Above 1200 Sq/FT Blue Bomber's Garages

BlueBomber · Aug 16, 2017

There's an old joke that a hotrodder ends every discussion about a car with the phrase "... but it could use a little more horsepower." I suspect the same is true with respect to many of us on GJ when it comes to the space in our garages: "...but I could use a few more square feet".

It certainly is in mine. I've been slowly filling my three-car, 25'x36' garage with tools and toolboxes gathered on the cheap from garage and estate sales. Space has been getting tight, and I'm having to work on projects in the gravel parking area in front of the garage. Plus, I really want a lift to speed up routine maintenance and other automotive activities and my current garage just doesn't have enough headroom to use one effectively. More fundamentally, I have more than three cars! I've been wanting a second garage with a high ceiling for a while now.

Well, earlier this year, SWMBO green lighted my plan to build a second garage. Okay, she actually greenlighted paving the gravel parking area. I convinced her that we should also build the second garage now so that the cement trucks don't mess up the brand new asphalt later on down the road. I bought plans online (https://www.behmdesign.com), met with the town building commissioner, updated the property plot plan, got quotes from builders, rejected the quotes as too expensive, and decided to build it myself. I am hiring a foundation guy to do the earth and cement work, but everything else I'll plan to do myself.

On Monday, the town approved my building permit! My foundation guy should be able to start in a week or two. I'll post regular updates here as work progresses, but for now, here are the plans. I'm building it as a 32' x 26' garage with a 13' ceiling.

Can't wait to break ground!

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r_olson_06 · Aug 16, 2017

BlueBomber said:
There's an old joke that a hotrodder ends every discussion about a car with the phrase "... but it could use a little more horsepower." I suspect the same is true with respect to many of us on GJ when it comes to the space in our garages: "...but I could use a few more square feet".

It certainly is in mine. I've been slowly filling my three-car, 25'x36' garage with tools and toolboxes gathered on the cheap from garage and estate sales. Space has been getting tight, and I'm having to work on projects in the gravel parking area in front of the garage. Plus, I really want a lift to speed up routine maintenance and other automotive activities and my current garage just doesn't have enough headroom to use one effectively. More fundamentally, I have more than three cars! I've been wanting a second garage with a high ceiling for a while now.

Well, earlier this year, SWMBO green lighted my plan to build a second garage. Okay, she actually greenlighted paving the gravel parking area. I convinced her that we should also build the second garage now so that the cement trucks don't mess up the brand new asphalt later on down the road. I bought plans online (https://www.behmdesign.com), met with the town building commissioner, updated the property plot plan, got quotes from builders, rejected the quotes as too expensive, and decided to build it myself. I am hiring a foundation guy to do the earth and cement work, but everything else I'll plan to do myself.

On Monday, the town approved my building permit! My foundation guy should be able to start in a week or two. I'll post regular updates here as work progresses, but for now, here are the plans. I'm building it as a 32' x 26' garage with a 13' ceiling.

Can't wait to break ground!

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Think how many DBEs you could put in that garage[emoji3]

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The Tool Tyrant · Aug 16, 2017

Congrats! Should be a fun experience.

Flinter987 · Aug 16, 2017

Looks nice! You'll have your work cut out for you!

sleek98 · Aug 16, 2017

Looks like a good project. Following along.

captain14 · Aug 16, 2017

I'll be following along good the build. How soon can you start after the foundation/concrete work is completed?

I hope you have good weather.

BlueBomber · Aug 16, 2017

Thanks for the well wishes, all. I'll start framing just as soon as I can after the concrete is inspected. Next priority, though, will be the pavement, before it gets too cool to lay asphalt. Ideally, I want it framed, shingled, and Tyvek'd before Christmas. However, SWMBO made it clear she will NOT become a construction widow while the build is ongoing, so some weekend time will be devoted to keeping her in love with me.

And yes, r_olson, muuuuch more room for my DBE rack!

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BlueBomber · Aug 18, 2017

I met with my concrete guy this morning. He's between jobs at the moment, so his crew will be on site to start excavation Monday! He said if it had been a week later, it would have been much later. Sometimes, timing is everything.

Here are the Before pictures of the site for garage #2. You can see rebar stakes with blue flags marking the four corners of the building footprint.

The first shot shows where the front of the garage will go. The foundation will cut back into the embankment so that the garage floor will be about level with the gravel in the middle of the picture.

This is the back right corner, looking out from under the maple tree towards the house.

Back left corner, looking towards the existing garage. I'll have to relocate two blue berry bushes from this corner.

Front left corner, looking back from the apple trees.

I'm excited! I get a good vibe from the owner of the company. Can't wait to see dirt moving!

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MacTexas · Aug 18, 2017

This looke like a project I want to follow.

captain14 · Aug 18, 2017

Does this mean you have to have another set of tools for the second garage when completed?

