My New Digs
 

They are pouring the foundation on my new house next week and I need to make a decision on my garage floor. Would you go level or pitched to the garage door? I've also heard you can go level and pitch the last portion before the door.

Total garage space is just over 1,300sqft. It has 2 18' wide doors with my shop side having a 10' tall door and 12' ceiling. It's 27.5' deep so I can pull in a fishing boat, lifted truck, install a lift. In fact, we are making the slab deeper where I plan to install a lift one day.

We have an acre and this house is super wide at 110", but I'll still have 30' on the garage side. I plan to install a cover at some point for a camper, etc...

We are in the rural preservation and only a few hundred yards from city limits. We designed the house around the mountain range views. I plan to buy a UTV and go right from my garage! I call it my little slice of paradise. This city has grown so fast, but I'm protected by the preservation in all directions. We are only 15 minutes from the airport.

Wow, that is wide:lmao:
Todd, someone had to catch you on that.
Anyway, that is a beautiful view, way better than this crappy snow right now.

My $.02 - - - I'd go with a level floor in order to be able to weigh, align, etc.. If you put a lift in you won't have to shim it as much.

You probably won't need floor drains - I put them in since I pull my truck inside in the winter to thaw it out. I asked for mine to be level when I built my shop and they F'ed it up... I think I had a thread on here about it a few years back.

Oh yeah - place looks like it will be awesome!

Each of the 5 garage spaces we have at the current house are sloped to the middle with an oil water separator in each bay.... I love being able to take a hose in there and wash the dust down the drain and keep the floors clean.... They're also epoxied and clear coated with glass beads in the clear coat so they're non-skid.

Nice house by the way!!

Great layout! Love the 3 basically "Master" bedrooms (personal bath). Garage space is awesome!

I'd go flat on the floors for sure, but I can't see them letting you do it unless you get basically free reign from codes. Seems they all think we have to have sloped garage floors to save ourselves from flooding our garages with the wet cars we park in them.

Glad you are finally getting started, I know you've been working on this for a while. Plans look great...

We really like the nature views over the city view. It's peaceful and quiet out there.
Thanks, it rains about 5 times a year so I'm not that concerned out run off from the cars.

Show off! :)
It's a 4 bed, computer area, 4 bath, 4 car. It's more than we need.

It's been a long road. I never dreamed it would be this much work. Between the architect, contractors, engineers, and the city..:sieg: It's fun to see some progress and see the vision come to life.

My contractor is giving me the option to go flat, but I want to make sure I'm not breaking code. I don't want any chance of having it back fire on me with a do over.

I'm leaning towards flat with a slight slope at the garage door to keep the rain water out.

Here is the rear elevation and the site plan. The great room has a 15' ceiling and the slider is 8' tall by 16' wide with 4 windows above it. We also have a nice slider off the dining room. We left the last .25 acre natural as I don't want to have to maintain it or pay to landscape it. 3/4 acre is PLENTY in the desert. I still have the flexibility to use it later as I'm installing a view fence. Who knows, I may end up putting a casita or shop back there someday. It's zoned for horses, but I have no desire. We set the house well back from the street to give it a nice deep set back and width from the street. The finished floor is higher than I thought so the house is built up pretty high to help or view and curb appeal. The negative is I now need to bring in over 20 loads of dirt to level out the front and back. I wanted to use my native soil for the foundation. We hope to get some free dirt from pool contractors, etc..

It's really been fun as I like a good project and it's really beyond a dream house for us. It's only 3137 sqft so I figure I can die here. HA We originally had it up to almost 4000 feet which is ridiculous for my wife, son, and a dog. It would've been too much house. I'm glad I came to my senses.

I'm jealous of the garage square footage, looks like it will be a nice place to work. I don't know what you have planned for the space behind the garage but I would think about putting a garage door out the back as well. I love opening my front and back doors on a summer day and getting all the natural light and a little breeze going through the garage.

Been waiting for you to post this up!

So 1 kid is all you're doing I take it? Hope that surgery went well....

The game room doubles as the 4th bedroom I take it?

And the kid's room right by the front door while parents are in the back? (That'll go well as he gets older.... :lol:)

Let it rip!

