Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT Z's 24x30

[zc15]

Hey everyone!

Long time lurker, first time showing more than a piece or two of what I am working with. I have read through many user's Gallery posts lately, and with a little encouragement from the wife I decided to start my own.

Here was my first garage in our previous rental. This one was a bare-bones single bay, no power, lighting, or heat. It was great when we first moved here, as we had only been in an apartment with one covered spot before this.



I would run an extension cord to some Barrina lights for the last 7 months we were here. Space definitely was at a premium.



Then, we moved! We purchased our first home on 1/2 acre in a suburb of Detroit. Lots this size are very uncommon - our house was built in the late 1930's and was originally on a 1 acre plot, but when the previous owners bought the house, the owner before them partitioned half of the land off and annexed it to their adjacent property. It was definitely a bummer finding this out when we were going through the purchase process, but I still feel lucky we were able to buy this property, especially for the price we paid.

The detached garage is 24x30, and already full



Two of the walls are tongue and groove boards. not a smooth finish. A third of the other wall is covered by OSB. Hopefully this will change soon!

 

[zc15]

Ran out of space on the first post. Continuing the photo dump


The first project the garage saw was building a dining room table. We couldn't find anything we liked for a price we were willing to pay, so I used it as an excuse to buy more tools!

This was done in December in the Midwest, in an unheated garage. I was storing boards in the house, running them out to the garage to do work, and bringing them back in the house each night. When it came time for stain and seal, those were done in the bonus room over tarps. Not ideal by any means, but it was necessary. The pocket holes are on the bottom, but we sanded both the top and bottom.



Here's the finished product





Following the table was a bed frame for the guest bed. Same process as before, boards stored in the house until it was time to work. Brought back in each night. Stain and seal in the bonus room.

 

[zc15]

Now that we are settled in, I have sworn to never resort to shuttling projects between the house and garage during the winter again!

Project insulate and heat has commenced!

We reached out to a handful of HVAC companies, and the cheapest quote we received was $3300 for a Hot Dawg installed. This price included me digging the 115' trench from the house for the gas line.

During one of the quotes, the estimator pulled off the panel cover and discovered a mess!


I started taking welding classes recently


Bonus weld pics

The first picture was from my first day of class on a MIG machine 3/16th mild steel. The second was from my 4th class, doing TIG on 1/8th aluminum

 

[zc15]

The next order of business was the roof. Over the winter, the shingles on the garage appeared to have shifted. I reached out to my dad's buddy who has done roofing/general construction over the last 30 years his opinion, and he said this was a first for him.

My hope was that I could just *slide* the shingles back up into place, nail them back down, and be set.





Needless to say, this wasn't the case.

We were able to pull all of these shingles up by hand, no shovels or tools required. We actually pulled 80% of the shingles on this side of the roof off. Whoever did the roof high-nailed the shingles, so there was not an overlap on each layer. Each shingle effectively only had 4 nails in it, not the 8 they should have had.






The shingles appeared good, so we decided to just nail them back into place. Another great excuse for new tools!

We were able to get this all done in a day, including the runs to the store for supplies and lunch/dinner breaks. The other side appears fine as-is

 

[zc15]

Then, more progress has been made on the garage heat project.

I went ahead and pulled the permit. Doing this by the book since I will appreciate a second set of eyes checking my work, plus we are on a major thoroughfare so I'd rather be safe than sorry when a new vent pops out of the roof miraculously.

We had a tee and valve installed at the meter!



Picked up the heater and gas pipe



811 came out and marked the utilities.

 

[zc15]

Bit of an update: I was hoping to get the gas line ran this weekend, but I ran into some issues.


Next time I trench, it will be in the dry summer season. The ground was pretty mushy. The tracked Ditch Witch wouldn’t move unless both tracks were moving, so turning was difficult. The trench would fill in with groundwater. On and on.

Another issue I ran into was an old unmarked foundation along the planned route! This must have been for an old shed, probably before the current garage was built. So, I decided to just go around and not through.



The discovered foundation meant I had to reroute part of the existing trench to avoid any kinks in the pipe, and avoid using those expensive fittings. When I dug this new part of the trench, I wasn’t thinking and tried to cross over the trench. This caused a half hour delay getting the trencher unstuck.



One more time consuming thing I ran into was clay. The line will cross the electrical service once, which means that part of the trench has to be an additional 14” deeper. The ground below the electrical service was solid (and saturated) clay. I spent a good 1.5 hours in this one little section.

