Crawl Space to Garage...

[robs400]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, Nice to finally think all that work has started to pay off. I sat on the ledge the other night and had a few beers to try and soak in how much the space has changed and what exactly to do with it now.

In response to a few of the comments above...

The space is nominally 30ft. x 36ft I believe, but then you have to subtract off that upper slab. That space is still useable, I can almost stand straight up standing on top of it, and its wide enough that I could park a few bikes up there if I make a ramp.

Why didnt I build another structure on the property? I purchased this house with the intent to finish it and sell it for a profit in a few years. Detached garages are an investment hard to get money back out of unless you find a unique buyer (like one of us). Things changed, and I really like the house and now plan on staying there. A separate garage is a goal down the road (10 years prob). This was something that I figured could give me some designated garage space at a fraction of the cost. I dont have to run 100's of feet of trench and power to it, rather just get it from the other side of the wall. I dont have to run plumbing to it, there is a full bath on the other side of the wall. I didnt have to frame it, or put a roof on it. Its not my dream garage, but will hopefully allow me to work on a few things I have that need to be finished as well as set up some wood working tools to finish the rest of the house.

After getting laid off from my second job I figured if I couldnt make money in the form of a paycheck...I could put my efforts into finishing off some space that would hopefully increase the value of the house down the road.

I was also surprised the area was left as it was with a full depth foundation nearly all the way around it. The house is somewhat new and is really a well built house with a lot of nice materials in it, so it was odd to see this room as it was when I purchased the house. My only thought was ledge....but I did not run in to any, unless its in that back section I never dug out.

I was also looking to shed a few pounds....and probably would have had I not told myself I deserved a cold beer or three after a session of digging.

Pics will probably be slow moving at this point...my wallet needs to recover. I have plenty of "stuff" waiting to fill it tho, so I'll be taking pics as it gets filled up.

 

[muibubbles]

wow now this thats some hard work paying off, looks good!

 

[jeffmoss26]

Great space you have there!!

 

[crazytrain]

Wow, I just saw this for the first time, you did an AWESOME job. I look forward to seeing more pics as it gets finished.

 

[CoconutPete]

Fantastic project! Well done.

 

[KULIWOBBY]

That turned out great. Nice job and work shop.

 

[CNGsaves]

Great job transforming "crawl space" to useable garage space. Your hard work has paid off!

As a kid, my dad did same thing but dug entire basement out from under existing house! Soil was sandy and when it started crumbling near the foundation walls, that was "clue" that ledger walls needed poured! Total of 7 brothers and sisters so we kicked in labor as well. Used auger from basement out through 2 ft by 3 ft basement window to flatbed trailer to haul off the dirt with a tractor.

Curious if you considered radiant heat in floor before you poured the slab? Also, could you have put in giant steel beam and get rid of those steel posts that are obstacles?

Now might consider a combo "window unit" heater/AC that is something like 18,000 Btu that would need 220 volt electric? All it would need is hole in wall and electric run. This would keep space comfortable year-round and maintain separate air space from house (ie don't want fumes/carbon monoxide getting into the house from garage).

Also I'd recommend planning for water running down side of house. Landscaping will hold soil and help direct water. A retaining wall on upside of garage door opening is likely needed. In front of garage door opening, a concrete trench with steel cover w/holes could catch the water that is then routed away from house through buried sch 40 plastic pipe.

Keep us posted. Great job!

 

[ODIS]

That is a great job and a ton of work. Wife and I did a similar project about 23 or 24 years ago and added about 1K sqft to the house. We did most all of the excavation ourselves (oh to be young again). GC did all the work on the footings, columns, walls, floor. Lots of concrete. This shop space has served us very well over the years and once we sell this home, I'm sure we will miss the available storage space. Anyway, with two lifts in there, we could store 7 cars. Been trying to find the progress pictures, but have them stored where no one can find them...... Have a few pictures but do not want to side track your great thread.

Ody.

 

[JimVonBaden]

That turned out great! I wish my crawl space would work for this too!

Jim

 

[robs400]

CNGsaves - I did consider radiant heat...but as I mentioned before, this was a budget build so I tried to be reasonable about how much investment I was willing to put in it. I'm still fairly young, and the cold has not made me bitter yet, so for now if the slab is not warm I can deal with it. I believe once I get the door and window installed and some insulation in the two exterior walls it will be somewhat comfortable in there.

This build cost me more than expected already (thats the usual right?), and to be honest I had invested enough time in it already that I was just ready to get it where its at without doing any more additions to the design.