Todd, your plan is very similar to ours....we are right at 3100 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath, with lots of open areas facing back of house and no steps...all on 8/10s of an acre. We had the option of going 4 bedroom but 2 would have had to share a bath. This way each bedroom has their own bath which works better for out of town guests (no kids here).

I see you also put 1 bathtub in...we did that as well but considered none at all.

They trimmed ours Monday, inside and out is ready for paint now. We are picking out slabs for countertops today.

We thought about making it garage space and the extra door, but it costs a mint to build a house these days and I'm done going back to the engineer and architect. :D Well, at least for major changes.

Yep, 1 and done. We are both 40 so the old sand has about run out.

Yes, the game room has a closet for resale, my gun safe, and likely all the camera/alarm crap.

If he's like me, we'll have to shackle his to his bed. It doesn't matter. :D
The area really dictated the 4 bathrooms. We are the little guy in the area and I want the utility and the guest quarters for resale. Plus my son is only 2 so we still need a bathtub in his room. I finally listened to the old mantra, buy or build the smallest house in the best area you can afford. I saw its effect on the appraisal. Bigger houses pulled up our value higher than I thought and I'm a very active agent in the area. I hope to walk into a little equity. :D I'm trying to avoid the gotta have it mentality. I'm purposely funding the contingency money out of my back pocket so I think about it more. Every time I make a decision to exceed budget or bring in something extra, it's going to hurt. Now that I'm so deep into the project, we have got much better at GOOD ENOUGH. Let's build the thing. There are so many chances to be stupid. For instance, once shade of cabinet color was going to cost 5k. It's more trendy. We decided that once it was in the house, we'd never know the difference so we went with the less expensive option. It's plenty nice and close enough.

Very cool Brother!! A dream realized! Would love to come see it when it's done and catch up with you and the family!

Doug

Thank you my friend! We'd be excited to have you and the family. I'll definitely give you a heads up when it's done. You know how these custom projects go. HA

I decided on a level slab with a pitch the last 4' to keep the rain out. Looking like concrete within 7-10 days and framing starting on the 29th.

Your going to have a sweet set up Todd. Very Nice.

Congrats Todd. Looks amazing.

Great looking future Todd

Thanks fellas... Foundation is going to be poured next week.

Good call on the slope. When it's raining and the wind blows just right there is water intrusion that makes a a bit of a mess at my place.

If I get the chance to a custom garage 3' high concrete stub walls are a must. It keeps the drywall away from the power washing.

The house looks awesome! Congrats!

On my garage we put a piece of 3"x3" angle iron at the inside of the door 1/2" above the outside concrete to act as a stop for wind blown rain. It works killer. you attach it to the opening like an L facing in, then all you see of it is the top of one edge. We just had a winter storm with 65 mph winds blowing directly at it and it stayed dry.

Hi Todd,
They sloped my 24x28 garage and I don't care for it.

Too fast of a slope near the side walls and it makes it hard to "arrange" things. Tool boxes roll, sandblaster had to be shimmed on the front legs, shelves shimmed, etc.

Although they did a great job on it otherwise and in 19 years it hasn't heaved or cracked. I live in Colorado so maybe they were trying t keep the water off the sill, and I built the structure and could be they didn't trust me to keep it dry?

Fortunately I took half of the 24x40 pole barn I built for my car projects so now I have a dedicated space, and all I do in the garage is park and storage.

Thought I would mention it.

Joe

Congrat's. Great floor plan. Might have to copy it someday....I like the living room only plan, great room, its all we really need...

No slope if your planning on lift later. You can always do 1/8" per foot, you wont feel it, but like greg said, easy to hose off.
Also, i used the rustoleum at home depot, did it myself. 14 years ago did beige/tan then three years ago went gray (right over it). No problems with hot tire adhesion, but, Vegas, not so sure. However, it only cost $200 and my 1.5 hour of labor.

How tall are the ceilings?

So what is the pitch on that last 4 feet?

Thanks fellas!

They poured my foundation today and stripped the garage footing forms. They pour my garage tomorrow. It will be flat until the last 3' of the daily driver side and last 5.5' of my shop. The shop side is deeper and the slope will line up. He told me the slope and I think it's 1/8" per foot. I'm just hoping to keep the rain out. You know, best of both worlds. I'm a pain in the ass! I was talking to the concrete super that works for my GC and told him I'm a bit of an anal bastard. He said, That's what I heard. :) I do it with grace so that makes it ok, right? I always tell my GC, I know what I want.