I need to get back out there today and get the rest of the water out of the trench so I can lay the pipe, get it inspected, and get it backfilled

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Let me tell ya, going to an insulated and heated garage is a game changer. I didn't realize how good having one was going to be until I was doing some work on my floor a week or so ago. It was cold, so the heat went on, and 3 minutes later it was toasty warm. So nice to have that.

Your garage is a really nice size, I always like some extra bonus room for storage or work space.

Can't wait to see it come together!

 

[zc15]

Let me tell ya, going to an insulated and heated garage is a game changer. I didn't realize how good having one was going to be until I was doing some work on my floor a week or so ago. It was cold, so the heat went on, and 3 minutes later it was toasty warm. So nice to have that.

Your garage is a really nice size, I always like some extra bonus room for storage or work space.

Can't wait to see it come together!

I can't wait for the heat this winter. I'm also running cat6 while I'm at it, since wifi is spotty out there

 

[Rich H.]

Good luck with your build. Agreed with above....good insulation and heat is life changing indeed.

 

[zc15]

Good luck with your build. Agreed with above....good insulation and heat is life changing indeed.

Thanks! I just read through your build. Very neat and plenty of good ideas!

 

[zc15]

Laid some pipe yesterday. I pressure tested the underground stuff first just for peace of mind



I was going to plumb everything up last night, but didn’t end up getting home until after the stores were closed. Unfortunately I needed a union instead of the coupler I had on hand, so today was a 6am run to get the union.

I was able to button up the tie into the meter this morning. I will be doing the plumbing into the garage tonight, and hopefully getting inspected tomorrow.

The inspector wanted a pvc protector around the riser to protect it from a weed whip, and he wanted the pipe unpainted for the pressure test, so here she is in the way he wants it. Luckily using the union around the union makes it so I can slide the pvc up and down to access for paint.

 

[zc15]

I was able to finish plumbing the rest of the pipe on the other end into the garage.

I decided to put an exterior shut off valve outside the man door in case something starts going haywire - I don’t want to have to reach up behind the heater, or run all the way to the house to shut the gas off.





On my first pressure test, I had a leak from the elbow at the transition through the garage wall. Further investigating showed the elbow on top of the riser had a crack in it!



I was bummed to have to make my 5th trip to the store, but I wanted this to be done!

I had to cut the pipe through the wall to remove the elbow, so I had to replace the pipe and elbow. I also had to buy a union and ****** so I could connect the threads without disassembling the pipe inside the garage.

She is now holding pressure! Hopefully I can get it inspected tomorrow so I can backfill before the rain.

Excuse the mess in the photos, I was definitely bad about putting tools back after using them.

 

[zc15]

Cleaned up the mess before work today. The shelf brackets were temporary support as I was threading the pipe together.

The cabinet that the HD box sits on will be moving elsewhere in the near future.

View attachment 1538196

 

[fouckhest]

Nice looking build, as a similar size garage owner looking forward to following along and seeing your progress

 

[zc15]

Nice looking build, as a similar size garage owner looking forward to following along and seeing your progress

Thanks! It will definitely be a process, hopefully not too long though!

 

[zc15]

An update: We successfully passed our gas line pressure test today. Now onto getting the heater hung and vented!

 

[zc15]

Started backfilling the trench this weekend. I know how difficult making the trench was, but this seems like more work. I’ll have to snag a wheelbarrow to transport dirt from areas that are already filled in over to areas that still need more fill.

I also ran a section of irrigation pipe for a cat7 cable to set up a wireless access point in the garage. Cell coverage isn’t acceptable in the area, and Powerline failed me about 2 months into using it.

 

[captain14]

Every project requires new tools and at least three trips to a supplier. So five trips for the gas line is not that bad. How far did you have to travel?

I’m going to follow along with your garage update and woodworking projects!

Nice table and bed.

 

[zc15]

Every project requires new tools and at least three trips to a supplier. So five trips for the gas line is not that bad. How far did you have to travel?

I’m going to follow along with your garage update and woodworking projects!

Nice table and bed.

It always seems that way! Menards and HD are maybe 3 miles away (10-15 minute drive though), so those are my go-to spots.

Our last place was about 1/2 mile from HD and 3/4 mile from Lowes. On a nice afternoon I would walk there in order to hold myself to a "Buy what you can carry" limit

The nearest big box hardware at my parents' is 35 miles, so they do everything in one trip and return any extra materials afterwards. My dad likes the convenience I have in my area, but nothing beats the peace and quiet of the rural area they're in.

