New Guy in CA

[lilcuda]

My name is Lee. I wish I had found this forum 3 years ago when I was planning my garage. I had it built 2 years ago. It's 26 x 35. You can check out my photo album of the build here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~lae4503/garage/

It's big, but not as useful as it could be because of the way it's designed. The architect I used didn't really know what he was doing. I can go into more detail later. I just wanted to get signed up and share my pictures with you all.

Merry Xmas!

Lee

 

[tigmusky]

welcome, good pics, nice and brite and light i like it

 

[lilcuda]

welcome, good pics, nice and brite and light i like it

Thanks. I took a lot of photos during the construction so I could remember all of the details.

We changed the lighting plan on the fly. The architect drew only 6 lights that he labeled as 3 x 5. The electrician wasn't familiar with that size, so he told me what size he was going to use and I based my layout on that. I ended up with the 9 lights you see in the photos. The 5 at the back of the garage are on one circuit and the 4 toward the front are on another. It's nice to be able to only light half the garage if necessary. When all of them are on, it's like daylight in there!

Lee

 

[Uncle Buck]

Welcome, great looking space. I hope you enjoy it here!

 

[DaveL.]

It reminds me of my previous garage. I built a 24 x 30 behind my home in the same fashion you did with the drive winding around the back of the house. You sure have ample room to work on your cars...very nice!!!

 

[lilcuda]

It reminds me of my previous garage. I built a 24 x 30 behind my home in the same fashion you did with the drive winding around the back of the house. You sure have ample room to work on your cars...very nice!!!

Thanks! I had the vision to build a garage in this spot since the day we walked through the house when it was for sale. It turned out pretty good, although I would do a few things differently next time. If there ever is a next time...

Lee

 

[Cen-Cal Coatings]

Nice work area, 'cuda, and Z!

 

[JrCRXHF]

This is close to what i am looking at doing i can only have 800sqft due to zone laws.

what is the ball park for the garage finished off vs rough in.

 

[lilcuda]

This is close to what i am looking at doing i can only have 800sqft due to zone laws.

what is the ball park for the garage finished off vs rough in.

I wouldn't build it like mine, if I were you. It would be better to have it be 3 bays wide and less deep. You end up with wasted space. That's just my opinion after having used this garage for about 2 1/2 years. If I had made mine 3 bays wide and less deep, I could have dedicated one bay to a lift. You could do 26 deep by 30 wide for 780 sq. ft.

I learned a valuable lesson about the difference between plans on paper and the actual structure in 3D.

Anyway, on to your question about the difference between rough and finished, it's hard to say. I imagine it depends a lot on the area you live in. I think we spent $1000 to have it insulated and another couple thousand to have it sheetrocked, textured and painted. I'd have to look in my file at home to get exact numbers.

My contractor talked me into it saying that I would never finish it. He's right. Home improvement is not my bag. I'd rather work on my cars.

 

[JrCRXHF]

yeah that is a good idea about the 3 bays.

The only reason i was going to go deeper is that if i get a boat that is 25" then with the trailer it will not fit well at all. I was going to put 2 cars on the lifts side by side in the back and then have the front for stuff that comes in and out often. I have a couple long term 2-4 year rebuilds to do. But i am going to give thought to the three bay idea and see if i could fit that on the hill where i am going to build.