Garage choices

[derailed]

  Im looking to build another garage in the spring and have been thinking about pre engineered steel. They look pretty strong and are fairly reasonably priced compared to lumber these days. You can also insulate them real well from what ive been told. Any members here have one or have any feedback on them as far as qualtiy or fitment issues when building them. Heres a link to one of the ones Ive been looking at. The 34x46 one is about the size I would like.

http://www.miracletruss.com/special_offers_pop.htm

[Khyron]

it was cheaper for me to do my garage in wood. I investigated the steel buildings.

Besides. when it rains, it's loud with steel I did my whole 24 x 30 for less them 9 grand including the slab.
http://web.mac.com/murmart/iWeb/Site/Building%20a%20Garage%20for%20Dummies....html

[Lord Warlock]

The steel buildings all look real nice.  Keep in mind that a foundation will add at least another 10k to the price.  (concrete went up in price this year) My foundation cost me 8k for a 22x24 pad with 18 inch deep footers.  I've heard they are very durable and fairly easy to build.  I wouldn't want to have to put it together though.  My new 2 car garage cost 38k to build, but I gotta admit the actual structure went up fast once they had the foundation poured.  Now I'm kind of wishing I'd gone a little deeper than 24 feet, I had the room to add an extra 8 feet or so, but the expense of the foundation put a limit on size.  IF i could have done it myself, it would have been alot cheaper.  The driveway from the garage to the front driveway would have cost me an extra 20k for approximately 80 linear feet x 15 wide. 

Wish I had the necessary construction skills like Khyron.  Would have been alot cheaper if I did.  Depending on outside contractors really blows the budget.  

I've seen some other steel designs. some even hurricane proof (important here) for up to 140mph winds.  My structure is built to withstand 120mph winds. (code here)  

[derailed]

Nice looking setup you have there Khyron. Did you buy that as a kit through somone or spec it out yourself and buy the necessary materials. Sounds like you got a good deal on materials. I was thinking the foundation for the size I want would be about $10 to $12k? I would like to put radiant floor heat in as well. Except for pouring the cement ill be doing most of the work myself with the help of some friends. Did you end up going with the steel or lumber for your garage Lord warlock?

[Todd Wilson]

The steel buildings all look real nice.  Keep in mind that a foundation will add at least another 10k to the price.  (concrete went up in price this year) My foundation cost me 8k for a 22x24 pad with 18 inch deep footers.  I've heard they are very durable and fairly easy to build.  I wouldn't want to have to put it together though.  My new 2 car garage cost 38k to build, but I gotta admit the actual structure went up fast once they had the foundation poured.  

38k for a 2 car garage?  Where you live at?



Todd

[Lord Warlock]

I live in Jacksonville Florida, Mine was made of wood to match the house.  It was the cheapest quote out of 5 estimates.  There aren't many builders willing to even bother with garage type structures, they all lean toward new construction at over 200.00-300.00 per square foot.  With so much new construction and hurricane repair going on in the state and gulf coast, finding a builder was a major hassle.  (the garage was just part of a home renovation project of over 65k)

Mine's a little taller than normal, I wanted it to be at least 11 feet high at the rafters, in case I can afford to install a lift in the future. 

[Khyron]

Wish I had the necessary construction skills like Khyron.  Would have been alot cheaper if I did.  Depending on outside contractors really blows the budget.  

hehe thats the glory of it. I have some very basic construction skills, but thats about it. I just followed the blueprint. My brother and father in law and myself built it. non of us are what I would say skilled. we just took our time and had fun with it

Nice looking setup you have there Khyron. Did you buy that as a kit through somone or spec it out yourself and buy the necessary materials. Sounds like you got a good deal on materials. I was thinking the foundation for the size I want would be about $10 to $12k? I would like to put radiant floor heat in as well. Except for pouring the cement ill be doing most of the work myself with the help of some friends. Did you end up going with the steel or lumber for your garage Lord warlock?

it's from Curtis lumber right down the road from us. with everything from vinyl siding to the roofing shingles the garage was $5000 delivered

and they do have bigger then 24x30. I was looking at a 24x36, I think it was about $700 more.

[Silver R/T]

I would go with wood insulated garage

[charger490]

my garage is 30x50 2x6s .18 inch foundation cost 25000.00 charger490

[Khyron]

my god, my slab only cost about $3000, were do you guys live? 

[Lord Warlock]

How thick was your slab khyron?  Mine was 18-24 inches thick around the perimeter, and about 8 to 12 inches thick in the middle.  It ended up taking two cement trucks to deliver the amount needed to do the job, plus it took another 6 yards of cement for the sidewalks from the side door to the back porch and the ramp in front of the garage.  Mine is also fiber reinforced concrete with rebar reinforcement, which is pretty much required by the upgraded codes here in a hurricane area.  I priced concrete 8 years ago and it was less than half of what it costs today.  Building is pretty expensive here.  Just to enclose my 20x12 rear screened porch (already framed and has an integrated roof and a 6 inch slab) was going to cost me 50k (cheapest quote).  I may end up enclosing it myself  eventually at 1/3 the cost.  My garage cost me approximately 76.00 per square foot to build, anything attached to the house costs 130-300.00 per sq ft. 

