My Garage Build thread

[MaverickH1]

Good evening, gents. I'm here to get the expertise and wisdom from you guys and to document what will be my garage build thread. I'm currently getting quotes for everything, so this thread is very premature.

I am a newlywed (4 months ago), and my wife is finally sick and tired of the tools in the house. Thus, I have given her the PERFECT motivation for being all in to build this workshop.

I am a 29 year old mechanical engineer who is currently working in the civil engineering industry for construction.

Garage size: estimated 40x40x12 with a 12' lean to on the side. I want it to be big enough so that I can pull a car in for a "long term project" and still have enough room to park two other cars in the garage. The garage will actually have just two garage doors. I'm hoping to keep it tall enough for a lift, and maybe at some point a loft area for the wife to do crafts and to have extra storage outside of the house. Below is my first drawing for what I'm after for layout:

http://www.maverickh1.com/shared/Forums/Proposed%20frontal%20view%20with%20reuse%20of%20shed%20under%20carport.png (I made it a link because the image is too large and widens the forum text window)

Build type: I'd like scissor trusses or at least some kind of open type roof support so I won't have valuable ceiling height taken up by roof structure. My leading quote at the moment is from Strat-O-Span (http://www.strat-o-span.com/page6.php). The plan is for me to do almost everything on this garage build myself with the help of my wife and some friends/family. Strat-o-span has quoted me for a frame, supports, and roof and insulation. I'll be doing the siding myself to match the house better. I plan on making this a fully insulated unit.

Motivation for wanting a workshop: I pretty much hate new vehicles. Our family vehicle growing up was a 1982 Chevy Suburban 3/4 ton. I bought this from my dad, it currently has only 132,000 miles on it or so as it wasn't our "primary" vehicle. I plan on making it more modern so I can use it for my family as well. My other dream vehicle is a Hummer H1, a vehicle that needs plenty of maintenance. The typical stuff, really...

Site: The conceptual building site is not currently level. It's about 7' lower than my driveway at its lowest point. I'll either have to bring dirt in or I'll have to find some myself, but I don't think I'll make everything level. I'll probably grade it so the workshop is 3 or 4 feet below the driveway. I'm on almost 8 acres of land out here, but most of it is wooded. There will be at least 1 week of heavy equipment rental where I'll be taking off from work and using an excavator, which will be hopefully used for many other projects than just garage site work. The building site is shown below:

Since I'm zoned R-1 (as if I was on a 0.25 acre lot), I'm only allowed 1 "accessory structure". The zoning guys will allow me to keep my shed if I incorporate it into the new building. That's why the shed is having to move. I'll have to make them share the same roof too. Referencing the above picture, the property slopes heavily down to the right until it gets to a seasonal stream, and then it flattens out. There aren't really any other options for placing this structure unless it's right next to the house.

I'll update this thread and ask questions as time goes on. Just wanted to say hi.

 

[nolimits76]

A few thoughts...

1. I don't think a 12' car port is wide enough to provide ample working space. To park yes, but to work it's too skinny. Also, your "project vehicle" will be partially exposed to the elements. If you take stuff down to bare metal that could be a potential nightmare IMO, plus making it less realistic to work on during the winter months or any rainy days. Not to mention neighbors potentially seeing your project (think valuable 69 Charger or similar). For all these reasons, I would make that spot wider & covered.

2. I know bringing in dirt fill can be expensive, but I'd rather do that and have my building pad a little higher than my driveway so I don't get any incidental run off in my new garage. Also with a flat, or near flat, driveway you now have the ability to work on projects in the driveway if the need arises. And depending on the severity of the slope, it will make pulling in/out trailers easier. Being in civil construction, talk w/ your company or companies you work with and offer them a "free dump site" for haul off spoils. You may have to help pay some of the trucking but you might get lucky and end up w/ free fill.

3. Would it just be cheaper to use the existing shed as a "temporary storage" during construction and then sell it after you are done? I'm not suggesting to forsake that space, but rather build it new vs trying to incorporate old. You might be dollars ahead or very close, and not have the "design" aspect to deal with on tying things together.

 

[MaverickH1]

A few thoughts...

1. I don't think a 12' car port is wide enough to provide ample working space. To park yes, but to work it's too skinny. Also, your "project vehicle" will be partially exposed to the elements. If you take stuff down to bare metal that could be a potential nightmare IMO, plus making it less realistic to work on during the winter months or any rainy days. Not to mention neighbors potentially seeing your project (think valuable 69 Charger or similar). For all these reasons, I would make that spot wider & covered.

2. I know bringing in dirt fill can be expensive, but I'd rather do that and have my building pad a little higher than my driveway so I don't get any incidental run off in my new garage. Also with a flat, or near flat, driveway you now have the ability to work on projects in the driveway if the need arises. And depending on the severity of the slope, it will make pulling in/out trailers easier. Being in civil construction, talk w/ your company or companies you work with and offer them a "free dump site" for haul off spoils. You may have to help pay some of the trucking but you might get lucky and end up w/ free fill.

