Finally Building My Detached Garage, Build Thread

[KYGTP]

Looks great!! I sound like a broken record by now, but it does look awesome!

Where is the exhaust fan going to go? I had thought you meant a hose-type-fan, to run cars in the shop. Most people don't need that, but I really like them, as long as they can move enough air.

Compressor room sounds like an AWESOME idea, the drone gets old FAST! My friends shop has it in another room, and it makes a huge difference.

Will your HVAC have different zones? Upstairs/downstairs? If so, how does that work? Multiple units or a flap door or something?

Keep up the great work!

Thanks

I thought about a exhaust system like that for cars and running duct work of some kind under the slab, but there has not been too many times I need to run my car inside, so I decided not to do it. Plus the parts to put in a system like that are pretty pricey, if you do it right.

If you look at the first pic that I just put up of the HVAC duct work, you see where the foundation wall steps down the second time, it will go there, kinda in the left corner, about 5 to 6 feet from the left side wall and under the duct work. That way it is on one side of the garage and I can open the garage door on the far right and get a nice cross feed, so to clear any smoke from welding or using my plasma cutter or from long poker games. That fan should be big enough, that on high speed, it should change the air over in about 5 mins.

The HVAC will just be for the garage. Whenever I plan on finishing the upstairs, I will install another unit just for that space. Not only that, but you need to keep the garage seperate from living space, so that any garage smells and fumes do not get into the living space.

 

[Boosted1]

Man this build looks great and is moving along very fast.
I didn't do the HVAC when I built mine. Told myself I could always add it. 5 years later I still sweat my **** off when working in the garage. Did a clutch job in July. I think I lost 5 lbs.. Your place looks great.

 

[Boosted1]

More thoughts on finishing before using. Same thing goes for upstairs. I did flooring only. Now I have much stuff stored there. To "finish it" when "that day" arrives, will be much more work now that it is full of stuff.
The more you can complete before you move in ANYTHING, the better off you will be.
I could go on with examples of how even cutting a piece of lumber with just a car in the garage is a PITA because you will have wood dust all over your car.

 

[Boosted1]

Do you have workbench and shelving / storage plans complete for the garage portion?
I know it may seem a ways off, but as soon as you get the construction and flooring done, you are gonna want to park a car in it. I have built numerous work benches and shelves after moving in cars. Hence the sawdust.
Also, my layout is still not 100% locked in.
I would recommend putting things on wheels to have flexibility unless you were pretty confident in your layout. Even if so, having a bench on wheels will let you move it to where the work is.
My main bench is on wheels so I can move in under the lift for a clutch job and still use my floor trans jack with a car on the lift.

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

How much rent would you charge for the room on top?

It would be a bit of a long commute to work, about 11 hours, but it would be worth it!!

 

[KYGTP]

Man this build looks great and is moving along very fast.
I didn't do the HVAC when I built mine. Told myself I could always add it. 5 years later I still sweat my **** off when working in the garage. Did a clutch job in July. I think I lost 5 lbs.. Your place looks great.

That is why I am doing HVAC NOW. I am tired of sweating my **** off working on my car, plus the sun hits my garage on the house all day long, so it heats up real nice. At least now, the sun will only hit the front of my new garage in the morning and after that it will be in the shade. So cooling cost should be pretty low, plus over half of it is sunk in the ground.

More thoughts on finishing before using. Same thing goes for upstairs. I did flooring only. Now I have much stuff stored there. To "finish it" when "that day" arrives, will be much more work now that it is full of stuff.
The more you can complete before you move in ANYTHING, the better off you will be.
I could go on with examples of how even cutting a piece of lumber with just a car in the garage is a PITA because you will have wood dust all over your car.

I wish I could finish it off, but it is NOT in the budget, and my budget is already over a good amount. If I had the funds, I would.

Do you have workbench and shelving / storage plans complete for the garage portion?
I know it may seem a ways off, but as soon as you get the construction and flooring done, you are gonna want to park a car in it. I have built numerous work benches and shelves after moving in cars. Hence the sawdust.
Also, my layout is still not 100% locked in.
I would recommend putting things on wheels to have flexibility unless you were pretty confident in your layout. Even if so, having a bench on wheels will let you move it to where the work is.
My main bench is on wheels so I can move in under the lift for a clutch job and still use my floor trans jack with a car on the lift.

