First time homeowner garage

[tigerxj]

Not much visible progress from yesterday. I don't think they got out there before noon. We still don't have the joists or flooring over the sunroom, still not finished with the exterior sheeting. The did more of the house wrap, not sure why the would be working on that instead of the sheeting unless it's a case of too many hands and not enough tasks.


And as always with each new day or work comes a new list of mistakes. Walls out of square, window/door openings the wrong size, etc.

Unfortunately our string of great weather has ended (almost 3 weeks of sunshine). We now have 60% or greater chance of rain the next 8/10 days. Today should be mostly ok but we obviously won't be in the dry before rainy season.



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[tigerxj]

Started on the second floor framing. I guess the time consuming part is laying out the floor plan with chalk lines. Ounces that's done walls go up quick. They just have the knee walls up now. They finished the exterior sheeting and some more house wrap, complete with several more errors to address. But the main thing is my garage has a roof now!




These windows are supposed to be matching...this is the corner of the kitchen with the sink in that corner


These windows are supposed to start about 18" above the floor


This window is supposed to be the size of the window in the picture above


There are supposed to be matching French doors on either side of the rear deck. It looks like left side is correct, and the right is framed for a window instead of a fixed panel of the French door.


It rained like crazy tonight. Superintendent and project manager are meeting with the framing company tomorrow to address some of my concerns.


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[polexican23]

concerns??? I think someone is reading the plans upside down and drunk

 

[tigerxj]

concerns??? I think someone is reading the plans upside down and drunk

I think the main problem is the plans were printed in English.

Apparently I wasn't the only one with concerns. Last night my super fired the framing crew and hired a new one. Much to our surprise the new guys were out there working this morning. I went out at lunch, didnt get any pictures because I forgot my boots so I didnt walk into the house. I could see through the garage that they had already fixed all the issues on the main floor from the previous post. I have not been in the basement yet to see if they fixed those issues. My super told them to correct all the errors before resuming the framing, so hopefully this afternoon they'll make some progress. We got another reprieve from the rain today, supposed to hold off until evening, so I'm glad we didn't lose another day due to firing the crew.

I'm really pleased with the size of the garage. I know how it looks on paper and I've already designed a few different layouts that would accomodate larger cars in the future. However seeing it in person with the ceiling on and walls up makes it seem huge. The one thing I'm not happy about is the way they did the pour there is a small 8" high wall around the perimeter of the garage. this means there will be a single step up to the man door. Not a huge issue I guess, but I'm used to personnel doors that are level with the floor of the garage. In fact i've never seen one done this way. I'll post a pic later.

 

[tigerxj]

Maybe this is why we had so much trouble with the framers. Yes those are my plans. Super fired the old crew and had a new crew out there yesterday morning. They've fixed most of the issues

Front door now sized correctly for the sidelights

Sunroom windows are correct now

kitchen windows match

French doors to porch fixed


And here's a pic of my garage. Inside it measures 22'-2" wide by 23' long, 10'-6" ceilings. 8'x18' door.

We have TJI I-joists because there is a room above it. I was hoping to install some of those ceiling storage units but after reading a few threads on here I don't think I can hang from the bottom flange, and even if I add some blocking between the webbing I'm still not sure they'd be able to support a few hundred pounds. Mainly seasonal decorations. Stole this pic from another thread

I do have some microlams on the back half of the garage spanning the width, one is double up, that I think I could use but I don't really want these things just hanging out in the middle of the garage. I'll try to snap some pics tomorrow of the LVLs but what say the GJ? No go on hanging this from an TJI?


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[bczygan]

Not easy or cheap to build on those sloping mountain sites. But dramatic views.

I used to live in Asheville and designed some homes there.

 

[polexican23]

you are so gonna kick yourself for not doing a 3 car garage. I visited a buddy yesterday that just completed his house, that was the first thing I mentioned. Nearly socked me in the mouth cause I should have brought it up sooner.

 

[tigerxj]

you are so gonna kick yourself for not doing a 3 car garage. I visited a buddy yesterday that just completed his house, that was the first thing I mentioned. Nearly socked me in the mouth cause I should have brought it up sooner.

