My New Garage Plans.... Comments Please!

[cdecker]

Well, I've been planning this thing out for almost three years now, and its finally come time to start the project in a couple months! Unfortunately for me I just found this forum a few months ago, tons of great info here! Anyways, I have finally convinced my wife to agree on a final size of 24'x32'. I have everything drawn in AutoCAD (attached clips below), and my architect is working on my stamped plans for the building dept as we speak, so it wont be long now. I've already begun obtaining concrete quotes. Here are some specs:

- 24' wide x 32' deep detached structure
- 16' x 8' overhead door
- (2) 36" exterior, and (1) 36" interior man door
- 10' walls from sill plate to ceiling (interior height to floor will be more depending on how much block is exposed when finished)
- 7/12 pitched stick built hip roof to match my foursquare style house
- 24'L x 11 7/8"H I-Joists for ceiling / plywood floor above
- Pull down attic ladder for serious storage under the 2nd floor hip roof
- Radiant heat tubing in floor (with home runs in 4-6" PVC to basement of house)
- Separate 100 Amp Sub-Panel
- Partitioned back room for lawnmower, snowblower, etc.. storage
- 2' soffit around entire structure w/ recessed lights in front above doors
- All 2x6 construction, insulated, drywalled (eventually)
- Fiber cement Hardieshingle or similar siding
- 4" fibermesh floor (most likely colored concrete) w/ center drains

Existing structure is 18'x18' built in the 20's and will be taken down. Everything but the concrete work will be done by me, however even with the concrete work, I will be laying the PEX, electrical conduit, & drainage pipes myself.

I see alot of people on here using epoxy on their floors, however for around $250-$300 I can have the entire concrete slab colored to whatever color I want, so I'm thinking I might just do that. It will be sealed of course, but that way if over the years anything chips or salt eats it a bit, I dont need to worry about re-applying anything, all 4" will be colored.

The boiler for the radiant heat will actually be in the basement of my house (approx 10' away from the garage) so my architect and I decided to run a 4-6" PVC pipe underground from under the garage floor to the basement wall, and run all of the garage loops back to the "boiler room" in the basement. I also will be running (2) 2" electrical conduits, one for the service, and one for CATV, Ethernet, Phone, Air Line to my basement workshop, etc. My concrete guy is going to pour those conduits right into the trench poured footers where I want the panel to be, so the conduit will come right up the inside of the 2x6 wall. I am also planning for hot and cold water for washing the cars, gardening, etc. No bathrooms or sinks though.

Anyways, enough of me ranting. Please, please please feel free to ask questions or make suggestions / comments. I still have some time, although not much, to make changes if I desire before I apply for permits!

Thanks everyone!

 

[cdecker]

Also, heres a site survey showing where things will be, to put things in perspective...

 

[ddawg16]

Looks good....and I can understand why you want the roof to look like the house....but my old garage had the same kind of roof.....NO storage...

You might want to consider changing it from sloped on all sides to just two sides....you would be shocked at how much storage you would have up there......you never have enough storage....

 

[Snap50]

Garages should have 5" minimum slabs; perhaps more if you want a lift.

Trench poured foundation walls???? Good luck with that. Pray that no one sends weather your way while you are prepping.
Contractors here would not even pour a sonotube pier without a footing and open excavation.

Why not run concrete to the wood framing level? With only 2 masonry blocks high, that's not much development length for the rebars to tie to the concrete.
Also, that brings another contractor into the picture; more $$ than having the concrete contractor do it in the first place.

 

[blkhonda1991]

i agree with the points ddawg made...especially if you are going through the trouble of putting 14" engineered floor joists for the storage. hip roofs are probably the least efficient in terms of attic storage so your gonna wind up with a very over engineered ceiling over most of your garage. i am not familiar with trench poured foundation walls though...do you just trench and pour or are there forms involved?

 

[2level]

Nicely detailed plans. Can you build the upstairs with a 4 or 5 foot pony wall? If so, you might want to think about increasing the I-joists to 14 or 16 inches X 3". I have 14x3's on a 24' clear span and it's a little bouncy upstairs.

