blown90camaro
Active member
30x34 Garage DIY Tons of Pics!
So its about time I posted this, I bought my first house 2 years ago at 23 and it came with 2 sheds, one 8x8 and a 12x12. I love building cars and it was always a dream of mine to have a lift in my own shop.
I originally wanted a 30x40 but decided against it as I am single and limited funds. the 30x34 was still big enough for 3 bays and that suits me for right now especially in a "starter" house. So, as you have probably guessed I have not built anything like this before. Luckily my father used to have his contractors license years ago so I had him to help when he could.
I got all my materials from 84 Lumber in Raleigh which I would highly suggest no one ever uses again. Problem after problem with them and nothing but excuses and attitude. Not small problems either, one draft would have my wall height at 10ft then the next it was at 14. Materials were all jacked up, had to return 12 pieces of SmartSide paneling since a forklift damaged the whole tongue and groove while delivering and got nothing but attitude for it. I probably had over 100 calls to them in a 3 month period. the metal roof they delivered was completely incorrect, I could go on and on.
I started by myself and moved the 12x12 shed with the help of Pops Bobcat.
I put two 4x4's underneath it and wrapped chains around the end and dragged it over to its new home.
Left a nice groove in the yard!
New home, almost leveled.
I did the same thing with the other shed and started cutting down trees. All of this was August in Raleigh NC meaning 100 degree plus days.
Got some help from Dad cutting up and digging out the stumps.
Plenty of firewood for this winter!
My helpers removing every stick they find!
Picked up a Bobcat Auger Attachment to dig all of my 24x48" holes. Luckily I had some help from Dad and my Beautiful Girlfriend (Points for me if she reads this
). This took all weekend and still had to finish up 8 on my own Monday morning, damn Carolina clay.
I don't have any pics of the actual holes, Tuesday the inspector came out and passed them so I threw all the 6x6's in. Man, they were heavy all alone! I also had to drill two holes in both directions 12 inches up and put in rebar in as a tie down. I did not fill my holes completely with concrete only the first 24in. Then I back-filled with a gravel sand mix and then poured my slab around all of them. This was done as a recommendation from the engineer to both save on concrete and also to help water drain around the pole. It also tied all the poles together.
More help from Dad and the Girlfriend to set the poles.
Broke the corner of my driveway .
After cutting all the tops of the 6x6's we started on the top band. It was a pain, I had to notch in each pole per the Engineer.
Top band done! The LVL's were even more of a pain as the notch was in the middle of the pole.
This is where I realized I messed up. long story short, my Dad has a 4 bay shop. the only problem that we ever had was with the height of the garage door 7ft. I designed the building while I was overseas for 6 months. so naturally, I called my dad and asked the size of his doors. I was told they were 8ft wide and 7 ft tall. I ordered and had the engineer put in his plans both a 8x8 and 16x8 ft door. Once all the poles were up and cemented in concrete I realized he was WRONG. His doors are 9ft wide and 7 ft tall. That is honestly the only thing I regret with this building. Next time the doors will be at least 9ft and 18' wide. luckily the mirrors on my truck fold!
Anywho, I put a lot of the banding on during the week and had the concrete crew come out. this is the only thing I did not do myself. Finally looking like something!
The concrete truck broke a piece of the driveway but after it dried out it all blends pretty good.
The following weekend, I got a couple buddies over and with the help of them and the usual's (Dad and Gf) we put the trusses up. I don't have any pics as I was riding in the Bobcat bucket holding them as we went up for the first 6. after that we put two ladders on each side and just carried them up ourselves. Again, this took all weekend.
I then noticed a lot of mistakes with the trusses for Peak Truss Builders. I had about 9 trusses missing several plates. Can't make this stuff up people. QA came out and pretty much said sorry while they hit in a bunch of plates. and used all of my tools to do it as they didn't bring anything
.
Also, the building is 34ft long the first 20' has a traditional attic truss on a 6/12 pitch giving me over 8ft to the peak on the inside of the attic. The last 14' are Scissor trusses for the lift bay.
Just one truss.
After finishing up all the roof Perlins we started on the metal roof. I got some help with this as those sheets are pretty long. Super easy though and turned out great. I did put a vapor barrier up on each side, just in case because it will be heated and cooled.
Also started on the SmartSide paneling for the exterior wall. this stuff is awesome. It has like a plastic layer that comes already primed. easy to put up and should last a long time! I used this because I wanted to match the house as close as I could.
Good portion of the paneling done.
The inside loft. It is pretty big, about 12x20' of useable space at the lowest it is about 6ft high. The rest of the sides I will use for the AC/Heat system and storage for wood, pipes whatever..
I then put the doors in before filling in the gables as I was tried of having to walk all across the yard to lock all the tools up in the shed. By this time It was starting to get in the 30's so it limited the work we could do. I know it seems like awhile but I had a lot of delays with 84 Lumber, numerous returns for the wrong stuff, plus normally one, two or three people working on it at a time. Also had to wait for various inspections and weather. I did work on it though every day I had off and some days before work for at least a solid 4 months. Now is a good time to mention at the time I worked permanent nights 4 days on 4 days off. With that schedule I would lose weekends for 4 weeks at a time and all my help if I was off during the week.
Building and Trim all painted and up, this took about a week as I had to wait for the warmer days to paint. Also got the soffit done and the rake for the roof.
I then noticed every time it rained water would pool in front of the big door. I rented a concrete saw and got a drain to help. It works pretty good and doesn't look bad at all. The pic is of a mock up, I did cut the drain to fit the angle.