I would have loved a 3 car garage. I can kick myself all I want but the simple fact is there wasn't room on this lot (nor the budget). We aren't on the setbacks, but I wasn't willing to clear it the trees on the property line to make room. The lot is about 120' wide, house almost 70', 10' setbacks on either side. The remainder of the space is consumed by the trees we saved and just enough room for a sidewalk from the driveway to the back.

The most important part of this build was the house attached to it, far more important to us than the garage. Best plan for our family, the lot, and our budget. We were able to widen the garage 2 feet.

Fortunately all my shop space/tools will be in the basement, as will the storage area, so the garage will be pretty much just for the cars. We won't ever have the boats here, they stay on the water on a lift at my parents lake house about 30mins from here.


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[vr4joe]

Wow. This is going to be a nice project!

 

[kswerks]

Good luck with everything, your last page of mistakes has / had me concerned though. I know the new crew came in and fixed all the mistakes but what else might have been missed????

And why is the builder using an incompetent crew? I am happy that he fired them but why was he using them in the first place?

My builder has specific crews that he uses and will not go outside of the guys even if it means delays in delivering the project. He has one set of framers that he uses and no one else, if they are not available, he gets the project started when they are ready.

Anyway, just have someone go back and look at ALL the work, especially the structural portions.

 

[tigerxj]

Good luck with everything, your last page of mistakes has / had me concerned though. I know the new crew came in and fixed all the mistakes but what else might have been missed????



And why is the builder using an incompetent crew? I am happy that he fired them but why was he using them in the first place?



Anyway, just have someone go back and look at ALL the work, especially the structural portions.

we share the same concerns. He told me the framing company had that crew highly recommended to them.

We will do a framing walk through together with the framing company owner (who is a civil engineer by training) the super and the project manager. I'll likely have my dad there as well

I usually go by about 3 times a day except Thursdays when I work in another town. At the end of each day on my way home I spend about 30 minutes walking through and I have been archiving and taking pictures of all the errors. There may be a few things we miss, but I feel pretty comfortable with the new crew. I've looked over the plans for hours and hours, which I think is why I'm catching so many errors.

I'm eager to see the quality of their work tomorrow morning. Even with the repairs their work was square, plumb, and level. the previous crew's work didn't require a level to see things were not square.


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[tigerxj]

Joists over the sunroom


Joists over guest bedroom


Starting work on the beams in the master. There will be a tray ceiling in here



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[andyaus]

It's frustrating having to double check the work of those who call it their trade because you find so many flaws, I'm glad the new crew seem to be on it for you! This is why and luckily I have the skills, if I can do it myself I will (the ultimate quality control)

Looking forward to seeing you finish out your shop, Cheers Andy.

 

[tigerxj]

Went by at lunch, doesn't look like much but they have pretty much all the ceiling joists for the main floor done, working on 2nd floor framing, and finished sheeting the front gable over the garage. I'll climb up there this evening.




Also realized I didn't really post much of the basement shop and storage area since the framing down there was complete (minus the doorway from the living area)
exterior entrance
from the entrance
from the bar area looking out
hallway back to storage area. The bar will be to the left
and a low light shot of the storage area. We'll probably out a single 4' T8 back there since we'll only go in there a few times a year.

I think I'll wall the framed walls of the storage area with OSB to get it done cheaply and quickly, may not even paint it. We will probably put some Gladiator style shelves back there. Would there be any issue of I did decide to paint the walls and concrete? Special type of paint?

For the shop I'm not sure, but I'm leaning towards plywood painted white so I don't have to worry about banging up (or finishing) dry wall. I still plan to use a clear system into studs to hang my cabinets and any heavy items so I'll probably go with 1/2" or 5/8" instead of 3/4".

Thoughts?


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[tigerxj]

And this is a shot of the two sets of double up microlams in the garage I guess I could use to hang those ceiling storage units




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[tigerxj]

They worked a few hours today and basically finished the interior framing on the 2nd floor. Wife is standing in one of the bedrooms, there is another on the back corner with attached bathroom, a hall bath, and the bonus room over the garage will be unfinished until we start practicing for baby #3

Roof next week?


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[tigerxj]

I didn't get up in their business today, they stayed late because weather cut them short yesterday. They got the 2nd floor ceiling joists on and were working on hanging the big beam that is going across the great room.

I hope I can swing by before work tomorrow to get some better pictures before the crew gets there.

And I apologize for all the pictures! This thread is as much for documenting the build for our Clemson family and Friends, and a thread without pics is useless!