 

[cdecker]

Looks good....and I can understand why you want the roof to look like the house....but my old garage had the same kind of roof.....NO storage...

You might want to consider changing it from sloped on all sides to just two sides....you would be shocked at how much storage you would have up there......you never have enough storage....

Yea I've considered going with gable ends, but my wife inists on the hip to match the house. Our house attic (3rd floor) now is under the hip (9/12 pitch), and the actual footprint of the main part of the house is almost the exact size of my garage 24x32 (Dont tell my wife that! ). Its not to bad up there. I'm 6'7" tall and still have tons of room above my head, and thats with a lowered drywalled ceiling. I originally had planned a 9/12 pitch for the garage roof as well, however once I decided to make the walls 10' from sill plate to ceiling, I had to lower it to 7/12 to stay under my 20' town height requirement. No matter what I do, I'm sure I wont have enough room!

Garages should have 5" minimum slabs; perhaps more if you want a lift.

Trench poured foundation walls???? Good luck with that. Pray that no one sends weather your way while you are prepping.
Contractors here would not even pour a sonotube pier without a footing and open excavation.

Why not run concrete to the wood framing level? With only 2 masonry blocks high, that's not much development length for the rebars to tie to the concrete.
Also, that brings another contractor into the picture; more $$ than having the concrete contractor do it in the first place.

Hmm, I'll have to see how much more it would cost me to go 5". If its not that much, I'll consider doing it. As for the trench pour, maybe its just a western NY thing but i've discovered it a pretty common method here. Saves a ton of time in excavation / fill hours, but most of that savings is used in concrete. After a soil sample was done on my property (required by my town), they hit bedrock at 10' deep. My architect then spec'd the 16" width, I had originally planned on 12. As for the blocks, the same concrete guy sets both courses while the trench footer is still wet, so everything comes together nicely. Also, at every point there is a planned anchor bolt (48" o/c), there is a piece of #5 rebar that runs from the block all the way through the pour, and ties into each horizontal rebar member on its way down. All of the blocks containing anchor bolts will be core-filled soild, and the reminaing will be filled with a block insulator (zonolite) for a thermal break.

i agree with the points ddawg made...especially if you are going through the trouble of putting 14" engineered floor joists for the storage. hip roofs are probably the least efficient in terms of attic storage so your gonna wind up with a very over engineered ceiling over most of your garage. i am not familiar with trench poured foundation walls though...do you just trench and pour or are there forms involved?

No forms. They basically mark and dig a trench the width of the bucket (approx 18") and 48" deep. They install rebar both horizontally and vertically thoughout, as well as 2" XPS foam board on the inside of the trench walls. Then they come through and pour the entire thing solid. The concrete fills all the nooks and crannys in the surrounding dirt, and theres no back-filling, tamping, etc. involved. The surrounding earth remains untouched. My concrete guy told me they try to dig & pour the trenchs in 1 day, 2 max to avoid any collapsing. My soil is all clay, so I'm not to worried about it. They will also be helping me run conduits for my electrical service up through the trench before they pour. Same for the center drain lines and radiant heat conduit.

Nicely detailed plans. Can you build the upstairs with a 4 or 5 foot pony wall? If so, you might want to think about increasing the I-joists to 14 or 16 inches X 3". I have 14x3's on a 24' clear span and it's a little bouncy upstairs.

I wish I could. Unfortunaely my max height is 20'. I could probably build pony walls by dropping the pitch of the hip a bit, but I'm hoping I'll be ok as is just for storage. I dont want any staircases, or the town will add the attic square footage (768 sq ft) to my house, and tax me on it. If they squak about a pull down attic ladder, then I'll just leave a hole with a ladder, and add the attic ladder after final inspection. I dont see how they could consider that attic area livable space when theres no windows, and its under the hip roof. I thought about adding a dormer to the front (would also match my house), but I think it looked a little excessive for a garage. As for the I-Joists, I'm hoping 14" should be ok for what I plan on doing. My clear span is actually 23'-1", not 24'.


Thanks for the comments everyone! Keep them coming!

