It's finally my turn!

[p_mori7]

Hello All;

I am in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I don't have a garage as of right now, but have been wanting to build a detached structure in my backyard for a long time now.

I joined this forum some time ago, looking for ideas to incorporate into my eventual garage.

Well, the time has finally come to start my project !

STEP 1: I rented a storage unit earlier today, and have begun moving all of the stuff out of my 8x12 shed, as it will be coming down to make room for a 16'W x 30'L detached garage.

I am going to be building 100% myself, on weekends over a period of 3 months, and all with "out of pocket" money which I've been squirrelling away for quite some time now.

It will have a Gambrel roof to accomodate a partial second storey 16'W x 10'L, with an elevating platform to get up there. Door will be 9'W x 8'H. Cieling under the loft will be 9'H. Cieling everywhere else will be 12'H for an eventual in-floor scissor lift (kudo's to Paul Bird for the idea). Building will be errected over a concrete slab.

Structure will be all 2x4 16" OC, including site built trusses. Sheathing will be "smartside", roof will be steel. Builing will be insulated, 240V service for heat & welder.

I will be updating this thread about once a week with progress made over each weekend.

TooDaLoo !

 

[Sokoloff]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Looking forward to following along!

 

[Shadowdog500]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Can't wait to see your build photos.

Chris

 

[Professur]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Howdy neighbour. If you should need a hand, gimme a shout.

 

[PassnThru]

Re: It's finally my turn !

I thought I had replied earlier but don't see it here - must have killed it after the preview. Anyhow - welcome - post lots of pictures and details of the build. For some strange reason that sort of thing always goes over very well here

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

OK, so today was my first day allocated to cleaning out the 8x12 shed, stuff has been accumulating in it for 10 years now. Anything that hasn't been used or seen the light of day for at least 3 years was most likely gonna get chucked in the garbage or recycling.

3 sets of winter tires and the snowblower have already been relocated to the rental storage.

Pretty much the only thing left in there after today are the kids bikes, and my toolboxes. I'll move those with some help from my brother next weekend.

Pictures below show the driveway alongside the house, which will get extended into the back yard. The cedar hedge at the end of the driveway is coming down, as well as the entire length along the right side of the property (to maximize my 3' limit from the lot line).

The shed will be coming down week after next or sooner.

Professur: Thanks for your offer !

 

[sevnd3z28]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Looking forward to the build pics! Seems a shame to take that cedar hedge outta there....built in privacy fence. What part of Mtl are ya from? I grew up on the west island...Pierrefonds to be exact,now living down east. Still miss the big city...Salut!

Donnie

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !



Here is the sketch I submitted to the city for building permit. Colors were kinda hard, but will be coordinated with the house brick & siding colors.

$100 for the building permit. No professional plans needed.

Now I have to wait for the next city council meeting...

DONNIE; I am in Lachenaie, just north & east of Montreal / Laval.

 

[D Force]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Is that you standing in the doorway of your sketch?

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Is that you standing in the doorway of your sketch?

It's my buddy Sang ! he suffered an unfortunate accident with his sandblasting gun a few years ago and lost all facial features...

 

[Motown 454]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Sounds like a nice build.

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Sorry All, no updates this weekend. Raining, Snowing, and I caught a wicked cold. Resting up for a long work week ahead of me.

 

[Daniel Dudley]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Looks very decent. Go for a 9' ceiling. You won't ever regret it.

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Hello All;

Here is my weekly update, rained pretty much all afternoon Saturday, so I worked only today.

Daniel: My cieling will be 9' for the first 10' depth of the garage, there will be a loft in the trusses above. Cieling height for the remaining 20' will be 12'.

So today I proceeded to cut down the hedge, a total of 110 individual trees, with stump diameters of between 3" ~ 8". Overall height of the trees was 14'. Towards the back of the property next to the shed, they had grown to about 8' wide.

I then hauled everything out by hand and made a nice clean pile by the street, I am gonna have a guy come in this week and shred the trees into mulch and haul it all away.

Pictures below. I am tired now. Miller Time !

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Ok All...latest updates...been away all week, this is my first chance at updating the thread.

Did a lot of work on Saturday & Sunday...was freaking hot too ! Three weeks ago the temperature was barely above freezing, and a mix of rain / snow was falling... this weekend the temperature soared to 93 degrees...my body didn't have time to adjust and I must have lost 5 pounds in sweat!

