Building a Garage- some input please [MRG]

[ken0042]

OK, time for my own renovation thread.

I will be building my garage this year; or more accurately finishing it. Last year for those of you who recall my please for people to take away my fill, I dug out into the yard and have the stub walls in place. The garage will be 24 feet wide by 23 feet deep; that isn't going to change without a whack of cash. So here's my dilemas:

Garage door- I've already built the stub walls to accomidate an 18' wide door. Do I go 7 feet or 8 feet in height? Current vehicles are a Grand Am and a plain Chevy truck.

Walls- 2X4 or 2X6? This came up as I thought about the bottom plate. The stub walls are 6" wide so I was thinking about a 2X6 bottom plate- and now I'm looking at going with 2X6 walls. Advantages are strength and extra room for insulation. (And I am planning on insulating it.)

Electricity- I was going to go with 60 amp 240V service; as I haven't ruled out using electric heat; nor have I ruled out wanting to get welding equipment. And thoughts? Some people say I'm going overkill with that.

I'd also appreciate hearing any "I wish I had done _____" comments.

[Sample00]

definately 2x6 walls for the reasons described.
might also want to include a 220 power supply in case you have need for a welder, stove, that kinda thing. I also prefer two doors as apposed to one single one.
might want to also consider a 8ft door, its easier to go bigger than to have smaller and have a need for bigger.
in my case, I wish I had made my garage bigger and with two doors or possibly 3

[troutman]

I assume you have already looked into this, but make sure the garage (and eaves) does not encroach on any easements, right-of-ways etc.

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by troutman

I assume you have already looked into this, but make sure the garage (and eaves) does not encroach on any easements, right-of-ways etc.

and from our legal department!

[Titan]

Originally Posted by troutman

I assume you have already looked into this, but make sure the garage (and eaves) does not encroach on any easements, right-of-ways etc.

Do make sure you get a permit from City Hall and make sure you follow the dimensions. It used to be my job to tell people their garage was coming down if they did not fix the encroachment, over height, over width, etc. You don't want to be in that situation.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Sample00

might want to also consider a 8ft door, its easier to go bigger than to have smaller and have a need for bigger.

Yeah, my concern is a couple of things. One is insulation value- there's only so much insulation in a door. The other is weight; by going to the 8 foot door I'm increasing the weight, and increasing the size of opener I need. I've also over run the cost by $500 going to the 18' wide, going 8 feet high is yet another $300.

City permit- that is on my list. And for encroachments I am within the 2 feet from the lane, and I have an extra foot (so 3' total) from the one neighbour. Other side is 18 feet away from the neighbour.

I'm only doing the one door- you couldn't drive through if you wanted to, and for the man door I have it strategically placed- as close as possible to the back door of my house, and within 3 feet of the ideal location from the fire pit. (Because there will be a beer fridge in the garage.)

[Stranger]

Being a carpenter, I've built my share of garages.
- I would definately go 2x6 walls. Not only do you get better insulation, the walls are much stronger. You'll find when you close a door on a 2x4 wall, the wall will shake.
- If possible go with the two doors instaed of one. Its much easier to park two vehicles in the garage and less heat leaves when the door opens.
- An 8' door is nice to have too, but if you don't plan on parking anything bigger than a car and a half ton in the garage, 7' should be fine.
- Put in the extra electrical even if you don't think you'll need it till later.
- If your floor isn't poured yet, put in a floor drain. I never put one in mine and I regret it every winter when my truck thaws out after it's snowed.
- If you are looking to insulate the garage, blow in an extra R20 into the ceiling and make it R60 instead of R40. You'll have less heat loss that way.
- I have a radiant heater in mine and I really like it. Less heat is lost with radiant because it heats the objects instead of the air in the garage. However if your walls are only 8' high, it can damage the paint on cars if it is set too high, so only use it if you build 9 or 10ft walls.

[ken0042]

That's some good advice Stranger! Thanks.

I was considering two doors, but I was talked out of it. Now that the front concrete is set with an 18' opening; I think it may be too late. And I was thinking electric heat, so radiant is an option. My ceiling will be just under 10 feet.

As for the floor drain, once again a plumber friend talked me out of it. The floor gets poured in 2 weeks, so it's still an option. Being a detached garage there isn't an option to tie it into the sewer. I was thinking of running a drain out into the lane for snow meltage. But you figure that's an idea? My thinking was worst case scenario is if it does freeze; I'm just back to the same place I would have been with no drain.

