ordered new garage this weekend

[ruby76]

After comparing some prices. I finally ordered my new garage this past weekend. I know it is already too small, but 16x22 (car and a half) is as big as I was comfortable with going with at my house. We aren't planning on living here forever and thought anything larger would hinder the sale of our house based on it's location etc.

Anyway, I went with 16x22 car and a half garage. Coolest part is it will have a 5" "curb" around the perimeter to keep the sill plates away from any spills water etc. 2x4 construction, 2x6 rafters etc. I can't wait!

 

[Tims93]

Congrats! Always exciting starting a new project! Are you going to do any of it yourself? or are you contracting it out. I'm in the process of adding a garage to my house. It will be the first time in the 13 years I've owned the house I'll be able to park inside. Can't wait!! Good luck, Tim

 

[ruby76]

After comparing prices on the "build-it-yourself" kit at the local build center, and comparing to a local company that only builds garages, I opted for the latter. They build it all within 4-5 weeks and only cost about $1k (including taxes) more than the MATERIALs from the other place (excluding taxes). I would have liked to build it myself, but at that price I was a fool not to - don't have much time to do it anyway. I will be finishing the interior though. I'd like the black and white tiled floor I've seen on some of the ones here. It will double as my workshop so I have to definitely build in cabinets and countertop space/workbenches.

 

[ruby76]

Just called my contractor, he received okay from the "village" and picked up the permit on Tuesday. Concrete work should start beginning or middle of next week!

 

[JJS]

I just checked with the local zoning board about the possibility of putting a garage on my property. I can definitely do it, but the max square footage is 800 ft, with a 15' max height. So, if we don't get a house that we've been looking at, the garage goes up next spring!

 

[Heavy Duty]

I just checked with the local zoning board about the possibility of putting a garage on my property. I can definitely do it, but the max square footage is 800 ft, with a 15' max height. So, if we don't get a house that we've been looking at, the garage goes up next spring!

800 sq feet isn't too bad. mine is 1200 and it too is 15 ft at the top. Mine is still a work in progress.

Got the BIg door up last week.

Next on the list is the apron and elec.

H.D.

 

[JJS]

I looks good to me, Heavy Duty. Lotsa room in that garage!
I was actually surprised I'd be able to put one in as big as 800 square feet, which is why we were looking for another house in the first place. The zoning allows for a structure of no more than 10% of the lot size. I have a typical Worcester (MA) lot, which is 100 X 80.
The MRS agreed that the car needs a home right here with us (she loves the vette), so I consider myself fortunate. She's gonna let me do whatever I want with the garage. I think I'm going to go with a RaceDeck garage floor, black and white just like the one in my avatar, although I plan on reading up on flooring. -John

 

[grumpyvette]

I was looking at one of those steel kit garages before building my current CBS garage and while I could have built a larger garage for slightly less money and surely had it up quicker,(and it would have been an excellent garage,)than I finally built (36x74-2664 sq ) vs (40x80 3200sq)17% larger but the long term resale values over time made the decision for me
while Im glad I did what I did I would have been far ahead cost wise to have gone the prefab route, my neighbor had a 40/80 built for slightly under $80,000

 

[Heavy Duty]

I was looking at one of those steel kit garages before building my current CBS garage and while I could have built a larger garage for slightly less money and surely had it up quicker,(and it would have been an excellent garage,)than I finally built (36x74-2664 sq ) vs (40x80 3200sq)17% larger but the long term resale values over time made the decision for me
while Im glad I did what I did I would have been far ahead cost wise to have gone the prefab route, my neighbor had a 40/80 built for slightly under $80,000

Mine is a 40x30 (1200 sq ft). I found this building in the local newspaper and bought it for $3500.00. The guy who sold it to me got all flustered when he found out what it was going to cost him to put it up. It was still on the pallets.

When you buy these buildings they don't tell you what is involved in putting them up. If you have a bunch of friends and if you have the time you can put the building up yourself. The trick is the concrete and the first several arches. There are several ways to anchor these buildings to the concrete. I went with the industrial base connects. The base connectors cost a little more but they saved a bunch of money on labor, re-bar, and concrete. Look at the pic below and you can see the base connector.

