Modern 2nd Floor Addition & Garage

[R32Jordie]

Hi All,

I joined the Forums to share and document the upcoming renovation of our property which will finally include a garage.

So a little backstory, My then Girlfriend (now wife) both graduated college around 2010-2011 and had been renting a condo in Toronto. Both of us started working in our creative fields, me as a product designer and her in interior / trade show design.

We both saw that the market was starting to get crazy and decided to look for a house in spring of 2012. After looking at a bunch of different places I quickly realized that:

A.) A garage certainly wasnt in the cards
B.) I certainly wasnt going to have near the space I was used to growing up
in a small town.

We made the jump in August 2012 and bought a small bungalow on a small dead end street. The house wasnt much but it is small and met our needs for the time.

The lot was about the best you can ask for in the city. 25'x127' with a park directly across the (dead end) street and wraps around behind our house. Perfect for the dog as well.

The first picture I have of the house, taken the same weekend as Hurricane Sandy.

Shortly after we moved in the construction next door commenced. It was a complete tear down and rebuild.

Which ended out making our house comically small looking

We did remove the front "rock garden" and made a nice front yard. Other than that the house has remained how we bought it in 2012

The dead end street is a must for a "carguy" in the city as there is ample parking and every time we have people over we all tend to gravitate to the cars anyways

We have been living in our tiny house for just over 5 years and now its time to upgrade. We had looked into moving but liked the property too and have been priced out of buying anything in our area. Thus an addition makes the most sense.

We are working with a builder at the moment but have done all the design work ourselves.

We just got through 8 months of dealing with the city and finally got all our variances approved. This was a bit tricky as the house was originally built on an angle.

Anyways here is the Sketchup model. Everything is to scale with the exception of the height of the other houses.

The plan is to come out roughly 21' To add a garage as well as a 2nd story addition. This will more than double the interior space of the house as well as open everything up on the inside.

We are meeting with the builder tomorrow to go over and detail the interior plans so we can begin the process of getting our building permits. Ill share some floorplans once there is a little more finalized.

Cheers

-Jordie

 

[wasfast]

I like the contemporary facelift. Provided the building costs are reasonable by the end, you should have a nice place and a decent financial situation.

The change looks pretty invasive. Where are you going to live in the meanwhile?

 

[sublime68charger]

Nice looking concept and best of luck to on your journey to get this done!

 

[R32Jordie]

I like the contemporary facelift. Provided the building costs are reasonable by the end, you should have a nice place and a decent financial situation.

The change looks pretty invasive. Where are you going to live in the meanwhile?

Hey Thanks,

It is quite the big undertaking and by no means cheap. But when compared to properties in the area and how much the value of our property has increased in the past 5 years it does make the most financial sense.

Luckily for us, my inlaws live about 40 minutes away and we will be staying with them. Its a bit more of a commute but we will be living rent free and they are retired so the dog wont be alone for long periods during the work week.

We both work near enough to each other that we can carpool. This also helps as we can take advantage of the carpool lane.

Nice looking concept and best of luck to on your journey to get this done!

Thanks hopefully the journey smooths out a little. Its been a rough 8 months dealing with the city...

 

[Brian_WK]

Metal, shingle, or rubber roof? Any worries or issues with the snow and that slat roof so close to your neighbors? I love the design!

Brian

 

[memphisnate]

I saw the initial pics and was wondering how you would be going "modern". Ha!

The sketchups look great. Definitely subscribed to see how this goes!

 

[Colin Len]

Love the design aesthetics! Will you be reusing much of the original structure? Doesn't look like it from the front view. And how large will the garage be? (and also, can the garage be made ANY larger, haha!)

 

[Brian R]

You had me at Modern - way cool - I can't wait for updates!

 

[tek18b_jimmy]

Jordie! Glad to see you make it on here! It's Super_OK_S13 from Zilvia...

Can't wait to see progress of the house and garage on here! It looks like it will be really sweet and the extra space will be nice too.

