New Garage build

[BlindSquirrel]

11 hours ago, dalt1 said:

Cut an exterior door in the rear, up top, for the storage area and put the stairs outside the back wall. Wish I had thought of that when I built mine. If your going to use the storage often, that pull down door stinks.

Agreed, a pull down is not the way to go. There will be a landing with stairs to get from the garage to the house, about 4 feet tall. I'm thinking of securing a half staircase above the landing up to the attic, with the other half of that case on a hinge. When I want to go up, pull a cord down to bring the second half of the case down that rests on the landing and it's complete. When not in use its up out of the way. I'll get a picture of what I'm thinking, kind of hard to describe.

[Eagleboy99]

I put a trap door to get to my attic storage.  Had to double up the trusses on either side, but this way I get a nice 4x6' opening to move bigger stuff up there. I even have a block and tackle mounted up top!

[martinarcher]

I'm actually framing my attic door today.  I ended up buying an electric lift and am using it as an elevator to get into the attic.  It was $1200 used off FB and has been PRICELESS for running wire and other jobs now that I've moved inside on my build.  With a 14 foot ceiling I would need a landing to get the stair pitch to pass code which would mean more space lost and with the cost of lumber, the lift was an easy choice.  

[martinarcher]

[Eagleboy99]

That's not a garage, it is an aircraft hanger! 

[martinarcher]

Haha, they always say you never regret going bigger.   

Morning after we poured the apron.  

[martinarcher]

You've got me worried about door sag.  I used two 1.75x11.25 LVL's and 3 2x10 's for my headers.  The span charts tell me I'm OK.  I guess it is what it is now.  If it sags I can put a steel beam in down the road.  

[martinarcher]

Squirrel, one thing I would recommend is running air and water before closing up the walls.  I bought a 1k foot roll of pex-al-pex and did a perimeter loop aroud the entire building above my headers and then put "T's" in anywhere I wanted an air drop.  

[Eagleboy99]

19 minutes ago, martinarcher said:

You've got me worried about door sag.  I used two 1.75x11.25 LVL's and 3 2x10 's for my headers.  The span charts tell me I'm OK.  I guess it is what it is now.  If it sags I can put a steel beam in down the road.  

Are the doors 10s or 9s?  Regardless, I doubt you will have much if any sag issue.  Of course the RIGHT way to do a wide spanis an I-beam sandwiched with 2 bys thru-bolted.  I have a 16 wide door and it sagged about 2" in the center.  Builder assured me it would not as those "pralam beams are super strong".  Riigghhttt...  Live and learn.

[Eagleboy99]

9 minutes ago, martinarcher said:

Squirrel, one thing I would recommend is running air and water before closing up the walls.  I bought a 1k foot roll of pex-al-pex and did a perimeter loop aroud the entire building above my headers and then put "T's" in anywhere I wanted an air drop.  

Run conduit everywhere to all levels.  Cheap even if you never use it.  But I assure you, you will: webcams, alarm systems, etc.  But you will only think of it AFTER you boarded it up.

[martinarcher]

3 10'x10s and 2 12x12's.  No more folding towers!

Yeah, I was debating on conduit and will maybe put some in but I'm going to run a PILE of CAT6 for motion sensors, cameras, low voltage controls, etc.  I already bought 5 traffic lights off a guy locally and am cooking up a little automation project to give you a green light to back out after the door is fully raised.  Planning to use a sonar sensor too and have a yellow to red stop light as the cars reach their parked position.   

[Fffrank]

3 hours ago, Eagleboy99 said:

I put a trap door to get to my attic storage.  Had to double up the trusses on either side, but this way I get a nice 4x6' opening to move bigger stuff up there. I even have a block and tackle mounted up top!

I have a regular flip down attic stairs but next to it I put in a 3' x 6' dumb waiter with an electric hoist on top.  Makes getting storage bins or winter wheels/tires up/down very easy!

[Eagleboy99]

The 2x12s might defelct a bit in the mmiddle.  I am not that impressed with the long term rigidity of any  wooden beam.  Steel, baby!!  LOL

[dalt1]

9 minutes ago, Fffrank said:

I have a regular flip down attic stairs but next to it I put in a 3' x 6' dumb waiter with an electric hoist on top.  Makes getting storage bins or winter wheels/tires up/down very easy!

