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The "Bunker" garage is almost complete!

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gibbons

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Nov 25, 2006
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15
The mountains look like southern Utah County(?) My community's code would only let me build 1000sf, so I went 22x45 (990).

OK, here's a rude, invasive question after having just built in our still booming Utah market... How much is this project going to cost? Your answer might make me feel bad, cuz I got hooked a whopping $45K for the detached garage and driveway shown in this thread: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10669&highlight=gibbons

I wanted this house plan in this particular neighborhood, I wanted the garage built with the house, the developer knew he had me, and over charged me accordingly :mad: And the only secret underground thing I have is the subgrade conduit carrying the alarm sensor signals back to the panel in the house.

Hey, how are you going to plumb the floor drains with living space below? I think my garage floor drains are the best part of my house.
 
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JMURiz

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gibbons

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Nov 25, 2006
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utah997 said:
I would say a fair estimate would be about $260k.
Click to expand...

When we were building our project, a sissy real estate agent poo-poo'ed the detached garage saying we would never get out of it what we put into it. Maybe not on a spreadsheet, but who cares? Every time I pull up and see it, or go in it, I get my money's worth. You will too :thumbup:
 
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Hades12

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Jan 13, 2006
Messages
211
Location
Union Mills NC
All you need now is a fire pole and you will get my vote for Man of the year.


I have two questions

1. How do you think this will effect the resale of the house?

2. Where did you find a truck big enough to haul your Balls around with you?
 
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bmwpower

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utah997 said:
Good eye, we are a few miles south of Provo. As for the cost, it's a work in progress. I would say a fair estimate would be about $260k. That would be completely finished outside and to sheetrock inside. Not including any of the home theater work. But it does include re-doing all of the concrete outside and fixing the front yard. Just a guess..

Also, as for the size, in our town it is based on your lot size. The above ground portion has to be under 10% of your total lot square footage. We are on a .5 acre (about 20,000 sqft) so as long as my above ground portion wasn't over that, we are fine.

Never mind the fact that it's 2,300 underneath.. :)
Click to expand...

I would guess the bulk of the cost is concrete? Seems like it shouldn't be more than, say, pouring concrete basement walls like on a house, but I guess the walls are a little thicker, eh? I just don't see it costing that much.

I'm really liking this idea.

What about codes and such? I heard there are issues with building pits in garages. Isn't this similar? Or is it okay because you have another exit out to the house?
 
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PhantomEB

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Feb 6, 2006
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Medicine Hat, AB, Canuckistan
Lucky you, in Calgary, we are not allowed 2 storey garages to be built anymore. I would LOVE something underground for storage than something skyhigh. And I think the concrete probably was cheap compared to the steel costs!
 
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GTRClive

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Apr 1, 2007
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91
As far as the Batman thing, you would have to have a Bust on the table the other side of the room from the secret door, with a flip top head and a big red button to open the secret door..... go on you know you want to.....

Like your thinking on the "How to get over the Planning ules", but Being a car nut I would have put a in Lift so I could put cars downstair ... But thats just me...

Good luck on the rest of construction

Clive
 
J

jason9696

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Oct 18, 2007
Messages
10
This is by far the coolest build I have seen. Kudos on going through with the secret door, someone else said it best, "If you have to explain it, you just wouldn't understand."
Keep the pics coming, well the ones that you can let us see without having to kill us :)
 
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bmwpower

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utah997 said:
There is a huge portion of the cost that was allocated to concrete. You have to figure that you have 4.5 foot wide footings, 12 inch thick 14 foot high walls, plus the 2000 plus feet of flat work in the basement, plus another 1,200 sq feet of flat work in the garage, plus about 4,000 sq feet of patio and driveway. Also, the steel costs were over the top. The footing had two rebar mats #4 rebar 10 inches on center, the wall had a single mat of rebar, the cap (garage floor) was a complete rebar cage. Then you get to the 11 beams that hold the structure up, plus the metal decking that you pour the concrete on.. it all adds up. I will say that steel prices are crazy right now.
Click to expand...