 

[powling]

I have a similar story to yours, minus the rebuilt house part haha.

Both my girl and I work in the creative fields (I'm a creative director, she's a wedding photographer) and lived in Toronto for 2 years a couple years ago. We needed a bigger place, and wanted to get back to small town life so we moved to Elora area north of Guelph. I lucked out and found a place with a great garage and couldn't be happier.

The sketchups you did look awesome! Excited to see the progress.

 

[ap2002]

nice idea for your space, subscribed

 

[TurtleValley]

Love the modern design and the grey, black and wood accents are how we are doing our place as well. The Shed roof design is awesome as well. Just like where we are headed.

I missed it, but are you completely tearing down and rebuilding or keep the roots of the old house?

 

[R32Jordie]

Metal, shingle, or rubber roof? Any worries or issues with the snow and that slat roof so close to your neighbors? I love the design!

Brian

Hey Brian I think we are leaning towards shingle roofing. I would like metal but it depends on the cost. We originally had the slope going the other way but decided to change it to the side with the most setback from the property line.

I saw the initial pics and was wondering how you would be going "modern". Ha!

The sketchups look great. Definitely subscribed to see how this goes!

Thanks, My wife did the sketchup (I do all my 3d work using Solidworks) This is our first reno adventure so it should be a wild ride.

You had me at Modern - way cool - I can't wait for updates!

Jordie! Glad to see you make it on here! It's Super_OK_S13 from Zilvia...

Can't wait to see progress of the house and garage on here! It looks like it will be really sweet and the extra space will be nice too.

Hey small world. I plan on posting lots on here. Between the whole photobucket debacle and the move towards different social media platforms, I try to do my best to keep forums alive haha

I have a similar story to yours, minus the rebuilt house part haha.

Both my girl and I work in the creative fields (I'm a creative director, she's a wedding photographer) and lived in Toronto for 2 years a couple years ago. We needed a bigger place, and wanted to get back to small town life so we moved to Elora area north of Guelph. I lucked out and found a place with a great garage and couldn't be happier.

The sketchups you did look awesome! Excited to see the progress.

Its a shame its so expensive in toronto. We are kind of stuck here as there are not many job opportunities in our respective fields outside of the big city. I would rather pay more to live here than spend all my time in traffic commuting.

nice idea for your space, subscribed

Love the modern design and the grey, black and wood accents are how we are doing our place as well. The Shed roof design is awesome as well. Just like where we are headed.

I missed it, but are you completely tearing down and rebuilding or keep the roots of the old house?

We are using the same foundation and roughly 50% of the existing exterior walls. This is mainly to keep the job classified as a renovation and not a complete build.

Love the design aesthetics! Will you be reusing much of the original structure? Doesn't look like it from the front view. And how large will the garage be? (and also, can the garage be made ANY larger, haha!)

I just read through your build. Nice integra and blue cabinets the garage will be a 1.5 car (roughly 14.5W x 20L) I wish there was a way to make it a little bigger but we already had to get a variance for our setback from the street. The house wasnt built square to the street either which also limited many aspects on the design.

I'll post the tentative floorplans when I get a chance. Thanks for reading and following along.

-Jordie

 

[paranoid56]

this looks awesome, cant wait for the build to start.

 

[Colin Len]

I just read through your build. Nice integra and blue cabinets the garage will be a 1.5 car (roughly 14.5W x 20L) I wish there was a way to make it a little bigger but we already had to get a variance for our setback from the street. The house wasnt built square to the street either which also limited many aspects on the design.

I'll post the tentative floorplans when I get a chance. Thanks for reading and following along.

Thanks for the kind words Jordie! Which reminds me, I need to do some updates to my thread, car has come a long way since those last posts. Definitely interested to see the floor plans. The company I work for is actually involved in the architecture industry (we create as-built drawings for architects and designers) so I'm always interested in this kinda stuff. Plus, I'm a new homeowner myself (3.5yrs) and have hopes of some kind of addition to our place when funds will allow.

