My Biggest Adventure

[geteminline]

This is my first post and it has been quite a crazy build.

Back story....

My wife and I met in high school and while going to undergrad and law school we were fortunate to be able to stay with my parents to lower our expenses. About 15 years ago my dad had built a 22X40 garage that I learned to live in just about any chance I could.

After finishing law school we opened a law firm in the square of a great city. When looking for a house we wanted to be walking distance from our house. This limited us greatly which led to me having to give up the condition that the house must have a garage.

We were fortunate to find a great old house (built in 1919) with a larger lot that was big enough to build a garage at a future date. It had a shed that didn't open and seemed to want to tip over. Nonetheless we were happy with the possibilities and we had something to get us by.

Fast forward to about 6 months ago. Finances were looking good and we decided we wanted to try to have a baby. While I was certainly ready, I wanted to also have a garage as a place to teach my future kiddo all the things I was grateful to have learned in a garage. Wife agreed. We build a garage and try to have a baby. As luck would have it the first try resulted in a baby!

We applied and were approved through the historic district to build the garage. I obtained the permit and began to call builders. What was interesting was that I called no less than 20 companies all of which were too busy to take on the project. I am not one to let things go without finishing which meant that my less than expert carpentry skills were going to be tested on quite a large build. I bought materials at Menard's and took 11 days off work for the journey that was unforgettable.

There is much more to this story but I figure I would see what interest was in my ramblings and pictures.

 

[bczygan]

More!!!!!!

 

[donnie]

And pictures of the house built in 1919.

 

[Bessy]

Ok I'll bite. You have to give us more than just the one pic though!!!

 

[madison069]

Interesting garage design, what is your plans for this garage and the layout?

 

[Richard Cranium]

Please update your profile to include you city or state at least.
More pictures would be nice.

 

[Sunbimmer]

Yep nice building I'm interested.

 

[PugetDude]

Subscribed! Thanks for posting.
(Some of us have to live vicariously through other's garage builds...)

 

[vavet]

Kudos to you for taking it on yourself. I considered it but was intimidated by the process.

 

[captain14]

Yes we want the story, all the pictures you have and take some more pictures and post just in case you missing something the first time

Thanks

 

[No Noise Dude]

You've piqued my interest! Subscribing!

 

[colt zantop]

More...pics...more info....!!! Looks like a cool build!

 

[Toolfool]

Subscribed.

 

[geteminline]

I am excited to see that there is interest. Here goes my more in-depth project. I will update my profile but for now I am located in Liberty, Missouri.

While my spark note description touches on many of the steps I figured a more in depth description may be helpful to others looking forward to building a garage.

As I mentioned I grew up "living" in my dad's garage. Having this experience was huge in deciding what garage and layout to build. One tenant that holds true for anyone who has or is building a garage is that no matter how big you build you will always find reasons to build it bigger. Knowing this would hold true for me and that my wife and I are in hopes of paying off and retiring at this house I wanted to build the biggest garage I was allowed to build.

I originally was planing on something similar to my father's garage but the depth always ended up being a burden more than a benefit. I often found myself moving vehicles around in order to pull out things in the back.

The city of Liberty limited us to 800 sq ft. I was slightly bummed but thought that was pretty close to the garage I was used to and we could always add a second floor.

The whole build started out with me pricing out materials. I went to Teauge Lumber, McCray, Lowe's, Sutherland's, Home Depot and finally Menard's. While all the people were very helpful, Menard's was most willing to talk with an unexperienced guy more than anyone else. I often felt the lumberyards would treated me oddly knowing I was a homeowner and this was a one time purchase.

One thing that was great though was that as I discussed the options with each store they were willing to offer advice which cumulatively was huge.

Before any of the stores were willing to provide hard numbers they all requested plans. This was the first time I knew I needed plans. At first glance my plan was to just build it.

Before paying nearly a grand to get plans I first needed to make sure the historic district would be willing to let me construct this grand plan.

I scheduled a meeting and drew the prospective elevations on a sheet of paper. Antsy as heck, they called my application to order, they asked me some questions and they approved the prospective build. They did add a couple conditions. 1) Curved gable ends 2) Roof pitch to match the house.

Not so bad.... I was excited to announce that step 1 was moving well. I quickly found an architect/engineer to draw of some plans so that I could get going. To my surprise they were completed quickly (2 weeks) and I was able to apply for a permit.

This is where things changed. I figured this was a quick project for a crew of framers and that I could get someone out to frame it with a few calls. Much to my surprise, I called and called and called and I heard time after time that people were too busy to handle the project. After many calls I get two quotes. One was nearly $61,000 for a truncated version of what the plans were for and the other was nearly $18,000 for just labor.

Since this was going much less smooth than anticipated and knowing I did not want to wait the times frames anticipated I decided to take this on myself. Immediately soaking up Larry Haun videos I go to Menard's to get 11% off a huge material purchase.

In the meantime concrete was underway. We found a young concrete guy that had a good reputation and a time frame that was workable.

At this time I knew I needed to take off work. Since my wife and I are both attorneys and we own our office I didn't schedule anything for an 11 day stretch to knock this out.

Roughly 1 month and 2 weeks ago concrete is done and materials show up the next day. THE BUILD BEGINS!!!!