For instance, they had my water supply lines to my island laying in the dirt before the type 2 and sand. I said, let's sleeve those babies so I don't have to jack hammer up my kitchen in 15 years! Done It's a custom house and I'm putting my best foot forward. I love the details.

You should see a deeper area in my shop where the concrete will be 6" deep for my TWO POST lift. That's what real mechanics and MEN use. Ha Ha Ha Couldn't help myself.

Looking good... There are several stages of this process that are more exciting than others, Slab poured, framing finished, and finish details after drywall are my favorites.

Doing a custom build is fun...adding details like you have done is cool. I remember adding PVC sleeves under the front sidewalk so my gutter downspouts wouldn't just lay on the sidewalk. Back in 1993 our house was the only one around to have such a thing, now they all do it back in the Midwest.

There are times when I'd really like to do that on our new one...like right now when I'm trying to figure out a way to get more power to the RV garage. It would be so simple to run a bigger line to the sub panel now but that is not in the cards with this builder. I'm trying to bribe the pool contractor to run more power than he needs for the pool equipment at the back of the shop but he says that will require re-permitting and I can't let that cause any delays either.

I'll probably end up cobbling it in after the fact down the road, conduit through the house garage and buried to a second panel in the shop. What a PITA but it is what it is...

I love a project and custom build, but it does come with a cost as you know. You CAN save money on a tract house if you don't go bananas on upgrades. Up here, the builders mark everything up tremendously. Some things are close to double the actual cost. They make a bunch of their profit in mark ups. I have my fingers on every number and cost, it comes down to will power. Do I really need it? HA

I remember building our first house (first to actually build rather than buy existing)..... We're doing a lot of things to it that we WANT..... The agent says to me one day ---- "you know,...... you're house is not going to appreciate the same as your neighbors."

My response - I'm not building an investment, I'm building "MY HOME".... and "I" will APPRECIATE it every day.

^ I see what you did there... :goggles:

Garage turned out pretty damn nice...

Looking good Brother. :cheers:

What’s the reason for the slope at the opening of the garage? Does your driveway run downhill? I get the center drains like Weld has but I guess I’m not clear on the first few feet being sloped unless you’ve got a drainage issue...which you shouldn’t on a new house.

I’m in a valley and the wind absolutely howls through here, never an issue with water getting under the garage door.

Todd I think I have garage size envy of you. lol Sweet build.

Thank you my friend.

In my mind it gives me the best of both worlds. A flat shop space and less chance of rain water in my garage in a bad storm.
I'm excited about it. My last custom home had similar garage space, but it was split into two garages and not near as functional. I also have 30 feet beside the garage and it goes back a long ways. So I'll have my oversize 4 car plus a big covered RV canopy at some point. I like the idea of having all my stuff in close proximity. It makes it much easier to work on stuff. I also have an RV dump/50 watt plug, regular plug, and water spicket all planned for just outside the garage for the RV parking plus extra lighting..

It looks like your garage floor is just a tad bit lower than the house floor, what maybe 3-5"?

This is something I've noticed done more out here and NEVER done back in the Midwest. It took tooth and nails to get a foundation form guy to lay a house out correctly if you did not want a large step up from the garage into the house. And even then they normally screwed it up.

Looks great! When does the lumber show up?

I believe it's 4". I like it as I've had more than one hot water heater leak or explode out here. This keeps the water out of the house and from causing water damage/mold issues. PLUS, it gives me 4" of lift space. I'll have 12'4" on the shop side.

The framer was out chalking the lines this AM. :gitrdun: :flag2: He's been framing for my GC and his dad before him for a long time. I hear good things from so I'm hopeful.

You'll be able to put just about any lift you want in there. you'll enjoy that space for sure.

Look forward to seeing the completion of this!

Very cool, looks like great location. Which direction from downtown and the strip?

Mike

Since the "shop" is attached to the house really what are your plans for fireproofing, sprinklers, etc? I know we discussed this before somewhere...

Are sprinklers required in the entire house? here in Livermore it is, most people say its a pain in the a__, too expensive, too much leak liability etc etc. My response is, "you ever see a child in a burn unit?"

YOu having the GC do everything up to sheetrock or is he/she doing finish as well?