 

[rodnok1]

Hip roofs are good for hiding large buildings, looks like it will fit in perfectly in your neighborhood. I disagree with alot about changing height, type of roof. Having lived next a tard that put up a big *** garage with no personality right where I had to look at it constantly I would applaude your efforts to make it blend in.

 

[bazzateer]

Trench style footings are the norm over here.

Your place is similar to my planned garage only 2' wider and deeper. However, I'd put a shed in the garden for all the garden stuff and keep that back room space for the important things in life - cars!

 

[cdecker]

Hip roofs are good for hiding large buildings, looks like it will fit in perfectly in your neighborhood. I disagree with alot about changing height, type of roof. Having lived next a tard that put up a big *** garage with no personality right where I had to look at it constantly I would applaude your efforts to make it blend in.

Agreed. Here is an OLD picture of my house (2007), shortly after we bought it and had the roof replaced. Alot of the landscaping has been changed, and we installed new gutters and drainage tile shortly after as well. It was the only picture I could find that showed the architectural details of the house, along with the existing garage. I think a nice hip-roofed garage will look great and help it blend in with my property nicer, rather than looking as big as its going to be.

Trench style footings are the norm over here.

Your place is similar to my planned garage only 2' wider and deeper. However, I'd put a shed in the garden for all the garden stuff and keep that back room space for the important things in life - cars!

I thought about this as well, however living in suburbia, my lot is pretty small. My back yard is pretty small now, not to mention I'm going to be chomping another 4-6' out of it with the new garage. Unfortunately the town is making me move the new garage another foot from the side and rear property lines to conform to new codes. The old one is 2', now it must be 3'. I could try to obtain a variance, but I would most likely be denied, and its just not worth my trouble. I'm afraid a separate shed back there would give me almost no lawn, not to mention my wife would never go for it.

Heres some pics of the house, back yard, and existing garage to give a better idea. The new garage will come almost to the front of where my truck is parked, and be another 4-6' wider to the right of the existing garage.

Thanks for everyones tips, I'm starting to get excited to break ground!

 

[KMR Construction]

This garage is almost exactly the same as my soon to be. I suggest checking out going with a steel beam to support the second floor rather then TJI's. It was 60% of the cost and my engineer told me there would be 3/4" deflection with the I joists. Other then that it looks great

 

[cdecker]

This garage is almost exactly the same as my soon to be. I suggest checking out going with a steel beam to support the second floor rather then TJI's. It was 60% of the cost and my engineer told me there would be 3/4" deflection with the I joists. Other then that it looks great

Hmm, now you've got me interested, but I'm not sure if I follow. Which direction would the steel beam run, front to back (32') with the floor joists hung from both sides of it to the exterior walls? Thats actually the same way my house is built! What size I-Beam would be required, and what size floor joists would I be able to use, or what did your engineer spec for your application? I know mine might be different, but I'm just curious. Thanks for the idea!

 

[tomroblee]

A fairly large garage on a small lot in an established neighborhood requires a lot of compromises!!

My thoughts are more comments than suggestions.

Having the garage door so close to the left wall of the garage will make it difficult to get into and out of the vehicle parked in the left bay---and will restrict what you can place on the wall. Moving the man door from the front of the garage to the side would allow you to center the door more and have more room along the left wall.

It looks like you will have quite a "jog" to get into the right bay of the garage. If you would move the man door to the side of the garage, you could go to an 18' wide garage door. This might make getting into the right bay of the garage easier.

The partioned storage area in the back looks like a narrow hallway and rather ackward for storage. Have you considered a wider storage area behind just one bay as an alternative?

Your description mentions floor drains, but they aren't shown on the drawings. Have you verified that you town allows them in garages? The drawings show the floor slopes to the garage door. If you have floor drains, the floor should slope toward the drains.

You don't mention the reason for the high ceilings (other than having an 8' high garage door.) The ceilings seem almost too low for a lift, and will make the attic floor awfully high for storage. It would seem possible (but not very conventional) to have the I-joists at a lower level--at least for the back part of the garage. This might make for better and more convenient attic storage.

Have you talked to any truss manufacturers about what you are trying to accomplish? I've seen some rather inovative custom trusses. The price of custom trusses might not be that bad, and the "talk" part is probably free.