 

[R32Jordie]

Quick question as I have never owned a garage before.

Is there anything you wished you had added to your build? As stated, the garage will be a roughly (14.5' W x 20"L)

Ideally I would eventually like to put some MaxJax in so the slab would need to be poured accordingly.

We will be adding both hot and cold lines for water as well as an abundance of electrical outlets.

Is there anything that would be nice to have?

 

[TomcoPDR]

tuning in

 

[Voi]

I think we are leaning towards shingle roofing. I would like metal but it depends on the cost.

I have a single slope (aka shed, skillion, mono-pitch) roof on our cabin. We found an exposed fastener metal that was rated for flatter pitches. It has very deep channels and a groove that I guess acts as a capillary break where the panels overlap. It was much cheaper for both the material and installation costs compared to standing seam, hidden fastener type systems.

Sorry if you already mentioned it, but what way is the slope as drawn going to face?

I'd do a lot of research before doing a shingle roof on a flatter pitch in your climate.

Subscribed for updates. Looking forward to seeing how the roof is framed for your snow loads. Are you hoping for a pitched ceiling or a flat ceiling in the upstairs?

 

[anth]

Hey Jordie, great to see you here! I think we've been following each other around the internet for the best part of a decade now Can't wait to see your new house/garage take shape. Time to stock-up on some 90s JDM memorabilia for your garage!

 

[juergen]

good plan man, hope you show more of the build.

 

[CombatNinja]

Not being a smartass, but how will you mitigate the rain runoff/snow melt on that side of the house? Between your roof being pitched to have everything drain on that side and then the neighbor's roof draining half of his in that direction, is that not going to cause a problem?It looks like if someone were down there between the houses and the sun was warming up the roof with a lot of snow on it, they would be buried in an avalanche if a massive amount came down at once.

 

[apollo11]

I'd sell and build somewhere with some room

 

[R32Jordie]

I have a single slope (aka shed, skillion, mono-pitch) roof on our cabin. We found an exposed fastener metal that was rated for flatter pitches. It has very deep channels and a groove that I guess acts as a capillary break where the panels overlap. It was much cheaper for both the material and installation costs compared to standing seam, hidden fastener type systems.

Sorry if you already mentioned it, but what way is the slope as drawn going to face?

I'd do a lot of research before doing a shingle roof on a flatter pitch in your climate.

Subscribed for updates. Looking forward to seeing how the roof is framed for your snow loads. Are you hoping for a pitched ceiling or a flat ceiling in the upstairs?

Not being a smartass, but how will you mitigate the rain runoff/snow melt on that side of the house? Between your roof being pitched to have everything drain on that side and then the neighbor's roof draining half of his in that direction, is that not going to cause a problem?It looks like if someone were down there between the houses and the sun was warming up the roof with a lot of snow on it, they would be buried in an avalanche if a massive amount came down at once.

These are all valid concerns and it is for reasons like this that we are working with a very well renowned builder in our area who has done a few projects like this.

Our situation is a little different because our house (even at the height of the new addition) is well sheltered by the neighboring houses. The slope is south facing which means it will receive the most amount of sun possible.

Water runoff isnt as much of a concern as you might think as currently both our & our neighbours main downspouts drain into the respective back yards. I would assume that we would do something similar with the new build as well. An impending avalanche might be a problem tho.

The plan is to have a pitched ceiling in the master bedroom (front of the house) and spare bedroom (rear of the house). The rest of the rooms on the 2nd floor with a flat ceiling.

When we work out all the details on framing and get the exact pitch & materials nailed down with the builder I will be sure to share it on here. All valid concerns.

good plan man, hope you show more of the build.

Thanks! I intend to share as much as possible on here.

Hey Jordie, great to see you here! I think we've been following each other around the internet for the best part of a decade now Can't wait to see your new house/garage take shape. Time to stock-up on some 90s JDM memorabilia for your garage!