I probably will not make any move forward with heat/air conditioning this year, as I need to get electric in place over there first. Right now there is only one outlet and one light fixture. I dont know much about it, but since everything is exposed, now is the time to do it and I hope I can do the bulk of it myself with some research.

As far as water/drainage on the side of the house....the yard seems to have good drainage, I have never noticed any small streams or puddles forming over there. I do know a guy that has lots of rocks should I attempt to build a small retainer there. The concrete guy put a slight slope at the door entrance as well so I am hoping that will help keep the water away as well

 

[wadus]

This thread made me think of this.

http://jalopnik.com/5884800/since-1...ng-only-rc-scale+model-construction-equipment

 

[Jwestercamp]

Wow great job! That's dedication. Love those rocks

 

[sanddrag]

The ghost of Seymour Cray is alive in this project.

I don't understand the connection here. Explain?

 

[jonahbones]

great job good to see a bit of manual labour !
I have always enjoyed digging great exercise and free endorphine high to boot
watched some plumbers the other day trying to do a small job in rock they only had a small spade in the truck.
Us diggers are better equipped mattock, rock pick light and heavy, long handled shovel, long handled spade, crowbars

Enjoy the new workshop and the satisfaction of having done it yourself

 

[Falcon67]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Falcon67
The ghost of Seymour Cray is alive in this project.

I don't understand the connection here. Explain?

Seymour Roger Cray (September 28, 1925[1] – October 5, 1996[2]) was an American electrical engineer and supercomputer architect who designed a series of computers that were the fastest in the world for decades, and founded Cray Research which would build many of these machines.

Beyond the design of computers Cray led a "streamlined life". He avoided publicity and there are a number of unusual tales about his life away from work (termed "Rollwagenisms", from then-CEO of Cray Research, John A. Rollwagen). He enjoyed skiiing, wind surfing, tennis and other sports. Another favorite pastime was digging a tunnel under his home; he attributed the secret of his success to "visits by elveshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elf" while he worked in the tunnel: "While I'm digging in the tunnel, the elves will often come to me with solutions to my problem."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Cray#cite_note-pcw-elves-10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Cray#cite_note-time-elves-11

 

[robs400]

Nothing too exciting as far as updates, but I think i can officially call it a garage as the guys stopped over last friday to install the garage door. Still no driveway to get over to the garage door, but hey - its progress. The man door is now hung permanently that connects the basement as well.

I was hoping to start doing some projects in there this winter, but with only one outlet in there and one small light fixture I think it would be more of a pain than its worth. Trying to learn how to install trim on...well everything in the house - ha. The space would be nice to cut and rip the boards etc, but its not going to happen anytime soon.

My next step is to have a sub panel installed for this area and then hopefully run the wire and install the outlets myself. Other than installing lots of outlets, any other pointers you guys might have to offer? I also have to figure out where to run the wires for lighting above, because as of right now there is not any.

 

[Kevin54]

Robs....if your buddies work for beer, send those guys my way and I'll keep 'em stocked up. When I mention work around here, half the damn town scatters. It keeps my wife in shape though.

You did a hell of a job on that, no matter how long it took. It's something to look back on and tell people that it was dug by hand. And here I only thought it was the crazy old guys I know that did that stuff.

Way to go. It looks great

 

[Threadkiller]

Wow lots of hard work there, I give you much credit for even thinking of tackling a project like that, let alone finishing it with a great final product! Nice work!

 

[robs400]

Thanks guys. Kevin - maybe its the type of beer your supplying that's the problem....Nah that can't be it....my buddies drank whatever I picked out....heck, they even brought the beer a few times. Good friends are hard to come by, and much appreciated...I'm lucky to have a couple of them.

Today was the first day I noticed that the new door does not match the color of the existing doors. I thought the company was going to try and match the existing two doors on the front, since when they stopped by initially they wanted to look at them. Its not an end of the world thing since they are on different faces of the house, but when pulling up the driveway you can see each door and that they do not match. I have a call in with them, but not sure if it will go anywhere.

 

[reallyrotten]

holy cow, nice work!

 

[hidollartoys]

"EXCELLENT" and WELL executed. No doubt you have added value to your home.

Seems like the projects start with "all we have to do is"... and transpire into "O MY GOD, WHAT HAVE I GOT MYSELF INTO." Great work and perserverance. You should be very proud.

 

[madosta]

LOL. Wow. Lots of work. This is both crazy and awesome.

I don't know what it is about guys wanting their own space?

 

[Bluegiller_killer]

Dude you should pay yourself on the back that's one hell of a good job and a buttload of hard work.. I'm impressed

 

[my58]

My next step is to have a sub panel installed for this area and then hopefully run the wire and install the outlets myself. Other than installing lots of outlets, any other pointers you guys might have to offer? I also have to figure out where to run the wires for lighting above, because as of right now there is not any.

