New Garage in Iowa

[TLC Fan]

Hello all,

I've been getting a lot of enjoyment out of looking at everyone's projects so I thought I would share mine.

So a little background to set the stage.

We moved to Iowa from Colorado about 5 years ago for work and as part of the process all the family members made a house wish list and a nice garage was at the top of mine. Well guess what the house we ended up with only had a 2 car attached. Fast forward 5 years and I'm finally getting around to building a garage for working on my cars and other projects.

Here's the stats:

28X40 foot pole barn
14 foot ceiling
1) 9X9 overhead door with opener
1) 10X12 overhead door with opener
1) walk in door
2) windows

Here's the starting point
First scoop of dirt

 

[drivesitfar]

looks like you already have a nice truck and a project truck to put in the new garage/shop. is the backhoe yours too or are you hiring out some of the work?

good luck!!

 

[TLC Fan]

I do have a backhoe but I'm lucky that one of the members of a car club I belong to owns a small excavating company so he brought the white dump truck and digger over on a Saturday to get the dirt work roughed in

 

[Kevkx125]

Sounds like a really cool project, looking forward to the progress and good luck.

 

[TLC Fan]

So while most people think Iowa is all flat. We live on the bank of a river valley so it took 45 small dump truck loads to get the building pad leveled, and will take about the same for the driveway.

The good news is the farmer down the road wanted the dirt so we got it down to 8 minutes round trip per load.

 

[ambenz]

It can be a bit of a project to get level land, but it's nice that your not landlocked.
Are you concerned about the hill next to the future garage wall?
Are you planning to put in a catch drain or small retaining wall to prevent a future slide?
That berm looks to be about 7 or 8 foot above the base and the reason I asked.
Good luck and have fun with the build!

 

[MacTexas]

Looks like a project I want to follow.

 

[rusty1]

any pics of your F-series Ford,..here's my 48


..

 

[drivesitfar]

TLC: I have to agree that cutting into a slope can weaken it's stability and with some heavy rain you could be cleaning it up off the side of your new garage.

I have built a couple 4 foot walls with these 85 pound Keystone cement blocks that have a couple fiberglass pins in them to keep them from moving and they've stayed in place for over 20 years now. we get a ton of rain here in Seattle in case you didn't know.

also cutting that hill a little farther in would give you an extra space or two for a covered parking for machines or parts cars.

 

[bdbecker]

Hi neighbor! (I'm in DSM)

Sounds like a pretty nice size garage - looking forward to following along.

 

[vision8]

You can see my shop at my HP , did 12" x 12" rebar 6" pour and 12" pour where the lift was to be with anchor bolts ; anchor bolts for the lathe and mill locations . 4" of gravel , 2" of styrofoam , 1/2 " rebar with ( 3/4 " across the lift area of 12" deep x 4 foot wide and 12 feet in length ) tapered sided depression . Cost of concrete in 2014 was $ 8,000 Can . Rebar was scrap price , styrofoam was scrap price , my labour was free . Rotary 9,000 lb lift was $ 800.00 , my install . Been waiting a lifetime for this , praise the lift every time I push the Up Button .

 

[TLC Fan]

Hi all,

Thanks for the input.
The dirt bank is 4 to 5 foot tall at it tallest point. The plan is to taper the hillside to a slope that matches our front yard because I know I can sidehill mow it without rolling the mower. I also plan to install a French drain along the side that will come out at the down hill side of the driveway which how all the downspouts on our house are.

So here's what it looks like after the slab. It's 6 inch with one section that's 8 inches to support the car lift.

 

[TLC Fan]

I'll have to work on getting some pictures of the old truck. It's a cool truck. My wife bought it for me as a birthday gift (way better than a new tie). It was sitting behind a barn and she bought from the grandson of the original owner (got the original title). You could call it a one owner, but it might be a stretch to call it a clean one owner.

 

[drivesitfar]

TLC: I can't say i've ever seen the wood supports coming out of a slab before. can you tell me (us) what your thinking is and what the plan is? is your garage already built and you have taken pictures along the way and want to show us how you did it or are you live and building it now?

in that picture your slope does look a lot gentler so if you want to mow grass and not have an extra place to park that should work.

good luck!!

 

[bdbecker]

TLC: I can't say i've ever seen the wood supports coming out of a slab before...

Fairly common pole barn construction technique around here - sink the poles first (or in this case, laminated columns) and then pour concrete around them.

 

[benjamintmiller]

Hi TLC, I'm also near you on the edge of DSM. Those poles in the ground look awfully similar to the ones Numark did for me. I've heard Pro-Line does something similar.

Feel free to shoot me a message if you have any questions about my build. I'm just finishing the drywall in it now.

 

[TLC Fan]

yep, the building is from Pro-Line and they sink the uprights first and pour the concrete around them. An Amish team of 4 put the building up and did a great job. Very high attention to detail.

Funny you mention cutting the hill back farther to allow parking along the side. That was the original plan, but I was running short on time when we were excavating the site and I already have parking space for 9 cars not including the driveway or what fits in the garages, so gave up on that plan.

