to prove that this will be needed during the build, and that after the build, it can stay behind the garage, out of sight. The main point was, that taking away all the trash at the site is our responsibility.

As I can only pull 1500kg with the car, the trailer needed to be light, and I found one cheap ($1500).

I immediately constructed a floor and sides which can be removed in a minute.

Also, it has been used on a weekly basis, so wife has agreed that this was a good purchase!

So much easier to haul long items, as you can put 5m without taking the rear end off.

I must say, for me this was so much better than just getting a basic trailer, which is smaller and not so versatile as this.

Matias · Jul 11, 2015

Again, a prime example of live and learn. I was going back and forth on the garage design with the designer. I was looking at possibly putting bigger/upper cabinets on the left and right side of the back wall, so I decided I'd switch the window size from 6x12 to 5x10.

Now, ofcourse I didn't check if this new 5x10 is commonly available standard size...

It seems it's not a common size. Luckily, I could find some in a store nearby, but they had only these fixed PVC windows. At less than $100, I'm happy to try them. Regular wooden windows seemed to be $200-$300 would have had to be ordered.

Now I've been looking the interweb and youtube on how to install these windows. They are a little different than regular ones, and they are thin (70mm). They apparantly attach to the window hole with these metal bars.

In order to have the garage looking the same as the house, I went to look at my house windows, as they do not have the deck(?) in place yet:

Now it seems pretty clear. Here we can see the window, the insulation underneath, and still 30mm of the frame. Then there is the wind deflector board (?) around 10mm, the 49mmx49mm wood where then the outside panels attach (around 21mm thick).

So this is something I should be doing in the next days. Let's see how it goes. :headscrat

Matias · Jul 12, 2015

As there will be a small porch (as in the design), I noticed it will be so much easier to paint the underside of the roof now, when it is not yet in place (next week). So window installation changed to painting.

I was not able to paint on the top of the panel, so had to go on the roof to have the top painted...

Today I also had a little helper

Matias · Jul 16, 2015

And today the contractors made the frame for the porch and started putting the "wind panels" and the insulation. Tomorrow there should be roof tiles coming on the house, and at the same time they will put the tiles on the roof the garage.

rixtrix1 · Jul 17, 2015

Looking great. Thanks for sharing!

hewey · Jul 17, 2015

Nice build

Flivver250 · Jul 17, 2015

Matias, don't mean to thread jack but.......I used to work with the Finnish soldiers in Bosnia. I used to buy Finnish Puukko knives from the military store. Excellent belt knife. A worthy tool and easy to sharpen.

Matias · Jul 17, 2015

Flivver250 said:
Matias, don't mean to thread jack but.......I used to work with the Finnish soldiers in Bosnia. I used to buy Finnish Puukko knives from the military store. Excellent belt knife. A worthy tool and easy to sharpen.

Always glad to learn more. Is the knive one like these?
http://www.inttistore.fi/catalogsearch/result/?q=puukko

I Finland we "all" do our military service, I did one year, ground-to-air group, at the end training new arrivals. That's my vocation actually, currently a group manager in a IT company...

Anyway, I digress. Today the roof tiles arrived:

I also agreed with the persons doing the house, that at the same time they put the tiles on the garage roof, as there was a lift...

Soooo much easier for my garage guys then to do the roof...

Matias · Jul 18, 2015

As I couldn't start on the exterior yesterday, as every wall had some place which was not ready, I installed the windows. These are 3-glass windows with PVC frames.

Hmm, something missing here:

Getting there...

First I measured where I wanted the window within the hole. Then, I put blocks and checked they were straight. Now I can slide put the window against these when putting it in place.

I put the metal clips in place

As I work by myself, I lifted the window in place and put two panels so the window wouldn't fall out.

I set the height with two wooden triangles...

...and again checked it was level and straight.

When screwing the clips to the garage frame, I put again two wooden triangles between the window and frame, so that it wouldn't move.

Finally, removed all triangles, and put some urethane in the gaps.

I'm satisfied with the end result, the windows are straight and in place. Especially as this was the first time I installed windows.

Finnish 2-car garage build, by-the-book

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