Justintiime's Garage/Loft build thread!

[justintiime]

Justintiime's 24X32 Garage/ 12X32 Loft build thread!

Hey guys! My name is Justin. Just recently bought a house, and one of the requisites was a garage for my cars. It measures 25x32 and fits all my stuff nicely! There *is* a second "story". Its not a full floor because of the rafters....more of a loft I guess. The kicker is there is no access to it. There is a spot on the back for a deck/stairs to it but the previous owner never finished it. Thats where I start I guess

I have some renovations starting next week, so I decided to take a bunch of before pictures now.

Exterior

Interior:

100 amp service

The Loft:

Since buying the house, I cleaned the gutters, put guards on them to keep the leaves out, and bought 100 feet of the black tubing fr drainage. I buried it in what could possibly be the rockiest and most root infested ground in the world! Its all done though, and it works as it should

This coming week may be the most exciting for me so far. I am having a two level deck put on the back of the garage!!

I am having a door installed on the back wall, between the rear windows. This will give access to the 24' wide by 14' deep deck I am having built. This deck will also have a set of stairs leading up to a landing for the second floor! It will have a set of stairs going out the back for access to the outside storage building. I'm also contemplating building a walkway off the opposite side to meet up with the deck on the back of my house. I'll talk to the contractor this week. He hopes to break ground on Thursday.

 

[justintiime]

THE DECK
Day One progress:
-Cut hole for door
-Started framework for deck.

I forgot to mention...they wanted to make this a free standing deck. I've had bad luck with that in the past in the house I grew up in. They secured the deck into the garage. They drilled through the 4" cap blocks and 1" into the concrete and secured it with these real gnarly loocking concrete bolts that had some purple loc-tite looking stuff on them. This whole deck is built on 6x posts...a total of 9 of them for a 24x14 deck. The thought was to support the weight of expanding the garage back. With the way the economy is with my business, I may have to abandon my rental space and make it an in home business again.

Day two will consist of a footer inspection, install the posts and concrete. Thursday is a day off for concrete to cure. Building commences Friday. The contractor had to order a new door. The one I wanted should have swung outside. I was unaware that exterior doors normally swing inside. What I want is custom order and should hopefully be here thursday.

Big hole for my door

Coming along nicely!

Day two progress:

-Inspection for footers passed with flying colors!!
-Concrete poured and set to cure for a day and a half.
-Walking surface put on deck. I can walk on it!

Next is to install the posts, and start the stairs to the elusive Loft!

Day three progress:

All the posts are done and on the concrete. The posts for the railings are on and secured with carriage bolts. The landings for the stairs to the second level are done too. Its looking like a deck!

Day 4 progress:

My new door came in. This is the correct one that opens outwards.

And stairs to the loft! No, I didn't go up there....it looks like they still have a post to put in for the second landing. I'll wait until thats done before I go up there

Day 5 progress:

I came home and most of the railings are done, and the landing is complete. I can get to the second floor!

I came home today and was surprised at how much more this looks like a deck now!

To the far left is where the steps will go

Back corner

Railings to the steps. They will continue behind the steps as well

Landing is complete

View looking down

OMG the loft! I can finally get to it!

Day 6 progress

They put all the pickets on, and finished the railing under the stairs. Day 7 progress should be the steps to the lawn, and anything left over. Friday should be the final inspection!

 

[justintiime]

THE LOFT!

As of 4-3-12, my deck is completed to a stage where I can finally get to the loft! When purchasing the house I could see it was partially finished, but there was literally no access to the second floor from inside or outside of the garage.

Here is how it started:

Is that the hidden part of recessed lighting in the ceiling?


Day 6 FINISHED PRODUCT!

 

[justintiime]

As of 7-1-12 I have started doing some electrical work in the garage. I added 6 more fluorescent lights in the ceiling.

Also plan on adding 17 more outlets between upstairs and downstairs. Also adding 2 ceiling fans downstairs and 1 upstairs.


Also had a nice 240v AC unit framed into the wall. For being 100+ degrees the last few days, and having NO insulation, it kept the garage a workable 85* while wiring.

Just had my 75,000 BTU "Mr. Heater" propane heater installed today. $533 on Amazon, free shipping. Tucks right up on the ceiling for a real nice finish. Should have it running in a few days after inspection.

 

[justintiime]

Now its time to introduce a new mini project I havent really mentioned. Behind my garage is a 13x14 shed. The building itself is in great shape but I knew the floor needed some repair.
I couldn't get in the building too well. Over the years, due to lack of drainage from the garage gutters, all the washoff had washed all the mud and dirt into the building doors and blocked them shut.

Here is the best example of the building I have. Its on the left.

heres the dirt pile. Trust me, its deceiving

Here are some of the monster roots we fought the WHOLE TIME

All dug out!

My parents had a pallet of old bricks at their house from when it was built 3 years ago. I loaded them all into my FJ Cruiser (2 trips).

All unloaded in the yard, the pile looks much smaller than when I was loading them in my truck!

I have a retaining wall!

I have some mortar to put on the top row to let it hold them on better than gravity lol

OK so, heres the problem. How bad is the floor inside?

Pretty. Bad. Poor drainage trashed the front of the floor.

A hole in the roof I never knew was there trashed the back of the floor.