I would consider adding a third "just in case" conduit while you are building. You might want to make sure that the conduits are not too close to each other. Some building codes restrict how close to a service panel some things can be located.

If you are considering a lift at some time, you might want to reinforce the slab or pour footings where it will be attached.

You mention a western New York location and a snow blower. Have you considered where you will direct the snow that you blow from your driveway? Unless you can blow it onto your neighbor, it looks like you will have to direct it into the narrow area between your house and garage. Make sure that you don't locate a sidewalk or ??? where the snow has to go.

Will you have gutters on the garage? Have you considered where the water will drain and/or whether you will have room to manuver a ladder when you periodically clean the gutters?

Have you and you wife discussed the possibility of a roof that just slopes on three sides (looks like a hip roof from the front and a gable roof from the rear.) This would gain some attic head room without altering the appearance from the street.

 

[cdecker]

Wow, great suggestions, thanks for the reply! Let me see if I can clear up a few things you mentioned.

A fairly large garage on a small lot in an established neighborhood requires a lot of compromises!!

My thoughts are more comments than suggestions.

Having the garage door so close to the left wall of the garage will make it difficult to get into and out of the vehicle parked in the left bay---and will restrict what you can place on the wall. Moving the man door from the front of the garage to the side would allow you to center the door more and have more room along the left wall.

It looks like you will have quite a "jog" to get into the right bay of the garage. If you would move the man door to the side of the garage, you could go to an 18' wide garage door. This might make getting into the right bay of the garage easier.

I did consider the idea of an 18' door, which would mean moving to man door to the side, but that would also mean I would need to pour some sort of small pad or landing outside of it, and my wife flipped about taking away more of the rapidly disappearing back yard. To be honest I've always wanted the man door in the front as well, just for running out there to grab tools, etc. I park my truck on on the side closest to the property line, and I always back in. I agree it will be very tight if not impossible to open my large truck doors on that side once in, but, if we insist on having the man door up front, I guess I'll just have to live with it. Good suggestion though!

The partioned storage area in the back looks like a narrow hallway and rather ackward for storage. Have you considered a wider storage area behind just one bay as an alternative?

Hah, thats what my wife said too! I don't know what more to do. An external shed is out of the question, so my theory was this. If I leave the space wide open, and build workbenches along the back wall as planned, I'll basically have no wall space for shelving, or a place to store the snowblower and lawnmower that inst right in the middle of the garage, or sticking out on one of the side walls. I was thinking with the back room, I could put up shelving, leave space for a vertical air compressor, snowblower, lanwmower, etc. Hang the bikes form the ceiling back there, and have a place for kids toys some day. Sooo many of my neighbors have 2-2.5 car garages, and is seems once they had kids, the cars are in the driveway 24/7 and the garage is filled with toys. I wanted to create at least some sort of space to store such things. I could probably bump it out another foot or so without effecting the garage space to much, making it 6' wall to wall instead of 5'. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Your description mentions floor drains, but they aren't shown on the drawings. Have you verified that you town allows them in garages? The drawings show the floor slopes to the garage door. If you have floor drains, the floor should slope toward the drains.

Will you have gutters on the garage? Have you considered where the water will drain and/or whether you will have room to manuver a ladder when you periodically clean the gutters?

Good catch! Originally I just wanted the floor sloped to the front, however after talking with my concrete guy a couple weeks ago, I've decided to go with floor drains instead. I asked my plumbing inspector when I installed drainage tile on both sides of my house back in 07, and he said it was allowed. The installed tile picks up all of the downspouts on my house and directs them to the storm sewer at the street. On the driveway side of the house, I was careful to keep my tile deep enough to allow me to reach the back of the property while maintaining 1/4" / foot pitch. I even stubbed out for the future garage "wing" and capped it off. I have right where it stopped documented in Autocad, and my concrete guy said he would dig to it and help me tie it all in. We will also be installing the 4" pipe to each corner of the building, on the sides, for the gutters to tie into. The garage will have seamless gutters all around it. I have another Autocad drawing of the drainage layout I can attach.

