30 x 38 Full Circle Garage

[glentre]

The siding crew showed up this morning and said they would be finished today and that's good news. All that is left on the drywall is the finish sanding and that team also arrived this morning.

Next, I expect the trim carpenters will install the stair stringers, risers and replace the temp treads with finished ones. They will also install 3/4" quarter round at the bottom of the drywall where it is raised slightly off the treated stem wall bottom plate. J channel was specified there to protect the bottom of the drywall but was not done so the quarter round will suffice. Actually, caulked to the drywall and plate, it should be better.

If the drywall guys finish today, the GC will be ready to install the garage doors. Also need to pour the front apron sometime soon. Dominion power has not run power to the garage yet so we are still running extension cords from the house and can't fire up the heat pump until that is done.

Also remaining is prime painting the drywall, running the underground roof drains and finish electric including mounting the ceiling lights and fan. I will be doing the final wall painting, floor coating, interior window/door trim, fluorescent tube installation, compressor installation and piping and bench/cabinet installation so I am very anxious to have the GC done and off the job and free to do my thing. Things are further complicated because spring is here and almost time to de-winterize the boat, open and clean the pool, get the solar heater working, plant flowers, mulch the beds, reseed the lawn, power wash the house and clean up the grounds, all in time to have everything ready, including the garage, for our annual Memorial Day weekend family reunion. The next two months are going to be very busy.

My next post should have photos of the finished siding including shutters which will really dress up the exterior.

Glen

 

[glentre]

Well, both the drywall guys and the siding crew finished yesterday afternoon and the garage really looks nice. The stair carpenter came early this morning and will be here through tomorrow working on the finishing the stairs. Two other guys are setting forms for the front apron pour and later will install the quarter round at the bottom of the drywall where it meets the stem wall plate.

Apparently, the painter will be here today also to scope out what he needs to spray the drywall but won't start until the stairs and quarter round is done. I have scheduled a meeting with the GC to discuss the schedule for completing the project and hope to be able to determine a completion date after that meeting.

I went out to take photos of the finished siding and shutters this morning but there are three trucks blocking the view so I'll shoot some pics when they leave today and post them tonight.

Glen

 

[C_F]

Awesome, it sounds like you will be able to occupy your new garage very soon!

 

[glentre]

CF

Not soon enough! Why do projects seem to slow down just when the end is in sight?

I will continue to post on this build even when the GC is done because there is certainly a lot of work left to do. I'm presently trying to select cabinets but can't seem to find everything I want from a single manufacturer. I want to go with red cabinets but will end up with different colors of red if I use different suppliers. One cabinet only comes in gray so I'll have to fire up the spray gun and paint that one. Depending on the variation in reds, maybe all will need to be painted so they match. Need to do more research.

Glen

 

[C_F]

These guys may have what you're looking for.
http://www.garage-organization.com/
I haven't used them personally yet, so I can't vouch for the quality, but they look nice from the photos.

 

[glentre]

CF,

Thanks, I had not seen that site. It is quite extensive in the wide selection of cabinets but I still can't find what I'm looking for. This is what I'm looking at so far.

3) Sandusky Classic 72x36x18 red vertical cabinets. I have some 24" units now but prefer the 18" because the 24" are too deep and hide stuff in the back. The Sanduskys are a little flimsy and don't list their steel gauge.

1) 72x38x24 adj shelf cab with 48) parts bins hung inside on each door for a total of 96 bins. Cab is gray only and 16 gauge by Durham.

1) 42x38h x19 d red 11 dwr International Tech rolling tool cab

1) 59x34x25d red steel 2 dwr work bench from Excel

I'm dealing with four different manufacturers here so more research is needed to see if I can find a supplier who can furnish all or most of them in the same red color.

Glen

 

[glentre]

Another productive day. The stair carpenter finished the stair risers and treads and the hand rails. He also installed the quarter round on top of the stem wall plate to protect the bottom edge of the drywall. The forms are done for the apron pour which is expected to happen tomorrow.