We won't do much on the garage initially, but the shop should go together pretty quick after we get moved in.


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[west_perf]

Coming along nicely. keep pics coming, and add some of the jeep!

 

[tigerxj]

Coming along nicely. keep pics coming, and add some of the jeep!

We've had some issues with our framing crew splitting time with another job, so we got our third crew on the job this week. Basically trying to get in the dry this week so we can get P&Es in and going.

They are stick building the roof which is a little slow


My honey-do list just got a little longer. My wife's boss's husband works for a distribution company for power tools, so she scored me a free rigid table saw. He just wrote it off as a "sample" or demo. I will be building the dining table, kids beds, and the window bench seats on either side of our gas-lit wood-burning fireplace.


I don't have any good wheeling photos of the jeep in it's current configuration, mainly because we haven't been in a few years due to med school, residency, and young kids. Here is my "parking spot" at my parents house before it was painted, and an in process shot of the paint job


And the new rims when I first got them


It's a 1999 jeep cherokee that we bought in 2001 when I was a junior in high school with about 38k on the clock. I totaled it in college and bought it back and repaired it. Since I had the salvage title on it I figured it wouldn't hurt the value much to modify. So with the help of some buddies in the Clemson Offroad Club I lifted it 3.5". This grew to about 5" with some shackle relocators and coil isolators and long arms. I've plated the central frame rails and will be doing the front and rear rails next year. I designed and built a steering box brace with a pilot bearing that fits over a special but on the sector shaft of the steering box and ties in to both frame rails, which helps keep these unibodies alive. It has 18" wheels from a dodge magnum, same bolt pattern as older jeep. I stripped and repainted them. Got some cooper ST Maxx mounted on them, measure about 34". We cut and sectioned the rear wheel wells to fit up to a 37" tire or a mild stretch with a 35" tire. It's got a few interior mods like LED dome lights which are awesome, interior winch controller, relay box set up for expansion, new carpet, sound deadened, bed liner on the floor, replaced all the broken interior panels and one door from the junk yard. I've got leather seats from a grand cherokee in it front and rear, and a backup camera, which I love. The paint is a UV stable roll-on Bedliner called monstaliner. Stuff is tough as nails, 2-part paint.

Unfortunately it is stock running gear, but I've got a full float rear dana 60 in the garage. Gotta track down a front HP 60 and will eventually do a 5.3L. Cage will happen before all that though, gotta keep the family safe.


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[tigerxj]

Some more work done on the rafters.


Quick question about roughing in electrical. as stated previously we will not be finishing the basement. But my workshop will be down there, so I'll have the electrician drop some outlets and probably 3 junction boxes for light fixtures. Question I have is one wall is an exterior wall, so I'll have to build a stud wall in order to hang plywood or Sheetrock. Without this stud wall, I figure electrician can't put any outlets down that side. Is it possible for him to leave a junction box that I can tie into and add 2-3 outlets down that wall in the future? I won't be building the stud wall or covering the walls until after we move in.


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[tigerxj]

attic over the master. I think I'll have them frame a second opening and use one for a set of pull down steps and then use the other for a lift. I don't really need it now but watching my parents climb into their attic I think this might help future proof my home.



this is above the ceiling joists of the second floor. There won't be attic access here, however we could potentially reach it from our attic over the master side of I add a little ladder or set of steps. Don't know if we could ever use that much storage given what we'll have in the basement. We do have a small 10'x10' space off one of the upstairs bedrooms that has walk in access and good head room.


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[tigerxj]

Should have shingles tomorrow. Maybe plumbing/electrical this week if inspection goes well.


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[Mr. Roboto]

Nice progress, it's looking good. Thanks for all the updates, I am enjoying following along.

 

[west_perf]

Good work, looks great. I am bringing the Mrs up to that part of the state in 2 weeks, she's never been. will wave as we pass through on 123.