You don't mention the reason for the high ceilings (other than having an 8' high garage door.) The ceilings seem almost too low for a lift, and will make the attic floor awfully high for storage. It would seem possible (but not very conventional) to have the I-joists at a lower level--at least for the back part of the garage. This might make for better and more convenient attic storage.

If you are considering a lift at some time, you might want to reinforce the slab or pour footings where it will be attached.

Honestly, the only reason I bumped it up to 10' from the sill to the bottom of the I-Joists was for the ease of drywall installation. That way I figured I could use 10' pieces with no cutting on all of the walls. I have no intentions of putting in a lift (wife would NEVER go for that). I just wanted to make sure the ceilings are high enough for possible some storage racks above the garage door, or so that I can get the garage door high enough to open the hood on my truck without it hitting. The door will be 8' high. Looking at it from your perspective, I probably could lower it down a bit and increase the pitch of the roof back up to 9. I'll think about it.

Have you talked to any truss manufacturers about what you are trying to accomplish? I've seen some rather inovative custom trusses. The price of custom trusses might not be that bad, and the "talk" part is probably free.

This is something my architect was going to look into for me. I have no problem stick building it, the angles don't scare me, and I mainly wanted to stick build it for the openness. Being stick built, the entire thing would be wide open under the hip, very similar to my existing attic on the house, and its great. With the same 24x32 footprint, its over 7' tall up there, and I have a ton of room. We'll see what he comes up with.

I would consider adding a third "just in case" conduit while you are building. You might want to make sure that the conduits are not too close to each other. Some building codes restrict how close to a service panel some things can be located.

You know what, the conduit is cheap enough to where thats probably not a bad idea. Maybe 1 for the service on the front right part of the wall, 1 for the utilities somewhere centered on the right wall, and a spare on the right wall just before the back door. I could even use that one for the dedicated air line running to the basement, instead of running it in the same conduit as the CATV, Ethernet, etc... Thanks for the tip!

You mention a western New York location and a snow blower. Have you considered where you will direct the snow that you blow from your driveway? Unless you can blow it onto your neighbor, it looks like you will have to direct it into the narrow area between your house and garage. Make sure that you don't locate a sidewalk or ??? where the snow has to go.

Right now I direct it all towards the street actually. I start in the back and push it all towards the front. I have a big enough snowblower where it doesn't slow it down at all to keep throwing it forward. I do direct some to the neighbors on the right, but I try not to unless necessary. I do their sidewalks and driveway most of the time when I do mine, so they've never said anything. Eventually when all of the garage and addition construction is complete, were going to remove the existing driveway and pour a new concrete one. I will most likely run radiant heat tubes through it, at least the back half of my driveway up to the new entry bumpout, since the PEX is cheap enough. Depending on the cost to run it (you'd be surprised how efficient boilers have become), I would have a snow melt system and let the hot water do the work. We'll see. Cant hurt to run the pipes when I pour though, whether I end up using them or not!

Have you and you wife discussed the possibility of a roof that just slopes on three sides (looks like a hip roof from the front and a gable roof from the rear.) This would gain some attic head room without altering the appearance from the street.

Hah, I actually thought of that as well. I drew it up in Chief Architect a couple months ago, and I don't know, something about it just seemed weird to me. Your right, from the street it would probably go unnoticed, and it would give me a TON more space above, but it just looked funny. I'll attach some 3D renderings from Chief Architect. See what you and the rest of the guys / gals think. Ignore the height above the garage door. I didn't have time to adjust the drawings to the latest 10' interior ceilings. You still get the idea...

Just for fun I also did a rendering with a dormer to match the house, which would also give me alot more space. I thinks its a bit to much though...

Dont show my wife the last one. Its a rough idea of my future workbench. In the drawing it looks nicer than our current kitchen!

