My garage build

[Dawizman]

Who doesn't love a sweet garage? We bought our house in April this year, but it was clear from the beginning that a bigger garage was in order. I started planning the build before the deal was closed.

The house is built on a bit of a slope with a walk out basement with 10'-6" ceilings. The only spot to stick a garage was going to be on a hill. This was going to mean footings, frost walls, and a lot of fill. The house has several distinctive peaks in the roof, and I decided to match the 10/12 pitch in order to match, and maintain the curb appearance. With this in mind, and the desire for a 14ft door to accommodate a large RV in the future, I came up with a rough sketch and sent it over to a drafting company to put together a set of blueprints.


This was the final design:

A few tweaks were made after the drawings arrived, including moving from 10x14 to a 12x14 doors in the tall bay.

 

[Dawizman]

Once we got permits approved (well there abouts) it was off to the races in order to get a roof on before winter.

The first step was having the foundation staked out. A hour and $1500 later, and I was the proud owner of a bunch of survey pins. Almost as expensive as a trip to the sled dealership.

Next step was getting the sewer tied in and stubbed up prior to pouring footings. It was a tight fit, but we were able to Y in to the existing main line leaving the house, and maintain enough slope while staying deep enough to skirt under the footings.

 

[Dawizman]

A couple weeks went by by while we waited on the concrete crew to be available to dig and put in the strip footings.

With the fresh asphalt on the driveway, I had to get creative in order to get the concrete pump close enough while keeping the heavy traffic off the driveway. Rigmats through the ditch was the easiest answer.

 

[Dawizman]

A couple more weeks passed waiting for the footings to cure, and the forms I had lined up to be available. Once the guys got going, the forms were up one day, rebar in the next morning, and the concrete was poured on day two.

We have a mix of 5ft, 7ft, and 8ft frost walls in order to acheive the same slab elevation as the attached garage sitting only a few meters away, and to hit the 4ft of coverage needed all around.

The day the forms went up we had to be in the city for my wife's Thyroidectomy. Cancer is a real b*tch.

It's starting to look like something now

 

[Dawizman]

Up next was backfilling. Most of the black dirt and clay was used on the outside to bring up the grade in order to provide both coverage and good drainage away from the foundation.

With the exterior filled and brought up to grade, we had a better idea what was going to be needed to fill the interior. Approximately 240 yards of 3/4 minus concrete sand and 30 yards of 3/4 road gravel were trucked in. There was enough left over to provide a good base to compete the asphalt driveway come spring.

How about the kitties checking out the Bobcat?

Can't forget to finish off the plumbing before it gets sealed beneath the slab

 

[Dawizman]

Backfilling and compaction got finished up Friday before the long weekend. After a quick trip to Valemount to help out with firewood at Clemina, I got back to work on Thanksgiving Monday.

Next step was laying out insulation and plumbing in the piping for the hydronic slab heating. This was my first attempt at one of these systems, but I think it turned out ok.

 

[Dawizman]

The following day was rebar. A simple 2x2 grid tied in to the frost walls.

 

[Dawizman]

Next was another week and a bit wait for the concrete finishing crew to be available.

The day before the pour we were off to the hospital again for my wife's foot reconstruction surgery. Once the slab is finished and the framing is complete, progress will slow down as I'll be on caretaker duty for the wife and kids until she is back on her new feet. 3 weeks in bed followed by 2-3 months of no weight bearing on the right foot, which also means no driving.

Anyways... concrete went in this Tuesday. I missed the pour trying to catch up on sleep after a long night in the hospital.

 

[Dawizman]

After a full day of curing, and with a decent amount of calcium in the mix, the framing crew got at it today and made a decent dent on the framing work. We came up a little short on the 16ft lumber (I swear I asked for 10 more than they gave me), so it didn't quite get finished.

I'm hoping to see trusses and the LVL for the beam and tall walls arrive tomorrow.

 

[RXN]

Looking good Justin.

Will need a garage warming party once it's built.

 

[sledn]

Looks nice ! No garage floor sump?

 

[NoBrakes!]

Nice work!

 

[Dawizman]

Looks nice ! No garage floor sump?

Decided against it. There was not an elegant way to plumb in the discharge with such deep footings. Tying in to the septic system isn't a great idea, as the extra water and whatever else ends up down there will screw with the bacteria in my waste water system. I also wasn't wanting grates to have to avoid with car dollies, sled dollies, jacks, etc.

Will see how much I regret it. We sloped the floor out, and the driveway will be sloped out. We don't have a floor drain at my shop in town, v and other than a poor slope in the floor out has worked fine for us bringing vehicles and equipment in all winter.

I have a big containment mat to lay down under where the truck will get parked to catch all the melt daily.

 

[maxwell]

it will be fine with the heated slab, even the portion outside the garage door will stay warm so you wont get any freezing. on the slab. In floor garage heat is unreal.

 

[Dawizman]

it will be fine with the heated slab, even the portion outside the garage door will stay warm so you wont get any freezing. on the slab. In floor garage heat is unreal.

That's my hope. Will be my first garage space with a heated slab. I plan to utilize the slab heat as the primary source of heat to maintain the garage around 10° 24/7, and then a small furnace to provide the quick adjustments for when I want to work out there and after opening doors.

 

[ferniesnow]

Awesome build and nice to see contractors pretty much on the ball with their timing. I am sure you will enjoy.

 

[maxwell]

also surveyors are crooks. GEN5s aren't cheap

 

[Dawizman]

also surveyors are crooks. GEN5s aren't cheap

Obviously don't charge enough to fix the winch line on their defender though

 

[Sessionsdoo]

Awesome build...jealous i would take your attached garage.

 

[Dawizman]

A bit more progress on the framing today. Unfortunately the trusses did not find their way here from Edmonton though. Fingers crossed for early next week.