Phew! It's finally finaled

[GarageEnvy]

After 10 years of dreaming and finally realizing that I'd never save the cash to do this I buckled and went to the bank to make it happen. Weather delays, product delivery days, some conflicting inspections from different inspectors and the inevitable delays from the county getting the initial approval were all part of a typical construction process but with the exception of a few details it is done.

Didn't really think to take photos of the old garage demo so the story starts with the cutting of the old slab where it attached to the house. My cutoff saw didn't get it done so I and my very helpful wife dilled holes every 3 inches. In the end the excavator broke the foundation wall anyway and I had to fabricate a 40' long truss to support the wall while we excavated the old foundation out from underneath. Ahh good times.

Bring on the concrete. 38 yards

The next day (yeah I questioned it hard but it worked out fine) it was bring on the framers

One day for wall framing, one half-day for trusses and 3 days to work the very tricky tie in to a 55 year old stick framed roof and two more days to redo the eaves and facia around the whole house (one of those unexpected "you might as well's"). I also changed the entry of the house. The old one was sagging, architecturally asymetrical and dumped water on a window and people coming up the walk.

New roof, new windows, new front walk, new front entry door, removal of bathroom skylight and a few more unexpected "you might as well's" later.

And some finish details. Thanks to Jack Olsen I discovered Strong Hold cabinets. Thanks to this forum and my wife, I was talked into an Epoxy Coat floor. There's a separate write-up on that. The photo of the step with the expanded stainless steel is pretty much for Jack. He graciously gave me some legs off his strong hold cabinets and I wanted to show him they did not go to waste.

 

[BlackSheepSpeedShop]

good luck and may God bless.

 

[Motown 454]

Good to hear it, Good luck!

 

[BlackSheepSpeedShop]

Very, Very nice!!!!

 

[Jack Olsen]

Boom! That just happened.

The shop looks awesome. The colors look great, which is going to make it a nice, relaxed place to work. But the huge thing is -- that it's huge. I look at all that space, with the light and the electric on hand and I want to roll my race car in there and get to work on it. And the thing is, I could park my whole garage next to the car -- and there would still be room for more work in the next bay over.

And the step with the Strong Hold feet on it is great. They live on!

 

[larry_g]

Congratulations on the final. I know what sweating bullets is the night before the inspector would show up. That is a great looking space you have there.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[GarageEnvy]

Jack, that Porsche is welcome anytime. I've already got your cabinet legs and doors, you might as well park the Porsche. I'll just tell you the same thing I told my friend with the ZR1, just leave the keys and be aware that for some reason or another cars parked in my garage have a strange way of accumulating miles.

Larry,
You have no idea how much I was sweating the inspection. Prior owners had added on to the living room by making a patio enclosure, added a bathroom, enclosed a breezeway to make a laundry room and office. None of this was done with permits. In addition, I have a 14'x18' shed that is packed to the brim that the county told me I would have to remove as part of getting my final (told to me at permit issuance time). Our contractor friend (the one with the new ZR1) said from the onset if they came inside the house it could be pandoras box. So I closed window blinds and fretted like crazy and hoped for the best with the shed. In the end, because I did not add living area and did not have any plumbing or HVAC the final was simply for finished electrical. I actually flunked the first final because one circuit of wall plugs was missing a gfci. That guy would have signed off on the whole deal but fortunately the second guy only checked on the correction notice and signed off. Nothing was said about the shed or any of my other skeletons in the closet.

 

[larry_g]

Jack, that Porsche is welcome anytime. I've already got your cabinet legs and doors, you might as well park the Porsche. I'll just tell you the same thing I told my friend with the ZR1, just leave the keys and be aware that for some reason or another cars parked in my garage have a strange way of accumulating miles. Of course

Larry,
You have no idea how much I was sweating the inspection. Prior owners had added on to the living room by making a patio enclosure, added a bathroom, enclosed a breezeway to make a laundry room and office. None of this was done with permits. In addition, I have a 14'x18' shed that is packed to the brim that the county told me I would have to remove as part of getting my final (told to me at permit issuance time). Our contractor friend (the one with the new ZR1) said from the onset if they came inside the house it could be pandoras box. So I closed window blinds and fretted like crazy and hoped for the best with the shed. In the end, because I did not add living area and did not have any plumbing or HVAC the final was simply for finished electrical. I actually flunked the first final because one circuit of wall plugs was missing a gfci. That guy would have signed off on the whole deal but fortunately the second guy only checked on the correction notice and signed off. Nothing was said about the shed or any of my other skeletons in the closet.

