Garage rebuild with man room/apartment on second story

[2rocky]

I spent 2013-2019 adding on to and remodeling my home. My detached garage is a single story 2 car concrete tip up building built in 1947.

My thought process has been, If I were to invest money and time in it, I'd be money ahead just levelling it and starting from the ground up.

In a quick Google search, these plans caught my eye.

Has anyone done something similar and do you have suggestions for how to go about the project ?

The upstairs would likely be where I would display taxidermy so I would want as high a ceiling as possible upstairs. Could the trusses be replaced with a beam and raised ceiling?

 

[BigHornRam]

You could do 9' studs with scissor trusses or hand framed vaulted ceiling for more head room upstairs.

 

[NoWiser]

You could look into parallel chord trusses as well, though the heels tend to get fairly tall on those, which may or may not matter.

 

[fachries]

You could do 9' studs with scissor trusses or hand framed vaulted ceiling for more head room upstairs.

+1

 

[brownbear932008]

What bighornram said doing that would probably get you around 12 ft in the gables possibly.

 

[fmnjr]

You could do 9' studs with scissor trusses or hand framed vaulted ceiling for more head room upstairs.

Hand framed means cut and stack, right? Years ago I built a single story garage by that method and that thing was bomb proof. Very strong.

 

[Blaser270]

Consider expanding the footprint to 30x30 to give yourself a bit of room to move in the garage. Perhaps also a single 8’ overhead door. That pillar in the middle is always in the way. Thats my 0.02.

 

[2rocky]

Consider expanding the footprint to 30x30 to give yourself a bit of room to move in the garage. Perhaps also a single 8’ overhead door. That pillar in the middle is always in the way. Thats my 0.02.

Thank you Blaser. but 24 x 24 is my absolute max given the property lines. But you are absolutely correct. It will be a 1 car garage plus shop on the ground level. Not sure how much bigger the header would have to be for a single door. which I would prefer as well.

 

[mtmuley]

Exterior second floor access sucks. Is 24x24 your total footprint? If not, I'd plan on an interior stairwell. mtmuley

 

[2rocky]

Exterior second floor access sucks. Is 24x24 your total footprint? If not, I'd plan on an interior stairwell. mtmuley

I hear you. But you should see the deck I got planned for there...

If I was in a climate that got snow, exterior stairs would definitely be a no-go.

but it would be nice to park in garage and go up from inside...especially in a rainstorm

 

[Red Fox]

I am in the middle of adding on. 31' wide and went with a 8'X18' door and needed a 31" header to hold up the post for the roofs main beam. Hand stacked is the way to go if you want the head room.

 

[mtmuley]

If I was in a climate that got snow, exterior stairs would definitely be a no-go.

Changes things. mtmuley

 

[angelman]

How much did it cost you to build a garage?

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

You could do 9' studs with scissor trusses or hand framed vaulted ceiling for more head room upstairs.

Why not just go for 12’… why do most folks have such low ceilings? My wife’s parents just built a house and went with 12’ they said it didn’t cost them any more than 8’ (not appreciable)?

 

[Four22]

24’ isn’t enough to fit lager trucks and SUVs in. Go at least 26’ or 28’ even better.

Also, go to a 8’ garage door. My F250 with 100% stock suspension fits through a 7’ door by 4”.

Just food for thought from personal experience.

 

[BackofBeyond]

Why not just go for 12’… why do most folks have such low ceilings? My wife’s parents just built a house and went with 12’ they said it didn’t cost them any more than 8’ (not appreciable)?

I’d have a hard time believing that there was little to no cost difference between 8’ and 12’ walls.

That’s another sheet of sheet rock all the way around the shell, studs go from a pre-cut 92 5/8” to having to cut a 2x4x12’ for each stud, add in the increased sheeting and siding. Plus adding that much volume to the interior could mean a larger heating/cooling system.

Your in-laws may not have seen a direct cost for the add, but they paid for it somewhere.

 

[ThomasParson]

In the construction market, you can often find prefabricated structures that are much cheaper than the usual construction of a garage made of foam blocks on the site and save a lot of time and physical effort. It seems to me much more practical than erecting a concrete structure. However, I can recommend a few if you need good concrete contractors. But in this case, it should be remembered that building such a turnkey garage will not be the most reliable, which means that some problems may arise in a changeable climate. Based on the choice of consumers, the most popular option is a garage, which, although located on a common territory with the house, does not join it.

 

[BigHornRam]

I’d have a hard time believing that there was little to no cost difference between 8’ and 12’ walls.

That’s another sheet of sheet rock all the way around the shell, studs go from a pre-cut 92 5/8” to having to cut a 2x4x12’ for each stud, add in the increased sheeting and siding. Plus adding that much volume to the interior could mean a larger heating/cooling system.

Your in-laws may not have seen a direct cost for the add, but they paid for it somewhere.

Plus it would look like a top heavy, ugly 2 story garage.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I’d have a hard time believing that there was little to no cost difference between 8’ and 12’ walls.

That’s another sheet of sheet rock all the way around the shell, studs go from a pre-cut 92 5/8” to having to cut a 2x4x12’ for each stud, add in the increased sheeting and siding. Plus adding that much volume to the interior could mean a larger heating/cooling system.

Your in-laws may not have seen a direct cost for the add, but they paid for it somewhere.

That was kinda my assumption, and the “?”.

Still though, what do you think the incremental cost would be on the thread’s project. 10-25% on supplies? Marginal cost on labor.

8ft ceilings suck, only being able to hang elk heads in the gables sucks.

My 2 cents, heads look way better up a bit, it’s nice to be able to have things staggered about the room. Given the OPs constraints I wouldn’t change much other than raising the walls well above 8ft. I’d also put in backing where you want heads to go, sounds silly but take pictures of the room with the backing up.

 

[Rzrbck918]

That was kinda my assumption, and the “?”.

Still though, what do you think the incremental cost would be on the thread’s project. 10-25% on supplies? Marginal cost on labor.

8ft ceilings suck, only being able to hang elk heads in the gables sucks.

My 2 cents, heads look way better up a bit, it’s nice to be able to have things staggered about the room. Given the OPs constraints I wouldn’t change much other than raising the walls well above 8ft. I’d also put in backing where you want heads to go, sounds silly but take pictures of the room with the backing up.

Here, material cost would be almost double. Just looked at my latest invoice, paid $4 per stud and the 2x4x12's we use for top plate are about $7.50. Labor is marginally more on the first floor but anything higher adds money per foot.

I agree, I would want higher ceilings all around, garage included.