Hey! its funny finding many people on here. I will for sure fill it with many 90s memorabilia. just need to get it built first haha

I'd sell and build somewhere with some room

I wish this were an option but the way things have gone recently gone in the housing market we wouldn't be able to afford anything similar within a 50 mile radius of where we currently are living.

 

[jimmie jam]

This is going to get good.............waiting.

 

[R32Jordie]

So things are slowly rolling along.

we got our zoning certificate this past week. Which means we can (finally) submit for a building permit.

Here is the current floor plan. The house is very cramped and divided by a long skinny hallway. The bathroom across from the kitchen table is not ideal either.

and here is the new floorplan we have loosely detailed out. Open concept kitchen/ living space which will be much better for entertaining as we wont have a long hallway splitting the kitchen and living area.

The second floor has a master bedroom over the garage, complete with a walk-in (walk through?) closet to the master bathroom.

There are two other bedrooms on the second floor as well as a main bathroom. One of the bedrooms will most likely be used as an office space. Both the master and spare bedroom will feature full height ceilings.

The basement will be gutted as the stairs will be moving from one side to another. the furnace and HVAC will be moved around as well. we will finish the basement ourselves after the major reconstruction of the house has taken place.

The builder also sent over a proposed image of the kitchen which wasn't really to our liking

My wife did a quick sketchup rendering which we will present to the builder when we meet next week

I am just excited that the ball is finally rolling.

Hopefully more updates soon

 

[R32Jordie]

So long time no update, the wheels of the city work so slow.

It was going so slowly that my wife and a couple of friends did an impromptu trip to Japan. Which was incredible.

We played mario kart on the streets

Rented some japanese icons and toured around Hakone

And just had an amazing two weeks taking everything in.

During our trip the city went back on the variances which they had previously approved and we had to agree to make the house 4in narrower.

We got everything approved and moved out to the In-Laws a couple weeks ago. Demolition started last week and everything is moving right along.

The house has been completely gutted and the roof has been partially removed. We have to wait for the hydro company to come and disconnect the power line (from the house) so we can remove the front wall.

As a kid, I always thought that if I ever got a convertible worth 6 figures that it would at least have 10-12 cylinders and have doors that open upwards. I guess this is adulting?

 

[timbitca]

Subscribing to this, should be a good one.

 

[Colin Len]

That trip to Japan looks great! I'm thinking Japan is likely our next international vacation - shooting for 2020 probably since we're spending 2 weeks in Europe this summer. One main goal will likely be to attend the F1 Japanese GP @ Suzuka

And great progress on the house, I really can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

[dummptyhummpty]

Can't wait to see how this goes! I really need to learn how to use sketch up!

 

[buildingup]

Love the renderings and can't wait to see this come to life!!

 

[R32Jordie]

That trip to Japan looks great! I'm thinking Japan is likely our next international vacation - shooting for 2020 probably since we're spending 2 weeks in Europe this summer. One main goal will likely be to attend the F1 Japanese GP @ Suzuka

And great progress on the house, I really can't wait to see how it turns out.

We were shooting for then too but with all the stalls with the house project we decided to just go for it. There are so many automotive things to see and do there, we can see so many automotive icons just walking down the street!

Can't wait to see how this goes! I really need to learn how to use sketch up!

my wife and I both do design, she is the sketchup master as all my design work is done in solidworks.

Love the renderings and can't wait to see this come to life!!

Thanks!

Got news today that the builder hit the water line while excavating the footings for the garage. No better time to upgrade to a 1" line I guess.

 

[R32Jordie]

Stopped by the house (very loose term at this point) and they had poured all the footings as well as completed the cinder block wall for the addition.

Big news everyone!! we have the beginnings of a garage

 

[Lee Celtic]

Love it.. watching with interest..

 

[87quest]

My wife did a quick sketchup rendering which we will present to the builder when we meet next week

Don't post much, but the build looks very interesting! Make that neighbor that just rebuilt jealous!

