802Projects

Garage Build

If you prefer to watch videos, I put together detailed video on my garage build:

When I originally purchased my house several years ago, a big selling point was the 32x26 attached 3-4 car garage and 12x20 shed out back. It was perfect. I never thought I would outgrow it, but I did. My tools soon began to occupy a lot of room. Come winter time I would have everything stored inside and I'd be shoveling around my daily driver and chipping ice of the windshield. So I made a big investment last summer. I got rid of the 12x20 shed out back and replaced it with a 64x40 workshop!

Here is a look at the original shed. I used it for wood work and lawn mower storage. It was cumbersome though. Anytime I'd need to use the table saw I'd have to remove the lawn mower and drag it to the center of the floor. Notice the trees being cut down. I cleared the area myself to save some money. It was my first time operating a chainsaw. I didn't cut myself or have a tree fall on anything important, so that's a win in my book.

We moved the shed with an excavator. I reinforced the inside and ran a chain up through the roof. I eventually sold it locally.

The trenches were dug so that I could have footers and frost walls poured.

I had about 6-7" of cement poured for the floor. I plan on having a lift or two out back so I needed extra cement.

I was able to get contractor pricing through a local lumber yard. I didn't frame it myself. I hired a builder to do the framing/roof/windows/doors for me. It would have been too time consuming for me to do it. I went with 12' walls on top of the footing so I'll have about 12'6" of ceiling. The garage doors are 10x10. I added one to the side so I can attempt to get a cross breeze in the summer.

I hired a crane operator to come in for a few hours to set the trusses. I went with 42' wide storage trusses (1' overhang). This gives me a 64x18x8 storage area above the shop. It's rated at 40 pounds per square foot so I can put quite a bit up there. One portion will be storage and the other will be my wood shop. A 7x7 door was added onto the end of this area so I can get some airflow. It also serves a purpose for moving anything large upstairs like my table saw or planer.

Here's a shot of the downstairs. The room on the back wall is plumbed to eventually be a bathroom. Someday I may put a shower in too. Above the bathroom I added more storage space. I may put my air compressor up there as well. This will be a good spot to store hoods/doors/bumpers etc...

I decided to do the siding myself so that I could save some more money. My cousin let me borrow his lift basket which worked really well for the high spots. My neighbor down the road had an old metal bender too. I used it to wrap all of the garage door openings and make drip edges above all the doors. I purchased some commercial insulated garage doors from a local company. As of right now the garage is weather tight which is good. Over this winter I'll be working on the wiring and insulation.

Here's a pic with some of my cars and my friends 300zx.

Update: I've spent most of my time doing the wiring, insulation, strapping, sheetrock etc... I even built an air compressor room big enough to eventually hold a tire changer/balancer. I finally got the natural gas hooked up and have heat. Right now I'm waiting to get it mudded then I'll be doing a lot of painting. I hope to have it 100% ready to use this year.

Downstairs I did unfaced insulation with plastic wrap. For the ceiling I just put plastic up with the intention of blowing in insulation. I figured this would be the best way to get insulation between the upstairs floor and the downstairs ceiling. I had to put these plastic pieces in so the soffit can breathe and it will hold the insulation in.

It was a good leg workout lugging all this upstairs.

I started in the center blowing the insulation between the floors. I worked my way out to the edges. For the walls I used faced insulation. I ran 3 rows of 2x4 down the backside of the walls for bracing. In between I stapled some metal fence wire. This will keep it from falling in.

Afterwards I hung up the insulation. I'm really glad I put a door in upstairs. The sheetrock delivery company was able to boom it up and all I had to do was slide it off.

Update 7/17/2018: I hired someone to mud and tape the garage. He showed up for 2 days and I never saw or heard from him again. I couldn't find another person who could start anytime soon so I ended up doing everything myself. It was a learning experience and a big project to tackle but it took me about 4 weeks outside work to mud/tape/sand and primer/paint the sheetrock. I went with 2 coats of BEHR Ultra white. I'm primering and painting the plywood gray right now. Next up is trim work, installing fans, installing all the outlets/switches and putting in some interior doors.

Update 3/1/2019: I was able to get all the plywood painted and the trim tacked up. I had to take a break from the garage work for a month to redo the roof and soffit on my house. I got doors installed upstairs and this was my first winter having the downstairs fully heated. I'm starting to get things configured and setup the way I want. For Black Friday I picked up a Ranger tire changer setup. I finally got the Quincy Air compressor hooked up a running a week before it's 2 year warranty expired. Hopefully that will be alright. I found a parts cleaner on Craigslist for $20! I setup a gym area too and I've been using that for the last two months. It's good to get back into it. I had stopped working out when I started this garage project. Upstairs I now have a dedicated area for wood shop tools, and the other room I'm using for parts storage.

Update 4/8/2020: I started on the bathroom. The shower is installed, the walls are done, the fan is installed, and the outlets/switches/lights are done. I need to decide on a sink and toilet now. I'd like to do a large stainless sink in case I need to wash anything big.

I also created a video of how I do the drywall. It goes over planning, hanging, taping, mudding, sanding, and painting.

Update 6/1/2022: I finished the bathroom. I ended up buying a toilet from Home Depot and getting the sink for free from a friend. His dad took it from a restaurant that closed almost 2 decades ago. Tt had been sitting in the bushes outside his house ever since. It was pretty grubby but being 304 stainless it cleaned up very nice. It's also very solid, much thicker metal than anything you would find today. It was too long and would have interfered with the toilet location, so I cut and shortened it. I ran with just cold water for a few months and opted to have a natural gas hot water on demand unit installed. It's a little overkill for a garage, but in the long run I think it was the better choice vs a hot water tank.

Also if you haven't already seen, I have a 4 post lift now. Check out my blog section to see the restore process I went through with it. In the winter I think I'll be able to park one car on top, and then two cars sideways underneath it. Eventually I want to find a nice asymetrical 2 post lift.