O trust me I know what you went through. I did this house and shop on my own with little to no professional help. I was lucky in that the local electrical contractor would work with me in allowing me to do whatever work I was capable of. I had them in to pull the wires from the meter base to the panels and get thaos inspections signed off. I did all the wiring in the shop as well as the water system and septic hook up. The only inspection I failed was that the holes for the shop poles were not deep enough so I had to install hairpins to pass that. One inspection I was sweating was the electrical to the well pump. It comes direct from the meter panel to a subpanel in the pump house. I had it in for inspection along with the final on the shop and the inspector showed up in loafers. I asked if he brought his boots to get to the pump house, no was the answer. After looking at the wiring in the shop he asked if the pump house was done the same, of course I said. He never looked at it. I also pushed the limits on my deck. If an inspector wanted to be an *** they could have failed it. But he just said it looked good and signed it off. So yes I do know what you have been through.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[GarageEnvy]

I can't say for sure if this is the reason or not but I was told by a contractor not to leave a ladder out. His thinking was that if there was a ladder there, they'd use it. Otherwise they probably wouldn't take the trouble to get one out. I was told by the electrician that they'd want to inspect the light fixture connections and make sure at least two screws hit wood. I hung those fixtures and installed blocking so all had two to three solid hits and a couple of flare anchors to cinch them up but still they were never checked. He made sure the door to the house self-closed, that I had a step in place and secure from the door to the house, the circuits were labeled and a stoop was outside the rear door. He also checked for a side gate and the gfi test on the circuits. That was pretty much it. But one thing is for sure. There is no consistency in attitude or thinking from one inspector to the next. Most comical was the 350 pound inspector who crawled up on the roof, walked over to a vent pipe for my heater, bear hugged it and pulled back with all his might. After 5 seconds of pulling it popped off. He said, "Well that loose, they'll have to fix that." The roofer fixed it but I don't think our local codes were designed to prevent impact from 350 pound men in hurricane force winds. In fairness at least 3 of the inspectors were some of the nicest people I've ever met and chatted about God's plan for their lives, cooking Turkey dinners and restoring old cars and motorcycles.

 

[Rando]

Very nice I like what you did with the entrance

 

[V-10 Killer]

Wow, beautiful transformation, congrats on some wonderful work!

 

[M-technik-3]

Liking the one level layout. Makes it far easier to get around when you get older and less maintenance.

Really enjoyed reading thru your build.

 

[MacmanSW20]

It looks really good, there is definitely a lot of room in there to work!

 

[jocool1585]

Do you have a photo of the house before reworking the entry that you could post?

 

[GarageEnvy]

Liking the one level layout. Makes it far easier to get around when you get older and less maintenance.

This was actually a topic of debate. The depth of the garage is 34' and that is for two reasons. First, and most importantly, it is the depth of the house at the tie-in point. For the sake of blending the roof line into the existing house 34' was perfect. Second, it will allow me to carve out a room in the back left corner that is 11' deep and still have a typical 22' parking area in the first two stalls. It would be accessible from my current office in the house so it would be a logical extension. In fact I installed a header in the rear wall for a slider and a header on the house side wall for a doorway.

We gave some thought to going two stories but nixed it for two reasons. 1) Adding living area exponentially increases the permit process and costs (especially when it is over 450sf). 2) The neighborhood is all single story and the only two stories are over garage additions which do not blend in well. 3) The house is already 2800 sf and with the potential room in the garage would be over 3000 sf. That's plenty for us. 4) Property taxes would increase even more 5) We could not have afforded it. 6) The placement of the stairway would have been a bit awkward. 7) I wouldn't blame the neighbors for objecting to it since it would have destroyed the privacy of at least 3 back yards. Originally, we had spec'd scissor trusses but with 34', a hip roof and a 4/12 roof pitch it was not doable. So the compromise is a missed opportunity for the addition of relatively cheap additional living area and the elimination of the possibility for a lift in the future. To make up for it as much as possible I dropped the floor 4" at the front and pushed the header as high as I could. This gave me a front door height of 7'8" which mean I can enter with ski racks on the Tahoe.