The painters are expected tomorrow to spray the drywall with prime. I did not include final painting in the contract but asked the GC to give me a price for the painters to final coat the ceiling while they had their equipment on the job. At $510.00 for one coat on the ceiling, I opted to roll it myself over the weekend. That's one decent vertical metal cabinet I could buy with the savings.

The three interior doors were also installed today. The ceiling needs to be finished by Sunday because the electrician will be back on Monday to install the light fixtures, 7 ft ceiling fan, the outdoor wall lights and wire up the switches and receptacles to get ready for final inspection. Of course, we don't have any power to the building yet, still waiting on Dominion Virginia Power. This should be a really easy job for them since the transformer is only about 12 ft from the side of the garage.

And finally, the garage doors are scheduled for installation this coming Tuesday. Except for some final grading, seeding and cleanup work, the GC should be done by the end of next week.........can't wait to get started on my interior work.

Photo of the window side with shutters installed....really looks nice. The second pic is the stair well almost done and the third is the forms for the apron pour.

Glen

 

[glentre]

It may not look that good in the photos but the prime paint on the drywall looks great to me. Because of the high quote to finish paint the ceiling, I had decided to do it myself. However, the GC came back yesterday afternoon with a more reasonable price so the painter will be back tomorrow to paint the ceiling.

We had severe thunderstorms most of today so the apron did not get poured. Hopefully they can do that tomorrow. Still don't have a schedule on when power will be connected. When a company has a monopoly, it seems customer satisfaction does not have to be a priority. We may end up with a completed building and still waiting for power.

Glen

 

[C_F]

Man, the outside shot looks awesome! That's a beautiful garage.

Bummer that the power company is dragging their feet.

 

[glentre]

Not much to report except that the apron got poured yesterday afternoon. The electrician is still scheduled for Monday to wire the switches, receptacles etc. And most important, we will hopefully get garage doors on Tuesday.

GC says he still doesn't have a firm date for electrical hookup by Dominion Power. We are heading down the home stretch.

Glen

 

[glentre]

The electrician came back on Monday and is in the process of installing the ceiling lights and wiring the receptacles. The garage door guys showed up this morning and by the end of the day, had the three doors installed complete with jack shaft motors.

Only problem is we still don't have power to the garage. Dominion is tentatively scheduled to give us power next Monday but that date does not seem to be firm. Of course, we cannot get any final inspections or occupancy permit until we are electrified and everything is working properly, including the heat pump.

Meanwhile, it is spring break and we have two of our kids with spouses and five grand kids here for the week. I'd rather spend time with them so the things I have to do in the garage will have to wait starting until next week.

Glen

 

[glentre]

Final exterior grading is being done today. The GC originally had the front and rear roof drains connected together and brought to daylight in a swale about 20 ft from the garage. A heavy downpour last week was too much for even the oversized gutters and downspouts to handle with a resulting backup of water in the downspouts. So today, they are eliminating the underground joining pipe between the two downspouts. The rear one will go to the swale as originally designed but the front one will have its own pipe extending under the driveway and to a more downhill portion of the swale.

For future maintenance reasons, we decided to change seeding grass around the garage to just laying down mulch. That will be done today also.

We had some installation issues with the weather seals on the garage doors where the seals were cut 1/4 to 1/2" above the concrete which would let in cold air and blown snow as well as insects and our small lizards in the summer. They will be back to re-install new seals as soon as we get power to the garage so they can make other adjustments.

Dominion still has a tentative install schedule of sometime next week. Apparently, they just show up without notice. Again, nice to have a monopoly.

Glen

 

[jpcjguy]

Looking fantastic!!

 

[glentre]

Wow! Almost finished. The outside final grading and mulching is almost done and only a few minor electrical things to be taken care of inside.

Of course, still can't get final inspections until we get power hooked up which should be sometime next week. When that's done, we can bury the rear downspout drain that goes on top of the underground power line and then finish mulching.