You know what ever you need will be in the other garage.

BlueBomber · Aug 18, 2017

I almost already do have two sets of hand tools and many power tools. That's the beauty of shopping at estate sales for duplicates.

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Road_runner · Aug 19, 2017

Subscribed! Like MacTexas, looking forward to this one.

BlueBomber · Aug 20, 2017

Tomorrow's the big day so I've prepared the most important aspect of the construction site: moving SWMBO's plants.

The edge of the parking area has been a flower bed since we moved in seven years ago. However, SWMBO has never really been in love with it. So, she spent the summer moving or giving away a bunch of irises and other plants. Today, I moved the last of them, a small patch phlox and two blueberry bushes to spare them from the backhoe's wrath. Everything else got whacked down to ankle level.

We also moved the fleet down to the front of the current garage, out of the way of the crew.

I also spent the afternoon fixing shingles on the roof of the main house. I'm not normally afraid of heights, but loose shingles on a second story, 45-degree angled roof deserves some respect. I broke out the ladder stabilizer that I bought new-in-box at an estate sale over a year ago and put it to good use on a section of extension ladder.

While up there, I learned that the current roof is installed over the previous shingles, and poorly at that. I figure we'll need a new one in another couple of years. Guess I better start saving for that!

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BlueBomber · Aug 20, 2017

Road_runner said:
Subscribed! Like MacTexas, looking forward to this one.

MacTexas said:
This looke like a project I want to follow.

Thanks, fellas! Having an audience to report to is a incentive to make progress and get it done.

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Richard Cranium · Aug 20, 2017

why did you change the plans from 30 feet deep to 26?

BlueBomber · Aug 20, 2017

Richard Cranium said:
why did you change the plans from 30 feet deep to 26?

Richard,

It had to do with the available space between the back property line and the existing barn. Basically, I wanted to be able to come up the driveway and still have plenty of space to swing around and park in the existing garage.

According to the local building code, I can't build within 30 feet of the back fence. That only left me 27 feet to the edge of the parking area. I didn't want to invade the parking area with building structure for the reason stated above, so I set the building depth at 26 feet with a 31-foot setback from the back line. The extra foot of setback is a "safety margin" to make sure there's no accidental code violations.

BlueBomber · Aug 22, 2017

One day late, but the equipment arrived last night. The crew should have the hole dug by the time I get home tonight.

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BlueBomber · Aug 22, 2017

John the backhoe operator and his helper knocked out all of the digging in one day! Well, one 12-hour day-- they just left.

Here's the sight that greeted my when I pulled in.

They had dug out and tamped three sides and were working on the last corner.

Lots of dirt piles--they dug out a good six feet wide for all of the footers.

Here's the back wall. Sorry for the blurry picture.

This is the north-side trench. John's pretty handy with the backhoe--his lines are straight.

Lots of boulders. John said the trench fought him the whole way. He also found old pipes, a trash pile, and all kinds of assorted doodads in the ground. Well, we DO live in an old farm house.

The other side of the dirt pile, as seen from beside the Impala.

Yet another potato comes up out of the ground. Thanks, pre-historic glaciers!

Here you can see the step down the foundation footer will make to keep the footer four feet down, below the frost line.

In the upper left is the laser level they used to keep the bottom of the trench level all the way around.

This is the same view of the site from the apple tree as seen at the beginning of the thread. What a difference a day makes. They'll start laying the forms tomorrow and I'll have foundation walls poured, likely by the weekend!

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captain14 · Aug 22, 2017

Any idea what you are going to do with all the boulders. Quite a collection.

Hope you have dry weather this week .

BlueBomber · Aug 22, 2017

captain14 said:
Any idea what you are going to do with all the boulders. Quite a collection.

Hope you have dry weather this week .

I don't know. I thought about reburying them elsewhere on the property. I also thought about just rolling them back into the forsythia bushes.

We are supposed to have a line of thunderstorms roll thorough tonight. We'll see how the trenches look in the morning.

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Bib Overalls · Aug 23, 2017

Any chance your excavators can haul those rocks off for you. They usually have a place to take stuff like that. There is nothing more useless and ever in the way as a pile of big rocks.

BlueBomber · Aug 23, 2017

Bib Overalls said:
Any chance your excavators can haul those rocks off for you. They usually have a place to take stuff like that. There is nothing more useless and ever in the way as a pile of big rocks.

Good advice. SWMBO thinks some of the bigger ones could be a landscaping feature.

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BlueBomber · Aug 23, 2017

Just happened to be home in the middle of the day, in time to catch the concrete truck finishing the footers. The guys say they'll be here tomorrow setting up the forms, and depending on the inspector, may pour the concrete, too!

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BlueBomber · Aug 23, 2017

Whoops! There was supposed to be a picture of the cement truck in the last post. Here it is:

They did finish the footers today. Nice and beefy, wider than the plans called for, I think.

