Detached 2-Car Garage Project

[JoeliusZ28]

Recreating this thread so it shows up in the top stats. Pics to follow.

Figured I'd share one of the primary reasons my Camaro has been primarily sitting in storage over the last 12 months. I've been busy learning how to work on things other than cars for a change. More specfically, making my garage into a functional workspace to do car projects. When I bought my house, this structure wasn't useful for much more than a covered parking spot. It was heated, but that was about the extent of its usefulness. Lighting and storage was terrible. No matter how "clean" i kept it, it always looked disorganized and I could never seem to find anything. Furthermore, the lack of insulation proved to be a significant problem in the spring/fall months (condensation). So on my limited budget i decided to do a "temporary overhaul." As you can probably tell... the "temporary overhaul" has gone a little further than just adding some insulation and cabinets like I pictured it in my head. My dad and I completely re-engineered the ceiling and raised it 10" as well as all new LED lighting, electrical, new air compressor, yadda yadda. Here's some pictures of the progress. I admit I already wish I had knocked the stupid thing down and built something new, but its too late to turn back now. The end result is going to be really nice but unfortunately will always have the limitation of only being a small 2 car garage. Hoping the city allows me to build a second shop in the "back forty" behind the garage (im only on 1/3 acre lol). Targeting June to finish this project the last major item is a new garage door otherwise its downhill from here.

[MP81]

Some majorly good progress there. Putting insulation in - and closing off the rafters (did you put in a storage loft, I couldn't tell) will be huge for heat retention. Are you drywalling?

[JoeliusZ28]

Yes there is a storage loft albeit its going to be very small. Thats what the two scuttle doors in the ceiling are for. But the increased headroom was definitely more valuable to me than the loft storage. The garage would have been majorly claustrophobic for somebody my height if i had kept the original ceiling height.

I'm not drywalling im using OSB all around there should be a couple pictures that show it. Thats what im currently spending weeknights on.

[JoeliusZ28]

[MP81]

Okay, I see it on the walls now. Going to paint it white? That will help tremendously with lighting performance (that's why I was asking about drywall).

[JoeliusZ28]

^hopefully this is easier to read. Sorry they are out of order. I had to manually add thumbnails and its not a simple interface.

[JoeliusZ28]

Yeah I think im going to paint the whole thing white when its done. We'll see.

[MP81]

I would. Plus, then you can make a game about counting how many dirty handprints you put on your walls. You can tell where I lean on the walls when I'm getting out of various locations of underhood or under-car by the black handprints on my white garage walls.

[JoeliusZ28]

Thats precisely the reason I'm on the fence about it But i want this to be a clean looking garage so might be worth the risk. was also considering a two-tone on the lower portion.

[MP81]

Nah - you can just wipe off the grime pretty easily. I'm just way too lazy too. Plus, it makes it look "worked in".

[landstuhltaylor]

Roof lift for a hoist? The bottom of my trusses are right at 11 feet, just short enough to require a floor plate. May have to keep this in mind.

[JoeliusZ28]

Roof lift for a hoist? The bottom of my trusses are right at 11 feet, just short enough to require a floor plate. May have to keep this in mind.

Unfortunately not even close. This garage has 7 foot walls and me being 6'4" is the main reason I've put a stupid amount of work into making the vaulted ceiling. As it was, there was only 8" of clearance from my head to the ceiling and thats not even factoring light fixtures which i would damn near be hitting my head on. So yeah unfortunately raising the ceiling 10" was only to eliminate the claustrophobic factor of it, but a hoist is a goal and why I'm planning to build a second garage long term. Thats if the city lets me. As it is I don't see anything in the rules that says you can't have two garages and it would be within the square footage rules as they are written.

Thankfully for the time being i still have relatively easy access to the 4-post hoist at my dads.

This is the layout of the lot and what I'd eventually like to do:

[landstuhltaylor]

I know that pain. Columbus code has either 720SF or 1/3 The finished house area as the limit for the garage size. So I bought in the one neighborhood in the entire metro area that doesn't follow that code, nor do they have the 2.5% city tax. But the neighborhood is right on a bike trail going downtown so I can be there in minutes with no OUI worries.

Somebody here has a pole barn and when I looked into buying a double lot they had no issue with building a 30x40 on it (15,000SF total).

[JoeliusZ28]

Nice! Yeah I hear you there I seem to have lucked out and bought in one of the more lenient areas. If you look on the edge of the photo my neighbor's garage is pretty massive. However he didn't get a permit for his latest addition and the city caught it. Told him he could keep if he paid a $2,000 fine and added on to the house (even though there is nothing in the rules that says the house needs to be a comparable size). So thats what he did.

Utica's rule is the total of "accessory structures" cannot exceed 25% of the backyard. I happen to have one of the widest lots in the neighborhood and my house is 5 feet from being as close to the street as the rules would have allowed. One potential problem is "accessory structures" include decks and patios. So im hoping to max out that square footage between a deck/patio and two garages. I'm not sure if my shed counts because its just sitting on the driveway and might be considered temporary. I need to get an inspector out and pick his brain because those kind of things will determine how long i keep this place.

[Atrus]

Just chiming in to say I love seeing non-car projects too as I can definitely relate to them. Keep the updates coming!