Monday was a statutory holiday here in Quebec...also very hot...worked on another project...will insert that when the time is right !

Brought the toolboxes and remaining **** from the shed to the storage locker, had to borrow my brothers low profile trailer for my base cabinet...way too heavy to hoist up into the pickup bed.

Ripped out all the cedar hedge stumps, used the pickup in 4LO and a trusty chain, cleaned the dirt off the root balls to make them a bit lighter to manhandle around...

Managed to take down the old shed completely, cut the long pieces down to size so the would fit into my pickup bed, hauled all that off to the dump (didn't take any pics tho)...

Started loading up my second load for the dump...a few knick-knacks left over from the shed, and the stumps...should have all that loaded up early Saturday morning and hauled off before lunch...weatherman says its gonna be a little cooler too...thank goodness !

Found a bunch of old swingset posts encased in 100 pounds of concrete ballast under the shed floor...gonna use my sawzall to cut the posts off at the base of the concrete to recycle the steel, and haul the concrete ballast off to the dump.

This prep work is tedious, hopefully next weekend I'll be able to completely place all my grade markers and string out the layout on the ground. After that, I've reserved a Kubota mini-excavator for the grade work.

Kudos to my Dad for helping me out on Sunday...he's 74 and still strong as a ox...I hope i am as fit as he is when I am that old !

Was called in by the city urban planning dept on Tuesday about my application for garage permit...they didn't really like my design...grrr...thought it would look like a pole barn farm building...explained the plan in greater detail...he asked for sample photos of the doors, window, trim detail...and ideally a similar garage before he would consider granting the permit...grrr....got all that (pic also below) off to him by email on tuesday evening...now awaiting for the whole shebang to be approved at the next city council meeting (next week).

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Howdy All !

Well another very productive weekend on the "project", Saturday I installed my stakes and batter boards, then I strung my layout lines...was planning on having the garage 3' away from the future side fence and existing rear fence...turns out the easement from the power company is 5' along the back fence, not 3' therefore I have to pull the entire plan forward...I'll also have to trim part of my rear deck if I wanna keep my entire 30' depth (which I do).

Remember the huge pile of cedar trees form the hedge I cut down ? Well I had hired a guy to come and turn it all wood chips and haul it off, but the dummy never showed up and never returned my follow-up phone calls (???)...so Sunday morning I rented a Vermeer trailer mounted wood chipper...and shredded it all myself (my Dad lent me a hand for an hour or so as well)...rented the machine for 4 hours, cost $120 plus tax...then I can go dump at the landfill for free as compost...including prep, cleanup, lunch, machine return...I was done by about 4pm.

My pick up is loaded to the gunwales with shredded cedar, I had to raise the sides temporarily, and have it all covered up so the wind won't blow the **** all over the place again during the night...I am gonna go unload it tomorrow after lunch.

You'll see in the pics below, that some of the layout strings are just laying there on the grass...that's because I used some of the batter boards to temporarily raise the sides of my pick-up bed !

That's all for now !

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Hello All;

Not a productive weekend at all on "the project"... the planets didn't seem to want to line up for me...

I had reserved a Kubota mini backhoe w/loader and a dump trailer, was supposed to pick them up late friday afternoon...I get to the rental place, the Kubota is ready & waiting...but no dump trailer ? I ask the guy where it is...he looks it up in his reservation book...some guy rented it on tuesday for 1 day...but never brought it back ?

So he calls the guy while I am waiting at the counter...guy says "well yeah, I wanted it for 2 weeks, but you couldn't because somebody else (me) had reserved it for the weekend, so I took it for the day with no intention of bringing it back until I was done with it"...

WTF kind of attitude is that ? Geez...so I ask the guy at the counter...now that he's made you lose out on the rental of the Kubota for the weekend, are you gonna charge him the $300 extra that his selfishness is making you lose ?

All I got was a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders...

I was seriously pissed...

In the end, I guess it's not too dramatic though... it rained all afternoon Satruday and all day Sunday...so I probably just would have ended up making a muddy mess of the yard...

On top of all that...when I woke up this morning, I had a seriously stiff neck...