Looks like I'll be going with Rust Bullet for the floor so that will be ordered the beginning of next week. I thought about doing the floor in two of the bays, leaving the third to assemble the lift when it arrives and then moving it to the finished bays while I finished the third. However, I've opted to do it all at once to get it over with and to avoid the smell over a longer period of time. Also, it will be nice to move my "stuff" into the new garage all at one time with the floor finished.

I have also picked out a dark gray paint for the stem wall and up the sheetrock to about four feet and a lighter gray from there up to the ceiling. Looking at comments from many on the Journal about the time it takes to paint stripes on the wall, I think I'll be going with a red vinyl stripe idea I took from another thread. The objective is to have the floor and walls finished before the cabinets arrive and I start moving in.

Glen

 

[C_F]

Looks really nice around the area, now that spring has sprung & all the green is coming out. The garage looks right at home.

 

[glentre]

Jcpjguy, CF,
Thanks for your comments. Can't wait to get my interior work done and get my cars into the new garage.

Glen

 

[glentre]

A new garage deserves a new car. Here is my new Ferrari GTB.

Don't I wish! My friend stopped by to show us his new wheels....and the car is beautiful. I'm the guy on the left drooling. He and his wife are the others in the photo.

Glen

 

[glentre]

Got excited this morning when Dominion Power came down the driveway, thinking this is the day we get electricity. Unfortunately, they only came to flag the cable route and to release the work order to Construction. They said Construction would then schedule the installation which would be another 7 to 10 days but that is only a guess pending determination of the final schedule. This is getting very frustrating.

Glen

 

[glentre]

I had a friend stop by yesterday to see the new garage. He and his wife gave me a very nice garage christening present. It's a personal sign for the new build and it is mounted where it can be seen by anyone coming down the driveway. I really like it.

Glen

 

[glentre]

The ongoing saga of working with an electric utility company. The power hookup was requested by the GC on Feb 17th with the projected load information submitted at that time. The projected load information was received by the design department from the work initiation department to allow them to design the project ( about 30 ft from transformer to the meter base ) on March 10th. The design/project was approved on March 23rd. Their electrical inspection was received on March 24th, apparently from someone they sent to the job to determine the meter base was installed and done properly. I did not see that person. The work schedule was established on the same day. Then they sent a person to the job on April 17th to confirm the site was ready for installation and flagged the cable route.

The work order says the installation is scheduled to start on April 27th and the SCHEDULED completion is the same day. However, the PROJECTED completion is May 4th. When I called them to explain why the projected completion was eight days after the scheduled completion, I was told the May 4th day was their "drop dead" date and that while it was scheduled for April 27th, they were required (by whom?) to have the approximate three hour job completed by May 4th.

Trying to pin down a more firm date, I was told they would be on the job next week between the 25th and the 27th but that they would TRY to get the job done by the end of the week, April 28th, but they could not promise. That's corporate speak for telling me I'm not going to see them until sometime during the following week of May 1st and not likely until the 4th because the 5th is their "drop dead" date. So, it will have taken eleven weeks or 77 days to have the power company do a 30 ft hookup to a garage.

Lessons learned for those building a garage:
- get your electric panel and meter base installed as soon in the project as possible
- submit your application for power installation as soon as the panel and meter base is ready. Probably should do it several weeks before this, though.
- follow up with the power company at every step, letting them know someone is keeping tabs on what they are doing. Can't be too pushy here because, as employees of a monopoly, they can lose your paperwork or stall things if they want to.
- make sure the electrician is done and final county inspections are complete and approved or the power company will not install your meter
- be patient because, other than politely urging them to get it done, there is really not much you can do.

Thanks for letting me blow off some steam. I'm not having a good day.

Glen

 

[C_F]

That's absolutely pathetic that the power company is dragging along like they are. I'm sure if you "accidentally" didn't pay your power bill for a couple months, they would be there lickety-split to shut you off! But they can't run a 30' hookup in a timely manner? Lame.

