Adding new garage


  #1  
Old 01-19-04, 07:35 AM
G
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Adding new garage

I would like to turn my existing 2 car garage into a family room and build another 3 car garage off the end if the existing one. I have plenty of driveway but I am wondering if this new garage can be built on the existing driveway or if a new slab would need to be poured. The driveway slopes about 8-10" to where the new garage front would be. What kind of problems would this pose for the framing and overhead door?

Thanks,

Greg
 
  #2  
Old 01-19-04, 02:26 PM
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Right out of the shute, I am going to tell you that this ultimately will be your decision. But from over 30 years in construction, I will give you my opinion. I would not even waste my time about thinking of anything else other then pouring a new floor. It will be level, and it will cut down alot of problems during building. Your door is just one of them. This way everything will be built on the same plane and you will be alot happier with the outcome.
The cost of the concrete will be alot less then you trying to fiddle with building on a slope. Good Luck
 
  #3  
Old 01-21-04, 10:44 AM
raceme
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footings??

doesn't the garage need to have footings? if you build on top of the driveway, there would be no footings. i thought about doing this also, but i was going to add some concrete to level the floor. then i thought about footings.
 
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Old 01-21-04, 10:58 AM
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That's the thing I was most worried about. Could you just cut out the concrete under where the walls would be and pour footings? These would have to be tied into the driveway. To account for the slope I was just going to pour the new footings up to the level of the existing garage. I really don't want to rip up the whole driveway to do this (unless it was necessary!)
 
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Old 01-21-04, 01:43 PM
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I guess my best rebuttel answer would be I guess you can do what you want to. My experience has taken me down this exact road on many occasions. You pitfalls are not with your foundation or floor in building on a slope. You will have some more very costly obstacles to overcome. Tearing out your driveway and pouring a new floor with footings and building on a new plane, will be very low cost compared to what it will be if you do not. Just my thoughts. Good Luck
 
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Old 01-21-04, 02:04 PM
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Jack,

What are the costly obstacles? (I just want to understand what I may be getting into!)

Thanks
 
  #7  
Old 01-22-04, 09:51 AM
pjnmuddlings
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We bought a house last year that had a 3 car tandem built onto the front of the original 3 car garage. They did some funky things that caused us to have problems with the remodel we are doing on the original portion. Footings are mandatory. If you are going to remodel the old garage into a family room, you will need to put footings under the existing concrete where the garage doors are now or build a non-load bearing wall at least a foot into the old garage to get around the footing issues. You do need to have footings with the new garage. The people here did have a new slab poured which was the right thing to do. Then you have ventilation and lighting requirements (skylights or windows) needed in the old area. The one thing these people DID NOT do was create a ramp into the new garage. They just poured the new slab and did not grade the entrance into the garage so we have a 1-2 inch drop off to the driveway. We actually have too much cement and looking to take a lot out! The only other issue is the roof. They built the new roof OVER the old roof. It takes away from any possible storage area, larger skylights, etc. It has been an interesting learning experience especially when it comes to the flooring for the playroom we are going to install. If you read my earlier post the other day, you will see we have had a time getting the flooring issues settled. Anyway, I think you should pour a new slab and decide ahead of time if you want to reinforce your old garage door area with footings and have it done at the same time! Think of resale and what makes it the best investment for you as it is hard to repair after it is all done!
 
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Old 01-23-04, 09:31 PM
muley
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The best method is to tear out your drive and pour a new slab with footings. As far as reinforcing your old garage door openings with footings, I don't believe this is necessary, however, perhaps I'm not fully understanding the post.
 
  #9  
Old 01-24-04, 10:02 AM
pjnmuddlings
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If you are going to remodel the old garage into living space and use the entire garage area, including the wall where the current garage doors are, you have to put footings under the area where the current garage doors are since there are no footings under the garage door openings. This is considered a load bearing wall by the inspectors, not very engineering minded, and requires footings put in those areas. Most garages only have footings where the posts are on the side of the garage doors and in between, in the case of 3 car garages or seperated 2 car garages. To get around that, we built our non load-bearing wall a foot in from the old garage door opening and then brought it over to the old wall above the garage door opening. That way it is connected to the existing ceiling and the old outside wall. That gave us about 1 foot of extra garage space in the newer section of the garage and my Excursion now fits in the garage. We just lose a 1ft x 29+ft x 7ft area from the old garage that is now going to be a playroom/sleeping area. I also end up with a shelf area across the back wall that is about 1 1/2 ft by 29ft long on the living area side. In the extra 1 ft sections on the garage side, we will be installing shelving and workbench areas. The middle slot will house the Excursion, so no shelving there. We had a hard time getting this all approved since most garage remodels are not into living space. Anyway, sorry this post is so long, but beware the footings on the old section!
 
  #10  
Old 01-24-04, 06:22 PM
muley
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Just because there were garage door openings it doesn't mean the it "is considered a bearing wall" were the old openings were. A bearing wall is a wall the that tranfers wieght from above into the ground. If the openings are on the gable end it is a non-bearing wall. Secondly moving your wall 1 foot in makes absolutely no sense at all. Even if the opening was a bearing wall the ends and center pillar would have a header that transfers the weight through them. Not more than three weeks ago we finshed a double door garage remodel into a rec room. Pictures are available, no footings or moving walls a foot in were necessary and there not in the above mentioned case.
 
  #11  
Old 01-25-04, 09:10 AM
pjnmuddlings
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I am glad to hear that there are some states that seem reasonable. That is why I made the comment about the inspectors not thinking with an engineering mind. You are right that the pillars and header around the garage door take the load and tranfer it to the ground. The problem here in Nevada is that they don't think or regulate in those terms. We have been going through this for 3 months and finally have resolution on all items. You are also right that putting the lower part of the wall a foot in is silly, but that is how we got around having to put footers under the old garage doors openings. By the way, our old garage door wall is no longer a load bearing wall since the extension was added and the roofline changed! We have had to deal with so much over regulation in California (needing a permit to change out a garbage disposal etc), it got us to think differently on how to get around these silly regulations here in Reno. Anyway, I just posted for those issues since I was so surprised by the lack of uniformity and what I would consider a lack of engineering reasonableness in going through the process to make the remodel "legal". I am sure each state and each city has their own weird quirks. These were just a few "surprises" I thought I would warn against in case they were like ours! Good Luck. I'll post again when we are complete!
 
 

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