LutzTD
Well-known member
are your contractors from out of county or far away? sometimes they seem to work to protect their own.
Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT Eric's Tucson Garage Project
- Thread starter Eric W11
- Start date
Workspaces between 705 and 1200 squarefeet.
That's a good call. My shop is built at the apex of a dirt circle driveway. I got one of those cheap magnets on wheels (harbor freight) and dragged it around during and after construction, and came up with all sorts of nails/screws/staples
SilverJimmy
Well-known member
When we built our house/shop here in Coconino County we had an inspector who would look at something and say he was “ok with that”! I finally confronted him and asked him if it was to code or not! WTF is “ok with that”?! He finally got reassigned and didn’t come to my house anymore. Your shop looks great, this will all be a distant memory soon!
dooger54
Member
Wow. I’m just get started building my garag/shop space up here in Oro Valley area. Hope mine doesn’t take so long 
. Contractor says 2-3 months.
. Contractor says 2-3 months.dooger54
Member
Eric-
Might have missed since I just now saw your thread - but what did you do for cooling? I’m probably going to do a mini-split system.
Might have missed since I just now saw your thread - but what did you do for cooling? I’m probably going to do a mini-split system.
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Check out the hybrid mini-split in my project thread. I really like the way it distributes the air around the shop.
Nice thread & projects! As you noted multiple times about supply chain, having to go to 3 stores to still not find what you needed, etc. I got whatever mini-split our AC guy found in stock, and we trust he isn't buying junk. It was an increment larger (and more $) than what's strictly needed, but it's at his place now.
Did complete the final inspection yesterday. I thought there was another inspection between roof and final (drywall), but maybe they just agreed there had been enough trips out here, or maybe drywall inspection isn't strictly required for an unoccupied storage building. Anyway, the permit is closed out.
Contractor held really well to the overall cost. Given everything else this year, and how long this took, I thought there might be some cost increases. He's passing thru cost for some additions/changes I made with the electrician, as well as a minor up-charge from the concrete supplier for "extra area" to connect the entrance ramp to the existing driveway. In the big picture, I think the cost growth could have been more for a deal made about 8 months ago.
Added the wall lights that go with the garage door openers. These are LED and wireless connection to the wall switch and opener. They have a motion sensor at the wall switch, but I turned that off. Also hung some speakers on the wall, powered by a little amp in the window. It's got an FM receiver, but I'm mostly using it with bluetooth to my phone to stream XM.
Adding the mini-split. Day 1 - bracket on wall, hole through wall, outside unit on the pad.
Day 2 - power / control cable attached to inside unit, inside unit on the wall, cable run thru the hole. Installer brought the wrong size fitting for the lines, so back again tomorrow.
Day 2 - power / control cable attached to inside unit, inside unit on the wall, cable run thru the hole. Installer brought the wrong size fitting for the lines, so back again tomorrow.
Awesome build. It's soo hard to find property around here to do this to. You paid a pretty penny for that one. Hopefully I can join the garage build club in the next year or so. Waiting the market out right now.
Friend of mine built an oversize 3 car (5 or 6) garage about 2 years ago up off the Tanque Verde highway. Curious as to what this garage ran you vs what he paid up in that area.
Friend of mine built an oversize 3 car (5 or 6) garage about 2 years ago up off the Tanque Verde highway. Curious as to what this garage ran you vs what he paid up in that area.
Nah....it means people actually got more work done, instead of the county inspectors jacking everyone around, like they did to Eric.
Why would Oro Valley/ Marana cost more per foot than the Tanque Verde valley? At least from the construction costs perspective? I'm thinking that they'd be essentially the same?
Thanks!
@diernosaj - I think cost would be comparable. My GC has jobs in Green Valley and lives in Picture Rocks, so he'd just stop by my place on the way to/from the other jobs. The different subs would work wherever the GC needs them, so cost will depend a lot more on how much site prep is needed and the completeness of the build. This project is built just like a house less the plumbing, baseboards, and flooring. I was fortunate that this lot was filled to level, so site prep was minimal.