Here is my thought on the layout:

The left bay will have shelves build along the wall for storage of mis. stuff. I will most likely have my 16' car trailer in that bay, along with my yard tractor and wagon. I should have enough room to have a work bench behind that for my welder and plasma cutter and grind stuff, since that is where I am installing the exhaust fan.

The center bay is going to be the working bay with the lift. I am think of a island type of work bench on wheels and building a "U" shape work bench along the wall. All of this will be screwed together, so that if I ever want to change it, all I have to do is unscrew everything and start over. I will most likely put down race decking under and around the lift to keep thing looking cleaner at least for now.

The right bay will be for my everyday driver. In front of that area, will be a seating area with couches and tables with a tv on the wall by the bathroom. That way the "hang out" area is close to the sink and frig.

How much rent would you charge for the room on top?

It would be a bit of a long commute to work, about 11 hours, but it would be worth it!!

Buzz, If you are ever in the states close to Cincinnati, look me up and you can stay in the new space. 11hrs, heck that is not too bad, on a plane...

 

[KYGTP]

Well guys, here a little up date for ya. It has been kinda slow, but yet busy week. On Monday, the elctrician started laying out where everything is going to go with me, which I think is one of the hardest things to do. Picking out where you want all the plugs and lights, for me it was kinda stressful. Anyways, he was there on Monday and took a couple days off to finish up another job he was on and returned today.

In the mean while, my contractor framed in around the duct work going along the back side of the garage. All my windows and doors are installed, upstairs and down stairs. Yesterday, The garage doors were installed with jack shaft openers and high lift track in all three bays.

Today, they installed my exhaust fan in the garage in the back wall and we also realized that my compressor room was too close to the front wall and the door to get into it was going to hit the track on the garage door, so they had to reframe that and make it a little bigger to give a little more rm to move around.

Also the Brick supplies arrived today and the brick layers started setting everthing up to get ready to start laying brick tomorrow.

Sorry for the long read, and here are the pics from this week.....

Pics of the windows and doors installed

Garage doors being installed and finished:

New 200 amp box:

You can see some of the plugs and such I have on the back wall:

My new exhaust fan installed, which has 2100 max CFM:

The new enlarged and moved compressor rm:

The brick guys all set up and ready to go:

Well, there you have it. My camera ran out of battery, toward the end and I was hoping to get more pics of the out side of the fan and some better shots of the openers. I will make sure that I put some more pics up tomorrow or over the weekend of the rest of the stuff going on.

Hope you enjoyed

 

[ZRX61]

Don't forget:
Compressor raised up off the floor a bit, with a street 90, 6in(?) bib (******?) & ball valve in place of the stock drain..

 

[KYGTP]

Don't forget:
Compressor raised up off the floor a bit, with a street 90, 6in(?) bib (******?) & ball valve in place of the stock drain..

Yeap, I have thought about that, plus the compressor that I am looking at has a auto drain on the bottom of it. I need to get a small peice of PVC out of the wall before the brick layers get to that eara so that it drains outside.

 

[KYGTP]

Here are some pics of some of the progress they made on Friday. I know it is not a whole lot, but things are moving right along nicely.

Just a random pic of all the electric stuff:

Here is what the sitting area lighting will look like with the can lights. I am having a plug put in the ceiling for a projector and a plug high on the wall incase I go with a flat screen, I have not decided as to what I am going to put in that space. A ceiling fan will be in the middle of the thoughs light as well.

In all the other areas of the garage will be 20 4' 4 bulb T-8 fixtures, 4 in each section of the garage, with all the sections on light switches. Yes, that will be a total of 6 light switches. I just wanted to have the ablity to turn on what I need and leave the rest off.

Oh, and here is the shutters of my ecxhaust fan that they installed last week also, which will be bricked around, so it should turn out pretty nice.

Once again, thanks for looking and all of your comments, I hope to be able to give updates and pics everyday now with the progress of the brick going up.

I think that the plumber will be out next week too, to install the water line and when they do that, they are going to run the power from the main box in the yard, along with the cable and phone lines as well.

Till next time...................

 

[Boosted1]

Looking good.
When I first saw those can lights I thought oh no, but then I read just for sitting area.
I have can lights on one side of my garage opposite the lift.
They **** for working on anything.
It is just the way it looks, or is the middle door going to interfere with your lift?