A question for you, since you say both of you are in design, but with the exterior so strikingly modern, I see where the designer went more modern with the kitchen design as well. You seem to favor a more traditional slant on the kitchen she 'quickly' threw together. Do you see yourself more traditional throughout the whole inside, or trying to marry the two with themes of each?

Also, jealous of so many things in this thread, not the least of which is the ability to 'quickly' do a model of that detail. It takes me hours to try for simple plans for little projects, and I have watched quite a few youtube tutorials.

-quest

 

[JBAUTO]

interesting build plus fellow ontarian

subbed

 

[sean Buick 76]

Very cool! Looking forward to seeing this come together!

 

[R32Jordie]

Don't post much, but the build looks very interesting! Make that neighbor that just rebuilt jealous!

A question for you, since you say both of you are in design, but with the exterior so strikingly modern, I see where the designer went more modern with the kitchen design as well. You seem to favor a more traditional slant on the kitchen she 'quickly' threw together. Do you see yourself more traditional throughout the whole inside, or trying to marry the two with themes of each?

Also, jealous of so many things in this thread, not the least of which is the ability to 'quickly' do a model of that detail. It takes me hours to try for simple plans for little projects, and I have watched quite a few youtube tutorials.

-quest

The more traditional kitchen was drawn up by the builder which we didnt like. everything in the house will be done in a more modern / contemporary style.

Its been a few weeks since the last update but things have been moving along quite quickly this past week. Framing had started last monday and they have the garage walls up and things are starting to take shape.

We found a couple issues with the old structure, which was expected.

The framers have had to reframe and add lintels to the windows as they were not properly framed before.

We are going to have to completely add a new subfloor. Previously there had been an addition done to the rear of the house and there was a .75" bump up in the floor. Since we are going completely open concept, we are going to want the floors to be level throughout

Overall we are extremely happy with the progress and its amazing seeing it all take shape.

Here is a shot from the back sliding doors looking towards where the kitchen will be

Same view from the model

Looking into the backyard from bottom of where the stairs will be. That temporary wall is there to support the rear of the house while the framers centre the rear sliding doors

This is the view of the park from where our balcony will be

This is looking towards the rear of the property. The walls for the north side of the house are framed and ready to be hoisted up.

Here are some more screen grabs of the model.

Unfortunately the old addition was done pretty poorly and out of square. We have to create a "bump out" in the living room area to square up the wall. Its kind of a bummer as it will define our living area but we intend on having it start further down the wall as shown above. This will make the distance on either side of the windows in the dining area equal so at least it looks like it was planned

we have moved some things around in the second floor as well. Everything is was marked out with chalk lines when we were there yesterday and seems to be well planned out. We decided to go with a 42" wall instead of a traditional railing along the top of the stairs which is not yet shown in the model.

Lastly, but most importantly (this IS GARAGE journal after all) the garage seems to be a great size for me and my car.

Crappy panoramic shot but theres easily enough room to have a work area and still be able to open all the doors on the car ect.

I am making the most of living at the in-laws, they live about 30 mins from the local road course. Managed to get out and have a blast putting some laps in.

it was my first time going lapping so a friend tagged along to show me the ropes. It was hard keeping up with his 600HP Skyline though. As a bonus they were running a drag racing even there in the evening so we got to see some jet cars and trucks which was neat.

till next time.

-Jordie

 

[theoldwizard1]

I just found this thread.

Very interesting design ! I would be concerned about all of the rain and snow melt going to one side. You definitely will need a French drain !

 

[anth]

Great to see some progress! have you had any thought on how you're going to fit-out and/or style the garage?

 

[R32Jordie]

Great to see some progress! have you had any thought on how you're going to fit-out and/or style the garage?

Kind of but I would like to see how the car fits in the space first.

The floor is being poured to exceed the specifications required for Maxjax. I am quite over rolling around on the ground under my car.

I have an idea of some light industrial racking I would want on the front wall for a workbench /CAD/ 3D scanning station. We had ordered a set for our old office and I think it would work out well for the space.

-Jordie