So we tore it all out

The front of the building had sank a good 3 inches because the foundation had rotted out. So we jacked it back up. The door no longer sits on the floor!

We went off to Lowes. We got a bunch of 3/4" marine plywood, pressure treated 2x6's and some pressure treated 4x4s and some concrete.

New posts were put under the building

All new 2x6 foundation

back half of the floor is replaced

The floor is done now...pictures to come.

I have also taken the shelving that was in the garage, and moved it into the storage building.

We can now use it for tools, gardening stuff, etc...while freeing up a TON of room in my garage

Super happy with how everything is turning out.

 

[cletus66]

You have an excellent starting point. That first step out the door from the loft would be a doozy !!

 

[justintiime]

yeah buddy!

 

[metalhead212121]

looks like somebody is a Pontiac fan. Nice license plates BTW. If I had to take a guess I'd say you're living in VA. The license plates LOOK like VA plates but I'm not sure....

 

[justintiime]

been a big pontiac fan for 10+ years and am part of the Pontiac Oakland GMC club I'm already collecting the pontiac stuff I will put in the garage!

And yes, I'm in VA. The license plates have the engine designation and suspension package on the two Birds. The license plates on the 67 were the ones installed by the dealership in 1967!

 

[A_Pmech]

You have a 4th gen Birdcar!

You can stay...

 

[justintiime]

I appreciate it. I'll have updates this week!

 

[metalhead212121]

And yes, I'm in VA. The license plates have the engine designation and suspension package on the two Birds.

I got a 3rd gen WS 6 as well...

You have a 4th gen Birdcar!

You can stay...

"Birdcar".... thats a new one..

 

[justintiime]

Building will start in 2 days. I will update with pictures as I take them

 

[Red Leader]

Great looking place to start from! Will be paying attention to this one.

 

[CHRIS P]

So i didnt see anybody ask and you really didnt mention. Have you even been up into the crawl space?? if not lets hope jimmy hoffa isnt up there, lol

 

[justintiime]

no I've never been up there!! I've had some peeks from a ladder that goes up maybe 8 feet but its a surprise!! It looks like it was finished at one point, but due to lack of circulation, and the back door being open (no handle to close it) all the sheetrock has disintegrated and fallen off the walls. there is electricity run up there too. I'm real anxious to get up there and try my hand at drywall

The contractor just left. He had to measure some stuff out. I'm going to the building supply place now to pay for all the materials which will run about $3k

 

[DIYKiah]

That garage would be a perfect candidate for garage shelving and it would really help you free up room so your cars and workspace doesn't get too crowded in there. Check out my signature to take a look at some that DIYGarageShelf offers!

 

[SuperSocket]

Wait, you have never been up there? Did they even inspect up there when buying the house? (maybe the inspector left the door open) Do you have a ladder? It's pretty ballsy to order up a deck and construction without even knowing what is going on up there.

Almost gives me the impression that stairs were back there with a deck at some point but was against code, so the owner ripped it out when he went to sell. OR The owner may have had a crane fixed in there and used it as cheap storage space.

 

[justintiime]

I have not been up there. The home inspector and contractor have. Thats how I know whats up there

 

[justintiime]

The construction has begun! I have updated a post above and dedicated it to THE DECK

 

[justintiime]

Day one progress complete!

 

[justintiime]

more progress updates here:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2184404&postcount=2

 

[justintiime]

DAY THREE PROGRESS:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2184404&postcount=2

 

[justintiime]

someone must be reading this!

 

[Shoottx]

Yup

Perfection in progress is hard to make a comment on!

 

[chris bsopke]

You might get more feedback if you posted progress in the next available post not keep adding to the first couple of posts as it makes it a pita to follow what's going on when you hit the first unread button .

 

[A_Pmech]

When you move the biz back home and evict the cars you need to build another garage for the 4th gen.

 

[justintiime]

I have the space between the existing garage and house lol

 

[justintiime]

I now have a door!

And stairs! They don't look complete...still need a couple posts.

 

[justintiime]

I came home today and was surprised at how much more this looks like a deck now!

To the far left is where the steps will go

Back corner

Railings to the steps. They will continue behind the steps as well

Landing is complete

View looking down

OMG the loft! I can finally get to it!

 

[gj67stang]

I now have a door!

Shouldn't the hinges be on the inside of the builing to discourage intruders?

 

[justintiime]

It is. That was the wrong door and has been replaced with the correct one

 

[justintiime]

Day 6 progress

They put all the pickets on, and finished the railing under the stairs. Day 7 progress should be the steps to the lawn, and anything left over. Friday should be the final inspection!

 

[justintiime]

ALL DONE!!

 

[Binrat]

my shed door opens out like that, it has special hinges with pins on the inside. so even if you were to remove the hinge pins you could not get the door open, easily.

 

[justintiime]

cool! wish I knew about those doors

 

[justintiime]

can anyone tell me what kind of lights are in the ceiling of the loft? Are those typical recessed lights?

I'm going to get some "Drywall for Dummies" books soon and start on the loft

 

[m_hatcher]

Yes those are typical recessed light cans. It looks like they are 6" ones.

 

[justintiime]

thank you!

 

[metalhead212121]

When you move the biz back home and evict the cars you need to build another garage for the 4th gen.

you must REALLY love 4th gen F-bodys.... you got any pics or info on your car??

justintiime- garage is coming along nicely..