3. Would it just be cheaper to use the existing shed as a "temporary storage" during construction and then sell it after you are done? I'm not suggesting to forsake that space, but rather build it new vs trying to incorporate old. You might be dollars ahead or very close, and not have the "design" aspect to deal with on tying things together.

Thank you for your thoughts and thorough response.

1) The carport isn't going to be "long term" project space. The idea is to have the middle garage door be the project door. I'm hoping for my wife to park full time in the left side door. I'm expecting to park my lawn equipment inside the shed as I currently do, and to maybe park our "dog truck" under the carport. I need to finalize a layout of what I expect, but there are so many other options I'm looking into that I've almost said "deal with it later". 40x40 with a 40x12 lean-to is about my size limit when it comes to county code as well. They want the "footprint" of the garage to be less than the footprint of the house. All attached structures are included in this calculation, so my house deck and covered porch helps me, while the lean-to hurts. I'll look into widening it a bit when the time comes and see if the zoning guys will allow it. One of my biggest pet peeves is not having enough room to open a car door in a parking spot.

I was hoping to be able to have a vehicle as long as the Suburban (for example) and as wide as a Humvee deep inside the building for a long term project and still be able to park two other vehicles at the doors. My original layout had space for this.

2) I need to confirm, but I think the grade would be about 10% with what I have in mind. Steep, but not too steep. I was anticipating having to incorporate good drainage into 3 out of 4 sides to protect the structure. With the ground work and fill I'll have to do, it will only cost the amount of PVC, gravel, and diesel fuel from the excavator. But I might be overstating the simplicity. The current local project we've got is actually using all of the fill to create a raised road, but I have registered on dirtfill.com, and if the time comes I'll see what I can get. I think I priced a fill and it was something like $13,000 worth of dirt, but that was from a local landscape store guy. I'm sure I can get it significantly cheaper from one of the quarries around here.

3) I'm currently waiting for a quote to see what it would cost to have a professional come and move the shed. I was hoping to reuse the roof for a covered structure for my shooting range down by the stream. The shed itself is something I've put some time into in order to make it a good space for all of my lawn equipment, I'd hate to have to duplicate that. I'll end up measuring what is and isn't worth it when the time comes. I would try to move it myself, but it will have to move slightly uphill and the pulling direction is into the woods. Not ideal.

Gotta leave work now, thanks again! Plenty of things for me to consider.

 

[Model A Fan]

I like your idea, and it isn't too close to your property line, so you'd be able to plant some bushes or trees to create a divider and to keep prying eyes at bay. Good luck with the build, I will be following it. I would go with the scissor trusses to maximize your head space.

 

[diypolebarns]

Love the size and purpose of the building. I think your overall design is right for your needs. A 12' carport can be a bit tight, but not overly since you can have the one side open except for posts every 10' apart. You're right about having plenty of things to consider. I have many sleepless nights when I am planning my building / home improvement projects. There is so much to think about!! I drive my wife NUTS!!! It's even worse since I sell pole barn kits and have been in the building materials and construction industry for years. More Knowledge = Harder Decisions.

If I can help you in any way, though excavating is not my forte, please let me know. You can also check out our Instant Quote tool on our website that might help you understand even more options and the cost of those options: http://www.diypolebarns.com/quote/

Good luck with you building project!

 

[MaverickH1]

I like your idea, and it isn't too close to your property line, so you'd be able to plant some bushes or trees to create a divider and to keep prying eyes at bay. Good luck with the build, I will be following it. I would go with the scissor trusses to maximize your head space.

I THOUGHT it wasn't, but I had a friend who does forestry lines come out and measure and mark the lines. I paid him in bourbon, beer, and dog treats. It looks like my original plan had the northwest corner directly on the property line. So the building will have to move out at least 5 feet to accommodate county code. It turns into a thick jungle out there when spring time comes and the underbrush opens up, but you're right I should plant some evergreens for additional privacy.

Love the size and purpose of the building. I think your overall design is right for your needs. A 12' carport can be a bit tight, but not overly since you can have the one side open except for posts every 10' apart. You're right about having plenty of things to consider. I have many sleepless nights when I am planning my building / home improvement projects. There is so much to think about!! I drive my wife NUTS!!! It's even worse since I sell pole barn kits and have been in the building materials and construction industry for years. More Knowledge = Harder Decisions.

If I can help you in any way, though excavating is not my forte, please let me know. You can also check out our Instant Quote tool on our website that might help you understand even more options and the cost of those options: http://www.diypolebarns.com/quote/

Good luck with you building project!

Went and priced it on your site, but I don't appear to have any options for custom trusses. In our particular case, the roof structures that don't have cross beams at the eaves is a huge bonus, as I require at least 14' of unobstructed space from the floor, and we don't want the garage to end up being more prominent than the house. We're actually tucking it into the woods so it's a bit hidden. It'll also give us plenty of space inside to eventually build a loft or something so my wife can have her craft space.

Cheers to sleepless nights.

 

[MaverickH1]

Deposit placed on a building today. It will be coming from Ironbuilt Steel Buildings. Final design is a 40x52 with a 14' eave height. 4 garage door openings, 2x 10x8, a 10x10, and a 12x12. 2 3x7 man door frames. No siding. No insulation at the moment. No garage doors included. No man doors included. Just a frame with door openings and a roof.