In my case, when they dug the foundation, they made a mistake regarding the easement distances at the edges of the property and had to move the structure forward a foot due to code restrictions (failed inspection and had to be redone) and instead of filling in the hole they just dug the trench wider instead, which made them use more concrete to fill the holes. 

[NHCharger]

  My garage cost me approximately 76.00 per square foot to build, anything attached to the house costs 130-300.00 per sq ft. 

Wow, I should be building in Florida. 

Derailed, i see you live in NY. Have you talked to anyone local about steel garages? I would be worried about possible condensation problems in the spring and fall. when i built my garage two-three years ago I was going to go with a metal roof with 2x4 purlins instead of roof sheathing and shingles ( to try and save money). The metal roofing supplier said I had to use plywood or OSB for a roof decking, then 30LB. roofing felt before installing the metal roof. Because of the rapid temperature changes in the spring and fall they guaranteed I'd have condensation dripping off the bottom of the metal roof. I ended up going with a standard shingled roof.

[ChargerSG]

Wood is my choise, i have to make my garage bigger, to much toys

[Khyron]

my footing was 2 feet with a 6 inch center, also reinforced with rebar and fiber.

It's only going to carry cars so I didn't need to go much thicker the 6 inch's in the center.

[derailed]

my footing was 2 feet with a 6 inch center, also reinforced with rebar and fiber.

This is what I was planning on for a foundation also. I was told by the total tool vendor at Lake George that 6 inches would be plenty sufficient if i were to put a lift in down the road. Im going to see if I can get over to Curtis and 84 Lumber and check out there prices for garages and start comparing to steel. I havent heard that before about condensation with metal roofs but ill have to look into that. They seem to be going up on these high end houses out in the country left and right around here.

[Khyron]

happy hunting, you will find though that the curtis lumber garages will be a comparable sized steel garage by at least a couple of grand They can also build your kitt to suit your needs. If you have the room, have them go about 3 feet higher with the garage if you want a lift down the road. Also, PM me if you want to come over and take a look at my garage, you're right down the road

[ChargerAndy]

My garage/ 2nd floor apt addition to my house. 24x40x 2 story. I posted the footing pix quite awhile ago. Ive been building this since spring, part of the reason I havent been online in such a long time. Steel wasn't an option since it's attached to my wood framed home ( far left portion of photo you may see the gable end of the existing house) Cheers, Andy

[Old Moparz]

I would suggest wood frame, or even post & beam (wooden pole building, or pole barn) over metal, but that's just my preference since I have a carpentry & home improvement background. I built mine & knew that I'd be the one doing 90% of the work, so it had to be something I could do easily. I had never built, or even worked on a wooden pole building prior to building mine, but wasn't afraid to try. If you are going to do a one floor building, it'll be almost as easy as a garden shed.

I built it in 1997 & prices went up a lot since then, but it saved money. The reason I went with a pole building is because the foundation prices I had received were too expensive. The 3 quotes I got were $7500, $9500, & $16,500. I did subcontract someone to auger the 20 holes (at 18" diameter) that ranged 4 to 6 feet deep. These were to set each of the 6"x 6"x 16' treated poles. There was a 4 hour minimum for $300 & he was done in 2 hours & saved me a lot of digging.

I also subcontracted a concrete guy to do the concrete floor. His price for a 5" thick, fiberglass reinforced concrete with wire mesh, was $700. I ordered the 16 cubic yards of concrete & paid $1300 for it. What it cost me to have the concrete floor done & to frame up the post & beam framework, was drastically less money than a foundation. The entire building, including the second floor was roughly $15,000. It's not insulated, fits 4 cars & matches the house.

Here's a company that was recommended by someone I know at my work. They travel & I think they work in New York, too.

http://www.conestogabuildings.com/

[Steve P.]

I had a 20 x 20 slab poured 18" bell and 6" center. Wrap around driveway from the street, down the side of my garage, turns to the left 90* to the shop. 20 x 20 fully insulated, air conditioned shop with half loft and 100 amp. breaker box. I paid for the slab and driveway and paid helpers for stuff my bad back could not do. The whole nut was allmost exactly $11,000.  All leagal, (or it would have been much bigger). This was 4 years ago..   Before building it, I drew the plans and got 3-5 estimates. The cheapest was $11,000 just to dry it in. I had to pour the slab and pay for all materials.. 11 grand in just labor!!!  Hell, 2 cripples, (my wife and I), and my old parents raised the walls in a day. I had to wait a week for the next inspection sign off and then it took me 3 days to build the roof, loft, sheet it and shingle it..

If I still had a good back I could make a fortune in construction around here.