[Sylvanfan]

Definitely do the upgraded electrical now. If you ever want to do it later it will cost you a lot more. Also not a bad idea to slope the slab out towards the lane (I think it's a better option than a floor drain), in the winter you do pick up quite a bit of snow and junk on your vehichle and it's sometimes nice to be able to hose off the floor in the spring. I'm sure you don't need to be told this but make sure the apron outside slopes away from the garage, the moron who did the driveway at my house left a low spot and after heave rain I will get water seeping into the one corner of my garage. Given the size of the garage I think a standard door is 16x7 and that will be big enough. I mean it's not like it's a 30 x 30 shop with a 15 foot roof. I guess the only draw back is if you sell the place down the road and some guy has a superduty truck with a 33" lift kit won't like it.

[Clarkey]

What are you looking at for overall price to build it?

[Stranger]

The only thing with sloping the floor towards the lane or door is in the winter water will sit at the door and can freeze, causing an icy driveway or stuck door.

If you had the money a heated slab is a good option. Any snow that melts just evaporates away.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Clarkey

What are you looking at for overall price to build it?

All together I'm into it for about $15000. Now $3200 of that was the cost last year to build 3 foot high foundation walls to counter the slope of my yard. I also have some $$$ factored in to pay a couple of framers to do the structure work for me/ with me. And $1000 is the labour cost of getting a company to pour the pad; after much deliberation I've decided that is something I shouldn't do myself.

[Tron_fdc]

Ken,

Did you look into the garage packages at Totem? They come with everything (even instructions!) http://www.totem.ca/garage.aspx. I'm wondering where you got the $150000 cost from, seeing as I need to come up with a budget myself.

I think I might go the package route, seeing as my concrete pad is already down.

[ken0042]

What the Totem packages don't include:

- Electrical
- Siding
- Eavestrough
- Concrete
- Insulation
- Garage door opener.

As for a breakdown of my costs:
- $3200 for the foundation walls (stub walls.) Most people won't need this.
- $3700 for the concrete pad. ($3000 if I do this myself)
- $5000 for the garage package. (I've added stuff like extra windows, 18 foot door, etc.)
- $1000 for siding
- $1500 for framers to help me build it.
- $400 for electrical
- $300 for an opener.
- $250 for the garage door installer guy to come out. (Aparently the big door can be a big PITA.)
- $500 for insulation.

So that brings me up to $15,850 so far. Plus GST on some items. Plus misc expenses (pizza and beer.) Plus cost of buying new tools.

Yep, I looked at Totem and said to myself "$4200 for a garage; how can I lose!" Then added in all the extras.

FWIW, I am getting my garage package from Star Building Materials. They are the same price or a little cheaper than Totem, plus they include the blueprints that you need to submit to the city. (Totem says they are easy to draw. True enough; but I'm lazy.)

[Circa89]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

I think I might go the package route, seeing as my concrete pad is already down.

I want to pour just the pad this summer. Any suggestions on companies out there. I have no problem building the garage itself I am little hesitant to pour the concrete myself. If I screw that up its a very expensive repair job.
Probably a 24x 24 with apron but no pony walls.

[Tron_fdc]

Yeah, I have no idea as far as concrete pads go. It was in when I bought the house.

The garage is going into a property that I'm going to sell, so I'm trying to keep my costs down as much as possible. This means no garage door opener or insulation.

I'm thinking around $6750.00, is this realistic?

Is this the place you got your pakage from http://www.starbuildingmaterials.ca/www/

[ken0042]

If your pad is down, and you are going to do the work yourself, I would say that $6750 is realistic; assuming you don't spring for any extras.

I would get the opener though. A cheap one will be about $175 if you look around. That way when the couple is looking at the house; the guy has a remote control that is included in the house.

And yep, that's who I dealt with. Don't let all the Winnipeg referneces on the site spook you; they do have a big operation here too.

[shane_c]

I'm looking to get one of those kits from Rona or Home Depot and put up a garage. Does anyone know what a 'standard' size is for them. Any recommendations on a good company to put the parking pad down and what I should expect to pay. Anyone know if there is much of a wait to get a pad put down? Who should I get to run the electrical out? What does the city charge for a building permit nowadays. And do you save much money putting it up yourself versus having a company build it? Thanks!

[RedHot25]

Hey Shane, I just noticed this thread - http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=42415 - it may have some of the information you are looking for (or it may not, I'm not sure?).

Cheers.

[boobaloo]

Don't go with home depot. The contractor who built our garage from a package supplied by home depot said that Totem or Rona provide better quality. We ended up having to go to Totem to get a couple of things that weren't proper and sent the improper things back to home depot. Our contractor was C & J construction and they did a superb job, from pouring the cement to building the garage. They also provided an electrician and he did a good job as well. I would recommend them completely, they give out free estimates. You should book soon, though, because they get quite busy.