Budget Dream Garage

[323Eng]

I had originally posted some of this in the Welcome section, and it looks like it's more appropriate here.


A few months ago we moved into a new place here in Ohio that has a building out back that I want to turn into my version of a dream shop.

The building is 24x48 enclosed with a 16x24 covered parking area next to it, basically an empty shell with a man door and garage door.

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My plan is to divide the main building into 3 sections, one as a barn for my daughter to keep her goat and cat food and supplies, one primarily for woodworking, and the section with the garage door for 'greasy' jobs like car repair, welding and metal work.

I have been playing around with how to lay it out, and this is what I have decided upon.

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The wood shop and metal shop areas will both be insulated, and the natural gas heater will be in the wood shop. I want the separation to keep dust contained and so I only need to heat part of the shop if I am woodworking. After much deliberation, I settled on a 6' wide pocket door between the 2 and can use fans to move the heat around as needed. The pocket door will allow me to not waste any wall space or account for door swinging space.

Here is a dollhouse view of the plan with some of the bigger tools and equipment in place:

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Since the building is constructed as a pole barn, there are posts every 8 feet around the perimeter, with horizontal girts supporting the plywood siding. I looked at a bunch of ways to insulate, and I chose to frame a new wall with 2x4's flush with the inside of the posts. This will give me ~6" of depth for fiberglass batts and the resulting wall will be smooth, with no posts to interrupt it.

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This wall section has framing for a window. I found 2 of these windows in the loft area left behind by the previous owner, and they appear to be sort of a double awning setup. The size is just right and they look nicely made, so I'll use them on the wall facing the house.

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Once they and the door to the barn are added, the front face should look something like this:

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[323Eng]

The other night I got one more wall section framed, and I framed a little wall above the existing loft area. The loft itself will be part of the barn section, for storing hay for the goats.

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The kittens don't seem to mind the noise I'm making. Anyone in the Akron, OH area looking for a free kitten?

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Now for an issue I'm facing. The original builders evidently did not back fill around the shop properly, and the back section, mostly what will be the barn, has cracked and settled a bit.

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The crack runs approximately where the red line is sketched in here.

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The guy we bought the house from tried to help by filling around the shop better, and the slab is not in any danger of moving further at the moment. There does not appear to be any steel reinforcement in the slab.

In an effort to see if I could lift the slab, a few weeks ago I dug at two spots along the back and jacked it up with bottle jacks. The goats enjoyed sticking their noses into everything I was trying to do that day, sometimes right on top of me!

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So the question is, what do I do? I was able to raise the slab in the spots where I jacked it, but it looks like it just opened another crack nearby. I don't really care that the floor is not perfect, but I also want it to be smooth.

Do I try jacking it up evenly across the back, by putting a 'beam' under the slab and lifting with 3 bottle jacks spaced apart? How would I then support it?

We are planning to dig a pool in the backyard next spring, so will have plenty of fill to make sure the building is properly back filled and graded then.

 

[323Eng]

Someone suggested getting a quote from one of those mudjacking companies, so I have requested one. If I have it calculated right, it would be about $450 in concrete to pour a new slab, so I'll see how much cost difference there is to having it raised.

I also got the windows framed in over the weekend. What a difference more light makes inside, even in the gray November weather we've been having.

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Still can't get over the old pink paint on the plywood.

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I have never seen windows that work this way, but the look like they will seal nicely and will let a lot of air through for summer breezes. I have screens for them, but not sure I'm going to bother putting them in just to collect the dust.

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[wasfast]

Regarding the slab, the main question is has it stabilized or is it still moving? How much has it settled?
If stable and not a large amount of height change, fill the crack and use self leveling concrete for a skim coat. Mudjacking might be more than replacing the slab.

 

[323Eng]

Regarding the slab, the main question is has it stabilized or is it still moving? How much has it settled?
If stable and not a large amount of height change, fill the crack and use self leveling concrete for a skim coat. Mudjacking might be more than replacing the slab.

I would say it has settled about 3" at the farthest end, and it is stable now. Whatever I do I will make sure it is properly back filled so future settling will not be an issue.

What is the max thickness recommended for self leveling concrete?

