After lurking on this forum for a few years, I joined last year to start a thread about my new garage I am building. I am just now getting around to share with you. It has been a crazy and busy year.
I will start from the beginning.
Last year I got the OK from my wife to build a garage. My first thought was a 28'x28'x12' with RIA trusses. That was soon shot down by the county zoning. The zoning had changed in my area a few years back to only allow for a median height of 12' for accessory building on a lot less than 2 acres. So, the plan changed to 30x36x10 with 3/12 trusses so I could get a 9' garage door. In January, I went to the township to talk about the permits and was dealt another blow. I planned to put the garage on an open area of my land to the north of my house. I did not know you had to get a permit for a second driveway
. After talking to them they said the township does not give 2nd driveway permits because of safety and it looks bad?!? I asked what I could do to try and was given the number to the town chairperson. I called him and we set a date for me to present in front of the town board at a meeting. In the two weeks I had until the meeting I did all the research I could to prepare. I drove around the whole township looking for other houses that had two drives, talked with guys at the zoning office, talked with my surveyor and got septic plans. My portion of the meeting went about 40 minutes and I had a great answer for every question they had. I am very happy I took the time to prepare because I got my permit 2-1 votes. One guy voted no because he said they have said no to so many second driveways that it would open a can of worms the township wouldn't want to deal with. When I left with my paperwork they were still arguing that point, I didn't care, I got what I came for.
With a renewed outlook on the garage I went out and started staking out the property. It soon became clear that 30x36 was not big enough. I had to go back to my wife and ask to make it bigger. She gave the OK on a 28x46. I had to go a little smaller on width because I decided I did not want to take down a huge maple in my yard. I got bids from about Eight concrete companies in the area. I ended up going with one that was not the cheapest but came recommended from a friend that has worked with them a lot on new homes. Concrete was scheduled for middle of May. After a month of looking at the stakes, putting string up to play with how big it was going to be, my gut was telling me to go bigger. So again, I went back to my amazing wife and got the OK for 4' longer
. (To be perfectly honest I still don’t think it big enough but I will make due)
. I contacted the concrete guys and made changes. I decided on NO floor drain and to have the whole floor level, added 4 more feet and decided to do 2" foam and in floor heat.
As of now the concrete is poured, I cannot start building until I finish a condo remodel job. So hopefully by the first week in August I will start framing. Feel free to comment or criticize. I have not done something this big before so I am learning as I go.
Some Pics right after i started clearing the area.
Got the big stump grinder. This thing was a beast. Did a bunch of neighbors stumps while i had it.
The culvert was delivered and now I understand why the guy at town hall said it would open a can of worms. Had 6-7 people stop and ask if i got a permit and how because they were not approved for one.
Got the bobcat here and started clearing out the brush and getting started on the driveway. Took off topsoil and a bit more.
Extra is dug out for the culvert because the township has a rule that culverts have to be a minimum of 24' long no matter the size of driveway.
I know no i dug the culvert WAY to deep LOL but i learned from it.
I used 1 1/2" with fines on bottom 6-7" then 3/4" on top of that
I had two helpers that were more than happy to do the compacting.
I had the concrete guys do all the excavation for the slab. My boy was the supervisor while i was at work.
After the first day.
My brothers and boys helped dig some trenches for the utilities. Neighbor came to ******** and supervise.
Digging till about midnight
They finished up the second day with excavation
Time for Foam and Radiant. We really didn't know what we were doing but I did a lot of research and think we did OK.
Was another super late night. Had leaks in the manifold so we called it a night
Got everything air tight before the pour.
Big crew showed up. About 11-12 guys.
My boy trying his hand at some cement work.
Saw cut a few hours after pour.
Used sprinklers the first 3 days to cool the cement down. I am still using sprinklers during hot hours of the day to reduce cracks from shrinkage.
I will start from the beginning.
Last year I got the OK from my wife to build a garage. My first thought was a 28'x28'x12' with RIA trusses. That was soon shot down by the county zoning. The zoning had changed in my area a few years back to only allow for a median height of 12' for accessory building on a lot less than 2 acres. So, the plan changed to 30x36x10 with 3/12 trusses so I could get a 9' garage door. In January, I went to the township to talk about the permits and was dealt another blow. I planned to put the garage on an open area of my land to the north of my house. I did not know you had to get a permit for a second driveway
. After talking to them they said the township does not give 2nd driveway permits because of safety and it looks bad?!? I asked what I could do to try and was given the number to the town chairperson. I called him and we set a date for me to present in front of the town board at a meeting. In the two weeks I had until the meeting I did all the research I could to prepare. I drove around the whole township looking for other houses that had two drives, talked with guys at the zoning office, talked with my surveyor and got septic plans. My portion of the meeting went about 40 minutes and I had a great answer for every question they had. I am very happy I took the time to prepare because I got my permit 2-1 votes. One guy voted no because he said they have said no to so many second driveways that it would open a can of worms the township wouldn't want to deal with. When I left with my paperwork they were still arguing that point, I didn't care, I got what I came for.With a renewed outlook on the garage I went out and started staking out the property. It soon became clear that 30x36 was not big enough. I had to go back to my wife and ask to make it bigger. She gave the OK on a 28x46. I had to go a little smaller on width because I decided I did not want to take down a huge maple in my yard. I got bids from about Eight concrete companies in the area. I ended up going with one that was not the cheapest but came recommended from a friend that has worked with them a lot on new homes. Concrete was scheduled for middle of May. After a month of looking at the stakes, putting string up to play with how big it was going to be, my gut was telling me to go bigger. So again, I went back to my amazing wife and got the OK for 4' longer
. (To be perfectly honest I still don’t think it big enough but I will make due). I contacted the concrete guys and made changes. I decided on NO floor drain and to have the whole floor level, added 4 more feet and decided to do 2" foam and in floor heat.As of now the concrete is poured, I cannot start building until I finish a condo remodel job. So hopefully by the first week in August I will start framing. Feel free to comment or criticize. I have not done something this big before so I am learning as I go.
Some Pics right after i started clearing the area.
Got the big stump grinder. This thing was a beast. Did a bunch of neighbors stumps while i had it.
The culvert was delivered and now I understand why the guy at town hall said it would open a can of worms. Had 6-7 people stop and ask if i got a permit and how because they were not approved for one.
Got the bobcat here and started clearing out the brush and getting started on the driveway. Took off topsoil and a bit more.
Extra is dug out for the culvert because the township has a rule that culverts have to be a minimum of 24' long no matter the size of driveway.
I know no i dug the culvert WAY to deep LOL but i learned from it.
I used 1 1/2" with fines on bottom 6-7" then 3/4" on top of that
I had two helpers that were more than happy to do the compacting.
I had the concrete guys do all the excavation for the slab. My boy was the supervisor while i was at work.
After the first day.
My brothers and boys helped dig some trenches for the utilities. Neighbor came to ******** and supervise.
Digging till about midnight
They finished up the second day with excavation
Time for Foam and Radiant. We really didn't know what we were doing but I did a lot of research and think we did OK.
Was another super late night. Had leaks in the manifold so we called it a night
Got everything air tight before the pour.
Big crew showed up. About 11-12 guys.
My boy trying his hand at some cement work.
Saw cut a few hours after pour.
Used sprinklers the first 3 days to cool the cement down. I am still using sprinklers during hot hours of the day to reduce cracks from shrinkage.
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Long story short next time i will be ordering from one of the lumber supply yards, might cost a little more but they also will precut every stud
