32 x 24 with a second floor

[willlgord]

I've been planning and building this for the past couple of years and have used this site for ideas and asked advice on a couple of occasions but have never posted any pictures of my progress....so here goes! I'm sort of a jack of all trades and have used the internet extensively to research the best way to do a lot of things.

My plans,

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Luckily it wasn't raining when I was digging! I'd never run a backhoe before, it was fun!

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My footers dug with the 2 x 2 pads poured ready to have the steel columns bolted in.

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Columns set and plumb.

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Footers poured.

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The site ready for concrete. The recessed spot is for a scissors lift.


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My pile of material. The 4 10" 19' steel beams came from a demo yard. I had to splice them to make 3 24 footers. I think I paid $500 for them.

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The concrete crew!

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The pads done!

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Lifting the beams into place using an old pallet rack and a chain hoist. It worked out really well.

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Welding the beams in place.

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My block work, I'd never done this before so I was pathetically slow.

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Starting on the framing.

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Floor joists set in place.

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Framing a gable end.

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The gable end was heavy but I got them up with my sons help.

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Setting rafters.

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My wife cleaning the second floor with a leaf blower.

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It's getting there, I added a shed dormer to make room in the bathroom for shower height.

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Starting the stairs.

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[bazzateer]

Looking good! Is that as far as you've got or are you about to add more?

 

[Flatland Dave]

Nice work!

 

[Need more space]

Looking great!!

 

[Catadj78]

Great build!

 

[rburke65]

Good for you taking on a project like that. Looking good!

 

[Old Moparz]

Looks great.

 

[zkling]

Nice place.

 

[willlgord]

Thanks for the compliments, I've gotten a couple of things done since I took these pictures. The stairs are complete and I've framed the front in for the garage door. I bought a damaged 18x8 door off craigslist and had more to fix than I realized. I'm pretty much done with the repairs, will paint it tomorrow and put it up Saturday ( if I don't get any interruptions).

 

[2loPoPo]

Great build, keep the pics coming.

 

[Rosco]

Love a quality build. Very nice! Whatever you do, do not rush it as we all want to do when the end is in sight.

 

[Rosco]

Quick question, how do you plan to insulate/vent the roof? I have an apartment over my garage in south Georgia and the heat can be a killer. I spent a lot on the insulation/venting and it was worth every penny.

 

[willlgord]

I'm probably not going to tackle the roof insulation for a while but from the research I've done is I think I'd like to use blown in cellulose as it's a much better at preventing air movement/infiltration than fiberglass. I've seen a theory that you can do a dense pack with no air gap under a roof and the air infiltration is so low in dense pack that moisture isn't a problem so there's no need for an air gap. I'm not very comfortable with the thoughts of doing that so I've been thinking I'd like to use foam sheets fitted between the rafters with an inch or so air gap below the roof sheathing using foam blocks as spacers. I would then blow cellulose between the sheetrock and the foam. With 8" rafters I'd get 5 1/2" of insulation and an r value of around 20 according to the chart on this site. http://www.greatdayimprovements.com/insulation-r-value-chart.aspx

 

[willlgord]

I've done repairing my used/cheap Craigslist garage door and am going to paint it tomorrow before putting it up this weekend. I've decided to paint it gray like the siding, I've looked at some pictures on the web with doors matching the siding and I think it looks good with the trim accent....any thoughts or opinions?

 

[300Deluxe]

Very nice! I envy your ability to do the majority of the build yourself. Never thought of using pallet rack to hoist something before. Clever!

Regarding your door, I personally haven't seen doors matching the siding. Sounds interesting. I've typically preferred a different color door for contrast.

Good luck!

 

[Rosco]

I'm probably not going to tackle the roof insulation for a while but from the research I've done is I think I'd like to use blown in cellulose as it's a much better at preventing air movement/infiltration than fiberglass. I've seen a theory that you can do a dense pack with no air gap under a roof and the air infiltration is so low in dense pack that moisture isn't a problem so there's no need for an air gap. I'm not very comfortable with the thoughts of doing that so I've been thinking I'd like to use foam sheets fitted between the rafters with an inch or so air gap below the roof sheathing using foam blocks as spacers. I would then blow cellulose between the sheetrock and the foam. With 8" rafters I'd get 5 1/2" of insulation and an r value of around 20 according to the chart on this site. http://www.greatdayimprovements.com/insulation-r-value-chart.aspx

That is almost exactly what I did. I have 2x8 rafters on 16 centers.