I'm very excited to get this thing started.

 

[WJW]

First off good luck with the build. Newbie here. Following this build.... looks like the size I will need.

 

[MaverickH1]

Welcome aboard, WJW. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes.

For an update:

I'm in the permitting process now, and I'm trying to put the final touches on a foundation design to submit to them.

I purchased the book "Foundation and Anchor Design Guide for Metal Building Systems" in order to make sure my math and ideas are correct. Thankfully I did buy this book as it's going to save me a great deal of pain, heartache, and money in the long run. Maybe...

In order to preserve costs and put off the expensive stuff, I'm hoping to make the footer and foundation wall completely separate from the concrete slab. This will make it so the slab can be cut or drilled into without worrying about affecting the foundation, and it will also make it so I can save up the thousands of dollars I will need to pour the slab in the future. I'll be leaving one of the garage doors unfinished until this happens so a concrete truck can actually back into the structure to do the pour. Hopefully that will work well enough...

My shed will have to be sold off due to zoning. I'm hoping to keep it around to keep tools locked up until construction is finished on the rest of the building.

So far, the volunteer help that I THOUGHT I was going to have is falling through completely and I might be on my own for the frame building. Which means I'm getting erection prices from local contractors as well.

I'll post up foundation and driveway concepts when I get them complete. I'm also trying to figure out a way to get a time lapse of the whole project.

 

[MaverickH1]

The building delivery is about 5 weeks away. My wife and I were both a little worried about all of the equipment rentals that we're anticipating. The biggest one being a 2 month rental for a backhoe, estimated cost of $4,000 just for that rental.

Somehow, I convinced her with all the other improvement projects we want to do to buy a "new" tractor.

Yesterday I bought a Kubota L3400HST with only 75 hours on it:

It was delivered Friday morning, and backhoe practice is a BLAST!

I'm like a little kid on Christmas morning!

 

[ATX 4x4]

Practice practice practice!

 

[Model A Fan]

What was the cost difference between renting and buying? I imagine if you take care of the backhoe, you can always sell it if it turns out you don't use it all that much.

I'm looking forward to more of your thread.

 

[MaverickH1]

What was the cost difference between renting and buying? I imagine if you take care of the backhoe, you can always sell it if it turns out you don't use it all that much.

I'm looking forward to more of your thread.

In our case, we have a lot of backhoe work. We have a deep crater in the land between our driveway and where the workshop will go. To use relative elevations, our driveway is at 0 elevation. The workshop is at -5', and the crater is -8'. I have to fill everything between the driveway and the workshop in order to have a functioning driveway out of the workshop, which is about 40' of distance. The total fill required is somewhere around 800 cubic yards. That's $6,000 worth of dirt from the lowest bids I was able to find, IIRC.

Additional backhoe work for the project was going to be: underground propane tank burial, stone walkway prep, backyard patio fill (somewhat steep slope back there now), tree clearing and stump removal, shooting range berm building, trenching for house drainage (the gutters currently just stop at the bottom of the house on all sides for some reason, the deck columns have completely rotted out as a result on a 15 year old deck), rock removal of our quarry like landscaping, existing driveway grading, and I'm sure I'm missing some other tasks.

I figured we'd need a full size backhoe for at least 2 months. That's about $4,000 for a rental.

The used one was $19,000, financing makes it ~$21,000 I'd guess. If we keep it for 5 years, I suspect we'll be able to sell it for $14,000. So we're basically going to pay ~$7,000 for a 5 year rental. And it gives us a lot of options and we won't have to rush the design or installation of anything. A huge plus in my book.

When I laid out my tractor plan... my wife said that I could have a tractor if she could have a tablet...

Um... deal.

 

[mechanix311]

Smart move on the tractor. I myself have a bobcat and dont know what I would do without it. More than likely you wont sell it because they are just so darn handy to have around. I used to run equipment for a living so I know first hand how expensive hiring it out or even renting equipment can be. Kubota makes a fine machine you will be happy with your purchase.

 

[MaverickH1]

Smart move on the tractor. I myself have a bobcat and dont know what I would do without it. More than likely you wont sell it because they are just so darn handy to have around. I used to run equipment for a living so I know first hand how expensive hiring it out or even renting equipment can be. Kubota makes a fine machine you will be happy with your purchase.

I think I'll have to find ways to keep it useful for a little while and we'll just keep it around.

I might also do some little contract work around town to help pay it off quicker.

 

[MaverickH1]

Hit my first big road block after working hard to clear the 40'x52' space myself. A lot of dirt moving, and a lot of tree cutting and stump digging. I finally called in the artillery this weekend to hammer out the big rock on the back of the building site, renting a large backhoe with hydraulic hammer.

The hammer didn't get all of it. And when I tried to move the building layout slightly to compensate for that, I found another large piece of bedrock under the ground that made the move impossible.

So now I've got to remove that original rock. Can anybody share any experiences with things like this? Any idea what kind of $$ I'll be in for if I need to blast it out?

I'd say the original rock that needs to be removed is ~8'x6'x6'.