The building is seated inside of the base connector and bolted to it. The connector is bolted to the concrete slab. The old way was to dig a foundation, have a bunch of re-bar work done and placed in the trench, pour the foundation, pour the floor, and then the building is anchored to stirrups that are attached to the re-bar in the concrete.

I didn't want the steel end walls that come with these buildings. I had seen several with them and after a number of years they look real tacky. So i had the custom end walls put up. Since I went with wood it was cheaper that the steel end walls. I plan on painting them to match the house (Dove Wing Gray) and may be at the front do a half brick wall. The real neat thing is that if i decide i need more space I can remove the back wall and add more footage.

I haven,t add it all up yet but rough estimates ~$18,000 for mine. I did have a contractor do the work and the total labor cost was $8500.00. The guy was done in less than 2 weeks. By the time i get the elec in and the apron at the front i figure I'll have ~$22,000. That comes out to a little more than $18.00/sq ft. That is not bad. I have been told that if you can get a building for $25.00/sq ft you are doing good.

Hey JJS I see you live in Worcester. I rent an apartment in Leicester right off of RT 9. I try to get home (NC) once every 3-4 weeks. I had one of my vettes up here last summer. Had a blast cruzing around the MA country side. If I do the same this coming summer we will have to do some cruzing together. Good luck with the building. I know that zoning has to be a REal pain up here. It is a pain where I live in N.C. but since I an Ag exempt the only permit I had to have is the elec.


H.D.

 

[grumpyvette]

that $25 a sq ft seems about correct,for a prefab/steel structure
as my neighbors 3200 sq ft x $25 =$80,000
and he paid just under that for the building,installed on a 6"thick slab with the electic and plumbing
Ill probably have about $40-$45 a sq in my concrete block building when its totally complete

 

[Heavy Duty]

that $25 a sq ft seems about correct,for a prefab/steel structure
as my neighbors 3200 sq ft x $25 =$80,000
and he paid just under that for the building,installed on a 6"thick slab with the electic and plumbing
Ill probably have about $40-$45 a sq in my concrete block building when its totally complete

Mine is on a 4" slab with 16" foundation. But I did use re-bar under it and did the fibermesh stuff. I hope it holds up since it is sitting on sand. We packed the dickens out of it before the crete was poured. I live close to the water and like you have to worry about the hurricanes and the Nor-easterners. For that reason I used 2x6's for my wall studs.

I didn't know concrete block was so high. Is the reason for the high $$$/sq ft because of labor or the block?


H.D.

 

[grumpyvette]

its no ONE factor its whole way a correctly built block building is constructed
theres a 24 x 36" footer around the perimiter, lots of rebar in the footer to tie into the walls, then the rebar in the walls vertically and horizontally,and in the tie beam cap and pouring the walls all adds up, theres something like 24 yards poured just in the walls inside the blocks
the basic plumbing ran $2,200
bathroom construction about $3000
trusses about $7,000
roof about $20,000
slab about $15,000
walls about $19,000(blocks not that expensive but skilled labor is)
blocks only about $7500, lintels about $1500, its the labor, rebar and concrete and many dozens of #7 rebar in the block, plus the crane rentals ETC.)
electric, about $6000
garage doors about $5000
side door about $600
building the pad, about $19,000 (over 100 truckloads of fill)
surveys,inspections,blue prints ETC.
it all adds up

 

[grumpyvette]

materials run abut 2/5 labor about 3/5, I could have built it to MINIMALLY PASS code but after seeing 4 hurricanes pass over in 18 months I just did /constructed everything to be about twice as strong or more, in some cases FAR more because its MY garage and I don,t want problems, I built it like I build engines, Ill glady give up 5 hp to get an extra 10,000 miles or give up 5 hp to keep the bearings 100% lubed at all times, I still have engines running in several friends cars I built in the early 1970s, and I expect that garage structure to be trouble free for the rest of my lifetime
the codes say I can use 12ga-14ga wire for the lights, I used 10ga and 8 ga, its just that Id rather do it ONCE CORRECTLY and forget about it!