- used 1x2 furring strips and nailed them to the 2x8 using a brad nailer. They are flush to the roof sheathing. From the eave all the way to the small attic space.
- used the 3/4" blue foam board, cut with a razor blade to fit in between the rafters. Used drywall screws with a large washer to mount to the 1x2 strips, again from bottom to top. Screw placement is about every 12 inches.
- used house wrap tape for the seams where material was joined
- used spray foam insulation (in the can) to caulk the corners where the foam board meets the rafter. If you slowly squeeze the trigger and keep the nozzle at a 45* angle it will run a pretty nice bead.
- the insulation contractor then stapled the netting against the rafters and blew cellulose into each cavity. He had to cult slits into the netting about every 4' in order to insert the hose and get a good tight pack while working toward the ceiling.

Make sure the eave vents are open to the cavity behind the foam board, and it looks like you will be using a ridge vent, so the foam board at the pitch should come as close to the top vent as possible.

I spent a lot of time doing this, but you can walk into my apartment on a 100* plus day (black shingles too), and the temp is around 90* or so. Not 130* like an attic. Turn on the mitsubishi mini-split and in 30 minutes the temp is a cool 78*.

Good luck, pm me if you have any questions

 

[Gerald O]

See my build thread in the gallery for my solution to the roof venting problem with 2x8 roof rafters on 16" centers.
My 32 x 24 garage with loft build

I used 1/2" polyiso foam board as a vent baffle material. The foam board is spaced 1" below the roof sheathing with 1" strips cut from the foam board. A sharp utility knife and a straight edge is all that's needed to cut it. The foam board and spacer strips are tacked into place using 1-1/4" crown staples. I used fiberglass insulation, but this venting baffle method can work with any type insulation. The polyiso foam board also has a reflective aluminum face that you position toward the roof sheathing to gain the benefit of a radiant heat barrier. It also has an R-3.6 value. If you are only after R-20 then you could still fit R-19 fiberglass batts into the remaining rafter space for a total of R-22.6.

 

[willlgord]

It's good to see that the plans I have for insulating the roof are viable. It's going to be a while before I get to that with so many things I need to get done, not to mention the fact that progress can be very slow sometimes...I planned on putting the garage door up today.

I painted the panels last night thinking that they would be good and dry this morning but with all the rain we received last night and the 100 percent humidity I think the paint got wetter overnight! Oh well, at least I got the entrance door installed.

 

[blazentrout]

Looking good

 

[bczygan]

I'm curious about the combined wood and steel construction.

Was that to give the capability for lifting things, or to add extra load capability to the second floor?

Or was it to cut the spans,and also the depth of the wood members?

Bill

 

[White Kong]

Nice build sir

 

[captain14]

Good build and very ingenious to use the pallet rack as your lifting point. I sure that was a low price purchase. Considering you got part of the steel from the scrap yard and the garage door off CL.

I think it is good to recycle mistrial if possible.

 

[Mike.ASC]

Nice work . Is this being built from some plans or from your own design ?

Mike

 

[NUTTSGT]

Did you put a filler piece down on top of the I-beams before you laid the floor ?


BTW, I'll move this to the more appropriate Gallery Section, please keep us updated and take plenty of pictures.

 

[BioNerd]

Very nice! Congrats!
Beautiful concrete crew!

 

[willlgord]

I drew up the plans myself and an engineering friend ran them through some program to verify the wind loads and such. The is no filler piece on top of the I beams, the subflooring is only spanning 7 or 8 inches. Lifting the beam with the pallet racking was my sons idea....and his rack. He's a warehouse manager and access to it. The biggest challenge was standing the 19 foot verticals up and holding them in place while we put the cross supports in place (then again, it was just the two of us).

 

[willlgord]

I added the wood to the beams just so I'd have something wooden to fasten to. I'm sure helps with the strength/stiffness too.

 

[wyattoil]

The biggest challenge was standing the 19 foot verticals up and holding them in place while we put the cross supports in place (then again, it was just the two of us).

Impressive!

 

[Rock knocker]

Or was it to cut the spans,and also the depth of the wood members?

That's the most common reason