Come on we are all boaters here, I used a boat winch mounted above my pull down stairs to hoist the heavy stuff.

[oldjeep]

3 hours ago, dalt1 said:

Come on we are all boaters here, I used a boat winch mounted above my pull down stairs to hoist the heavy stuff.

Need to upgrade to the $100-$160 HF electric hoists.  I've had mine forever, and if it'll pull a fully dressed 460 with no complaints it is good by me.

 

 

[carguy79ta]

1 hour ago, oldjeep said:

Need to upgrade to the $100-$160 HF electric hoists.  I've had mine forever, and if it'll pull a fully dressed 460 with no complaints it is good by me.

 

 

Ford ?? 🤔

[oldjeep]

6 minutes ago, carguy79ta said:

Ford ?? 🤔

Yup in a 53 1 ton I used to have

[carguy79ta]

Figured something like that. 

[BlindSquirrel]

Late to the party here... sorry I didn’t get notified. 😿 @martinarcher that’s awesome! I’m looking for a dumb waiter or now an elevator. I do ironically have elevator weights 🤔

Edited December 7, 2020 by BlindSquirrel

[BlindSquirrel]

Yeah, I’ve got a scissor lift for all the things inside. I don’t think i can ever work off a ladder again. After working from a telehandler and scissor lift... I’m spoiled. Got her roofed and all dried in this weekend. I’ll post some photos tomorrow.

[martinarcher]

Awesome.  I'm right there with you with the ladders.  My buddy dropped his man lift off when I bought our old house (1859 build).  I've been remodeling it for 2.5 years now and I couldn't agree more about a ladder.  Our old house has 12 foot first floor and 10 foot second floor ceilings which makes it unusually high (chimney is 32 feet from the ground).  I don't know how we could have done the siding and windows with ladders and pump jacks!

[carguy79ta]

On 11/20/2020 at 10:55 AM, martinarcher said:

You've got me worried about door sag.  I used two 1.75x11.25 LVL's and 3 2x10 's for my headers.  The span charts tell me I'm OK.  I guess it is what it is now.  If it sags I can put a steel beam in down the road.  

If it is not too late, you could put steel bar/plate on each side of the lvl  beam and thrubolt it 2 rows of bolts, one near the top and one near the bottom( of the lvl's). That will stiffen up the beam. What I would do if I were doing it would be to jack up the middle of the span to put a little positive camber in it, then install the plates. When you release the jacks, then the beam will settle and take-up bolt hole slop and (theoretically ) be flat. Also make sure the holes are as snug as possible with the bolts. 

Edited December 7, 2020 by carguy79ta

[martinarcher]

Yeah, we're passed that now.  The LVL is already wrapped in trim coil (the black band along the top of the building).  Each door has 3 2x10's and one LVL.  Two of the 2x10's are door headers.  The inside top header is a 2x10 and the outer is the LVL.   

[BlindSquirrel]

The codes folks here made me do a continuous lvl header for both of mine out front. "Portal frame" if you will. The 10 foot wide door has 2 12 inch lvl and the 16 door has 2 16 inchers, again both continuous in the wall.

Here a couple progress pics. 

 

[Eagleboy99]

1 hour ago, carguy79ta said:

If it is not too late, you could put steel bar/plate on each side of the lvl  beam and thrubolt it 2 rows of bolts, one near the top and one near the bottom( of the lvl's). That will stiffen up the beam. What I would do if I were doing it would be to jack up the middle of the span to put a little positive camber in it, then install the plates. When you release the jacks, then the beam will settle and take-up bolt hole slop and (theoretically ) be flat. Also make sure the holes are as snug as possible with the bolts. 

Exactly!  Especiallly for over 12 or so foot span.  I have a similar setup wiith 16 foot door and it sagged.  Was I ever to do another garage, I-beam, baby!  A workaround is to ensure that the poured floor is sloped to the center of the door by a couple inches - seriously.  Most cement guys prde themselves on a perfectly level floor (yes, it should be sloped front-to-back, but it is better to slope to the middle/door.  I was talked out of a centerdrain which I should have done. (Now can't unless it is tied to municipal sewer).  Live and learn.