Anyway, I like the new sign your friend gave you, it looks great! Good looking Ferrari, too!

 

[glentre]

Thanks, CF. this friend who just bought the Ferrari also builds cars from the ground up using replica fiberglass body shells, crate engines and various drive train setups but everything else is his own including the frames. He built a '36 Mercedes roadster, a '55 Gull Wing and, most recently, a '33 Ford street rod. His builds are absolutely pristine.

Glen

 

[glentre]

Well, the GC is finished and I have started my work in the garage but looks like we won't have power until around May 4th.

I installed all of the 80) 4 ft tubes in the lights, started painting the raw lumber garage door supports and will then move on to painting the upper walls. Painting the supports with the track brackets already installed is a tedious procedure using a 1" brush but it looks good.

Except for the lower 4 ft or so, the walls are a very light gray below which will be another gray a little darker with the floor an even darker gray. Taking a hint from another guy's thread, rather than painting a stripe dividing the two wall colors, I will use a red vinyl stick-on stripe. Should be much easier to do. My cabinetry will all be red so the combination should look good.

I have ceiling outlets for two fans but decided to install only one for now so I'll have an option to use either of two bays for the lift until I find which location works the best for me. The installed fan has a 7 ft diameter and has a cool industrial look. I might find the single fan will meet my needs to prevent air stratification, particularly in the winter.

The Rust Bullet floor coating shipment is expected near the end of next week but I may wait on applying it until we have power and the lights are working.

Glen

 

[glentre]

The rear wall of my garage has no windows because I wanted the wall space, wanted an option to erect a future storage platform and didn't want the window heat load from the south facing orientation. However, looking from the outside, the wall is quite expansive and unsightly without windows and we have recieved some subtle comments from a neighbor on that point.

Therefore, we decided to install fake windows on that wall to match them as close as possible to the others in the garage. They are single pane "barn windows" from Home Depot which we will simply screw to the existing vinyl siding along with matching shutters. You would be able to see the siding through the window so the glass needs to be obscured. Painting the glass a dark color sounded simple enough until I realized that would create a hot house effect and likely melt the siding. Since it is a south facing wall with heavy direct sunlight, I will cover the glass with a reflective film to prevent that.

I'll post some photos of the installed windows as soon as I get the film attached and the windows mounted to the wall.

Glen

 

[jpcjguy]

Glen,

I have a friend who did this - and he added mirrors where the glass was. And his wife wanted planter boxes below it.Looks good. Here is a pic:

Joe

 

[stonesg]

RE: The "windows".... take them back.... sounds like more problems that they are worth.

Consider instead some type of metal trellis/artwork type thing that would not only decorate the wall, but be useful in some way as like flower pots/boxes etc.

As far as Dominion goes, I'm surprised.... my one dealing in this area was an upgrade from 100 to 200 amp service in a house in Petersburg. Got the new box and meter base installed and I don't think it was more than a week before they came around to switch the cable.

I wonder if an outbuilding doesn't get as much priority from them for scheduling. (Not that I'm making excuses for them... ) I would think they could at least communicate better.

TG

 

[glentre]

TG,
Appreciate the input but this is my wife's desire to install fake windows to please the neighbors. This wall is only 5 ft from the property line of a neighbor who is trying to sell her house. We are friends and don't want that huge blank wall looking like a commercial building as potential buyers drive up to her house. Also, it faces directly south and that wall gets hot as hell and it isn't even summer yet. Plus, I have no water to the garage so planting anything there would not survive. I like your idea of flower boxes under the windows which would dress up the wall somewhat. While the wall is visible by both of our neighbors, it can also be seen from the street. Nobody would get any closer to it than about 30 ft so fake flowers in the boxes would look great.

