Building a Garage Addition to Your Home

<h2 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt"><span><font size="3"><font color="#990000">Building a Garage Addition to Your Home</font></font></span></h2><p&gt;<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: ‘Verdana’,’sans-serif’; letter-spacing: 1pt">One of the most rewarding home improvements I made to my house was to build a garage addition. For years I contemplated building a garage addition while I scraped the ice and snow from my cars and waited for them to warm up during the winter months. About 5 years ago I finally made the decision to build a garage onto my home.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: ‘Verdana’,’sans-serif’; letter-spacing: 1pt"><div style="text-align: center"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0" width="425" height="282"><param name="movie" value="../images/banners/1a.swf" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="wmode" value="" /><embed src="../images/banners/1a.swf" wmode="" quality="high" menu="false" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="282"></embed></object></div></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: ‘Verdana’,’sans-serif’; letter-spacing: 1pt"><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span>The first big decision I had to make after deciding to build the garage addition was to determine how large to make it. I wanted a large enough garage to fit two cars comfortably and that would be of proper proportion with the rest of the house. I also wanted space to include a work bench and to allow room for the lawnmowers or snow blowers. I decided on a 26 foot wide, by 24 foot deep garage. Since my house was 36 feet in width, this gave me a garage that was about 2/5ths of the entire home frontage.</span></p><span><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><br /><br />I also needed to make sure that the roof pitch and the elevation of the garage would be consistent with the rest of the home.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><br /><br />After taking these issues into account, I created some drawings of the garage including: the foundation size, the location of the garage doors, the maintenance door and windows, and the height profile of the roof. From these drawings I was able to discuss with a number of general contractors my garage and home plans.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><br /><br />After selecting my general contractor, I generated some additional drawings that provided all of the framing details necessary to pull a building permit. Because of the specific contour of my property, my garage plans also included a bonus room that would reside above the garage. Thus, I needed to include additional drawings of the bonus room, e.g. interior walls, doors, windows, closet, and entrance way and stairwell to/from the main house.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><br /><br />After excavation and installation of the foundation, the framing crew had the garage frame up in about a week. Three weeks later I had a completely enclosed garage, with all the outside doors and windows installed and the shingles installed on the roof.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><br /><br />From this point forward, I took over the electrical and insulation work, after filing for these specific permits.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><br /><br />Once the insulation was installed and approved, I called in the drywall contractor to install the drywall, and to tape and mud. I also had them apply a coat of primer and one coat of builders grade paint. It is well worth the money to have them do this.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><br /><br />I then finished the electric, installed the stair railing, interior doors and baseboard trim and the garage was nearly ready to move in.<br /><br />The finishing touch was the installation of two garage door openers and a final application of paint in the bonus room.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> </p><div style="text-align: center"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0" width="425" height="282"><param name="movie" value="../images/banners/1c.swf" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="wmode" value="" /><embed src="../images/banners/1c.swf" wmode="" quality="high" menu="false" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="282"></embed></object></div><br /><br />The total cost of my garage addition was about $30,000. I had been quoted as high as $50,000, however with a little negotiation and sweat equity I was able to get a lot of garage for a reasonable price.<br /><br />A few years have gone by since I completed my garage addition and every winter when I see people standing by their cars in the driveways scraping, I am reminded of one of the best decisions I ever made. </span></span><p><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: ‘Verdana’,’sans-serif’; letter-spacing: 1pt">Article Source: <a href="http://www.articleset.com/">http://www.articleset.com</a></span></p>