 

[zc15]

Decided on how to mount the heater today.

 

[zc15]

Today was also used to improve my audio setup. I happened to find this Pioneer receiver, amp, and speakers for $70 at a local thrift shop. Even after I finished working tonight, I spent another half hour just listening to music in the garage

 

[zc15]

Today I finally hung the heater up. Had to deal with some goofy rafter spacing.

I also spent about 5 minutes trying to get the B vent pipe on the end, but it seems like it’s the same diameter as the piece on the unit? Maybe I just got an oblong piece. I don’t know, but I said I’ll try again tomorrow. Not worth getting worked up over after today’s successes.

Special shout out to those who showed me that you can use a drywall lift to get it in place by yourself. I couldn’t imagine trying to do this without the lift.

 

[zc15]

Got the heater wired up, gas connected, and venting started. Only thing left to do I think is cut the hole in the roof (as well as make the lines look pretty/out of the way.

 

[zc15]

So originally I planned to do a vertical vent, but the rafters were in the way and it felt really shoddy with how many connectors I was having to use. Once I got to about $150 in B-vent, I kind of put a pause on things.

I reevaluated and ran the cost of a Cat III horizontal stainless steel vent by the wife, and she gave the approval, so I went and picked up the materials for that.

Yesterday I put a big hole in the side of my garage and then put the pipe through!

I also wired up a WiFi thermostat yesterday too, so it should be ready to test fire. I just ran out of time yesterday and have been busy with other projects today.

 

[zc15]

Today’s project was to finish running the Ethernet cable from the house to the garage.

I already had the cable laid in a section of irrigation pipe, but when I had went to bring the cable into the house I realized the coax cable coming into the house was routed behind the siding, so I had no idea where it actually penetrated. I decided to drill the hole from the inside out, and had to use an auger bit to get all the way through.

I sealed up the penetration with some waterproof silicone after testing the cable.

Inside, I ran the cable under the house to the wall where our modem and router are. I replaced the coax jack with one that had a female to female Cat6 jack. I have another router in the garage, so I am in business now!

 

[zc15]

So I finally was able to test fire the Hot Dawg today. New install, 45k unit. When I first got it to fire up, it sounded like a can full of rocks being shaken up.

Is this the direct spark ignition?

Or is it something else? It seems to run ok, it blows warm air out that's for sure.

https://imgur.com/a/hwss9KH

 

[zc15]

While I hadn’t posted here in awhile, I have made some progress.

The heater in the video above I ended up taking back and exchanging for a new one. This delay overall took a solid 2-2.5 weeks getting worked through.

Once the new heater was up, I called for the inspection.

The good news is that the heater operates and was passable. The bad news was that even though I had talked to the mechanical inspector twice in person and a few times on the phone, and with the electrical inspector in person and on the phone, no one mentioned to me I needed an electrical permit since I was altering a circuit.

This caused a 1 week delay between filing for the electrical permit and getting the electrical inspector scheduled.

Finally, now I have that golden Final Approval for both the Mechanical and Electrical permits!

Now I get to focus on rodent-proofing, insulation, and new wall covering.

I am leaning towards drywall or drywall over OSB right now. I would prefer the ability to hang things wherever, but the cost is the only downside.



I have a feeling the next steps will take awhile to complete. The better half has jumped down a kitchen renovation rabbit hole, which has consumed all of my nights after work. We had to strip 3 layers of a bad paint job first. We’re still working on stripping the cabinet doors.

Next up is a new countertop. She picked a Luna Pearl granite. The backsplash also gets to come out. Best part, is that this work all has to be complete before the countertop gets installed next month

Before:


Current state:
We are looking for ideas to replace the fluorescent lighting fixtures without going to recessed cans. Recessed would be the goal eventually, but due to budget constraints that is out for now.



The countertop she selected:


It feels weird to make something worse before it can get better, but that’s what we have to do here unfortunately.

 

[zc15]

Unfortunately over the weekend we had an incident with our pickup. I have a feeling it will be awhile until it’s repaired due to parts delays. It’s a good thing we still have the WORK.TRUCK. to transport materials

 

[fouckhest]

TDi 5door is a rather versatile vehicle! I've hauled so many ridiculous things in golf hatches it isn't funny!