Here's some more pictures of the build.

End of day one and end of day two

 

[iced98lx]

From another midwesterner, I look forward to the rest of the posts detailing the build.

 

[drivesitfar]

TLC: I love the building and sounds like you found some great builders that might be fairly quiet too. or are the Amish allowed to use power tools when not at their homes?

thanks for the 411 on the wood coming out of the cement and it's all coming in loud and clear once you posted the pictures of the building. since even 50 year treated wood around here doesn't last half that long against gravel and dirt how many years do those last in your part of the world?

looks great so far and how many days has it taken the 4 guys to do that work? also are you helping or just paying the bills?

thanks for sharing and take a lot of pictures and post when you can cause we all like seeing the process even if it's been said or posted before.

 

[TLC Fan]

This time around I'm paying the bills and acting as GC for all the sub trades.
I built a garage at our house in Colorado and it took me several years with all the other things life presents to a married man with kids. This time I wanted to enjoy it rather than build it

The Amish guys did use power tools not sure if they owned them or not. They were defiantly hard workers and cleaned up the job site every day, unlike the concrete guys that let all their trash, food wrappers and beer cans around my yard. It was interesting the Amish crew's non-Amish driver would bring them to work everyday and he'd just sit in his truck with the engine running and wait for them to load their tools in his truck at the end of the day so he could drive them home. He was their version of Uber.

 

[TLC Fan]

Here's what it looks like after insulation, electrical rough in and liner installation

 

[iowa4x4dieselman]

Nice work so far from a fellow Iowan. Cant wait to see it filled with projects!

 

[TLC Fan]

Great to see so many fellow Iowan's. It's good to have a garage here in the winter.

Speaking of that mine's all but done. I'll get some pictures posted

Here's a few of the things I like the most so far:

Lighting - I went with 2'X4' LED lights. I was told 4 would be fine for general lighting and 8 would be really good, so I had 12 installed on 3 switches. If you turn all 3 on at the same at night you do have to blink a couple times, but I haven't had to use any task lighting so far.

14' Ceiling - I was originally going to have a 12' ceiling but wanted a taller lift because I like working on 4X4 rock crawlers and wanted to get them up in the air a little higher. I'm amazed how big the garage feels with the extra 2 feet.

Flooring - I've always wanted a good floor coating but never seemed to get around to it, so this time I had it done before I moved in. I went with a commercial grade epoxy coating with flakes and a high gloss top coat. I was concerned about the tire chains on my ATV, but after accidently spinning the tires pulling out of the garage into a snow drift I couldn't even find a scratch.

I'll get some pictures posted

Thanks for looking

 

[TLC Fan]

Here's just after the floor got finished

 

[TLC Fan]

So here's a couple pictures of the "done" garage.

Got the heater installed a couple weeks ago and boy is it nice. I went with the 75,000 btu unit running on propane and it feels great and doesn't make any noise (other than the expansion and contraction moans and grown).

The car lift has been ordered and should be here in a few weeks.

On the outside I upgraded the overhead doors to have that wood carriage door look and sense the garage sits next to the house i had the house door changed out so all 3 would match.

The stone trim was added to the garage because our house is trimmed in stone and I thought it would help the two look good sitting side by side.

 

[broox]

Looks like you've got some fun toys in there as well! I love that bucket list sign.

 

[XJSuperman]

Darryl? That you? I didn't know you were putting up a new building!

 

[TLC Fan]

yep

just having a good time in the garage

 

[sublime68charger]

What's all on the bucket list?

Very nice!

 

[JustinS]

Cool space!

 

[TLC Fan]

I got the idea for the bucket list chalk board from an ice cream shop in Buena Vista Colorado that had a whole wall covered in one.

I'll add the list a little later

 

[TLC Fan]

Here's a picture of the "Bucket List" on my garage wall. Might need to zoom in if you want to read it

 

[MacTexas]

Based on where you are located I am sure you have checked off your bucket list the Knoxville Nationals. I've been every year since 1994.

 

[TLC Fan]

Knoxville is a great place 33 minutes my driveway to their parking lot.
Love camping there.

 

[MacTexas]

Knoxville is a great place 33 minutes my driveway to their parking lot.
Love camping there.

It's thirteen hours from my driveway to parking lot. Since I retired we go for all ten days of racing.

 

[TLC Fan]

Funny, You drive to Iowa to see dirt racing. We drive to Texas to watch the NASCAR race in the spring.

 

[drivesitfar]

TLC: A few days ago your Amish builders were framing your new garage and now it's all finished. WOW THAT WAS QUICK!!!

it looks great BTW!!

also looks like you need to get another Bucket list board cause you'll have those knocked out as soon as you win the lottery. just teasing, but still doesn't seem like a long list and i'm sure maybe there are some less expensive things that might qualify.

take care!!

 

[Grizz1963]

I love the whole American style of building process, and of course your space.

Love the golf buggy a lot.

Great looking shop.