Ive found that if you just turn contractors loose they do the minimal work with the cheapest crap they can get that barely passes code, but if you supply the materialls and watch every step, and call for inspections and ask lots of questions you get a better alto much more expensive resulting product, but then Ill forget about the cost far faster than Id forget about constant problems if I didn,t do it correctly the first time!
or to put it anouther way, as one inspector stated, after looking at all the rebar just before I poured the walls full," next hurricane comes thru this area , would you mind if I bring the family over to watch your garage while it blows over from inside??",its the one place in the area I think will be totally unphased

 

[JJS]

Hey JJS I see you live in Worcester. I rent an apartment in Leicester right off of RT 9. I try to get home (NC) once every 3-4 weeks. I had one of my vettes up here last summer. Had a blast cruzing around the MA country side. If I do the same this coming summer we will have to do some cruzing together. Good luck with the building. I know that zoning has to be a REal pain up here. It is a pain where I live in N.C. but since I an Ag exempt the only permit I had to have is the elec.


H.D.

HD, absolutely we can hook up next summer. I thought you were located in Natick, and from some of your other entries I noticed you go home to NC as often as you can.

Did you make it to any of the Thursday night Cruises at Heberts on route 20 this year? If not, we'll have to get you to attend a few of those. It's not a big place, but there are some really nice cars that gather. My neighbor ('03 -AE) and I hit this place about once a month or so, and I think you'd enjoy it. -John

 

[Heavy Duty]

HD, absolutely we can hook up next summer. I thought you were located in Natick, and from some of your other entries I noticed you go home to NC as often as you can.

Did you make it to any of the Thursday night Cruises at Heberts on route 20 this year? If not, we'll have to get you to attend a few of those. It's not a big place, but there are some really nice cars that gather. My neighbor ('03 -AE) and I hit this place about once a month or so, and I think you'd enjoy it. -John

I work in Natick. Do the commuter thing. There is no way I wanted to live that close to the big city (Boston). When I found out I was coming up here I looked around for a place in the country. Landed on the apartment complex in Leicester and liked the place and a great land lord to boot. I do try and get home as often as I can so i can keep the war department happy. She has about 20 years in with the state teaching school. I didn't want to ruin her career so we decided to do the long distance commute thing. Since I own stock in Southwest Airlines I can get some really cheap tickets out of Hartford, Conn.

Is Heberts the placed that has the cruse-in on the 3rd Thursday of the month? If so I went twice. The first was this past June. One of my neighbors in the apartment complex has a really nice '98 Mustang and he's the one who introduced me to the place. Had a great time and yes I saw some really nice cars there. I now know what the car buffs up here do all winter long when there is WAyyyy to much snow on the ground...... Re-build classic cars. He also told me about the Summer Nationals that are held in Worcester. I didn't get to go this past year cause I went home for the 4th. But I do plan on going this coming year. I've seen some of the videos and man that is so cool to run around town all weekend long with just headers. Not to mention the tunnel runs.

I am hoping to bring the C4 up this coming summer. I just had it re-painted and I wanted to do some more work on it and do some crusing again. My goal this coming summer is to run the White mountains up in NH. I've heard it is a great road trip.


H.D.

OBTW. I see from your profile you like to fish. We will have to hook up. I tried to go every chance i had this past summer to the big lake west of Lecister. Had a great time catching lake trout.

 

[JJS]

HD,
Hebert's has a cruise night every Thursday night from April - October. We only go about once a month because it's usually the same people, who park in the same places.....you see it once, you've seen it.....at least that's the way it used to be. Last year there were a lot of new cars, and participation is definitely on the increase. I know of a couple of guys that were turned away this year, and that's a first (the place was full). We try to get there early, and get a spot near the exit. If you're in the middle of the place you can get boxed in, and even if you can pull out the people don't even try to get out of your way (pedestrians - just like up that the summer nationals) so it can be brutal on your clutch leg!

