New guy, here's my refuge...

Didn't know this section of the forum was here until now, here's a few pix of the garage I finished building in '08. Did the design on Autocad and was built by a friend and myself after work and on the weekends (subbed out the foundation/flatwork and brick). Had fun building it, made mistakes and learned in the process. Only wish I found this forum before I started. TONS of great ideas (and people) on this site.

Great pictures and the project turned out good! I like the steep roof, brick work and detail. Cool looking window above entry way. I roofed with very similar material at my prior home in So Cal. Send us some pics of the inside and some details on size, use, future plans etc.

yes, more pics please...

Way cool! Very nice.

Looks like you tore down a nice garage to build a nicer garage.

So what size is it?

Geez ... I even liked your OLD garage. That is a great looking building and I'm guessing it fits in well with your house and the neighbourhood.

Very, very nice. The carriage-style doors look good with that 1920's style.

Very nice!! What are the dimensions?

Very nice! It has a vintage Phillips 66 gas station vibe to it.

Need some inside pics. By looking at this picture it looks like you have floor joist. If so, what do you use the upstairs for? Very nice looking garage. I like the details that you have added

IT's gone from "oldcrackhouse" to CRACK-a-LACKIN'!!

Looking good there. Now about that peek inside?

First off, thanks for the kind words. Really cool to have a place like this on the net to learn from one another.

The old 20'wide by 18' deep garage was built in 1926 and was sized for the cars of the day. It was pretty much falling in on itself and the red squirrels that were squatting in there loved stuffing f#*$(%# walnuts wherever they could. Boots, intake ports of cylinder heads, you name it. If a nut could fit it was there. The shingles were bad, the roof boards were rotted out, the foundation had shifted and whenever it rained I had about 1" of water on the floor due to it sitting so low on the site. I looked long and hard into keeping it but decided its days were coming to a close.

The overall dimensions of the new one are 22'6" deep by 30' wide, not including the 2' by 7' entryway bump. The garage doors are 9' x 7' Clopays that I picked up at Home Depot. Ceiling height is 8'1", attic height from floor to ridge beam is 6'1". I wished I could have gone larger but the area I'm in is NOTORIOUS for shooting down variance requests. The second floor is for storage (2x12 Doug fir 16" OC, 3/4" OSB floor), mainly because the house it sits behind is a small 29' x 22' colonial with close to no storage in it. On the bright side the garage is a bigger footprint than the house so at least my priorities are straight . Right now the garage is serving duty as a workshop and lumberyard while I renovate the house. The only wrenching going on unfortunately is dealing with the gremlins that pop up now and again in my daily drivers ('94 ranger with 142k, '03 F150 with 198k).

Eventually, after the house is done (I can dream, can't I?) I'd like to make the workshop area into a mancave with kegerator , plasma TV and a MAME arcade machine. On the automotive side of things I'd like to add a MaxJack in the left bay to work on a classic car that I don't own yet. Seems like I'll never get there but hopefully the day will come.

Right now the inside of the garage is the middle of a major pre-winter cleaning and reorganization, I'll take some photos and post them as soon as I'm done.

Once again I wish that I stumbled onto this site in the planning stages, would have done a few things differently, for sure.

-Doug

Sweet!! That is a upgrade for sure!!

Nice build. Just found this thread. What's going on? Any updates?

thisoldcrackhouse said:

Once again I wish that I stumbled onto this site in the planning stages, would have done a few things differently, for sure.

Click to expand...

Like what, Doug? What would you change?

And don't gimme that BIGGER BS! We all know that 0 ha ha...

Thanks Fergus- the garage proper is pretty much done but I'm in the process of (finally) doing a paver patio off of the right side and a flagstone walkway off of the left. If I can nail both of those projects down before the end of October I'll be really happy.


JC23-here's what I would have done differently:

1) Install piping for in-floor heat even though I wouldn't be ready with a house boiler upgrade to support it for several years down the road. I'm basically kicking myself for what amounts to less that a grand in materials (piping, manifold, insulating foam, etc).

2) Having the foresight to cast thicker support pads beyond the 4" slab for hoists that may or may not be installed. In the grand scheme of things a few bucks in cement. D'Oh!

3) Framed so the finished ceiling is 8'6", not 8'. Major PITA when trying to flip around 4x8 sheets of whatever.

4) Pushed harder for a variance to pick up an extra foot depth. The horror stories I heard about dealing with the ZBA could have been put to rest had I filed for a formal hearing and presented elevation drawings of the project.

5) Moved the whole structure several feet further from the back fenceline. 9' is a little tight to really do anything like a sitting area.

6) Tried to sneak by an extra foot or so in height from grade to ridge. The inspectors measured NOTHING during my roughs and finals. Oh well.

7) Epoxied the floor before putting ANYTHING in the garage. Am NOT looking forward to that project.