Budget VS. Steps

[Joey-D]

Try to to make this short. Current garage is 17x23 with 11' ceilings. Looking to add on economically. Addition will be 19x20 with either 8' ceilings or 11' ceilings. Current garage floor is sunk by 2' +/-.

Option 1: Raise addition floor. Save money on concrete, excavating, dirt removal, and labor. But will have 3 steps between the levels. This will work towards my ultimate goal of clearing everything out of existing garage for a lift. But it will be three steps to my "workshop" and can only fit one car in at a time.

Option 2: Dig out to match elevations. Actually went to rent a bobcat this morning and failed. They wouldn't take $1140 cash as a deposit. They would only put the $1140 on my credit card and I didn't want to do that. I can put more than one vehicle in the garage at once and have no steps, but a lot more work and a lot more money.

I won't be in this house forever. Probably another 5-10 years. Will they next owner want a raised workshop?

Here are pictures. Let me know what you think. The addition will be jogged back and down for two reasons. One is cost saving from not having to tie into the old siding and shingles and 2 is cosmetics. I have this flat, ugly 1970's addition on a timeless brick colonial. This will liven it up.

 

[Joey-D]

 

[red baron]

My opinion is that it would be more useable/ desirable as one level.

 

[KMR Construction]

Dig that sucker out and pour a foundation wall the same height as the original garage

 

[Joey-D]

Decided the failed attempt to rent a bobcat this morning was a sign, so I have been digging by hand all day for the footings. Going with the raised addition.

 

[metal1313]

they want a credit card because 1400 is alot less than a bobcat is worth. i say hold off and pour the addition level with the existing. id call excavators and see if they can do things quick and cheap

 

[blue dog]

From a resale stand point it makes most since to dig it out and have it as one level, and to use the space in the most effecient way it makes since again to dig it out. Find a local independent bobcat operator with a dump. Ounce you dig it out you have to get rid of the dirt as well. Dont let something like a deposit sway you from building it the way you want. Build on my friend.

 

[DIC]

I agree.........Make it one level..................

 

[TRC51]

Make it one level.

With regard to excavating, I would check craigslist for your local area. There are usually guys in there that have loaders that are willing to work relatively cheap to excavate for you. You are not looking for precision work, just getting the bulk of that dirt out of the way for you. Then you can do the more precise work (near buildings and grading) by hand. Pretty much what I did... somewhat anyway.


I would take the advice of the other members. You are only going to do this once... make sure you are totally happy with it. Regrets on a build like this are tough.

 

[blue dog]

Just checking back in to see what you have come up with. If you can dig it out in my opinion you should match the ridge and roof pitch to the existing. On a side note, if you do dig it out if it you can, add a floor drain for the convenience of cleaning, especially if you live some where that it snows.

 

[Fast Orange]

As tempting as it may be to raise the floor in the addition,it's definately the wrong route to take.
First-running up and down 3 steps when working on a project is going to be a real PIA after a couple of trips-plus how are you going to move heavier,wheeled equipment from 1 shop to the other?
Second,a two level shop is going to hurt you when you try to sell-will probably hurt the sale price instead of adding to it.The buyer for a house with a shop isn't going to want to run up and down stairs all day either.The raised floor is going to look just like what it is-a shortcut taken just to save a few hundred bucks-and would likely cause a buyer to look for other shortcuts in the rest of the house.
As was suggested in an earlier post-find someone to do the excavating as economically as possible-the few hundred bucks you spend now will make working in the shop a much better experience and will add value to the house instead of taking it away.
Another thought-I know money is a major consideration,but a smaller addition tacked onto whay you have is not going to help the "curb appeal' of your house-symetry counts-have you considered increasing the footprint of the addition and making it higher than the current shop?This would also give you more working room,plus give you more cieling height-then put your lift in the new addition-the existing 11' cieling isn't going to let you use the lift at it's full height anyway.Brickface the new shop-change the siding on the existing addition to something more attractive than what's there-and your "curb appeal" goes way up-along with the ease of selling and the sale price.

 

[Joey-D]

Sorry guys, pouring concrete tomorrow. Doing the raised addition. Save money and time. Plus, I can get away with doing this without permits. If I have a track hoe in there digging all this out, I will draw too much attention. After a 2 year battle with the county about a wall being load bearing or not, I told them to have a nice day and am doing this on my own.

 

[mikeyr]

My mother had a stepped garage when I was in high school, it was about 2ft. with some steps, quite a pain in the long run. I had thought it was cool when we moved in as I thought it would be great to have a work area and a car area and it looked good at first with my big tools up and away from the cars paint job but it was miserable to work in, I would go with a level floor.

This is WAY out of date, I should update it someday but here are some pics of my current (and last) garage, you can see how my addition came out its very similar in design to yours, the original garage is 8ft. walls, the new one is 9 1/2ft. walls with scissor joists inside for lift height. http://www.rambour.com/garage/

 

[Joey-D]

What did you do with this circled truss. Obviously the wall that used to support it is gone, did you just leave it like that or retro fit it into a traditional truss design?

 

[mikeyr]

A glue laminated beam went across where the old wall was, did not like it, I would have preferred doing something else but the city inspector required it to hold up the roof once I removed the wall.

I have updated pics that I can post up if you need them showing the beam.

 

[Joey-D]

I was wondering because that is technically not a load bearing wall. The roof supports itself with a truss design. I have to remove my end wall and was wondering if I was was just going to convert it over to a truss or beam it.