Updated 1:22:2006
September 2003 I finally Decided to start building my new garage, I spent about 2 years saving money and trying to figure out exactly what I wanted. I got a few bids from garage builders and some from general contractors, the bids where so high that I figured I could just build it my self and I could build it better. I have done lots of general carpenter jobs but never had I built a structure. first thing I did was find out what my building codes where and how about to get a permit. I live in St. Louis county and they had a good online web site to help with getting permits especially for a detached garage like mine. Next I needed to find someone to draw the plans for me. Doing the plans yourself or someone out of state is the best bet since if I had a architect do it in Missouri then any changes would require that the plans get resealed. Since I found a guy in Oregon to do my plans. st. Louis just considered them to be mine and I could do just about anything to them and didn't need a seal. Next i went out and bought some books on concrete and general construction. Concrete is very interesting and I learned alot reading the book even though I was not doing the concrete myself. one thing is strength is all in the curing and concrete that is kept wet for 7 days can be 40% stronger than concrete that is not kept wet.
Next I thought about doing the Concrete work myself but after 2 minutes of thinking about it I wised up and made some calls. I wanted a real foundation with a curb on the inside so I could wash out the floor and not get the walls wet. Most contractors will try to do a Monolithic poured foundation because it is alot cheaper to do but the finish is pour, not as strong and if you ever need to replace the floor it is about impossible. In Missouri you have to build below the frost line so the footings must be 30 inches below grade, In our foundation there will be footings , walls and then the slab.
Garage Specs:
Outside Dimensions: 28 wide x 44 deep
Ceiling Height is 12' 6" (this way I can put a lift in and still stand up under a car)
Footings 24" wide 12 " thick
foundation walls 8" thick
6" Thick Slab with vapor Barrier and 1/2 crisscross rebar
2 x 6 Wall construction this allows for R19 Insulation and is stronger, all walls where built with 2.5 inch deck screws (No Nails)
8 /12 Pitch roof
1/2 real plywood sheathing on roof and on outside walls
Tyvek wrap
dual pan windows
Electric:
200 amp service
with:
220 volt 90 amp, 50 amp and 2, 20 amp machine outlets
lots of 110 and pre wired for future heat and AC
5/8 Fire Code Drywall
Started September 2003
Basic design of the foundation, not the same measurements as mine but the concept is the same.
Diging the footings, they are 24inches wide since that is the bucket size. the dirt walls make the sides so there is no need for forms if the footings are below ground.
we had to use forms on the back side since the footings came out of the ground do to the slope of the yard.
poured footings, you can't see it here but a keyway is put in the middle so the walls can lock in place when poured.
The dryer you pour the concrete the stronger it will be. Most concrete workers like to pour it real wet because it is easier to work with and will flow like a river in the forms.
Here you can see the keyway in the middle of the concrete.
Starting to put up the wall forms
Me and my Wife Cindy. this is about the happiest she ever looked when it came to the garage, now she doesn't look so happy when we talk about it.
Starting to pour the concrete for the walls, the walls are 8 inches thick and have 2 runs of 1/2 rebar in them, the boards you see on the outside of the wall are called wailer boards they help to square the forms up and give a good area to stand on. at this stage most concrete companies will pour the concrete real wet which makes it flow nice in the forms and gives them less work. the only problem with this is the more water you ad the weaker the concrete gets, usually before they ad a lot of water they will pour the front corners so they are nice and strong incase a car bumps them.
you can see in this picture the rebar and how liquid the concrete is, when it is going into the forms it sounds like ice tea being poured.
Here you can see the 2 sections of rebar.
Poured wall with wall anchor bolts installed.
After the walls dried for a day the remove the forms and start filling the inside with rock (1 inch clean lime stone) you could use dirt but dirt will settle over time. It took 198 tons of rock to fill this foundation at a cost of $1,300
More rock going in
the garage is now filled to the proper level
Finished foundation
At this stage we lay the vapor barrier plastic down and drill the holes for the 1/2 rebar.
The floor is going to be poured into 2 sections that is why you only see half covered in plastic.
The hole is where the rebar goes in. you will see 2 chalk lines bottom one is the line for the rebar holes 2" inches from bottom, the top line is the surface of the concrete floor, this is a 6" slap floor, most floors are 4".
one side rebar laid out.
Rebar will be a basket weave layout, most floors only use wire mesh but for added strength I decided to use all 1/2 rebar.
You will notice that the man in the jean jacket is using the claw of a hammer to pull up on the rebar as the concrete is poured. He does this to let the concrete flow under the rebar.
here they are moving the concrete out to get it level.
back section bull floated and ready to be trawled
back section. the garage floor was poured in 2 parts
trawling the back section
Starting the front section, the rebar will be lifted up as the concrete is poured.
using the magnesium bull float. this brings the cream up to the surface so you get a smooth finish.
