planning my man cave - your comments and input welcome

[jwasbury]

Hey everyone. My first post here. I am planning my mancave and am interested in soliciting inputs from folks. Have been browsing around looking at other's garage projects...there are so many great looking set-ups here. Mine will be small and necessarily simple given the space constraints. In any case, I'm pretty sure I'll be the only guy in my 'hood with anything close...most homes around these parts don't even have offstreet parking.

To provide some context here is the subject property...its a multi-family row house in downtown Jersey City (the middle unit).

Roughly one half of the footprint of the ground floor is this one car garage:

The other half is a studio apartment (you can see the door at the rear of the garage:

I used the studio as my engine building "clean room"

Now my plan is to blow out the wall and make a shotgun style two car garage.

Here is the first draft from the architect:

Thinking about this midrise lift, which will be countersunk to be flush with the floor surface

Atlas Kwik Bay 7,000 LB. Mid Rise Lift - Greg Smith Equipment Sales, Inc

What do yoy think?

 

[clutch93]

wow, cool place you have and COOL porsche! Reminds me of Jack Olsens on here. Looks like you have a good plan set in place. The lift will really come in handy! I assume you have plenty of ceiling height due to it's design and the height of your car. So are you just giving up your engine building room? Or will you make some sort of work bench that you can keep fairly clean for such projects?

 

[Nighttrain]

I hope you change that paint color in there! Do you think that those asymetric doors are going to take up too much space to open? How about a nice roll up door to seperate the two rooms. Looking foward to seeing the build.

 

[blkhonda1991]

looks cool, only question i have is are you actually allowed to make drastic changes to the building like that?

 

[jwasbury]

Thanks for responses thus far...

So are you just giving up your engine building room? Or will you make some sort of work bench that you can keep fairly clean for such projects?

With a car in the space I will have a lot less room in there, but hopefully the engine I built won't blow up anytime soon, so I'm not planning on building a lot of engines. Keeping the doors shut and the space separate from the original existing garage area will keep the dust and dirt from the daily driver's comings and goings away and the man cave should remain pretty clean.

I hope you change that paint color in there! Do you think that those asymetric doors are going to take up too much space to open? How about a nice roll up door to seperate the two rooms. Looking foward to seeing the build.

Yes, pink color will be eliminated...not manly at all. I've talked to the architect about adding a hinge to the middle of the larger door section so that it can be folded in half before opening. I think that will work well. I considered a roll up but it will be a pain in the **** to keep opening and closing, the architect correctly pointed out that I would want a smaller "man door" to walk easily between spaces without having to manage a larger car-sized door. The studio space is heated and air conditioned, while the existing garage space is not, so I want to keep them separate as a default.

looks cool, only question i have is are you actually allowed to make drastic changes to the building like that?

This is one reason why I have an architect on the job. Don't foresee any issues with the plan...exterior mods would be a potential problem as I am in a historic district. The home is not historic, however. Built in 2001.

 

[blkhonda1991]

This is one reason why I have an architect on the job. Don't foresee any issues with the plan...exterior mods would be a potential problem as I am in a historic district. The home is not historic, however. Built in 2001.

Do you have to go before the condo association for approval? i hope you dont have any busy body neighbors that will hamper the project

 

[jwasbury]

Its not a condo or 'special' community so no condo/homeowner association to deal with. I own the building and the tiny piece of land it sits on. Immediate neighbors are both absentee landlords so they will not bother me.

 

[JSBriggs]

Double check you approach, departure and break-over angles when building the transition ramp. It might not seem like its very steep, but on low clearance road cars it could be tight.

Is that dividing wall load bearing or have any shear qualities? That will determine how complex this 'remodel' will be.

-Jeff

 

[Jack Olsen]

Wait. Is the lift going into the space that is now the studio apt? If so, that's freakin' awesome.

In any case, it looks like a cool setup.

You've got to be creative in a city. Space is a precious commodity.