So I ended up resting, catching up on personal emails, sent a few bids for stuff up for auction by the provincial gov't, watched the Nascar race, and am now watching game 5 of the Stanley Cup playoffs... GO PHILLY ! (too many French Canadians on that team, gotta root for 'em !)

For the heck of it, I also checked the scale receipts from my 3 dump runs:

#1- 490kg or 1080lbs

#2- 620kg or 1366lbs

#3- 820kg or 1810lbs

For a grand total of 4256lbs... over 2 tons of junk & scraps & shredded cedar...all manhandled !


Toodahloo !

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Well, the electrician came by this evening to hash out the electrical plan and prepare his quote for the work.

Based on my requirements for lights, outlets, heat, welder, compressor, lift, and some outside doodads (more details to follow), I am gonna run 100 amp service to the garage via buried cable.

The cable will exit the house right below the existing power ingress / meter, and run the perimeter of the backyard to the back left of the garage (about 120' run of buried cable). I am thinking of also running a small conduit next to it for telephone, cable & LAN wiring.

I should have the quote by thursday end of the day.

TTYL.

 

[Ord]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Sounds great! I also used to live in Montreal (Pierrefonds).

 

[Motown 454]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Should be a nice garage when its done, nice and deep. Do yourself a favor and after you get some fill on the cable run some safety tape over it so no one dig through it later on. They have the electrical safety tape.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Re: It's finally my turn !

So he calls the guy while I am waiting at the counter...guy says "well yeah, I wanted it for 2 weeks, but you couldn't because somebody else (me) had reserved it for the weekend, so I took it for the day with no intention of bringing it back until I was done with it"...

WTF kind of attitude is that ? Geez...so I ask the guy at the counter...now that he's made you lose out on the rental of the Kubota for the weekend, are you gonna charge him the $300 extra that his selfishness is making you lose ?

In most places in the US (probably Canada also) failing to return on time is considered theft. Sounds like these guys are not on the ball. How could they not miss their equipment like that. You would think the boss required daily inventory of all equipment.

Charles

 

[1Garageman]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Wow, this is awesome! And defiantly run cable and Cat5 to the garage! Got to have cable tv and Internet in the garage now a days!!!

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Hi Everybody;

I had a busy weekend, unfortunately, none of it on my "main" project ! I don't even have the permit yet, still held up at city hall ! More on that later...

Friday evening & Saturday all day I helped my kid sister and brother in law move from their old house to their newer house. While headed over on Friday after work, the power steering on my pickup gave up the ghost...ugh was it ever a workout steering that thing loaded for bear around tight city streets...

Got up early Saturday morning to fix it...turned out to be the variable assist sensor at the foot of the steering column which stopped working...so I unplugged the harness from the Electric Variable Orifice on the back of the steering pump...voila ! Good to Go !

Got home late Saturday evening...completely wiped out. Rested up on Sunday morning...then put in a light afternoon on my "side" project, and started disassembling my 24' above ground pool...told the kids I had to sell the pool to help pay for the garage build...LOL...were they ever bummed out ! Good thing they don't know what's coming next week !

Anybody near me following this thread interested in a 8 year old 24' above ground Trevi pool with all the trimmings ? Will need a new liner. Will be loading it into the pickup on Saturday...will deliver ast no extra charge within 50 kilometers of my house. Price negociable and VERY REASONABLE. Send me a PM.

Got phone call from the urban planner at city hall yesterday...My permit request was submitted to the "urban planning consultation commitee" (gawd !)...and they recommended AGAINST granting the permit because they were concerned about the "architecture" of the structure...IT'S A BACKYARD GARAGE FER CHRIST's SAKE...Hellooo ?

She also said that this would not prevent the permit application from going to city council, only that the June council meeting was already done, so know I have to wait until the next meeting on JULY TWELFTH ! Aarrgghhh !

At least this will give me time to go take pics of other garages similar to mine that have been build in NEWER neighborhoods in my district. I am then gonna go knock on my councilwoman's door (yes I know her and know where she lives) and lobby in my own behalf. Hopefully the fact that I've been supporting her and the mayor for the last 25 years will be a notch in my favor...