 

[wasfast]

Custom Products LevelQuick RS is 1.5" max per pour. Multiple applications are allowable per their instructions:

https://www.custombuildingproducts.com/TDS/TDS-108.pdf

This is a rapid setting (RS); there is also an extended setting version (ES). Most all of CBP's products are a "hot mud" type of material that is fast setting. If you are considering this solution, I'd call them.

I'd consider the 3" drop a considerable amount. Whether you want to re-pour the slab is a budget and quality level choice.

 

[HOTFR8]

Great to see you have started this topic. I will be following your progress here now.

 

[papp101]

I grew up in Cuyahoga Falls, good to see a hometown build. Now I'm in Minneapolis, and will follow along from up here. Looking good!

Sent from my Pixel 2 using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Wanna Ride]

Are there any concrete contractors in your area, that specialize in this type of work? Sometimes you can get them to come in and do their thing, after you’ve raised the area that was sinking. The situations I’ve seen in our are, were surprisingly affordable. Seems like the bulk of cost was raising the corrected area and it sounds like you’ve addressed that. They come in and pump concrete under the corrected area.

Just a thought.

 

[323Eng]

SO I got a quote for lifting the slab with foam - $1,500 for setup and the first 100 lbs, then $13/lb for the rest of the foam used. Estimating it's going to take 150 lbs, so I'm looking at around $2,150 to do the job.

I'm thinking I will just jackhammer the old out of there and replace the concrete. If I do the hammering and my brother in laws help me pour, it should be around $450.

 

[cgall]

I got my driveway lifted for about $400, hasn't sunk any since 2006.

 

[323Eng]

Some good progress last weekend! My dad, a mechanic for close to 50 years, is one of those guys who can do anything. He was out from Connecticut for a couple of days and helped me install the door into the barn section:

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I'm itching to get the siding back on and cover that awful pink paint!

With the outside barn door installed, it made the planned door between the 2 sections more of a nuisance than anything, so we eliminated it and framed the rest of the wall between the sections.

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As a bonus, I had already bought that door and was able to return it for a $145 credit.

As for the crack in the slab, I have decided to do...... nothing. At least for now.
The slab is not going anywhere and the slope is not big enough to be concerned with. When I get the walls and ceiling done, I will probably rent a diamond bladed grinder to smooth it out to keep from tripping on it.

As an aside, sorry for the picture quality. My phone somehow acquired moisture in the lens area and it makes everything look foggy. Not really worth replacing the phone for that when everything else works fine.

 

[323Eng]

As tends to happen to my projects, not much progress on the garage over the holidays. One reason is because I had to fix the Miata. The car has plenty of cosmetic issues, but I do like to keep it in good mechanical fettle so I can drive it without worrying.

Well, a few weeks ago, without much warning, the rear brakes started grinding - clearly time to replace the pads! I had a set, so I jacked up the car, pulled the wheels, and proceeded to discover that both calipers are frozen...

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So I had to order replacement calipers and wait for another opportunity to finish the job. I finally got to it last week, and now I am wishing I had replaced the rotors while I was in there, because there is definitely a wobble. I wonder if I will ever learn?

On the shop, I took advantage of the mild (by January in Ohio standards) weather last Saturday to nearly finish patching the siding back on around the new doors and windows. I had only one piece left to do when I had to stop, but maybe I can get to it today.

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Now it needs a bath! Rain is predicted for tomorrow, so maybe nature will wash away the dust and dirt that accumulated while the siding was waiting to be reinstalled.

 

[LXCam]

The place is coming along nicely, that siding really made a huge difference. As for the slab, I'd bust it out and replace it. As you found out the other solutions aren't cost effective. I know you decided to hold off but I'll offer this $.02. Animal urine is damn near impossible to get gone once it saturates the concrete. Replacing that slab and then a few liberal doses of densifier / sealer will substantially mitigate that issue and it'll be easy to keep that part clean with the occasional hose down.

Anyway I'm looking forwards to the finished product as I like the layout keeping the wood and metal area separate but still provide access. Good luck.

