Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT 24x36 Garage Build

[rField]

First time, long time. I have browsed this forum for years, and now I am finally in the position to make a garage upgrade happen.

The plan is to remove the existing 20x20 detached, which is in really bad shape. The slab has eroded making using a floor jack impossible, it's uninsulated/heated, bunch of rot, etc. Bye. It is being replaced by a 24x36 that will get a somewhat awkward entrance into the house due to the fact that it's a split entry and grade is midway up the basement. The plan there is to remove the existing bulkhead on the rear of the house and build stairs with a doghouse type thing covering it down into the basement through the same opening in the foundation. New will have 12' ceiling to make room for an eventual 2-post lift. Man door and 16x9 door on the front. Man door and 9x7 on the back to allow me to more safely load the racecars (Miatas) with the trailer in the driveway vs the street.

Here's what we're starting with:



You can see the bulkhead that's going to disappear. The AC unit will come towards the camera a few feet to make room for the new stairs. The roof of the doghouse will basically be at the bottom of that window.



The project officially started today with the existing garage getting taken down.







Needless to say, the garage did not put up a fight against a 38k lb excavator. They had the majority of it in the dumpster within 10 minutes.

They are digging for the foundation tomorrow, and targeting concrete on Wednesday. More to come.

 

[rField]

Old pad, which turns out was just poured on top of asphalt, removed. Footings dug. Bulkhead out.

 

[Toolfool]

Off to a good start. Keep the pics coming.

 

[captain14]

Sounds like a great garage.

How much of the work will you be doing for the construction aspect of it?

 

[rField]

Sounds like a great garage.

How much of the work will you be doing for the construction aspect of it?

Unfortunately not as much as I'd enjoy doing. Having someone build the majority of it kind of force that hand. Town here requires that the walls against the house get 5/8" drywall as a fire block almost immediately. Given that the electrical panel will be on that wall, and I want it insulated, it just makes sense to have electrical, insulation, and the drywall all done in one go. The 110v electrical will be done in the walls. I'm going to run the 220v myself in conduit afterwards, since I know I'd want to change it eventually and end up with conduit runs in the long run anyway.

Update:

Footings were formed and poured yesterday.



Foundation walls formed today. Getting poured tomorrow. Little bit of unplanned change is having to use a pump truck. I wasn't around yesterday when they did the footings, but apparently the cement truck got a bit sketchy on the edge of the hole. They didn't like that, so pump truck it is for the walls.

 

[rField]

Hilariously large equipment for such a relatively small job.

 

[rField]

They mostly backfilled the foundation yesterday, and will be finished today. They filled up two tri-axle dump trucks with dirt to take out. It looks like they'll end up filling another two with what's remaining.

 

[rField]

Cleaned up and mostly put back to how it was.

What way too much money looks like:

 

[captain14]

Say that next January when you’re inside the warm and dry garage turning wrenches looking out the window at the snow coming down. Did I mention not tripping on the broken pieces of the concrete floor.

 

[rField]

True that.

 

[rField]

Floor done:

 

[j p smith]

wow, coming along nicely

 

[rField]

Holy moly. Original plan was 12' ceiling, but with where the frost wall ended up, less scrap, we now have 13'6" ceiling.

I was feeling pretty disappointed standing in it after the floor got poured. It felt so small. Not that there was anything I could do about it anyway, since this is as big as I can go regardless of budget. But with the walls up it feels massive.

 

[captain14]

It’s huge until it’s filled up. Did they work yesterday? I know it rained all day here in College Park.

Any water coming in through the missing bulkhead door around back?

Do you have a rough idea where you are going to set up your equipment and tools?

 

[rField]

Yep, was beautiful up here Thursday and Friday - upper 60's and dry.

They had the bulkhead area covered up with a tarped plywood lean-to when it was going to rain.

General layout is going to be:
- Workbench area in the back left corner (past the bulkhead doorway)
- Lift in the back right corner (by the rear garage door)

I would like to do a 3ft wide shelf the entire length of the house side wall at about 9ft off the floor. Trying to work out how to go about doing that.

 

[rField]

Lots of sheathing now





And, the basement entrance:

 

[rField]

We have a roof!

The trusses got delivered Friday. As is tradition when anyone tries to use the road in a non-standard way here, everyone and their mother descended upon the road. One of the guys was attempting to block the end of the road so the tractor trailer could back into the street. Four people ignored him and drove around him.

I unfortunately wasn't home to witness the trusses go up in person. Crane showed up a little after 8, and was gone before 10. Pretty crazy that they set 18 trusses in a little over an hour.