 

[Zeke]

I think this is a cool idea, but I see way too many code violations. If you think having a car in a so called garage all the while in the heated portion of the home with the vapors and such is gonna fly, you just might be wrong.

And the list goes on.

 

[neonnblack]

I think this is a cool idea, but I see way too many code violations. If you think having a car in a so called garage all the while in the heated portion of the home with the vapors and such is gonna fly, you just might be wrong.

And the list goes on.

Good point, and that rear wall while probably not load bearing, might be a special fire break being its in the middle of a multiple family dwelling.

 

[jwasbury]

The lift is going into the "studio space." I want to be able to have the hobby car in project status while still being able to come and go with the daily driver in the original section of the garage.

Rear wall is not load bearing...just sheet rock and aluminum framing members.

The first floor of my building is a one bedroom apartment I rent out and I live on the top two floors. The existing garage space sits below the 1st floor dwelling unit already so I think this "extension" is not a big stretch. Agreed that there might be a problem with HVAC. Won't be mentioned in the construction drawings since no new HVAC work will be proposed, but possible problem during inspection. This studio is separate from other spaces in the building. Its only accessible from the garage or from an exterior door that opens to a small backyard. There are no staircases or hallways or doors that lead to dwelling areas. Also HVAC ducting in the space is only supply air, there is no return in that space.

I've discussed codes with the architect and he's not worried about getting the job through. Any way I do hope he's right. We discussed that worse case may be that I will need to have an additional sheet rock layer put up on the ceiling and that the HVAC ducts will need to be plugged and covered over.

 

[Nighttrain]

Looks like your going about this in the right way with the architect. I would consider a glass ceiling in the studio space so you can sit in your living room and look down on that super awsome car! (Yes a 911 is my dream car, one day!)

 

[ZRX61]

I think this is a cool idea, but I see way too many code violations. If you think having a car in a so called garage all the while in the heated portion of the home with the vapors and such is gonna fly, you just might be wrong.

And the list goes on.

OTOH, he doesn't live in Califailure..

 

[muibubbles]

jwas... i think i live right by you hahah.... what part of downtown jc? your building looked familiar and then i read youre in jc! i live at liberty harbor? i think hahah

 

[jwasbury]

OTOH, he doesn't live in Califailure..

True, this may work in my favor. Then again, NJ isn't too far behind Cali in many ways.

jwas... i think i live right by you hahah.... what part of downtown jc? your building looked familiar and then i read youre in jc! i live at liberty harbor? i think hahah

Yes, just a few blocks from liberty harbor.

 

[Zeke]

Residential HVAC systems work by having a 1 inch space between the bottom of any passage door and the floor. On a typical 30" door this provides 30 sq in of area for air return from the register which is probably 2wice that. If your register to this "apt" is not allowed to return to the central return air duct, the system is poorly designed.

That's just on that subject. Fire codes would be top on my list, but if you have a good architect on this, I won't make any more suggestions.

 

[elav]

It took me a while to realize that your plans are just showing the studio section. I complete understand why you would want the bathroom and a sink but personally I would get rid of the shower. I think things like a fridge and air compressor would be used a lot more than a shower. Now, if you are ever considering converting back to a studio (for resale value, etc.) keeping the shower makes sense and I would also look at plans that are easily reversible. Very cool project!

 

[jwasbury]

Hi All...

I've now put this job out to bid. So far heard from 2 out of 3 contractors who came to survey the site and the quotes are both around 28k. That is fully finished, with paint and tile floor. Just curious for those in the trade or those who have BTDT if this is in the right ballpark. I'll admit that the cost is higher than I anticipated, but I really have no experience with renovations other than very small projects. This is certainly a bit more involved than blowing out a wall. The plans call for concrete work such as pouring a ramp and cutting the slab and pouring new concrete for countersinking the midrise lift. Construction drawings are attached (not sure if you can read them though).

 

[HVAC Phil]

If you do decide to use the exsiting home HVAC system, you must install fire dampers in each run going to garage space. Anyway, it won't work worth a damn without return air. For such a small space, i would use a mini split system. Safe and legal.