 

[captain14]

Nobody ever had to say it has to fit inside the wagon. Very similar in concept to an open bed pickup truck.

 

[zc15]

TDi 5door is a rather versatile vehicle! I've hauled so many ridiculous things in golf hatches it isn't funny!

She is the Holy Grail! ALH TDI, 5 Speed Manual Jetta Wagon. 275k miles on her and she still purrs.

Nobody ever had to say it has to fit inside the wagon. Very similar in concept to an open bed pickup truck.

I've hauled all kinds of stuff in/on top of the wagon. Last weekend was a load of 2x6's someone was throwing to the curb.

The back seats are pretty much always folded down, making it almost a covered Ute.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

I'm jealous, I'd love a TDi manual Jetta! So much utility and goodness in one Teutonic package. My 98 Outback is pretty good though, I've carried all manner of ridiculous **** on the roof.

Good to hear the garage is going well, but that kitchen remodel looks like a bear! We'll be going through something similar next year. What colors are going on the cabinets? Countertop selection is really nice too.

 

[zc15]

I'm jealous, I'd love a TDi manual Jetta! So much utility and goodness in one Teutonic package. My 98 Outback is pretty good though, I've carried all manner of ridiculous **** on the roof.

Good to hear the garage is going well, but that kitchen remodel looks like a bear! We'll be going through something similar next year. What colors are going on the cabinets? Countertop selection is really nice too.

We're going with a SW Ceiling Bright White. We like the color, but the previous owners did a really bad job painting. It was brush mark galore. They used a cheap paint, so my wife couldn't clean the cabinets without taking paint off. Stripping the paint revealed they tried to just put a single coat over the wood. This must not have worked, so they put a primer over that first coat, and then topcoated for a total of 3 layers of paint that needed removed.

One thing I have learned from the previous owners of our house is to do things the right way. There have been lots of shoddy repairs and alterations throughout the house that turn a simple project into something more complex.

My goal is to not leave the next owner with a similar burden if we end up selling in the future.

 

[vavet]

Very nice OP.
I wonder about your term "barrina" lights. I googled and it turned up LED or fluorescent tube light fixtures. Maybe it's a regional thing. It's a brand name, maybe they're just the most popular brand in your area.

I'm with you on pressing cars into truck service. I do a lot with my little Mazda5 microvan and a utility trailer.

 

[zc15]

Very nice OP.
I wonder about your term "barrina" lights. I googled and it turned up LED or fluorescent tube light fixtures. Maybe it's a regional thing. It's a brand name, maybe they're just the most popular brand in your area.

I'm with you on pressing cars into truck service. I do a lot with my little Mazda5 microvan and a utility trailer.

Barrina is the Amazon brand name. They’ve treated me well. Some people have had issues with them dying, but mine have been solid. Here’s a link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NZCXZK6/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[wasfast]

I have 22 of the 4' Barrina's in the garage. They've been there 18 months, no failures and the light is FABULOUS!

Amazon.com

 

[Trapps]

LOVE the marathon boats! Is that a Corbin 95?

Nice project going. I look forward to following!

 

[zc15]

deleted

 

[Trapps]

Nice! Savage really makes a nice boat. Their Voyager is super hot, but more than I'm willing to spend.

I spend a fair bit of time in and around Oscoda, but I doubt we've crossed paths. While I am an avid canoeist, I'm not a racer. I know and respect what you guys do though! I can say for certain we've paddled the same water; probably many times over...

I'm really a tripper at heart. This was few years ago on the Manistee with my son - his first multi-day trip:




Late this October on the Rifle:




PS. Nice Yakule rack! Or is it a Thukima?

 

[zc15]

Nice! Savage really makes a nice boat. Their Voyager is super hot, but more than I'm willing to spend.

I spend a fair bit of time in and around Oscoda, but I doubt we've crossed paths. While I am an avid canoeist, I'm not a racer. I know and respect what you guys do though! I can say for certain we've paddled the same water; probably many times over...

I'm really a tripper at heart. This was few years ago on the Manistee with my son - his first multi-day trip:


Late this October on the Rifle:



PS. Nice Yakule rack! Or is it a Thukima?

They definitely know what they have, that's for sure.

Tripping is just as respectable, I don't think I could do much of that. Not enough go fast

The rack is definitely a hodge-podge, but it works well. I was working with what I had, and it works really well with the longer boats, especially at highway speed. You can see how I expanded my span from 5 to 10 feet.