Day 1 - One week before I get 11 days to build we build and frame the 1st three walls and prepare for beam to be delivered. I knew that we needed this beam in as it would be the only thing to slow us down if I had to wait on the company to deliver. We had buckets of friends and neighbors to lend a hand. It was a ridiculously great time but the time crunch kept me moving. We get the first three walls up I anxiously measure over and over for a week to make sure that the beam will fit. The beam is 16X40 in order to avoid having any posts in the garage. Here are some pictures of what it looked like.

Day 2 - ..............Let me know if interest is still present and the build thread goes on. I'll try to get pictures straightened out.

 

[geteminline]

I almost forgot. Here is the house we were to match.

 

[BBChevro]

Nice.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[geteminline]

Day 2 - Day 2 was the first of the 11 days off of work. I was antsy to begin as this was the day the beam would be set and I would be off to the races. I woke up early and measured the pocket about 3 more times. All looked good.

About 8 a.m. the beam truck rolled in. It was huge and took out quite a few of our branches. The company we worked with was Royal Metal and I could not be happier with their service. They showed up on time and were quite skilled in getting it set.

While I was terribly uncomfortable using my little fingers to guide the beam in, the guy operating the boom was talented. He ever so gently brought it to me and it went straight into the pocket. I could not be happier. This meant the project goes on. It was pretty shocking seeing it fit in place and how huge the beam was.

After the beam man left I continued on with framing. A family friend came over and helped me frame and lift the two garage door walls up. This meant we had all our walls for the first floor up. Next step stairs. While I was happy with the turnaround and price of the plans this was the first glimpse into how vague they were. Without measuring and knowing exactly where the plans called for the stairs we made an educated guess and cut the stringers made a landing and had a set of stairs to walk up to a deckless second floor. At this moment I began to realize the overwhelming heights I was going to have to conquer my fear of.

Day 2 came to an end with beam set, all four walls up and stairs framed out. Good progress and the blisters on the feet were starting to form. As each day came to an end myself along with whoever would stick it out with me would sit back as the sun set and reflect on what all we did that day. Beyond anything else that was completed, this was by far my favorite moment.

I ended day two with a bath and a straight shot to bed at about 11 p.m. ready to start the next day with the wheaties and some more blisters. It all became quite humorous to me at the end of the day as I thought back to what I had done and what was to come I would find myself laughing hysterically.

Day 3 to come......

 

[Bessy]

Patiently awaiting day 3!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[AZ Pete]

well done


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[onemanarmy]

following...

 

[Striker-7]

Definitely following. 11 day build is pretty ambitious!

 

[ich_liebe_meine_arbeit]

You bet I'm following this local build!

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Sounds like your inspection and permitting process is way more permissive than what goes on here. Looks like you have a fun building to match as well.

 

[geteminline]

Sorry for the delay in posting. This story has become quite different than I thought it would head. After making quite a lot of progress, finding peace in almost being done and having a baby on the way we had quite an incident occur.

On October 2nd 2017 at 8:50 a.m. my wife and I left for work. At about 10:00 a.m. I went back home to meet with an inspector to get our final inspection completed. As soon as I pulled in the driveway I could see smoke billowing out of our house. At first glance I thought this may be resolvable. I opened the front door, saw what I certainly didn't expect and ran to the other side of the house to let the dogs out.

After calling the fire department and waiting about 5 hours the fire was put out and we began to assess the damage.

Here is the link the newspaper article. http://www.mycouriertribune.com/new...cle_be9729cd-3c9e-538b-9857-9210793c7e6f.html

Now this put quite the twist on what we were to do next. We spent one night with my parents and realized all the work and planning we did to avoid having a baby when we were not ready may have been a lost cause. After staying up all night thinking about what would be next we decided that we may have a great idea.

Here are a few pictures of the damage. The story will continue. The great idea will be revealed in the next post. (HINT: The garage is our saving grace)

 

[AZ Pete]

Wow, looks like the FD did an admirable job. Best of luck on the rebuild.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[bczygan]

Sorry for the delay in posting. This story has become quite different than I thought it would head. After making quite a lot of progress, finding piece in almost being done and having a baby on the way we had quite an incident occur.

On October 2nd 2017 at 8:50 a.m. my wife and I left for work. At about 10:00 a.m. I went back home to meet with an inspector to get our final inspection completed. As soon as I pulled in the driveway I could see smoke billowing out of our house. At first glance I thought this may be resolvable. I opened the front door, saw what I certainly didn't expect and ran to the other side of the house to let the dogs out.

After calling the fire department and waiting about 5 hours the fire was put out and we began to assess the damage.

Here is the link the newspaper article. http://www.mycouriertribune.com/new...cle_be9729cd-3c9e-538b-9857-9210793c7e6f.html

Now this put quite the twist on what we were to do next. We spent one night with my parents and realized all the work and planning we did to avoid having a baby when we were not ready may have been a lost cause. After staying up all night thinking about what would be next we decided that we may have a great idea.

Here are a few pictures of the damage. The story will continue. The great idea will be revealed in the next post. (HINT: The garage is our saving grace)

You Sir.........Are the Eternal Optimist!


Bill