Pouring the last part.
after the Slab was poured I kept it covered and wet for 7 days, this will help it to be up 60% stronger than not keeping it wet. most are not done this way so it is not necessary but I like to go the extra step.
Truck delivery wood, roofing and everything else. notice the trusses in the front yard under the black plastic.
October 8, 2003 the wood is delivered on my birthday, you can see how the slab is covered in plastic this creates humidity to keep the slab wet.
October 2003
We now started building the walls, in the picture is my dad who never lived to see the finished project. in the back is my good friend Cory (kneeling down) and I am the one in the white shirt. This wall was built as one piece but after we built it we realized there was no way we could stand it up so we cut it into 3 parts. all the walls where built with 3" deck screws, it is way overkill but when you do your own work you tend to do that.
Standing up the walls and supporting them from the outside. The walls are 12' tall.
Bottom wood plate is weather treated wood, 1/2 bolts every 4 feet hold the wall in place, the pink foam under the bottom plate is to help fill any gaps and add to the insulation factor.
Me and Cory, He did help a ton on this project. If it wasn't for him i would probably still be out there today trying to put up the first wall.
This was by far the hardest part, trying to sheet the outside took a lot of work and the higher we went the harder it got. I used real plywood and no OBS (particle Board ) in the construction. the plywood is put on side ways because that is stronger than putting it on vertically. next time i would just sheet it on the ground and rent a big crane to pick the wall up.
It took 3 rows and we used over 2,000 nails putting on the sheets, as you can see there was about a 6" part at the top that did not get covered, I had to go back and fill that area later with 6" strips of plywood.
Building of the gables, notice that the end truss (vertical 2x4 supports as apposed to the triangular design of all the other trusses is different than all the others) in this picture is the #1 truss and the #2 truss
We hired some extra help to build the roof and rented a Big crane to host all the trusses up.
trusses are spaced 24" apart
rear gable going up.
Roof is sheeted and now putting up the Tyvek Moisture barrier.
My buddy Chris Herter came in from out of town to give a hand on the project.
Starting the vinyl siding, this was the hardest part of the project, make sure to leave expansion gaps and don't nail down firm. you want the siding to be able to move.
roof is on and you can see I did aluminum flashing around all the windows and doors for extra protection.
Garage door installed this is a 18' x 8' door that is insulated. standard size door is 16' x 7' the bigger door make a world of difference.
getting ready to epoxy coat the floor, it is a 3 day process. I used www.Ucoatit.com products.
back to vinyl, it took a little time to figure out how it all works.
December 2003:
This was my stopping point for the winter. to cold and come February my dad died and I really did not feel good working on the garage with him being gone.
Spring 2004
I rented this genie lift and it worked great until I drove it in the back yard then it got stuck. just because it says 4 wheel drive really doesn't mean it can go anywhere. it took about 4 hours to get this out and then i rented a smaller light weight model.
Here I am on the lift this is the only place the big lift would work since it is sitting on my driveway. the hardest part of doing vinyl siding is understanding how all the edges and corner stuff is supposed to go together. remember never nail any vinyl product all the way down as then need some room to move with temperature change.
this is from the top of the smaller lift looking down on the mess the stuck lift made.
edge detail
Nice view of the back yard
making some progress, the lift is alot better than using 2 people and ladders.
End detail, this little item was kind of hard to figure out the best way to enclose it.
It is covered in aluminum
only a little to go
all done on the outside, the vinyl took alot longer than I thought but I think it looks good.
we started the electric and the first thing was to put in underground wires and I wanted to eliminate the overhead wires that I had before. the new service will go from the street to the garage with 400 AMPs and then 200 of the 400 amps will be diverted to the house. also all the phone and cable TV lines run to the garage first as when the time comes to build a new house I wont have to mess with any of those services. the electrical pipe needs to be 24 inches under ground (this is just a code deal, there is no magic about the number 24.)
There are actually to 3" pipes running to the street just incase some day I need to go to 600 AMPS, I don't think that will ever happen but it is alot cheaper to run the extra pipe now than later.
90 % of the 110 wiring is 12/3 (yellow) and the lights are on 14/3 (white)
As you can see in the first pic there are 2, 220 outlets on the back wall (lower on the wall)
the garage is wired with CAT5, CAT3 and Cable/Sat
box completely wired
outside service. there are 2 main shut offs under the cover, 1 for the house and 1 for the garage.
The electric company came in and pulled some real heavy wire though the tube. they use the bucket on the truck to pull the wire. since my neighbor is building a new house his and my main wires meet up at a pedestal and then go to the poll.