Tomorrow: forms!

Bib Overalls · Aug 23, 2017

With concrete footers you will never know if you used to much mix but skimping will eventually come back to haunt you.

BlueBomber · Aug 24, 2017

Bib Overalls said:
With concrete footers you will never know if you used to much mix but skimping will eventually come back to haunt you.

No doubt, Bib! I just checked my plans this morning--they call for a 16" wide footer, so I was wrong. The footers they poured yesterday are exactly to spec.

The team is on site already (0700 local) and prepping for the forms. They say they've already ordered the concrete for today, so hopefully I'll have foundation walls tonight!

:rocker:

SteveeP · Aug 24, 2017

Blue...Looks like good progress. What town are you in?
I am in Pepperell.

BlueBomber · Aug 24, 2017

SteveeP: I refrain from posting my specific town on GJ due to my proximity to a major urban area and because the forum is readily Google-searchable. However, I'm not too far from your location. I checked out your garage build -- very nice! Seeing your cupola makes me think about putting one on mine.

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BlueBomber · Aug 24, 2017

Man, these guys work fast. Today, they got the forms set up and the concrete poured. However, I did not find the building inspector's initials on the card. I told them three different times they had to call the inspector before the concrete was poured, so I hope they did and were told to go ahead.

The cement truck was heavy! Looks like my strategy to do this before the asphalt was the right call.

Here's a quasi overhead view from the top of one dirt pile. If you look carefully at the base of the wall, there's a 2x12 bracing the only blow out in the forms. Not really bad, though -- only bulged a few inches.

The top of the walls, however, had some ripples in the finished concrete. I'd rather have flat topped walls to bolt my boards to.

But, the concrete wasn't completely hard yet. So, I got a trowel and shaved off the "wavetops" around the wall. Much flatter now.

The left side wall will have the highest backfill line. It looks like I may need to make a slight reverse slope to keep the water running away from the foundation.

They nailed the door openings exactly--9 ft, 3 inches.

Here's a shot from the opposite side, from atop the tallest dirt pile. How tall, you ask?

Oh, about one story! The backfill process will be interesting. There's a lot of dirt available.

Regarding the rocks, I think John can rebury some of the biggest boulders around the foundation. The rest can definitely get rolled back under the trees and bushes behind the garage.

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BlueBomber · Aug 25, 2017

Forms are off. The crew painted a tar - based sealant on the below grade portions. There are some minor voids in the walls, but of course they are right on the front wall. I'll have the guys fix them when they come back to pour the slab. Overall, I'm happy with the work so far.

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Orange65 · Aug 27, 2017

Always amazed at the amount of concrete that gets buried in foundations in colder climates. I know why it gets buried, it just amazes me. You probably have as much concrete under ground as you will have in the actual top slab.

Good looking start.

BlueBomber · Aug 27, 2017

Orange65 said:
Always amazed at the amount of concrete that gets buried in foundations in colder climates. I know why it gets buried, it just amazes me. You probably have as much concrete under ground as you will have in the actual top slab.

Good looking start.

Thanks. You're right about the amount of concrete needed up here. The frost line is 48" below grade.

BlueBomber · Aug 30, 2017

Okay, after some miscommunication wrt who was supposed to call for the foundation inspection, my foundation guy will call the inspector out today. Fingers crossed that not having the footer signed off before the concrete was poured will be okay. Contractor claims backfill will be same day and prep for slab will be immediate.

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BlueBomber · Aug 30, 2017

Harumph! No sign off on the card....again.

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slamin81 · Aug 31, 2017

Garage is looking good, just wondering yours is 25 feet deep, I'm getting ready to buid a 24x40, are you happer with your 24 ft depth, I know its an odd question, id like to get some insite from others who have a similar depth..

BlueBomber · Aug 31, 2017

slamin81 said:
Garage is looking good, just wondering yours is 25 feet deep, I'm getting ready to buid a 24x40, are you happer with your 24 ft depth, I know its an odd question, id like to get some insite from others who have a similar depth..

Thanks, slamin81.

My existing garage is 25' deep, and seems to work pretty well. I have work benches at the front of each bay, but I still have enough room to move around in front of my car. Where I'd actually would like more room is width. Each bay is 12-ft wide, but I have a bunch of stuff stacked up between the cars, so the effective room is barely enough to open the doors. Of course, that's one of the reasons I'm building the new garage...

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BlueBomber · Sep 1, 2017

Inspection signed yesterday, backhoe on site for backfill! Picture's this afternoon!

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BlueBomber · Sep 1, 2017

As usual, these guys work fast. By the time I got home at 3:45 pm, they had backfilled the foundation, levelled and tamped the slab area, and were preparing to haul the extra dirt to the side yard. They ran out of gravel after the quarry closed, so they'll be back in the morning to finish slab prep.