The electrician also called me back yesterday with my quote...he says "I got you a great price on all the materials, so with everything you need for every step of the project, labor included $4000"

(insert cricket chirping sounds here)

So I finally tell him that I think he wasn't listening when we last spoke...I needed him for some of his electrical expertise...not for buying materials, drilling holes in studs, nailing boxes to studs, digging a trench, yadda yadda yadda...

(insert more cricket chipring sounds here)

He says OK, lemme recalculate and get back to you...somehow I don't think I'll be hearing from him again !

The saga continues !

TooDahLoo !

 

[Dmaxman]

Re: It's finally my turn !

That ***** that you have to wait till mid July. I would be going insane wanting to start building. Keep the updates coming

 

[Motown 454]

Re: It's finally my turn !

I feel for you. I'm going infront of the planning board this Thursday eve to pitch my build. I need a variance to go closer to the side of my property front back and other side all ok.
We have a neighborhood group that doesn't want anything new , but my direct abutter on the side I need the room said no problem and signed off on the plan. Still I'm getting nervous. Wish me good luck!

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Hello All;

Well, not too big a weekend on the project.

Finished taking down the pool, got it all stowed on the front lawn pending someone to come and pick it up. The new pool components are being delivered today, the site planners are gonna come out wednesday and mark the property per the plan laid out by the pool architect. Digging will probably begin on Friday or next Monday depending on availabilty of the excavator guys.

Next weekend, which will be a 4 day weekend for me due to the "St-Jean Baptiste" holiday here in Quebec; will be zero work on the project as I am going fishing up north with my son & 2 hunting buddies...near Clova, Qc. (About a 10 hour drive from my house).

Still no further news from the electrician, so I have decided that I will be doing it myself. it will just add more work time to the project. At the rate things are going, with delays from the city and our planned cruise vacation in August, it's looking like end of September for completion of the build.

Have a great week everybody !

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Howdy All;

Been a while since my latest updates, but not much has happened with the garage build itself as I've been waiting for yesterday's city council meeting...

At any rate here we go:

Weekend of June 26th = that weekend actually started on June 24th for me as it is a statutory holiday here in Quebec "St-Jean Baptiste Day". I had been planning to go up north to the hunting camp near Clova, QC with a couple of buddies and with my 12 year old son. We had three objectives.

1- refresh the 4 salt box locations for the moose that inhabit the area. Mission accomplished, lots of moose tracks in the area !

2- errect the 'moose fridge'. We built a 6' x 8' shed out of door cores (insulated steel entry doors that have had the center cut out for nice glass) and modified a window a/c unit to keep it nice & cool in there. It will be powered by a dedicated 3000 watt generator. Since we are hunting during crossbow season this year, it is earlier in the season, hence much warmer, and we don't want to cut our week short for fear of loosing the meat. mission accomplished.

3- Relax & do some fishing. mission accomplished.


The weekend after that...uhhh...can't recall what I did at this point in time...LOL


This past weekend I temporarily installed a 100A subpanel in the yard to power the new pool...and this panel will get relocated a few feet north to the garage once I am ready to wire it up.

This was the first time I had ever undertaken as big an electrical job as this, so I read up on the topic extensively to make sure I had a decent plan in my head.

Started by purchasing all the materials:

80' of TECK 3/3 copper cable at $6.50 per foot = $520.00 !
100A dual pole 'commander' breaker for main panel in the house = $130.00
2" PVC LB, 90* Elbow and 10' conduit = $50.00
100A Siemens 8/16 subpanel =$80.00
15A dual pole Siemens breaker (pool pump) = $20.00
20A dual pole Siemens breaker (pool heat pump) = $25.00
15A single pole Siemens breaker (salt water doodad) = $15.00
20A single pole Siemens breaker (pool light) = $15.00
10' galvanized ground electrode = $20.00
Assorted wiring, connectors, boxes, yadda yadda yadda $125.00
Ditch witch rental $100

Total cost = $1100.00 CDN

Sense of accomplishement once I tested all the circuits = PRICELESS !


The install is really quite straightforward, I used a 3 wire feeder from the main panel to the subpanel. There was a 6AWG ground wire encased with my TECK cable, so I simply did not hook it up in either panel and cut it short so it would touch anything inside the box.

My wire bends inside the boxes are probably not as neat as what an experienced electrician would do, but man was the insulation on those TECK conductors ever stiff !

I now have plenty of power for the pool, and plenty of space left in the subpanel for the goodies inside the garage.