I think your are correct about an out building being a low priority for Dominion Power. Apparently, they normally make you connect a separate garage to the existing house meter but will install a dedicated one if your expected usage as listed on their application form is heavy enough. Since we have a 3 ton heat pump, compressor, considerable lighting, a lift and plans for a future second floor apartment, they were ok with installing a separate meter. As you can see from several past photos I have posted, the transformer is only about 10 ft from the side of the garage with the meter base on the back wall only about 30 ft away.

Glen

 

[glentre]

Joe,

Thanks for posting a photo of a flower box but there was no photo to open.

Glen

 

[jpcjguy]

Joe,

Thanks for posting a photo of a flower box but there was no photo to open.

Glen

Sorry about that. I edited the link - is it working now?

 

[glentre]

Joe,
Got the photo this time. The fake Windows certainly dress up an otherwise blank wall.

Glen

 

[jpcjguy]

Joe,
Got the photo this time. The fake Windows certainly dress up an otherwise blank wall.

Glen

Agreed. I thought it was clever idea. I think it will work for you.

 

[glentre]

My preference for organizing my new garage is to have everything possible stored in closed door cabinets. While many GJ members use open shelves, pegboard and have all sorts of things hanging on their walls, my own feeling is that way of organizing things looks cluttered. Just my opinion and personal taste and I am not knocking those who prefer that arrangement. That is not to say I won't have things on the walls but they won't look cluttered.

I am only back into the car hobby recently after many years away so I have not accumulated an extensive selection of tools that so many GJ members have. So, what I have and expect to need in the forseable future will fit in about 15 lineal ft of cabinets. I have searched for suitable metal cabinets but not found anything that seems to fit my needs and would all be in a matching red color I prefer.

Therefore, I had one of my sons who sells computer software to cabinet shops take a stab at designing custom melamine panel cabinets and having one of his clients give me a quote. He came up with 5) 36" cabinets, all 84" high. One is 24" deep for large things and the rest are 18" deep since I prefer shallow cabinets so things don't get hidden as they would in deep cabinets. They will have white interiors with red plastic laminate on all exterior surfaces. The edges will be covered with heavy duty pvc edge banding. Total price for all five cabinets, unassembled, would be $1,600.00 which would let me use my SUV to transport them to my rural location without having to rent a truck to haul them if they were assembled. They want an additional $600.00 to assemble them which would bring the total to $2,200.00 not including the truck rental and return for an approximate 140 miles travel cost. Therefore, I will likely opt for the unassembled cabinets and expect to give the shop an order sometime next week.

I have had two similar construction 8 ft high cabinets in my present garage for the past 16 years and they have been durable, good looking, and much more substantial than the low to mid range metal cabinets on the market. I'll post photos of them as soon as I get them on site, assembled and installed together.

Glen

 

[glentre]

Dominion Power called Wednesday afternoon and said their crew would be at our site Thursday afternoon to give us power. I really didn't believe them since we have been getting the run-around for many weeks. SURPRISE! They really did show up and we had power by the end of the day. The ground was very wet from almost four days of rain and they made a mess. Even got their machine stuck in the ditch and had to come back with another excavator to get the first one out. As of now, they are having trouble getting the first machine out and may have to get a third one to help. Feel for them but I'm happy because we have POWER!

Glen

 

[glentre]

Got the ceiling lights working yesterday and what a difference. I had started painting the walls but that was a mistake. The first coat over the prime looked good until the lights were on but then I saw many places where I missed or the coverage was thin. Note to self, never paint until you have sufficient light.

I couldn't get the heat pump to work at all, not even get the indoor fan to come on. It took me a while to realize the electrician had mis-marked one of the breakers so I wasn't getting any power to the unit. The breaker marked "welder" is really the one for the HVAC unit compressor. The cooling works fine but the heat pump wouldn't activate so fixing that is on today's agenda. It was getting too late and approaching dark to fool with it yesterday.

The garage doors with Liftmaster 8000 motors wouldn't work either. Rather than fooling with them, I'll wait until Monday when the installers are scheduled to come for their normal checkout visit after power is available.