Your question made me think about the other places we looked at (and made some offers on) before getting here. There was one with a good-sized lot, but it was fairly steep. Would have been a lot of excavation to make a site for this building. There was another one with two quonset huts already in place, but it faced the wrong way - west-facing back yard, so the good-sized back patio would have been impossible to use in the afternoon, and blazing hot well into the night. Massive shop/storage space, but the house was older with multiple add-ons and re-configurations. We looked at quite a few others in an area of maybe 6-7 square miles around here. There was another one that was a fairly new-build house, already had a huge PV solar system, 4-car garage on the house, with another 4-car garage behind it. Even faced the right way, with a NE facing back yard, but it was the next to last house on a winding private (gated) road. We seriously thought about that one due to the features, but the drive in/out of the neighborhood would get old, and the septic crossed the backyard, so a pool would have been around the side of the house out of sight or not possible at all.
The site here took some doing to figure out where the building could go, and I think it worked out pretty well. I try to avoid un-doing existing features and work, because it's cost to un-do then re-do something that already works, and you can uncover more problems un-doing something that was working. In this case, it was the septic system. I could have had that dug up and moved around some just to make this building a little bigger. The main thing un-done here was the wall between the front & back yards, and a hot tub pad that we didn't want anyway (both things that would not require extensive re-building). All the power for this building uses the circuit that was on that side of the house for a hot tub. I avoided who knows how much $ by keeping the septic where it was and saved more by using the power line that had already been routed from one side of the house to the other for the hot tub.
That's stuff that I worked out. Beyond that, I'd recommend getting an architect to draw up the plans. A couple things came out of that - you have a document that contractors can quote to. Rather than a staked-out rectangle on the ground and some hand-waving, give them that package and they go off and calculate exactly how much things will cost. The electrical can be (mostly) figured out. I say mostly because I made a couple of late changes in this area. The architect also came up with just a little bit of style features to let the building fit in with the house a little more, rather than just be a big box. She also researched the property line set-back and height limit, and these plans then gave the structural guy and the roof truss company what they needed to do their parts.
Added the vinyl cove base. Needed to do this now, before I move over a storage/workbench that doesn't have wheels, and the bandsaw, which also will stay in one place. Pretty easy ~3 hours total. Looked at their hint on how to cut the corners - one side is just straight cut and goes all the way into the corner, then the other piece gets a little bit of the bottom foot cut at an angle. Not perfect, but I'm not going to bother with sealing the corners with their caulking product.
This piece went into the doorway a little - not difficult to trim it after it was in place:
This piece went into the doorway a little - not difficult to trim it after it was in place:
Boostingaz
Well-known member
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Place is looking great, Eric. 
Hi Eric.
Very nice. It will serve you well. We have a part-time patio home in the Dove Mountain area. Barely a two car garage. I’d like to build a house there in the next year or two. It will definitely have a shop. Small machine shop, auto lift and general maintenance…not really sure at this point. I need to retire first. Most of the tools, machines are on rollers. I promised my wife she will always be able to park her car in the garage. So, I roll everything into the corner and reverse for my Sunday workshop activities.
Just curious, what do you do for work?
Regards,
Bill
Very nice. It will serve you well. We have a part-time patio home in the Dove Mountain area. Barely a two car garage. I’d like to build a house there in the next year or two. It will definitely have a shop. Small machine shop, auto lift and general maintenance…not really sure at this point. I need to retire first. Most of the tools, machines are on rollers. I promised my wife she will always be able to park her car in the garage. So, I roll everything into the corner and reverse for my Sunday workshop activities.
Just curious, what do you do for work?
Regards,
Bill
Kasal
Well-known member
Nice garage, I see you have good taste in cars. I love the first generation MX5s, they are one of my favorite cars, especially in that color. a greeting
@Boostingaz - hasn't been need for the AC so far, but test run it was quiet and seemed powerful. I have it set on heat with temp as low as it will go (61F) - should start to see it run a little heat at night.
