Garage walls on a Stem Wall?

[RonRock]

So the garage I am planning will have to be built up on a stem wall, fairly short about 15" stem wall from floor.

I figure that I will still build with 92 5/8" studs and just have a little more headroom inside. I might even go with a 7' 6" Overhead door, not sure on that yet. Cost is a concern, this is just a parking garage for my daughter.

Anyway I have never built on a stem wall. How do I design the stem wall and the stud wall for the door openings? Anybody have a picture of theirs? I'm concerned about the 8" block thickness at the door opening and the door track.

The building will be 24X24 with a 16" OHD. Door opening will be 24" in from outside corner.

 

[purplezr2]

How do you plan to insulate the stem wall.That is the biggest issue I see.

I wrapped mine in foam. The from is stone, so there is no foam and I just deal with the heat loss. Cost me about 900 to heat the garage all winter at 68F. Garage is 1650sqft.

I have a 6inch stem wall. It is nice for washing the floor.

 

[Jinks]

Google "window & door buck". That'll get you started...........

 

[matt_i]

The stem wall here is 8" thick and ~8" tall.

I elected to go with all wood sitting on the concrete. There's an alternative where pieces of 2x go down inside of the king studs basically to touch the concrete floor.



The inside-most piece is a 2x8 vs. the 2x6 wall framing.



Finishing that corner is a 2x4 laid flat with a 1/4" ply behind it (jump from 5-1/2" to 7-1/4")



Its all covered in trim coil. If you look closely you can see where I ground the wall just a little bit with a concrete disk to make a smooth transition for the trim coil so its a single bend.



Eventually of some concern is how to attach to the concrete face. Tapcon- flatheads can be one possibility.

 

[RonRock]

Very helpful guys! Thank you all. Pictures tell the story.

This will be an unheated, unattached parking garage.

So it looks like the stem wall opening is the rough opening width of the door. Then a 2X4 is set flat to the inside of the opening for the door stop and track to bolt to.


I should have mentioned that the framing will be 2X4. So that leaves a pretty wide gap to fill between the wall framing and the inside of the block.


Thanks for the Google search terms. I have been Googling a lot. Maybe my search terms have not been the best.

 

[matt_i]

The other thing that the "inset" framing does is create a nice finished ledge for the drywall to fit.

If you attach the garage door tracks to the rough framing and then eventually drywall-notch around those brackets you can have a conundrum at the top of the door. This is because there isn't immediately enough clearance for the top edge of the garage door, rolling backwards, to clear a 1/2" or 5/8" drywall edge set close. A possibility is to install the garage door tracks over top of the drywall but then there's a layer of mush in the structure. Some 1/2" or 5/8" wooden or metal blocks or stacks of washers, etc could be used to resolve the conundrum as well.

The one thing I might have done better was to wrap the concrete itself with peel+stick to make sure the concrete doesn't touch and potentially corrode the trim coil, but that step didn't happen. I have the trim brake and spare coil stock so it could be a project I'll have to redo someday. Hopefully not.

This is the finished opening.

 

[nadogail]

It should be a great place to park your daughters cars.

 

[twistedstang]

Have you considered 6" block?

 

[csp]

So it looks like the stem wall opening is the rough opening width of the door. Then a 2X4 is set flat to the inside of the opening for the door stop and track to bolt to.

Mine is very similar, but the stem wall opening is 3" wider than the RO of the door and a treated 2x10 (used this vs a 2x8 to create an additional shadow line on the outside) goes almost all the way to the floor.

As was said, that 2x4 on flat on the inside is great if you plan to drywall the inside as it's just a straight cut on the drywall vs notching it or (gasp!) putting drywall behind the door brackets.

 

[Randy in Maine]

That is how my shop is set up. Stem walls go down 48" under ground and are exposed about 10" at the surface. My 2" of rigid insulation is on the inside of the building and under the concrete floor. This provides a nice thermal break between the heated floor and the unheated walls. I have 2x8" PT sills with a PT 2x6" on top of it. My SIPS slide right over the top of the 2x6" and get securely attached with construction adhesive, spray foam, and nails.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I understand cost is a concern but do the math and see what the difference is in going to a 10' wall and a 9x8 door. Once she is gone, it'll become your space and you might as well do it right.

It'll be cheaper to do it now than come back later and modify it.