If I can get the heat cycle resolved today, then I'll be back on painting for the next day or so. My Rust Bullet shipment arrived but I won't start the floor until the walls are done. I had intended to do the whole floor in one shot but, against my better judgement and the advice of many on the forum, I started to move things into the garage. So, it looks like I'll do two bays first and then move on to the third bay after the first two are finished. On the other hand, if the weather forecast is good for a few days, I might just move the stuff outside and cover it with a sheet of plastic so I can do the entire floor at once.

I stopped at the cabinet shop yesterday to select the red laminate for the cabinets. My intention was to come close to matching the red color of the 44" Harbor Freight rolling tool chest but was disappointed to find that none of the four major laminate manufacturers had a matching red. All are a little darker than I would like but at least they are complimentary and will be ok. I'll place the order on Monday and expect to heve them ready in one to two weeks.

The final electric inspection was supposed to have been done yesterday but I was gone a good portion of the day and do not know if they came or not. Final inspection on the finished garage is scheduled for Monday. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Glen

 

[C_F]

Awesome, you finally have power! Bummer about the Liftmasters, maybe they aren't getting power either? Hopefully it's an easy fix.

Looks great in there with the lights on!

 

[Jtrebour]

Awesome build! You mentioned mulch next to the siding. Be careful, you may end up with those mold spores on the brand new siding. They are tough to to remove. Perhaps gravel would work better?

 

[glentre]

jtrebour
Good to have you aboard the forum. It's a fun place for anyone interested in cars or doing something in their garage. Many great ideas.

Mulch is already down which allows me to spray roundup on anything that starts to grow. Because of the moist air coming off the river, power washing has become an annual chore on the house to remove the green mold. While at it, I'll be able to blast off those nasty little black spores on the house and garage. They seem to appear independent of what is on the ground near the siding.

 

[Dr Stan]

A painting tip I learned from my artist wife is to use a strong light to shine on the walls right after applying the paint. The "holidays" will be very apparent.

She learned this trick when she was painting murals and applying the base coat.

 

[glentre]

Dr Stan,

She is right as I found out after we got power and our lights were on so the second coat is much better. Also, I used semi gloss paint which is harder to lay down smooth than flat.

Interesting, th

 

[glentre]

Well, last Friday was the final electric inspection with the final overall inspection scheduled for today. I did not see any paperwork left by the electric inspector indicating pass or fail so expected the final overall inspection to be done today. Two trucks pulled up this morning, one from the garage door crew to make adjustments after we got power and the other from the electrician.

Seems our electric was rejected on Friday. While a licensed electrician should know the codes in areas he does business, we were turned down for two things we did not expect for a garage installation. First, the electrician was required to change all the receptacles to tamper proof types. These receptacles have a sort of sliding barrier inside the plug holes which prevents little kids from sticking metal objects into the outlet. A two prong plug pushed into the outlet is the only way it can be used. The outlets are over four feet off the floor, not like those in homes which are about 18" high. No toddler could reach them in our garage. Worse, we were required to also change the ceiling outlets to tamper proof. These are 13 ft above the floor! What kid is going to haul out a 12 ft stepladder (which we don't have) heavier than he, drag it to the middle of the garage and then climb up 13 ft to stick his paper clip into the socket??? I can understand the code as it applies to outlets in the home but in this case, it seems like government gone amuck and a rediculous interpretation on the intent of the code.

Second, the inspector requires a weatherproof duplex outlet adjacent to the exterior wall mounted HVAC unit so a service man would have power to work on the unit if needed. Do any service men these days still use corded power tools? I doubt it. It would be good to plug in a service light but what service company makes calls at night for a garage installation? Anyway, I now have a weatherproof duplex outlet next to my heat pump unit.

I guess the electric inspection will be moved to Wednesday at the earliest with the final probably at the end of the week if we are lucky.

Glen