Garage Build

I posted some teaser pictures of my garage in a previous post looking for ping pong table advice. I resonse to that, here is what I bought (forgive the dust, I really need to paint and do something with the floor up there!!):

It is a detached (for now!) 36' x 32' footprint with poured footed foundation. 2x6 walls, downstairs ceiling is ~13.5' with 16" I-joists (12"OC) for the 32' continuous span. Upstairs has 6' kneewall and scissor truss (can't remember pitches right now), center of ceiling is ~10.5'. Garage doors are 16' x 9' and 11' x 12'. R19 insulation in walls (+R3-4 foam on exrterior) and first floor ceiling, R38 in attic. Here is the plan, and also before and after pics:

Site prep and foundation work:

PEX for radiant and poured floor:

Next the framing (which happened too fast to get many pics!!):

Framing from inside and siding:

Insulation:

Sheetrock (pretape/mud):

try again??

And finally, this is what it looks like now:





Still a bit of a mess as I kind of just threw stuff in there when the cold came. Still need to do cabinets in the lift corner, do a bit more trim work downstairs, and finish the upstairs (just paint and probably ¼" ply floor for now).

It has been holding a nice toasty 50-55° (measured by wall thermo, themostat is set at 50° and reads 50°). Nice to not winterize the boat this year!

Have only done a couple minor jobs on the lift, but man, how did I ever change the oil before . . . .

I obviously have a ton to do still, but overall I am very happy with the result!!

I have garage envy.

Nice work!
Did you sheet rock, tape, mud and texture the walls yourself? I just built a re-loading room that is about the size of a large bedroom and I hated that part of the job. I can't even imagine the overwhelming job of finishing that place.

Lifts are the only way to go!

looks great!

I would do some kind of colored sealent on the concrete

Nice man cave! Keep us posted as you perfect it!

Nothing better than when your garage is almost the size of your house. well done!!!! Very envious.

Nice: Looks like you have lot's of potential with your gagage I to have garage envy. IMO the best garage is one that looks clean and bare.
If you are a true PIMP Any Garage Nazi will tell you your Boat garage should look like you could pull your boat out at any min and go boating. You should NEVER have anything hanging in on or under your boat and not have to move anything to pull your boat out. Keep the force strong my young Jedi.

Yes, nothing on the floor and everything has it's place. Thats my dream garage.

Wow....very nice...very VERY jealous

Very, very cool. Thanks for sharing. Gotta ask though, why no plumbing? (I'm thinking floor drains, john, and a huge sink)

WOW nice

A "Garage Mahal!" AWESOME! Man, I'd love to have that. The most I can squeeze onto my lot is an oversized single-car garage, but after looking at your palace I'm wondering whether something that small is even worth it.

I am so jealous! My 14x20 just ain't big 'nuff! Very, nice garage Tom!

But, I am surprised it passed inspection missing that railing on the lower steps.

that looks great! i'd love to have a lift at my disposal. very well done.

VERY VERY NICE!! I'm jealous as hell

Re-Dunk-ulous.

Barry- I thought about doing the drywall myself, or at least just the hanging; but in the end paid to have it done as I have a few projects underway in the house that I am tackling alone. I also wanted to avoid the obvious learning curve I would end up with on mud (why are the joints so much better upstairs than downstairs??).

Benjamin- I just had them seal after pouring for a better cure. I almost did epoxy, but didn't want to worry about protecting it for the rest of the work. I actually have always liked bare concrete for some reason. Who knows, maybe I'm in for a grind and epoxy floor in the future though. I do plan on putting a vinyl mat down unser the lift area, probably coin-type pattern ~9-10' x 16-18'.

G/GD- Once the cabinets/shelving gets done, the boat will be readily removed at a moments notice; that's one of the reasons for the depth, so I don't have to remove the platform and swing the tongue. The intention is to end up with a clear floor (after storage is built). I needed to stop spending money, so the cabinets and shelves should be done some time in the spring.

Trace- There is plumbing. I have water from the house, DHW on demand from the boiler, next to the boat door I have a janitor's faucet (bucket hook type but no drian), and on opposite side of wall hot/cold outdoor faucet. Plumbed for hot/cold water and drain near the lift for wash-up sink, as well as roughed in bathroom (sink and crapper) upstairs. Also cold only outdoor faucet in the back. Really wanted floor drains for snowmelt, etc., but that's pretty hard to do these days.

ADBD- I was surprised too, and it it was living space they would have required it. I am building a removable railing for the "bridge" section.

Rayprisz- I was surprised how little some lifts cost. There not exactly cheap, but not as bad as I was expecting. I would not have even considered if a friend hadn't done one in his garage. We did a clutch/flywheel on the suby, and the time savings of using the lift combined with the decent priec made it a no-brainer for me. Although 12' minimum ceiling is somewhat limiting for existing structures.

It's been a fun project. I just wish I had some money left over to really do the upstairs (and a bunch of big projects in the actual house)!! That will have to wait a few years though.

(Message edited by tdeneka on January 08, 2010)

Ah, cool. I thought I might have seen some pipes in one pic. I have heard permitting floor drains is not easy now.

Drywall sucks, and Barry's right that would be an overwhelming amount of work. The overhead stuff is the worst - real backbreaking labor. You have to do it a lot to develop the "hand" for it, kinda like welding. Very messy & dusty too. I'm remodeling our 1/2 bath right now and was surprised with some extra drywall work.

Sweet looking for sure! Are you going to do anything with the floors? ie, paint and seal? You need to hang an flat screen upstairs with full surround sound.

That is AWESOME

That's not a garage, it's a hangar
Nice work Thomas!
Total envy here...