 

[KYGTP]

Looking good.
When I first saw those can lights I thought oh no, but then I read just for sitting area.
I have can lights on one side of my garage opposite the lift.
They **** for working on anything.
It is just the way it looks, or is the middle door going to interfere with your lift?

Yeah, cans light so if we are just out there hangout watching tv, it won't be like we have the sun on.

In what way do you think it will interfere?? I guess I don't an issue just yet, but please let me know what you are seeing.

 

[jktruck150]

Looks great! I like the recessed lights! Brick looks good too so far!

 

[Motown 454]

It looks great, it will have plenty of plugs. The brick will change the look for sure.

 

[SiGmA_X]

Are you going to run HDMI/etc cables to the possible projector/flat screen plugs, and then to an amp rack/cabinet? I would suggest it. Way easier to do now!!

 

[Boosted1]

I was just thinking the high lift door would be further from the top of the door opening, but I guess your door height is a little taller than standard.

 

[KYGTP]

Looks great! I like the recessed lights! Brick looks good too so far!

Thanks, I really hope that the lights really make that part of the garage nice to hang out in.

It looks great, it will have plenty of plugs. The brick will change the look for sure.

I made sure to have ALOT of plugs on the back wall and a couple of the side walls. I even have 3 plugs in the ceiling on the other side of the "I" beam on the center bay so that I can have light reals and cord reals up there if I need them. Plus with it in the middle of the garage, I will be able to use them on any of the other two bays.

I think the brick is going to really change the look too, I can't wait.

Are you going to run HDMI/etc cables to the possible projector/flat screen plugs, and then to an amp rack/cabinet? I would suggest it. Way easier to do now!!

Yes, I am going to run all the wires that I need to run the projector AND the flat screen and put them all in one location along with all my speaker wires for the surround sound and the other flush mount speakers that I plan on installing thoughout the rest garage that will be use for music or have the tv going through them as well. I am going to install some out side speakers as well in the front just in case we all out side hanging out. Well, at least I am going to run all the wires to do this, if I dont use them right away, no big deal.

I was just thinking the high lift door would be further from the top of the door opening, but I guess your door height is a little taller than standard.

I am going to have to take a pic with me or my wife stand infront of the garage to give a prespective of everything. The doors are 10' by 9' tall and the ceiling height in that bay is 12' 8". The track only goes about half way into the bay, so I think I will be fine by putting the post at the end the track and still be in the center of the bay.

Like I said, I need to get some pics with us in it to let everyone see what it looks like compared to me, 5' 10.5".

Thanks for looking and your comments, anything else you guys can think of, since I am at a point of having to make alot of decision fast. I think I will be in this place by the begining of Nov.

 

[ZRX61]

Here's one:
Service disconnect on the outside of the compressor room. That way of you get a leak in the middle of the night the compressor won't throw a rod trying to pressurize the tank.
Also:
Ball valve where the line comes out of the room to isolate the system from the tank. On mine the ballvalve is mounted right on the tank.

 

[KYGTP]

Here's one:
Service disconnect on the outside of the compressor room. That way of you get a leak in the middle of the night the compressor won't throw a rod trying to pressurize the tank.
Also:
Ball valve where the line comes out of the room to isolate the system from the tank. On mine the ballvalve is mounted right on the tank.

I talked with my electrician, and he seems to think that I will not be able to have the sevice disconnect on the outside of my compressor rm due to local code, but there will be a diconnect inside the comprosser rm to allow me to shut it off when I am not in there.

I have thought about running all the lines in the walls, but after thinking about it, if anything happens to the lines, I will be ripping out drywall to fix it and I am not about to do that. So once the all the dryway and painting is finished, I plan on running my copper lines all throught out the shop for my air, with a shut off on the outdside of the room for the whole shop.

 

[ngk22r]

Very nice, I like the brick trim!

 

[ZRX61]

I talked with my electrician, and he seems to think that I will not be able to have the sevice disconnect on the outside of my compressor rm due to local code,

Sounds like ya might need to take care of that after everything has been signed off

 

[KYGTP]

Very nice, I like the brick trim!

Thanks, it is the same style that we have on our house so that the two match well.