@911TES - I'm a mechanical engineer by education, but that's evolved to planning and tracking schedules and budgets where others on the team have the fun of working with the hardware. I should add links to the other forum where I've documented my car restoration / rebuild projects.
@911TES - I'm a mechanical engineer by education, but that's evolved to planning and tracking schedules and budgets where others on the team have the fun of working with the hardware. I should add links to the other forum where I've documented my car restoration / rebuild projects.
rattle_snake
Well-known member
Ah it all makes sense now
Perhaps a head injury from falling down flight of stairs made you to succumb to management?
I'm also but a different flavor, and after botched lobotomy I have a team of Dilberts.
Please do
Sifan
Well-known member
"team of Dilberts."
Update - mostly moved in now. Hung up the license plate collection. These are all either ones we drove/owned or were on something when I got it. Looking at it now, I did mess up and let at least 2 that I sold ship off with my plates still on them, and I didn't start saving plates until 2005. My wife had several from earlier than that. The copper AZ historic plates are solid copper.
Also adding some shelves. The cost for metal shelving has gone out of sight, so I found this plan for wood shelves online somewhere and modified it. They called for 30" deep shelves, which is the depth of the large black plastic bins, but if those are on the top shelf, it doesn't matter if they overhang. Nearly all of the bins I have now are 24" or less, and 24" makes more efficient use of the sheet stock that is the shelf surface. Just got the frames done so far.
Also adding some shelves. The cost for metal shelving has gone out of sight, so I found this plan for wood shelves online somewhere and modified it. They called for 30" deep shelves, which is the depth of the large black plastic bins, but if those are on the top shelf, it doesn't matter if they overhang. Nearly all of the bins I have now are 24" or less, and 24" makes more efficient use of the sheet stock that is the shelf surface. Just got the frames done so far.
Thats a great workbench/storage/shelf setup....I think I watched a guy on YT build something very similar when I was looking for garage ideas at one point. That center section would be great for some LED lights and the ability to have an intricate project going on for more than one day....
rixtrix1
Well-known member
Just found your thread-great shop/garage(only to page 2) but I'm in the winter rainy season in Chandler right now. Slab got poured 10 days ago. Building most of mine myself, so dry time is essential, and the 30 day forecast doesn't look too good! Thanks for sharing!
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rixtrix1
Well-known member
Turned out very nicely, inspite of all the inspection gaffs. I ran into similar problems getting my permit. Everyone I talked to had a different opinion, but the permit was signed off by the head of the planning/zoning dept., stating "it's just a garage. I don't now why everyone is being so picky!" I hope the rest of my inspection go well
Got about half of the frame up yesterday (first 2 pics), then the rest of it up today. Wall towards the door had a bow to it, so needed to shim the shelf frames. Wall in the left half of these shelves was much closer to right on - almost no shims needed there. I thought about adding the shelf tops before mounting to the wall, but I think this was much easier (so far) - could reach through the frame as needed to get to the fasteners, and multiple clamps were involved to hold things up while adding fasteners. I also haven't bought the shelf top material yet.
If you're wondering - that Model A isn't as bad off as maybe it looks. Just have the hood, radiator surround and radiator out to get a radiator leak fixed. Other than that, everything works. Impressively few fasteners to get the sheetmetal off and radiator out, but they were building over a million of these each year...
If you're wondering - that Model A isn't as bad off as maybe it looks. Just have the hood, radiator surround and radiator out to get a radiator leak fixed. Other than that, everything works. Impressively few fasteners to get the sheetmetal off and radiator out, but they were building over a million of these each year...
Got the sheet stock last weekend cut and set in place. During the week, I screwed it down. The light was one I had. Not sure if it will stay like this - need to convert to LED anyway, as the fluorescent tubes are about dead. I used OSB for the top 2 shelves for cost. Had a scrap of OSB for the short shelf on the right. Bottom working area used a sheet of MDF. Bottom shelf on the right had an old piece of laminated kitchen counter cut down to size. I'll put the goops and gunks on that shelf in case anything leaks.