At that point, it would probably have been cheaper to sell your house, find more land and build above ground. At least it would be for me.

But not as cool.

Do you think if you sell the house some day you will get your money back at the sale?
 
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Will67

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Nov 17, 2006
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Hell's half acre
If you are spending 250K+ on this build and one of the main reasons is a home theater...I am going to guess I would not recognize any of the names you will be using for speakers, amps, and the rest; i.e.: your not going down to the local Best Buy to pick any of it up.

I would also guess that on your other board you have discussed the home theater system ad nauseum already?

I second ditching the spiral staircase in favor of an elevator or lift. But its probably too late for that now. Don't you just hate us second guesser types.

Fantastic build!!!
 
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Matt2point4

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Oct 21, 2006
Messages
74
Swap the stairs for a fireman's pole! rubbish to go up to the garage, but AWESOME for for the way back :)
 
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SteveL

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Jan 14, 2005
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760
Location
St. Louis, MO
I have a couple of curious questions:

1. You say that you have a 1/2 acre lot, but the homes behind you seem to have virtually no back yards. Is your lot much bigger, or is most of the land in the front?

2. Your neighbor in the back has a very strange looking cage like object in their back yard. What the heck is it? It appears to have netting as a roof and looks to be about 40' long. Bird cage? Batting cage?

3. How is that neighbor dealing with your building as it looks to be right up against the property line and directly in their line of site?

4. How long do you expect to take for completion? Our additon took about 6 months to get about 90% finished and another year to completly finish. Yea, I did a lot of the work myself, so it took a while.

Looks great and can't wait to see more pics. Congrats on building your dream!:beer:
 
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Jey

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Mar 28, 2005
Messages
333
Location
Fenton, Michigan
wow.

I have a 2200 sqft basement currently, and a strange L shapped swatch that sticks out to the side.

I am working on building a "library" in the L, and the book cases will conceal the "storage area" and pull out slide over to reveal it.

My wife thought i went crazy. At least Now I know someone else out there likes the hidden book case room idea.

yours is just a little uh... better!

Crazy. I love it.
 
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78fj40

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Nov 21, 2006
Messages
458
Location
Arlington, VA
Sweet....I had an idea for something like this, but living so close to the coast on sandy wet ground left me with little to no options....

Can't wait for the updates.....
 
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milkovich

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Oct 15, 2007
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682
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Akron Ohio
That's an awesome build!

It makes me want to find our local zoning nerds and kick them because none of that would fly around here.
 
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boiler7904

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Apr 4, 2006
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NW IN
Since you're about a month away from completing the building except for the theatre, do you have updated pics or a link to pics on other sites?

Amazing build. :beer:
When I grow up, I want to be like Utah997!:lol_hitti
 
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IDASHO

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Mar 5, 2007
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1,809
Location
Moscow, Idaho
Nice build man! I dont know how I missed this thread. very cool.

How does the house attach to the tunnel? Is there a basement?
 
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Rte66Charlie

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Jun 21, 2007
Messages
210
Location
Ozark Mountains
utah997 said:
Do I think I'll get my money out of it? I might, I might not. I'm not really worried about it. I put in a pool 3 years ago, which financially is a stupid thing to do. They add almost no value to your house. But we decided that making our home what we wanted it to be was far more important than worrying about re-sale.
Click to expand...

Good on ya Utah!! Glad to see there are other people out there like me. If I WANT it, I don't care what it costs, or whether I'll ever see any ROI!

Awesome build man, I'm happy for you!
 
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Bib Overalls

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Dec 4, 2006
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3,318
Location
Jonesboro, Arkansas
We have about 20K in my shop and the same in my wife's pool and patio. Money we will most likely never get back when we are to feeble to keep the place up. From our perspective, the money we put in was not invested, it was spent. And we got our money's worth.
 
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