Sounds like ya might need to take care of that after everything has been signed off

I was kinda thinking the same thing, but we will have to see.

 

[KYGTP]

Well, today was another busy day on the job site. The electrician was there doing more wiring, the plumber showed up today and started all the rough in for all the plumbing everywhere and the brick layers continued on.

We hope to get most of all the rough in done this week and get the fire stop insulation done too to get out framing inspection. I was told today, that we may have to change some things due to some codes that have changed that I don't think my contractor was aware of in regards to the framing, if that is the case, we may have to stop the brick layers until it is finished. The code has something to do with "Wall support" and that ALL walls now must have OSB on the whole wall not just on the corners like they have it right now. I will get more info tomorrow on that.

Anyways, here are some pics from the day for ya.

Right side bay:

Center bay lights and such:

Left side bay:

Plugs in the ceiling behind the I beam for drop down lights and power cords:

Lights on the back side of the garage:

Misc. Plumbing shots that they got done today:

And a couple of shots of my dog, checking it all out:

The best of all, my "special" little guys checking out the little compressor room:

Well, there you have it. The brick layers thought that all the supplies were delivered, but they were missing the key stones that go above the garage, so they had to stop early, but they prepped the rest of the ledges for when they get around the rest of the garage.

Thanks for looking and till next time......................

 

[ZRX61]

If the OSB is a *must have* you may get away with putting it on the inside of the studs... Then you can just screw the drywall directly to it... The inside of my garage is all T1-11 siding.

 

[KYGTP]

If the OSB is a *must have* you may get away with putting it on the inside of the studs... Then you can just screw the drywall directly to it... The inside of my garage is all T1-11 siding.

I hope to get more info on this tomorrow and see what I can do about this issue. I am just glad that my best friend is the head building inspector in my area, so he is going to let me know.

No big deal though, we will get it all worked out, so I am not too worried about it. My contractor is great and we will figure it out.

 

[jonny01blaze]

Sure as hell making good progress! I bet your itching to get in!

 

[DaleJR88Fan]

Just plain amazing how fast this is going together. From some of your design decisions, it seems like you found this site before you started on your building and I wish I would have. Now that I found this place there a quite a few things that I would have done differently. Can you give me a little more information on your exhaust fan, maybe model, manufacturer, and where you got the shutters for it.

 

[KYGTP]

Sure as hell making good progress! I bet your itching to get in!

Yes I am. I hope to be in by the end of the month or the first of Nov.

Just plain amazing how fast this is going together. From some of your design decisions, it seems like you found this site before you started on your building and I wish I would have. Now that I found this place there a quite a few things that I would have done differently. Can you give me a little more information on your exhaust fan, maybe model, manufacturer, and where you got the shutters for it.

I have been thinking about this garage for years, and have thought out a lot of stuff, plus, with me working on my car all the time in the house garage, I knew what I would like to have.

The exhaust fan I posted all the info a page back but here it is for ya.

Here is what I ended up getting.

http://www.qcsupply.com/commercial-i...utter-fan.html

And I am going to use this type of speed controller, so that I can have it at any speed, 0 - 2100 CFM.

http://www.qcsupply.com/commercial-i...l-125-amp.html


Now the fan comes with a cord, but I talked with them and you can take the cord off and wire in the speed controller to make a nice install. If not, then the fan runs on high, at least if you get the variable speed one. They sell all kinds of fans, just depends on what you want. The fan comes with the shutters already on it BTW.

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

Mmmmmmm niiiiiiiiiiice!!

That's coming along really well.

 

[KYGTP]

Today, the plumbers were finishing up their rough-in in all of the garage and for the future upstairs space. The brick layers are slowly but surely making progress. Even though they are moving slow, the 2 of them, it looks great!!! And that is fine by me.

Here are some radon pics of the day and I will try to label them for you, so you know what is going on.

Outside first:

Front view:

Water spicket out front by far left door:

Outside drain line for the air compressor that was bricked around:

Inside of the compressor rm, which has the other side of the drain and a valve for outside water line, that will have a access panel in the wall for that so that I can get to it.

Refrig. water line for the ice maker:

Slopp sink rough in that will be in the counter top when finished:

Tankless hot water heater, best thing EVER!!!