So its about time I posted this, I bought my first house 2 years ago at 23 and it came with 2 sheds, one 8x8 and a 12x12. I love building cars and it was always a dream of mine to have a lift in my own shop.
I originally wanted a 30x40 but decided against it as I am single and limited funds. the 30x34 was still big enough for 3 bays and that suits me for right now especially in a "starter" house. So, as you have probably guessed I have not built anything like this before. Luckily my father used to have his contractors license years ago so I had him to help when he could.
I got all my materials from 84 Lumber in Raleigh which I would highly suggest no one ever uses again. Problem after problem with them and nothing but excuses and attitude. Not small problems either, one draft would have my wall height at 10ft then the next it was at 14. Materials were all jacked up, had to return 12 pieces of SmartSide paneling since a forklift damaged the whole tongue and groove while delivering and got nothing but attitude for it. I probably had over 100 calls to them in a 3 month period. the metal roof they delivered was completely incorrect, I could go on and on.
I started by myself and moved the 12x12 shed with the help of Pops Bobcat.
I put two 4x4's underneath it and wrapped chains around the end and dragged it over to its new home.
Left a nice groove in the yard!
New home, almost leveled.
I did the same thing with the other shed and started cutting down trees. All of this was August in Raleigh NC meaning 100 degree plus days.
Got some help from Dad cutting up and digging out the stumps.
Plenty of firewood for this winter!
My helpers removing every stick they find!
Picked up a Bobcat Auger Attachment to dig all of my 24x48" holes. Luckily I had some help from Dad and my Beautiful Girlfriend (Points for me if she reads this
). This took all weekend and still had to finish up 8 on my own Monday morning, damn Carolina clay. I don't have any pics of the actual holes, Tuesday the inspector came out and passed them so I threw all the 6x6's in. Man, they were heavy all alone! I also had to drill two holes in both directions 12 inches up and put in rebar in as a tie down. I did not fill my holes completely with concrete only the first 24in. Then I back-filled with a gravel sand mix and then poured my slab around all of them. This was done as a recommendation from the engineer to both save on concrete and also to help water drain around the pole. It also tied all the poles together.
More help from Dad and the Girlfriend to set the poles.
Broke the corner of my driveway
.After cutting all the tops of the 6x6's we started on the top band. It was a pain, I had to notch in each pole per the Engineer.
Top band done! The LVL's were even more of a pain as the notch was in the middle of the pole.
This is where I realized I messed up. long story short, my Dad has a 4 bay shop. the only problem that we ever had was with the height of the garage door 7ft. I designed the building while I was overseas for 6 months. so naturally, I called my dad and asked the size of his doors. I was told they were 8ft wide and 7 ft tall. I ordered and had the engineer put in his plans both a 8x8 and 16x8 ft door. Once all the poles were up and cemented in concrete I realized he was WRONG. His doors are 9ft wide and 7 ft tall. That is honestly the only thing I regret with this building. Next time the doors will be at least 9ft and 18' wide. luckily the mirrors on my truck fold!
Anywho, I put a lot of the banding on during the week and had the concrete crew come out. this is the only thing I did not do myself. Finally looking like something!
The concrete truck broke a piece of the driveway but after it dried out it all blends pretty good.
The following weekend, I got a couple buddies over and with the help of them and the usual's (Dad and Gf) we put the trusses up. I don't have any pics as I was riding in the Bobcat bucket holding them as we went up for the first 6. after that we put two ladders on each side and just carried them up ourselves. Again, this took all weekend.
I then noticed a lot of mistakes with the trusses for Peak Truss Builders. I had about 9 trusses missing several plates. Can't make this stuff up people. QA came out and pretty much said sorry while they hit in a bunch of plates. and used all of my tools to do it as they didn't bring anything
.Also, the building is 34ft long the first 20' has a traditional attic truss on a 6/12 pitch giving me over 8ft to the peak on the inside of the attic. The last 14' are Scissor trusses for the lift bay.
Just one truss.
After finishing up all the roof Perlins we started on the metal roof. I got some help with this as those sheets are pretty long. Super easy though and turned out great. I did put a vapor barrier up on each side, just in case because it will be heated and cooled.
Also started on the SmartSide paneling for the exterior wall. this stuff is awesome. It has like a plastic layer that comes already primed. easy to put up and should last a long time! I used this because I wanted to match the house as close as I could.
Good portion of the paneling done.
The inside loft. It is pretty big, about 12x20' of useable space at the lowest it is about 6ft high. The rest of the sides I will use for the AC/Heat system and storage for wood, pipes whatever..
I then put the doors in before filling in the gables as I was tried of having to walk all across the yard to lock all the tools up in the shed. By this time It was starting to get in the 30's so it limited the work we could do. I know it seems like awhile but I had a lot of delays with 84 Lumber, numerous returns for the wrong stuff, plus normally one, two or three people working on it at a time. Also had to wait for various inspections and weather. I did work on it though every day I had off and some days before work for at least a solid 4 months. Now is a good time to mention at the time I worked permanent nights 4 days on 4 days off. With that schedule I would lose weekends for 4 weeks at a time and all my help if I was off during the week.
Building and Trim all painted and up, this took about a week as I had to wait for the warmer days to paint. Also got the soffit done and the rake for the roof.
I then noticed every time it rained water would pool in front of the big door. I rented a concrete saw and got a drain to help. It works pretty good and doesn't look bad at all. The pic is of a mock up, I did cut the drain to fit the angle.
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plus a totally destroyed lawn lol 