CITY COUNCIL MEETING:

A little prep work with my councilwoman went a long way !

Got up in front of all those elected officials, was polite but firm, concise and precise with my request for reconsideration. Gave details of previous permits granted by the council. The mayor told me that he was already aware of my issue (prep work !), and that he had already instructed the urban planning commitee to "re-evalute" the project & decision. The city urban planner called me aside with the councilman directing the commitee and we had a nice chat. I expect that this little snafu should be cleared up soon and my permit will be granted ***fingers still crossed***. I did make a small concessions (*** for tat you know) and told them I was willing to revisit my roof line angles in order to better match the pitch on the roof on my house, but that I still absolutely needed the overall height & attic storage.

So we'll see where that goes this week.


TooDahLoo !

 

[e-tek]

Re: It's finally my turn !

I can't believe the **** you have had to go through to build ON YOUR OWN LAND!!!! Absolutely rediculous. Lucky for us in SK, we submit a pencil outline showing it's not bigger than 60% of the yard and we're good to go. No design contraints.

Still, good job getting through the "rouge" tape and now you're on your way! Looking forward to the build.

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Howdy All;

Finally some good news on my project. I got a phone call earlier today from urban planning commitee, my plans have FINALLY been approved. However, this news is mitigated by the fact that the approved plans were the third evolution of my original plans...

So in my first plan, the Gambrel roofline was the cause of the refusal. The reason I wanted that roofline was to get 12' clearance inside for my future lift. After reviewing the plans with the city, conclusion was there was no way the city would let this roof line be built.

OKAY. So I draw up another set of sketches, this time I raise my sidewalls to 12', and put a regular 4/12 roof on it (thinking I'll just add a gambrel-like over hang next year...). Well guess what ? City says NO to that idea as well... ARRRGH. Reason stipulated "VISUAL MASS TOO IMPOSING".

OKAY. So I draw up a third set of plans...sidewalls now at 10', with a 6/12 roof pitch, and a 4' x 16' pop-out on the left hand side (for storage, since virtually impossible to have a loft now).

The third plan is approved (today) !

I can still live with the 10' inside clearance, just won't be able to lift taller vehicles like my 4x4 all the way. I am warming up to the idea of not having a loft, stuff will be easier to get at without having to use a ladder or an elevating platform. An elevating platform would have been cool though !

I haven't yet designed my trusses...so I am gonna play around with some possibilities for mini-attic storage...the 6/12 pitch gives me a few feet to play with...

The original building permit was request back in MAY... city tells me this morning that it is too late to add this permit request to dockett for next city council meeting on Monday the 9th of August, therefore it will be presented at next meeting on 13 SEPT !!!

SO I JUST FLIP OUT in my conversation with the planner..."you guys made me loose the whole summer building period with this administrative crapola...snow is gonna be here in November...I need more than 4 weekends to build the freaking thing !"

A few hours later, the mayor calls me back...tells me go ahead and start your build...it will be approved in September. GREAT.

Now I just need to find the time ! My wife & I are going on a cruise for our 20th wedding anniversary on monday...won't be back until the 18th... then sept 3rd I leave for my week of moose hunting up north...then the last week of sept I will be in Toronto all week for meetings...

Looks like I might have to request an unpaid leave for a week or so in October to get this thing up and weather tight before winter...

Egad...

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Well, it's been quite a while, but I finally got my permit LAST WEEK while I was away on a business trip. With our vacation, my hunting week, and all the other stuff going on...I haven't had a chance to even really start.

I called 3 excavating contractors this weekend, they will be coming by early in the week to give me bids on prepping the site for the concrete slab. I'm gonna have the contractor do all the site prep, then I will take care of the concrete later.

Will post devellopments as they occur !

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Howdy All;

It's been quite a long time since my latest update on the project.

To be honest, with the hectic September & October that I had work wise, the only thing I got around to completing was the excavation & the 12" gravel base. Since I was not able to book any time off from work, the concrete pad and the building of the structure will have to wait until May 2011.

I did quite a bit of checking around, and I did manage to score a very decent deal for the work and the materials. As an added benefit, my driveway is now really long, so my pickup can stay parked at the far end and out of the way for the winter.

It does make for more work with the snowblower though...