Bathroom sink rough in:

There is alot going on here, but this is in the machanics rm looking in to the bath rm, so this is the back side of the urinal rough in:

Shower insert:

Plumbing behind the shower:

The other side where the tolet and urine will be:

The rough in for the upstairs future space, which will have a bathrm, kitchen, and laundry area.

And here are the valves for all the water upstairs so that I cna have it turned off and not have to worry about the pipes freezing AND to be able to service the upstairs without having to shut everything off.

Oh yeah, and I happen to come across a GREAT deal on something for the garage this week and I could not pass it up:

That there is a 110" HD screen and sony 1080 HD projector, that will hang on the back wall of the sitting area. I just hope that it will show up if I have the lights on in the other parts of the garage, if not, I will sell it and get my money back and go with a large flat screen of some kind.

Once again, we are slowly getting closer to getting in. They hope to get all the framing inspected, all the electric rough in and the plumbing rough in inspected at the first of next week and then goes in the insulation next week some time. That is if I am ready for it, since I want to run speaker wires, CAT5 lines and cable lines to certian places in the garage and for upstairs.

Till next time and thanks for looking, Again and again................

 

[Clinotus]

Urinal? Dear lord man. This was hovering at awesome and amazing but just went plaid in my opinion.

 

[ZRX61]

That drain for the compressor looks awful high up... how far off the floor are you putting the compressor?

 

[Curt_pnw]

Wow. I am a fan of this build. Definitely subscribed!

 

[KYGTP]

Urinal? Dear lord man. This was hovering at awesome and amazing but just went plaid in my opinion.

Thanks, I figure if I am going to do it, I might as well do this right the first time. Like I said before, this is 5 years in the making and 5 years of saving to do this project, and it has finially coming together.

That drain for the compressor looks awful high up... how far off the floor are you putting the compressor?

Well, if you have pressure in the tank, it is going to push the water out, no matter where you drain it at. The compressor that I am getting has an auto drain, so there will be pressure in the tank when the drain opens up. So I think I will be good. If it does not work, I will cap it off. I need to make a decision pretty fast since the brick layers where headed around the bend.

Wow. I am a fan of this build. Definitely subscribed!

Thanks for looking.

 

[65cayne]

...Like I said, I need to get some pics with us in it to let everyone see what it looks like compared to me, 5' 10.5"....

I know this is off topic, but I am glad I am not the only one (5'10.5") that cant decide whether to round up or round down on his height...seems like everyone else in the world stopped growing once they reached a whole number...

 

[Koko]

Urinal? Dear lord man. This was hovering at awesome and amazing but just went plaid in my opinion.

Love the obscure Spaceball reference!

Loving this garage build. Definitely a thing of envy! Makes me want to go kick my 2 car plain jane garage for being ugly.

 

[ejm1961Tbird]

An awesome garage, with an ice maker and a urinal -- I would never leave the place!

 

[kerryt1]

Bravo man, looks great. Congrats on reaching your goal; I hope you enjoy it in good health.

 

[KYGTP]

An awesome garage, with an ice maker and a urinal -- I would never leave the place!

Well the Refrig. will have a ice maker in it, if I can find a good deal on a Frig. with a ice maker, then I will get one. I figured it is easier to do it now than later.

Bravo man, looks great. Congrats on reaching your goal; I hope you enjoy it in good health.

Thanks. I hope to enjoy it as well and also let others around me enjoy it. My wife and I love to help people out in any way we can. Right now my wife watch about 5 small kids for friends of ours for next to nothing, because she loves kids, and we know our friends need the break, when it come to their wallet. I have my mother-law that lives with us, and a couple from our church that feel on hard times and lost their house, so they are with us for a short bit to get back on their feet. AND before that, we had our other friends stay with us for a 1.5 yrs while they built their our house.

So, yeah, we love to help others and have others enjoy our help, if that make any sence.

Sorry back to the topic, yesterday the electrician finished some things up and the brick layers continue on. I will post pics later on tonight of all the progress.

 

[Firefighter315]

Still lovin' the build! I look for updates almost every day. Sounds like you and your family are definitely livin' life the way it was intended - recognizing a need and doing what you can to meet it. Congrats on the incredible build and "doin' the right thing!"

The next time I head to Cincy, I'll have to keep an eye out for your garage from 75, I'm sure it will be visible from there!