Added seal at the rear door. This was a miss in the slab - supposed to have "drip tray" feature for the door, but didn't. Surprising how much water gets in under the door and through the stress relief groove. Filled the groove with silicone, and glued down this rubber strip. Had the strip just set in position for a couple of rainy days to see where to put it. Used Gorilla construction adhesive to stick it. It sealed pretty well with no glue, but there's one slight dip in the slab where water would always get under, and I wanted to glue it anyway so it doesn't move around. This door is for backyard access, and isn't really ever going to be driven on, though they sell these garage seals for everyday drive-over use. I need to put one on the house garage, because it doesn't have the drip tray at the door either, and quite a bit of water gets in there when it rains.
Been a while. Just got the mini-split outside tube cover installed and painted. That was a process. The refrigerant leaked out over the winter, so it didn't make cooling during the springtime. We got the installer to come out, and he recharged it, said the leak was likely at the braze joint that he did, and he said to let him know when it leaked out again and he'd rework the braze. The recharge lasted maybe a couple of weeks, and the installer kept putting us off. (Summer around here isn't time to prioritize garage AC.) I finally had enough of his putting off this job - I think his business just got so busy. This install was an after hours / side job for him anyway, so I finally just hired someone else to re-do the installation and finish it. The guy doing the rework did a very neat job, I think. I painted the cover and part of the conduit. Seems like the other AC conduits on the house are painted to where they jump off from the house wall, so that's about where I stopped.
Also added some wall hooks to get the yard tools off the floor. I should have taken a before photo - they were all just leaning against the portable swamp cooler or the wall, so these hooks are a big improvement. Put the bottom of the hook rail at 8' above the floor.
Also added some wall hooks to get the yard tools off the floor. I should have taken a before photo - they were all just leaning against the portable swamp cooler or the wall, so these hooks are a big improvement. Put the bottom of the hook rail at 8' above the floor.
Expanding the driveway a bit. Thought this would be an issue when built, but I didn't know exactly which vehicle would go where or how much turn radius was really needed. This corner being expanded out is covering an area that collected water and mud and the mud/sand was being dragged into the garage each time the truck went in. Also expanding the corner at the street where delivery trucks cut the corner, fall off the side of the driveway and make a pothole where I like to set the garbage cans.
luvtheheat
Well-known member
Erik W11, OP, I've been following this thread from when I first stumbled across it. Great documentation.
I just finished my 24X44 detached garage, and am trying to plan out what goes where. I've got 4 2x4x8' high shelf units, 2 woodworking benchs (4x6'), table saw, shopsmith, 2 cars, and the usual accumulated junk.
Could you be so kind to take some pics of your walls from as far back as possible, so I can see what you've done with your layout?
TIA from Tanque Verde Valley!
I just finished my 24X44 detached garage, and am trying to plan out what goes where. I've got 4 2x4x8' high shelf units, 2 woodworking benchs (4x6'), table saw, shopsmith, 2 cars, and the usual accumulated junk.
Could you be so kind to take some pics of your walls from as far back as possible, so I can see what you've done with your layout?
TIA from Tanque Verde Valley!
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Hi Eric.
You’ve set a good example for me. I just closed on a lot and signed-up an architect for a home I’ll be building in Marana - Dove Mountain area. Nice flat lot. I told the architect I be giving him the details for a detached shop approximately the size of a three car garage. Say, roughly 30ft. X 40ft.
I’ll start a thread and hopefully be as descriptive and thorough as you.
Regards,
Bill
You’ve set a good example for me. I just closed on a lot and signed-up an architect for a home I’ll be building in Marana - Dove Mountain area. Nice flat lot. I told the architect I be giving him the details for a detached shop approximately the size of a three car garage. Say, roughly 30ft. X 40ft.
I’ll start a thread and hopefully be as descriptive and thorough as you.
Regards,
Bill