 

[wfopete]

Sounds like you are talking of using some Boise Cascade products (Versa Lam 2.0). I’m putting a second floor on my 30x50 pole barn. While talking to the BC engineers they recommend a LVL beam if I go with an 11 ¾ 16OC and I want to achieve a 50-80-psf floor load. The problem is THE SLAB. You have footings around the perimeter but you need approx. a 3x3 footing poured where the beam’s support post is to go. That post supporting the beam is going to need a thick footing. If you can go with a taller web on the I-joist, on a 24’ span you can achieve a very high floor load without the support beam. I think you can achieve a 80 psf floor load with 16" tall I joist without any beam support. I would not worry about deflection with the I-joist if you block it properly. If you call Boise they will help you out especially if you can email them your plans. Go to thier website at http://www.bc.com/wood/ewp.html

 

[Seb]

Have you considered using two smaller doors instead of one large one? I have a 16' double insulated door, and I've found that the wind in my area of NY pushes on the large door and lets cold air in. Two smaller doors would insulate better.

The smaller doors would also offer more privacy, as you can just open one in the summer for air and leave less for the looky-loos to see.

I think the last pics you posted of the roof design look good! You'll have more storage room for sure, and it nicely resembles a B-117 bomber cockpit! LOL!

 

[tomroblee]

One additional thought.

To the extent that you have man doors on the side (your pictures show an entrance to your storage area), extend the overhang an additional foot or two over the door to create a "mini porch". You might want to add a light to the ceiling of this as well.

 

[egads74]

I haven't read all of this... My 2 cents... Just for thought as you will do what is best for you. 2 garage doors and 1 entry to side. Lets you pull 2 vehicles right in. from garage have door to storage area inside or line entry door up with door to storage area. (take 4 foot area from storage area).
Put a second story on... just need 100 2' x 6' and walls and flooring... the space is cheap. Provide an area up there for wife... get her buy-in... then overtake that area!!!

Hardiplank siding is nice... consider flashing at **** joints even though their web site says not required unless oregon.... Easy to do...

Are your pex lengths within 10% of each other?

Good luck.

 

[cdecker]

Sounds like you are talking of using some Boise Cascade products (Versa Lam 2.0). I’m putting a second floor on my 30x50 pole barn. While talking to the BC engineers they recommend a LVL beam if I go with an 11 ¾ 16OC and I want to achieve a 50-80-psf floor load. The problem is THE SLAB. You have footings around the perimeter but you need approx. a 3x3 footing poured where the beam’s support post is to go. That post supporting the beam is going to need a thick footing. If you can go with a taller web on the I-joist, on a 24’ span you can achieve a very high floor load without the support beam. I think you can achieve a 80 psf floor load with 16" tall I joist without any beam support. I would not worry about deflection with the I-joist if you block it properly. If you call Boise they will help you out especially if you can email them your plans. Go to thier website at http://www.bc.com/wood/ewp.html

Thanks! I'll check them out!

Have you considered using two smaller doors instead of one large one? I have a 16' double insulated door, and I've found that the wind in my area of NY pushes on the large door and lets cold air in. Two smaller doors would insulate better.

The smaller doors would also offer more privacy, as you can just open one in the summer for air and leave less for the looky-loos to see.

I think the last pics you posted of the roof design look good! You'll have more storage room for sure, and it nicely resembles a B-117 bomber cockpit! LOL!

I've thought about the 2 smaller doors, but keeping the man door in the front (which is a must), I dont have a whole lot of room for a divider, and I would worried about the mirrors on a wider vehicle. My folks have that setup at their house, and my dad has always said if he had it to do over he would just put in one big door. I'll give it some consideration, thanks for the tip!

One additional thought.

To the extent that you have man doors on the side (your pictures show an entrance to your storage area), extend the overhang an additional foot or two over the door to create a "mini porch". You might want to add a light to the ceiling of this as well.

Hmm, not sure how easily I can extend that one section of the hip roof without messing with the pitch of the whole side. I did plan on installing recessed lights above the storage area exterior door, as well as in the soffit along the front of the garage, above the man and overhead doors.

I haven't read all of this... My 2 cents... Just for thought as you will do what is best for you. 2 garage doors and 1 entry to side. Lets you pull 2 vehicles right in. from garage have door to storage area inside or line entry door up with door to storage area. (take 4 foot area from storage area).
Put a second story on... just need 100 2' x 6' and walls and flooring... the space is cheap. Provide an area up there for wife... get her buy-in... then overtake that area!!!