 

[captain14]

Are you going to be able to match the house shingles?

Or is the house shingles going to be replaced?

The work site seems to be cleaned up at the end of the day.

 

[rField]

The house roof is only 4 years old, so they're just going to do their best to match.

Yes! They are doing an absolutely amazing job of keeping the site clean. I love it. Even during the work day it's spotless. They've even swept the garage floor every day.

 

[holie gardner]

you put some nice work in it ! i love it

snaptube vidmate​

 

[v6buick]

If I end up deciding to stay at my house, this is very similar to how the garage will end up! I can't wait to see what you do with the space. I'm jealous.

 

[rField]

That was the debate we had, too. In the end, we concluded that we'd have to go too far into the sticks to afford what we actually wanted...and then have to redo the house again anyway.

 

[rField]

Roof is done. They managed to beat the heat on Saturday. Started just before 8 and were gone by 12:30.

 

[captain14]

How many guys were on the roofing crew? Did they carry the bundles up or have a lifting system? I’ve watched some of the crews and one guy nails while is placing the next shingle.

After a couple of hours on the garage roof doing some simple nail pops and a ridge vent repair, I’m soaked and beat from the heat.

 

[rField]

They had 3, I think. They had a pretty cool ladder elevator for the supplies. It looked like they had one person feeding and the other two on the roof.

Man, it would really **** to not have that elevator. I can barely move a bundle of shingles, nevermind carry it up 14' of ladder.

 

[JeromeM]

This is amazing, I joined just to get updates on your progress! I am basically building the exact same thing, have a slightly raised bungalow and I had a 14x21 detached, super old, had it torn down on Friday and now putting in a 24x36 attached.

I debated either 2 x 8' doors and a man door on the side as I thought the look would be better but seeing this I don't mind the man door and 16' door on the front. Kind of night not to have any restrictions on what I can bring in the garage width wise too.

 

[trek]

It is amazing, I loved the garage. Especially the side nature.

 

[rField]

Lots of work got done of the last few days. I was gone for most of it (more on that at the end).



Took this one this morning, they have since finished this end.





Electrical got started on Saturday - they made really good progress.



The weekend adventures, which is one of the reasons for building this garage, included going to Watkins Glen International with ChampCar for two 7 hour endurance races. We have an AirBNB right around the corner from the track. Good views.





Here's a video from the start of the race on Saturday. It was very wet. Unfortunately at the end of my stint here, we lost an alternator. Changed it in about 20 minutes, but it cost us a top 10 on the day. Sunday, much better conditions, we had no issues and finished 7th in class.

 

[rField]

Exterior is now fully done.





Insulation and drywall early this week.

Couldn't resist putting something in it any longer, so we put girlfriends car in. Lift is going in this spot.





The tape is marking out where the lights are going to go.

 

[Kevkx125]

Build looks great, looking forward to seeing how you finish it. Will it be a big deal going through the basement to get to the house ?

 

[rField]

It's a split entry, so no matter what it's awkward. At least this way I'll be able to make a more traditional "mud room" type deal in the basement which is not possible with the main entrance because it's just too small.

 

[Cris B]

Looks great. Love the house and garage.

Good to see the race car and some in-car action. Looked like you had some good same car competition, such as against the red Miata about 30mins into that footage.

Shame about the alternator, I had a similar problem once on one of my track cars. The bolt holding the tensioner came loose. The design meant that the belt didn’t come off, but was only under tension when the car was accelerating. Really weird fault from in the cabin, with the warning light intermittently on/off.

 

[rField]

Insulation yesterday. R19 walls, R38 ceiling. Both about 23932 times better than the house.

 

[captain14]

Guess those cold winter nights, you’ll be hanging out in the garage?

Any plans on doing the attic at least in the house?

 

[rField]

I hope to in the near future. Funds need to recover some.

I've put that off since buying the house (2017) as I was always doing some sort of project, most of which required attic access for electrical. I think those are mostly done now, so it can become a higher priority.

 

[rField]

Drywall up now.

 

[Toolfool]

Looking gooood !

 

[zc15]

What are you guys doing with those windows on the wall that is shared with the house?

 

[rField]

They're removed now. They threw some drywall up that will get finished while they're doing the garage.

 

[rixtrix1]

Looking very nice. Really interested in how you lay out everything as I'm in the planning stages for a 24x30x13 detached and playing with lift placement to maximize convenience. Going to be my fabrication workshop and '66 ChevelleAutoX/track car.