 

[323Eng]

So it's been a long time since I made progress on the garage, but with good reason, I think. We had another project last year:

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It was a kit from poolwarehouse, and with a lot of help from my friends, and a couple of brothers-in-law that know how to use a excavator. It was a ton of work, but we wouldn't have been able to do it if we'd had to hire it out.

 

[323Eng]

There's still a lot of landscape work to be done around the pool, but while the cold weather is in town, I'm finally making progress on the shop again this week.

The first step was to finish the ceiling framing to transfer any additional weight that the ceiling will add over to the 2 walls rather than over-stressing the bottom of the trusses. The new framing is 20' long 2x8's, and I attached the trusses with joist hangers.

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I ran some rough electrical through a couple of the walls so I can start on the insulation.

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The walls are going to be finished with paneling above counter height, and OSB below. The paneling wasn't my first choice because it is relatively flimsy, but I was walking through the local HD one night just before closing and I saw a pile of it with a corner damaged and some purple spray paint. It turns out it was like 70% off, so I bought the stack of ~28 sheets for about $60.

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I'm satisfied with how the first wall came out. Much like drywall, if I want to hang anything on the wall, I will have to attach to the studs. But at least, unlike drywall, I will not have to paint it. I do plan to paint the OSB at some point.

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[323Eng]

After getting the first wall done, I was getting frustrated with the chaos of having all of my stuff piled into the middle of the space, so I threw together a simple, tough work bench out of scrap lumber and a cast-off solid core oak door from a school. Not fancy, but stable and solid. We'll see where it ends up when I get the shop "finished".

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That's probably all the progress for a while, since it's back to work on Monday.

 

[iced98lx]

Looking good. I feel you on the "start/stop" of progress!

Does the whole pool end up with a poured bottom or is it lined? Not sure I can make hte mental leap from the last dry photo to the filled photo.

 

[323Eng]

The bottom of the pool got a layer of sand & cement mixture troweled on, about 2" deep.

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Then it has a vinyl liner snapped in around the edges. My grandparents had a pool build like this in the mid 60's, and it's still in decent shape, so hopefully this turns out good for the long haul.

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[ambenz]

Nice digs...like the idea the original owner had the hindsight to extend the roof of the garage to allow more covered space for future expansion. The pool is kind in interesting too but a bit of a luxury...close enough to the garage where you could just jump in if you ever get overheated working in the garage.

 

[wout]

Nice progress on the garage and wow such a big pool! Well done.
Is the pool heated?

Wout

 

[iced98lx]

Interesting design, easy enough to snap in a new liner if you have an issue vs chasing cracks in cement..

 

[323Eng]

Nice progress on the garage and wow such a big pool! Well done.
Is the pool heated?

Yes, the pool is heated. We have natural gas to the house, so it wasn't that hard to add, and it gave me the excuse/opportunity to run gas to the shop as well.

It's about as big as the kits come, and it really wasn't much more for a large pool than a small one. When the family comes over, though, we do a decent job of filling it...

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[wout]

Oh wow, impresive! Isn't it expensive to heat it with gas?

Wout

 

[323Eng]

Oh wow, impressive! Isn't it expensive to heat it with gas?

Surprisingly lower cost than I thought. What we did last summer was just to boost the temp at the beginning of the season and then keep it warm at the end. It helps to have the cover, but to keep it at 80 deg F or above from Memorial day through mid Sept, it cost about $80 in gas. Well worth it.

Since I now have a gas line to the shop, I bought one of these and am working to get it connected. They seem to be listed for $599, but I got it for $425 on sale

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In the meantime, I'm using an old kerosene powered "salamander" heater that my dad gave me. It works pretty good to keep the area bearable.

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[Roundhouse]

dont know if you have addressed the crack yet, but if you use a grinder to knock down the sharp edge, you will need to use water to prevent dust, which will make a slurry, do NOT get this slurry on your skin. it will chemically burn your skin, bad. but you wont feel it until its too late to stop the damage.

get some kneepads, and wear a disposable waterproof tyvek suit over your clothes and kneepads, put some trashbags over your boots, and wear a good mask.

get a helper with a wetvac to spray the water, ( a pump up garden sprayer works fine) and to help vacuum up the slurry