For the gravel pad, I was driving my daughter to one of her friends house last October, and drove by a house that had quite a bit of excavation equipment on the property. So I decided on the spot to stop and ring the doorbell. The guy who answered owns a small excavating company, and he has a nice little gig going with a large paving contractor who specializes in building streets in new subdivisions. We chat for a bit on what I wanted to do, and he comes over the next day to take a looksee and give me a price.

Two weeks later, on a bright & clear late October saturday, he shows up to do the work. He had a nice Kobelco mini excavator with which he excavated 12" deep to remove all organic material, hauled it all away in his big old Mack dumptruck (3 loads worth), and returns from every load with a huge load of 0~3/4" gravel. He also spread and rough graded the gravel.

Total price including material, hauling, machine time, etc $1400.

Every other quote I got was in the $1800 ~ $2000 range (+ tax).

At $1400, it was only about $400 more than what I had cost out to do it myself by renting the equipment I needed (not counting my time). Best of all, all done in the same day, wheras it probably would have taken me 2 or 3 days.

So that's my latest update, will continue the thread around May 2011 when I start building the forms for the concrete pad.

Happy Holidays to All !

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Howdy All;

Well, the nice weather has finally returned after the incredibly rainy spring we had around Montreal. Some neighborhoods not far to the south have been flooded out for the past 2 months, and the water is finally starting to recede.

Work on the project has resumed!

Priority #1 was getting the patio around the new pool done, the guys were here yesterday and today to prepare and pour then stamp the concrete. Tomorrow, they will come back to clean up, do the saw cuts and then seal the whole shebang. They will also load up the pile of excavated dirt & sod and haul it away.

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

****, **** & **** again !

we just had a torrential downpour that lasted 30 minutes...and I think my new stamped concrete is ruined...

The pour occured between 2:30 ~ 3:30

They floated & trowelled between 3:30 ~ 4:30

They applied release and stamped between 4:30 ~ 5:30

Rain started at 6:40 and lasted till 7:15ish.

It rained so hard, my eavestroughs overflowed...

I just went and took some pics to document the situation:

 

[Milton Shaw]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Haven't seen if you got approval of the design back yet. Hope you get it so you don't have to redesign or move off easement or lot lines.

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Well my patio contractor just came by to power wash the stamped concrete and slice the control cuts. We inspected the surface together, and it was severely damaged in last evenings torrential downpour.

We have agreed that it will have to be busted up and re-poured.

I appreciated his integrity in wanting to do a repour and letting me know up front that any repair attemps would not last long-term.

On the plus side, his crew did a really nice job of the stamping and coloring, we even sealed a small section to see what the final effect will be. It was just the contrast I was looking for.

In the meantime, I STILL cannot start my garage slab, because he will need access to the yard with his machine for the bust-up and re-pour...

Aaargh !

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Haven't seen if you got approval of the design back yet. Hope you get it so you don't have to redesign or move off easement or lot lines.

See post #30.

 

[financer83rs]

Re: It's finally my turn !

You may want to consider goint 20' wide if at all possible. No matter what size you will always wish you went bigger but 16' wide is barely enough to put a truck in the garage and walk around. Go bigger you will NEVER regret it. This is coming from someone with more garage sq footage then house sq footage.

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

You may want to consider goint 20' wide if at all possible. No matter what size you will always wish you went bigger but 16' wide is barely enough to put a truck in the garage and walk around. Go bigger you will NEVER regret it. This is coming from someone with more garage sq footage then house sq footage.

I wish I could, believe me!

That being said, my neighbor across the street has a 16' wide x 30' deep, and I find the space adequate. My sidewalls will be taller than his, and my cieling will be vaulted, thus increasing the interior cubic feet available.

Additionally, since the city nixed my 'gambrel' style roof, my redesign has a 4' x 16' 'popout' along the south side, which will give me a nice little space for my work bench, toolboxes, compressor, welder, and eventually the control box for my lift.

The delays don't really stress me out, since I am building this on my timetable, and out of pocket dollars... My neighbors and my wife are more exasperated with the situation than I am !

 

[p_mori7]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Finally getting ready to pour the slab !

 

[D Force]

Re: It's finally my turn !

Do you dig any trenches for footers? Couldn't that slab slide around when it's done? And yes, I don't know anything at all about concrete.