I also do the summer nationals every year. Again, you have to get up there (Green Hill Park) early, but it's worth it. Lotsa eye candy up there.....cars and women! You can sit there all day and the time just seems to fly. I'll give you a heads up when the registrations start....that usually happens in February, and you save $10.00 on the weekend pass if you register early.

I do a lot of bass fishing. I have a 17' GIII aluminum bass boat w/40 hp Yamaha outboard. It's nothing special, but it does the job. You're more than welcome to join me, and I have all the equipment you'd need. You'll just have to get a MA fishing license.....and they put the screws to you - $28.00 for the year. Most states have single day, 3 day, or week long options for licenses. Not MA....no surprise there.....I'll definitely be getting out there though, so let me know when you're gonna be around. -John

 

[Heavy Duty]

Thanks for the fishing invite John. I did purchase a state fishing lic last year from the Wal-Mart at Sturbridge. Since I am in the military stationed up here I was able to get an in state permit. The guy in the sporting dept at Wally World told me about the Quabbin reservoir. So I went up the last Sat before it was opened to boat traffic. Had to hike about 1.5 miles into the lake but it was worth it. Found a little rock out cropping into the water and set up there to see how the action would be. Heck with in 1/2 hour I cought 2 really nice lake trout. I didn't want to hike out with them so I released them back into the lake.

I have most of my own equip up here with exception of a boat. So I shore fished last summer. Still had a good time. Doesn't take much to make me happy when it comes to fishing. I love bass fishing. I am still trying to figure out what the bass up here love to hit. Down in NC I live along the coast and Strippers are the big deal down there. I do have those guys so-what figured out. It is a blast to catch them on light tackel and what a fight they can up. I use my father in-laws boat and hit the sounds. The big guys tend to hideout in the sounds since that is where all of the bait fish are at.

Sounds like a plan for the Summer Nationals. My buddy with the '98 Mustang (John) goes every year as well. Great guy who is down to earth and yep....he says there is a lot of scenic sites there as well.

As far as Heberts, as I recall I think John called it the Candy Factory or something like that. I do know there was some sort of ice cream shop there as well. You had to go East on 20 and from Auburn it was I would guess 10-15 miles. I'll as John tomorrow since he and i are going to do a little work on his ride.


H.D.

 

[ruby76]

HD, how goes your garage?

 

[Heavy Duty]

HD, how goes your garage?

Got the garage door up. My next project is getting elec to the building. I was home this past President's Day weekend and met with the power company and my elec. contractor. Anyway I look at it, it is going to be a little expensive. To run the power from my house means replacing my current 200 amp service with at least a 500 amp service panel to compensate for the voltage drop. The power company wants about $2500 to run underground service from the pole to the building. I could save a little by doing overhead wire but that means planting poles in my pastures. I don't like that idea because I have to mow around them with the tractor. Tractors and power poles don't mix when the operator has had one too many. The tractor ends up losing. To do the elec. work in the building is going to be around another $1500-$2000.

I did get my drive and apron done. I used ABC stone and now that it has packed it looks really nice and it is really hard. I used 12.5 tons of the stuff and the cost was $328. Way cheaper than concrete and asphalt. The great thing about the ABC is that if I need more I can order it and spread it with the tractor. Plus i get to play with the tractor and frontend loader. I'll have to get some new pics now that the ABC is down. I've driven the vettes over it a couple of times and so far no issues.

After (when) I get power I guess it will be tool shopping time. I'll have to make sure I drag the wife along as I tool shop so she gets a dose of what I have to go through when I go shopping with her:L.

How are you making out with yours?



H.D.

 

[ruby76]

Once the walls and roof were up (remember, all in one day) I've only built benches and put up a couple of scrounged wall cabinets. Done a couple of projects in there. The best part is youcan leave your tools out and "forget" about the mess for a while. Then when Im bored I can go and straighten up. WHich I need to do now

Jeremy