Hardiplank siding is nice... consider flashing at **** joints even though their web site says not required unless oregon.... Easy to do...

Are your pex lengths within 10% of each other?

Good luck.

Not sure if I follow when you say "take 4 foot area from storage area". Do you mean rather than having the storage area go all the way across the back of the garage, only have it half or part of it? I would love to have a second story, but unfortunately my height restrictions for my town / area are somewhat constricted at 20'. I'm almost there now. I don't really need 10' ceilings in the garage I guess, so I could gain maybe a foot there, but not enough to make it a functional room. Not to mention, the taxes on the space, location of the stairs, etc..

My pex lengths are all very close, well within 10%. Take a look at the PEX layout above, it shows the lengths. The additional run to the house is another 10' each way, so 20' to the loop, which should put me close to 300' loops.

Thanks for the comments everyone! Keep them coming!

 

[thrifty bill]

I sm on my fourth vintage house right now. To me, a dormer on the front is a must, to better match the main house.

I would also go with two smaller doors, and move the mandoor to the side. If you have to stick with one single door, then I would go with an 18 foot wide door, much easier to get cars and trucks in and out. 16 foot door will be tight. Two 9 foot doors would look the best, centered on the dormer.

 

[BlackLead]

Hm. February of 2010. When he said to keep the comments coming, I wonder if he meant 13 months later.

 

[cdecker]

Hm. February of 2010. When he said to keep the comments coming, I wonder if he meant 13 months later.

Lol! Yea, not exactly what I meant, though I do appreciate the input from everyone. The garage is actually built now, just havent started a new build thread yet. I did end up going with a dormer to match the house, but changed the interior a bit from the submitted plans. Ended up adding a full staircase to the second floor. Will get a build thread started soon, so everyone can see my hard work from all of last summer come together in 5-10 minutes!

 

[pgreenwood]

cdecker -- I plan to heat the floor of my slab-on-grade attached garage. There will be three or four loops. Boiler is in the basement next to the garage. My question is, where does your radiant enter the garage in relation to the grade of the slab? Did you go with one (1) 4" pvc conduit? 6"? Then how/where does the pex enter the slab? Manifolds in the garage? Where are they located in 3D?

does radiant tubing exit your basement foundation through the same-sized pvc?

thanks for sharing your well-documented thinking!

 

[cdecker]

pgreenwood - I'm at work, so unfortunately I dont have any pictures to attach right now, but I can put some up later of the radiant layout and conduit. Basically what I did was ran a 6" PVC pipe from under the garage floor, into my basement. The pipe ended up being on the right side of the garage, about 1/2 way back. That gave me equal loop lengths at approx 333' each. I had my concrete guys dig a trench approx 24" deep, and come directly through my basement wall with the 6" pipe. From the house, the pipe travels about 12' underground before it hits the garage, from there, it is actually under the garage floor, which was blanketed with 2" rigid foam board insulation. To minimize heat loss for those 12' to my detached garage, I also placed 2" foam insulation board on both sides and the top of the 6" pipe before back-filling. Once the 6" pipe is about 1/2 way to the back of the garage, it makes a 90 degree bend straight up, and was cut off level with the top of the 2" foam insulation board. The wire mesh was then placed, and I zip-tied my PEX directly to that. Each loop feeds right into the 6" pipe, and back into the basement. Once I was done with all 3 loops, I used a can of Great-Stuff expanding foam insulation to "seal off" the remaining gaps around the PEX in the 6" pipe, so that when the floor was poured I wouldnt get pockets as the concrete tried to slide down into the pipe. It worked great, and when my 4-5" concrete floor was poured, it covered everything, so form the garage, you would never know the heat was even installed. All of the manifolds, etc. will be installed in the basement near the boiler.

I have a bunch of really good pictures I took during the installation I can post up tonight for you. It will explain this alot better....

 

[pgreenwood]

...I have a bunch of really good pictures ....

Wow! While pictures are allegedly worth a thousand words, I cannot imagine yours are more helpful than your thorough description above! Thank you, kind sir!