Charlie Slegtenhorst Builds A Garage
The size will be a 26 x 40 barn style (gambrel roof) design. There will be 2 levels. The trusses on the upper level will be clear span. This area will be used for my woodworking shop. The lower level will be for my cars and fabrication. The slab will be of monolithic design and will incorporate in floor radiant heating tubes for later use if necessary. I 've been able to get used 4" foam at 10 cents on the dollar, so thats what is going under the slab and on the complete building exterior. The interior will get an additional 6" of fiberglass batts in the walls, and 12" in the ceiling for an R value of 40 in the walls and 60 in the roof - it gets cold here in the winter and I'll be on a heating budget. I have unlimited access to free wood so you all know what my heat source will be. The building itself will be mostly post and beam style. Floor joists, supporting beams and posts will all be heavy timbers from trees cut on our property. Several years ago I built a wood cutting bandsaw that can cut boards / beams up to 30 feet long. Upper level ceiling will be T&G white cedar, upper level floor (lower level ceiling) will be 2" thick T&G white pine. A hoist (lift) of course, will be mandatory. There will be an open attached shed at the back which will be 10 feet by 40 feet long. A cupola will don the top of the roof. I 'll plumb the shop for water, hydro, phone, internet etc. A floor drain will help with the car washing issues. I'll "over wire" the whole shop. There are still many details to work out, but this will give you a primer on where I'm going with my project. I'll be building this by myself, so it looks like this will probably be a 2 year project to final completion. I'd like to thank everyone who shared their ideas with me on this project. I'll be taking lots of photos along the way and will post photos and updates from time to time. Charlie in Ottawa
Click on images below for larger versions
Stacks of lumber I milled for the shop Service trench for water, electric, communications
Service conduits at garage end Used 4" thick foam for the garage
Excavating begins Roughing out the base
Excavating continues Shaping monolithic slab
Compacted base. 6" crushed stone at edges and 18" in the centre Forming begins. Slab is 12" thick at edges and 4 " in centre
Reinforcing bars and wire mesh
Rig I made for floor heat tubing
Installed floor heat tubes Heat tubes where they exit the slab
Pouring the slab Pouring the slab
Troweling the slab. Note the custom 62 in the background Finished slab. Now on to the next stage - framing


To Page 2

Back