Wow, just awesome. It is so nice to see young guys with great work ethics.

Everytime I think this country is going to hell, I see someone like you and it gives me hope.

When you are ready to start your electrical projects, just post any questions you have, I am sure all of us on here can walk you through almost anything!

 

[sparky7]

My friends grandfather did the same thing about 30 years ago, he had a crawlspace for a basement and he dug it out by hand to a 10 foot ceiling, i believe he actually supported the house with cinder blocks as he went because he had to build a new foundation when he was all the way down. The comment about the guy who had his house collapse reminded me of him lol

 

[robs400]

Yikes....its been nearly a year since I last posted in this thread. Progress has been slow unfortunately so I have not had any interesting pictures to post up. My efforts around the house this past year have primarily been trim work and painting the exterior of the house.

I was able to barter with a friend of mine who is an electrician that does very clean work. He put in a sub panel to power this new are and ran three different rows of lighting each on a separate switch. He also set up a separate switch/light for the proposed bench area.









New Panel on the shared wall with the other side of the basement


Last weekend I ran another string of outlets up closer to the ceiling. THe plan for these is that they are on a separate switch that I can hopefully run some neon and decorative type lights/signs that I have. This way I wont have lead cords running down the wall everywhere.

For right now the light fixtures are all just cheap used ones...I'll hopefulyl swap them out for something nicer once the sheetrock gets put up.

 

[robs400]

I need to get this fan hooked back up and then I can start insulating the walls, that wont take too long as there are really only two studded walls in the room.



I'm planning on putting a "T" PVC fitting directly below the fan so that I have the option to pull air from under the slab or remove some from the room itself should I ever want that option.

I am planning on moving and resizing all the duct work as well. Currently there is waaaaay too much flex, and its not tight to the walls or ceiling. I'm hoping to get it up along the ceiling and run it between the floor joists on the ceiling wherever possible. One corner of the room currently has plumbing drainage hanging below the floor joists....I'm not sure how detailed I will get in boxing out the plumbing. From there I will get the strapping up and hopefully start the sheetrock - This winter I'm hoping.

Since I dont have any other exciting updates for the garage itself...maybe I can get away with posting up my new addition to the garage. A Craftsman toolbox that I feel I got a pretty good deal on.







This is the box that was advertised here on the main page for a number of days/weeks. I went back and forth debating on if I should spend the money or not. Before I knew it the sale seemed to have disappeared from the website...so I told myself it just wasnt meant to be.

Flash forward a week or two and my Mom had called me from Sears, by pure chance asking if I had any christmas ideas for myself. I dont live close to a mall, so I had asked her and my Dad to see if the boxes were on sale in-store. I wasnt expecting them to buy it for me I was just more or less curious - but my mom called me back just a few moments later and said - you are not going to believe this. The box was labeled incorrectly in the store. They offered the top and bottom chest for the price of just the bottom box - $460. They had to purchase it right at that moment tho, they couldnt leave and come back. My Mom said dont worry about the money, we will bring the box home and that I could square up with them when I went home for the holidays. So for 460 bucks I ended up with what I feel is a toolbox that will serve my needs for many years to come!

The pics do not do it justice. Seems like a very nice unit and the grip latch drawers are a nice setup.

 

[fury9]

Looks like a shop to me! Well done, Thanks for the update

 

[metalhead140]

Wow, now that's got some sweat equity in it! Well done.

 

[GrandmaSideways]

Insane. Great work, and awesome score on the toolbox!

 

[Bib Overalls]

Great job. Very impressed with it all.

 

[Chad G]

very nice build on what most people would consider useless space. I've got that same craftsman box but the older version, without the griplatch. Im an auto tech by trade at a toyota dealership and that box held up for 5 years of HEAVY professional use. I finally outgrew it last summer and I was able to bring it home. Its still near perfect and I'll never get rid of it.

 

[Tyberius]

I am planning on moving and resizing all the duct work as well. Currently there is waaaaay too much flex, and its not tight to the walls or ceiling. I'm hoping to get it up along the ceiling and run it between the floor joists on the ceiling wherever possible. One corner of the room currently has plumbing drainage hanging below the floor joists....I'm not sure how detailed I will get in boxing out the plumbing. From there I will get the strapping up and hopefully start the sheetrock - This winter I'm hoping.

It looks like you could move that main trunk to the step-wall ceiling and keep pretty much everything else to the main beam and in the joists.

 

[Kevin54]

After all of that work digging it out.....a year without updates is a good vacation time off from working on it. BUT now that you posted an update, you need to get back to work on it.