 

[tigerxj]

You'll drive right by my office right before you pass over lake hartwell on 123

Shingles going on today. Putting up the back deck. They are doing some of the final interior framing work so they've pulled down all the braces and now it feels much roomier than before inside. We have a walk through with the contractor tomorrow to plan out electrical



And finally I've got a shop question. The foundation wall steps down to 32", which if I recall is the same height as my base cabinets without a work surface. I'm going to have the electrician put some surface mount outlets on that wall. My question is how to finish that side. There is a 2x6 exterior stud wall sitting on top of the concrete. The concrete is about 8" thick so there is a 2.5" space. I'm thinking I can lay some insulation in there and put OSB over it, caulk seams and paint white. Is there any reason to build a stud wall in front of the concrete, or to put one in front of the exterior wall to make it flush with the concrete? Do I need a vapor barrier underneath the OSB? We do have a house wrap going on. Picture for reference



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[bonecrrusher]

Looks like they are about to finish up the exterior - its about to go a lot slower.... LOL!

Looking good so far.

 

[tigerxj]

Looks like they are about to finish up the exterior - its about to go a lot slower.... LOL!

Looking good so far.

Just about. They took a break on the roofing today due to our heat index of over 100. I suspect they'll finish it up in the mornings when it's only in the high 70s.
Got our back porch started
Finally got my shop door in and they roughed in the bar area which won't be done for a few years

Got some knee wall storage in the bonus room

Added the door way for under stairwell storage in the basement

support columns for the beam in the basement. This will separate the media area from the Ping pong/shuffleboard/darts area

Got the throne room in the master bath framed in

in the back center of this picture you see one of the bedrooms and on that far wall is a doorway into another storage area. It is cut off by the roofline but I'm still able to walk into it without stooping, of course that's pretty easy when you are 5'6". In fact I can walk up to the knee walls in the bonus room over the garage and not hit my head.

I feel like all the pics of the storage areas are pertinent because it will help us to minimize the amount of **** in our garage and shop. This is about three times as much storage as we have in our current attic over the garage, not to mention much easier access. And I haven't even counted the basement storage area or the two attics that we will have, one over the master suite and one over the kids bedroom area on the 2nd floor. We want to minimize how much we put in the basement because my wife and I decided we might like to make that a workout area with a bench, squat rack, tv/stereo, dumbbell racks, treadmill, etc...all in due time. We'll see how plans change I guess.


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[tigerxj]

Had our framing walk through, place was all cleaned up. They will be fixing the half bath in the basement that was framed too big and are up about 40 sq ft of storage area and added it to the bathroom. As part of this walk through we did some planning for electrical. I just happened to notice last night when looking over the plans that we were to have an attic access on the 2nd floor, so they will be getting that in as well.

Plumbing tomorrow, electrical/hvac next week. We are going with a dedicated fridge outlet in the garage so if we pop a circuit the fridge is ok. We'll do one outlet by the ext man door, one by the interior man door, and two along the back wall where I'll eventually have cabinets/work surface (not counting the fridge outlet). Not very many but majority of the projects will be in the basement. I am going to go with four 4' fluorescent t8 fixtures in the garage. Garage is about 23' wide by 22' deep.

Shop will get two outlets per wall, and 3 4' t8 light fixtures. The shop is about 17' x 13.5'. This is where we will have the band saw, drill press, table saw, and router table, as well as misc other stuff. I only have a little pancake compressor and only a brad nailer for air tools. I hope to eventually expand these capabilities but I doubt I'll go 220v compressor in this house. Due to garage and shop being on opposite sides of the house I'll probably go with a 20-30gal portable compressor in a year or so. I'll add task lighting/under cabinet lighting to the cabinets we put up down there.


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[tigerxj]

Started on the coffered ceiling in the kitchen

and finally fixed the half bath in the basement. I guess it was closer to 20sqft it was eating up in the storage area. Regardless it was wasted space as a bathroom space. You can see the marks on the concrete of the original wall. They also added the 2nd attic access upstairs. I was glad we had the walk through when we did because I happened to catch the supervisor of the framing crews and reminded him those were the last two things to fix.



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[tigerxj]

Coffered ceiling done
Overall view from kitchen sink area looking towards master. Dining to the left, guest bedroom front left, master suite back center and right.
Looking the other way, dining to the right, kitchen rear center, and sunroom/keeping room left
View from the back deck. We'll eventually clear out the small underbrush but do it strategically to cut down on noise from the ball field/playground. It's not bad even in summer, but I don't know if it would be annoying after we got rid of all the small trees back there
Basement looking from my shop. Guest suite will be in the far end left, full bath and WIC. Game area to the right.
Looking other way towards shop, bar, storage area


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[west_perf]

Coming along nicely, I'd think about letting that back area grow up. Those little leaves really cut down on the noise. The landscape crew at my house got a ripping because they cut back a little much and now I can see my neighbors house much better.

