The Start of Something Beautiful!

[KPSquared]

I've been planning this garage for over a year and as of June 7th, it finally started to become a reality. I am building this all my self on day off and after work. Have had a few friends help me out along the way.

It's 30x36 with 12'6" ceilings. The attic space built into the trusses is 14' wide. It's 6' tall on the sides and 8'2" in the centre. On the house side, there is a smaller garage door beside the man door for the lawnmower.

We live on a big, steep hill, so first we had to move a bunch of dirt and extend the giant lego block retaining wall...







Next we poured footings and 4' frost walls.







Got it all back filled (the old Bobcat worked HARD this day...





Built the walls and hung the trusses... this is where we are up to as of right now. Hope to finish sheeting the walls and roof next week. I want to have this place closed up by winter!









I'll keep updating as we move forward. I'll answer any q's you may have!

[luvit]

Originally Posted by KPSquared

wow. your lego set is.. bigger than mine..
.

[KPSquared]

Those stupid blocks are like 4500lbs each...

[930dreamer]

You are ONE motivated builder, way to go. Keep the pics coming.

[csp]

Purely out of curiosity, why did you use insulated concrete forms?

I can see using them for a basement (we have them on ours), but not really for footers that are underground and not around a conditioned space.

[Red Leader]

Hmm...lets see: dirt, heavy equipment, power tools...wood...


you're right! It IS the start of something beautiful!

[Omphaloskeptic]

Great start; its looking good. You have some beautiful countryside around you. What area do you live?

[tinbender 66]

That's going to be an awesome gagage! The attic room is a real bonus. Keep em' comin'.

[MarcB]

Nice work. Why did you leave the opening in the retaining wall in the back? I see you have what looks to be beautiful soil conditions, is there any problem with surface water runoff?

[rogsmart]

Love the overhead shots from the lift. "4 foot frost walls", you gotta be some
place way north. A great beginning.

[bgarrett]

4 foot frost walls? Are you building in the Artic Circle?

[KPSquared]

Originally Posted by Omphaloskeptic

Great start; its looking good. You have some beautiful countryside around you. What area do you live?

I live in central Alberta, Canada

Originally Posted by MarcB

Nice work. Why did you leave the opening in the retaining wall in the back? I see you have what looks to be beautiful soil conditions, is there any problem with surface water runoff?

The opening was there when we bought the place, I just extended that wall... it used to turn just after that opening. I assumed the previous owners had intended to put a stairway in up to the top of the property. We're still going to.

As far as surface run off goes, we basically live on a giant sand dune... all the rain goes straight down... If it stops raining and gets hot for more than a day, my lawn starts to dry out. No water stays on top at all.

Originally Posted by rogsmart

Love the overhead shots from the lift. "4 foot frost walls", you gotta be some
place way north. A great beginning.

Originally Posted by bgarrett

4 foot frost walls? Are you building in the Artic Circle?

Our local building code says anything over 760 sq. ft. has to have 4' below grade. It's gets down to -40 here in the winter and pushes the frost a long way down.

[KPSquared]

Originally Posted by csp

Purely out of curiosity, why did you use insulated concrete forms?

I can see using them for a basement (we have them on ours), but not really for footers that are underground and not around a conditioned space.

I used ICF partly for the insulating value (plan to keep this place toasty) and mostly because of the ease of contruction.

I don't own forms and I didn't want to rent forms as I had no idea how long this would take me. It took me 3 weeks to get everything formed up and ready to pour. The ICF was happy just sitting there waiting for me to find the time to work. An hour here, a couple hours there... Trying to do this and working full time is a challenge to say the least.

Now I have a nice shelf inside the garage all the way around, so that's cool...

[csp]

Makes perfect sense since you were doing the foundation work yourself.

[Wingnut65]

Nice Start. You are ambitious.

Are they 6" ICF walls?

[KPSquared]

Yup, 6" ICF. So, the wall is 12" thick total... 6" concrete, 6" foam.

We have the roof sheeted now and the front wall on. Hopefully get some shingles up soon. Time has been thin lately.

[Red Leader]

Originally Posted by KPSquared

Time has been thin lately.

I hear ya

[theoldwizard1]

I'm a bit surprised you did not coat the outside of the ICF for additional waterproofing and abrasion resistance from the back fill. I guess sandy soil helps a lot.

[KPSquared]

So, I started planning my cabinet layout last night at work. This is just version 1. . .open to suggestion!

[KPSquared]

Ok so, here's version 1.1 . . .

A few changes. I'd really appreciate some feedback on what I should leave out or what looks good!

Sorry for the quality, I drew it with pencil and took a pic with my phone. . .