One thing I would do if it were my space....shitcan the flex duct and go with rigid metal duct.. You can also cut in a couple of register openings to add some heat into your area. With the rigid duct, you will get better heat upstairs as you won't have all of the droops slowing your air movement. And you don't have that many runs as to where it would really beat up your wallet.

Nice to see you back and update though, and the offer still stands on filling your bud's with suds, if you can get them shipped over to me.

 

[PCO6]

robs400 - Thanks for bringing this up again. I love your determination! That's a great space that you've created.

 

[robs400]

Hello all - it has been a few years - wow.

Digging this thread back up as I am getting "close" to figuring out what to do with the floor. Apparently photobucket has also changed their requirements and I lost all the pics that were hosted through them before as well.

The space has been great over the past few years. Even though its not heated, it now has basic electrical run as well as basic lights, so it has been usable for some projects I have been working on to help finish the inside of the house. This past summer I finally was able to get the HVAC situation improved to get rid of all the flex and tuck it up closer to the ceiling so that I can start to proceed with strapping the ceiling and installing sheet rock etc.

I am hoping I can get some input here on the forum as to whether I should work on the sheetrock/mud first, or epoxy the floor first? Realistically I do not think I will have the time this fall to attempt the floor as temps are already starting to dip here in New England. Below are some items that I am hoping the forum can help give me some input on.

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1. The house is built into a hill. Therefore part of this room has concrete walls that are in contact with the earth on the outside. In the picture above, the wall to the left is a dividing wall down the center of the house. Although its concrete about half way up, the other side of the wall is heated/conditioned space in a well seal/tight basement area. The main wall I am concerned about is the wall towards the back in the picture. Should i be building out a studded wall and insulating it with vapor barrier before sheet rocking? This will not be a conditioned space any time in the near future, but in the summer months with the door open moisture does condensate a little on the concrete.

2. There is a seam/small gap around the entire floor and the wall it mates against. I plan on doing some type of floor grinding, which I will then have to wash at some point in the process too. My concern is it I leave that seam unsealed around the edge, water will migrate in and take a very long time to get out. I put down a high performance vapor barrier under the slab, so if water finds its way down in that seam, its going to take a long time to get back out I would think? Should I seal that somehow?

3. I know there is a floor section - but I figured I might try here first since I already had a thread going. I have 2 cracks in the entire floor so far. They happened within the first few weeks. Nothing major, but again, I'd imagine those need to be addressed before final coating. Any pointers/products?

4. Last - for now. The floor is clean. I have made a point to make sure no oil has been in contact with the floor. The space has really only seen sawdust over the years. The surface is very smooth. After doing a little research it looks like home depot offers a rental floor "polisher" that is available with two types of concrete prep pads. Does anyone have any feedback on it?

Looking forward to the feedback - hopefully this forum is still full of people with lots of information. Thank you.

 

[Higgins]

To bad your not closer, as I have a small 443 Bobcat that is great for doing that type of work. Would be done in a day or two depending on how much you had to remove. My next project is to dig out under a deck. Should be a fun project!

 

[M-technik-3]

Glad you have made progress it's been 6 years, yipes alot happens in that time frame.

 

[lpsfu48]

Progress pics will be slow unfortunately...the ones you see above were over the course of two years.

I know rocks go for good money, but transporting them is a hassle. I have the idea in my head that I will learn how to make decent rock walls and use them in various locations around the yard/house.

I need to do some more digging to relocate and pour a new footing for the last column as well as for a footing on that back half wall/retaining wall. Unfortunately my back is messed up at the moment and it is directly impacting the progress of this project.

Your pics indicate you are doing a great job. You may try to bury your rocks when you have gone as deep as you want to.

 

[andyvh1959]

Great project and space you've claimed for yourself. Now that all the digging and rock-out work is done, you'll have to figure out a new weight control program?

A detached garage is a neat idea for a shop. But what you have is really desirable as part of the house, but still segregated. I actually like the raised area for motorcycle storage. Must be nice to just walk into the shop from the house, also to have a bathroom close by. Heat wise, after it's insulated, how about one or two of those wall mounted heat/AC units? Since you already have two walls against heated zones it may be enough to make it comfortable with some wall units.

Seems like that area outside the OH door to the right would be a natural area to use the rocks and build an attractive retaining wall, and you get to move the rocks again and continue the weight control program. Maybe set the rock wall starting from the outside wall about near the window and then out, then eventually pour a concrete pad out there or lay pavers, and you'll have an area to enjoy a shop garage patio, park the bikes outside. fire pit, all sorts of shop extension ideas.