 

[sasquach]

Wow the new garage makes your house look like a million bucks . Very nice work building the Shop and the remodel on the house.

 

[GarageEnvy]

Wow the new garage makes your house look like a million bucks .

Hah, this house is in California. No, not the L.A. area or Bay area but central Ca. At one point pre-remodel at the peak it was probably worth around $475,000. Next door just sold for $269k and across the street just sold for $235k. But I tell ya what, I'll make you a special GJ insider deal. It can be yours for $750,000.

 

[kfosburg]

Simple and Beautiful - very nicely done! What a great transformation.

 

[jkeyser14]

It looks amazing. Huge shop, lots of light, plenty of outlets... You did it right.

 

[GarageEnvy]

There will be a workbench along that wall and a welding table. As you can imagine the finances took a serious blow with this project and I need some recovery time. I actually have some really high quality store fixtures that I may use until my finances improve.

 

[aqr81]

Congratulations on your successful final inspection! You have a terrific space there and the remodeling of the front entry really tied it all together nicely. I'm envious of the amount of space you have made for yourself. I really like the color selection and those Strong Cabinet look awesome. Enjoy your new space, it look great.

I thought the fog pictures looked familiar. We've been fogged in here the past few days as well.

 

[wilb1976]

Great place and I think I'm the one with garage envy!

 

[GarageEnvy]

Great place and I think I'm the one with garage envy!

Actually, now I'd like to change my screen name. I no longer envy all of the other garages on here. From a pure space utilization standpoint I still think Jack Olsen's garage gets more utility per square foot than any other building in history. There's plenty of mega sized shops on here but I don't have the land for that. After seeing some of the projects from Pmech, Ztfab and OldCarGuy maybe I could change to SkillEnvy.

 

[Square The Pinhead]

Hole **** the hole house looks great you should be very happy.
I'm a single car garage owner and man I'll take your screen name!

 

[rickairmedic]

GE I have to agree your title doesnt fit anymore . I have a fairly standard 21X28 2 car that I hope in the future to add a 35X 40 onto . I dont think I could go as big as you did due to property layout looks like you have a nice wide lot . Mine is plenty wide but not enough room on the garage side of the lot to go out much more than 35' without major variance headaches.


Rick

 

[larry_g]

Actually, now I'd like to change my screen name. .

Do something simple like

"Bill or George! Anything but Sue!"

lg
no neat sig line

 

[GarageEnvy]

Rick,

The lot width was very critical in the home purchase decision. It's actually kind of a funny story. I'm the kind of guy who has to research all my decisions and know everything about each option. I'm not impulsive. Since I work as a real estate appraiser I actually searched the whole city and neighborhoods I was interested in for lots that were atypically large. There were maybe 30 lots in existence that were in a neighborhood I could afford and that had a house I could live with on it. When this one became available I drove up and immediately said "no". My wife, a garden nut, saw the lot width and was sold prior to going inside. Her quote, "Whatever's wrong with it, I'm sure you can fix." So I measured the side yard which was 42' wide and subtracted the 10' setback. That allowed for a 53' wide garage. The punch list for house shopping included a 3 car garage for me and a pool for my wife. I consider the additional two cars interest that accumulated during my 10 year wait since I compromised. The kicker is that it just happens to be located in the neighborhood I grew up in. I am about 1/4 mile from my parents and about 1/2 mile in the other direction from my brother, nephew and nieces. The blessing was that we bought in 2000 before prices went up and the house needed a lot of work so we paid the same price the prior owner paid in 1993.

 

[ehegwer]

Keep the name! It is all of us who now envy you!

 

[GarageEnvy]

You can have the payments on the $40k loan if it will help easy the envy.