 

[tigerxj]

Coming along nicely, I'd think about letting that back area grow up. Those little leaves really cut down on the noise. The landscape crew at my house got a ripping because they cut back a little much and now I can see my neighbors house much better.

That's why we haven't touched it yet. But there is a ton of poison ivy to which in extremely allergic and other vines and trash trees. I'd leave all the oak/maple/poplars. I plan to see how it is for a year or so to see what I've got.


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[tigerxj]

Got most of the windows and doors installed today. Close to wrapping up the 2nd floor electrical


Nice little dentil tray on the front door. We aren't sure what we'll use for final color yet


Wood shop French doors. They've only done the basement windows, no doors yet.

Sunroom /keeping room

Master

Master bath

Rear covered porch looking

And an overall shot of the great room to give perspective of the vaulted ceiling. We deleted the two dormers here. I would have liked them, but they weren't in the budget. I don't think it takes too much away, either inside or the rear elevation. Kinda one of those times where you don't miss what you never had.



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[tigerxj]

We have electrical going in this week and next and they started on ducting. My dad advised we add return air vents in the upstairs bedrooms, so they'll get those in. Upstairs is wired, even did the bonus room that was supposed to be unfinished, their mistake, the electrician actually didn't charge us for it.

Our contractor found a way to get my shop power without a sub panel. He is going to run conduit from our main panel in the garage down to the basement so that we can easily add a sub panel when we finish the basement down the road. The shop will be on a separate circuit from the rest of the basement lights. Apparently per code here if you drop your wire to your outlets directly down a stud from the ceiling, it doesn't require conduit, which saved us about 50% per outlet. I guess if you don't have wall covering you have to have conduit, and since the basement will be unfinished, if we had gone through open space, through studs that would have been a lot of conduit. So he will basically drop them down from the master above which prevents that whole issue. That took our shop wiring cost from $1000 to about $350.



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[Sunbimmer]

Looking great so far , very curious how this one turns out.

 

[tigerxj]

Electrician is nearing completion of his rough in. Got started in the basement. Doing two outlets on 3 walls, none on the double door side, and 2 overhead lights. This space is 16'-6" x 14'

Hvac in there getting work done.



The French doors in the shop aren't installed yet, but not for lack of trying. There is caulking on the floor of the opening. I then noticed the doorway is not square. Chalk that one up to the first framing crew that was fired. Looks like it should be an easy fix


Took my son (turns 3 later this month) skiing, I think he'll be ready next summer to try on his own



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[bluestripe67]

Nice project, and glad to see you are catching things in a timely manner that are not correct. I didn't read every word in the previous posts, so I may have missed this. Have you planned for an electrical generator?

 

[James-W]

Congratulations, that's one heck of a house for a first time homeowner! I must say, it is looking super nice!!!

 

[jbmatth]

I hope I'm not too late for this with the electrical going on as I type. I would go ahead and wire in 220 for a compressor somewhere and run piping from it to the garage and shop. I know you don't have a ton of space in either the shop or the garage so how about in the storage room in the basement. You can sound proof it pretty well and you won't ever hear it unless you are using it. But if in the future you decide you want more air than a 30 gal compressor can generate you will be stuck. I would run the wire and piping now and if you never use it oh well not a ton of money lost. If you do decide to use it later you will be glad you don't have to run all of that with the walls covered.
JB

 

[tigerxj]

I gave that some thought, and I'm sure famous last words, but I don't know that I'll ever have a 220v compressor at this house. Problem is we won't really have room on the garage for it, and I know I could plumb up from the basement, but I'm not sure I want that big a compressor inside the house. Basement is unfinished, so I think whenever we add the sub panel it would be pretty easy add 220v to one of the unfinished areas if I really felt I needed it. (Wanting one is a different story). Appreciate the thoughts, I know I haven't thought of everything.

They did get the basement doors and a few more windows installed.


And added our return air to the upstairs bedrooms


Rear has all the windows and doors in now. I think we still have the garage man-door and the upstairs bathroom windows left to put in. Electrical is almost done. Rough plumbing done. Hvac nearing completion. I don't know if we will be getting insulation in next week, hope so but with the holiday you never know.


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