FromZto5

Anyone have thoughts on my floodlight/LED questions above?

Meanwhile... I was emotional this weekend. Why? Well... THIS happened Yes, they were tears of joy. I wanted to camp out there and tent all weekend just to admire it. hehe.

I caught them right as they were finishing it up. They poured it at early a.m. on Saturday. They worked the weekend for us to beat the colder weather coming this week. They are on the ball! Next steps are to polish and seal the floor.

Garage floor looks so small now that it's actually there. LOL. I should have made it 2000 sq ft.

Also, I am enamored with that drain. What a beautiful sight. I have been wanting a drain for 11 years. Never had one. Always been jealous of my buddies with one. Now I have one to call my own.

Kotenukimen

Drool. Subscribed.

Stage_3

So awesome Burton.
I am jealous of the garage drain as well. Maybe someday,........ lol

Rog13GTCS

Looking good Z. You might talk to your builder about the lighting, and your lighting shop, or a landscaper they should be able to give you some professional advice.

Since you are talking flood type lights I assume you looking at those for security more than ambiance lighting?

FromZto5

Thanks buddy! I'll be continually updating this up to our closing in early summer.

Thanks Tony! I've always wanted a drain too. I was so jealous of my friends who are able to detail and keep their cars (relatively) clean in winter. Now it's my turn soon.

Thanks bud. Yes, ambiance/security, but I also want to be able to use it for some dusk family activities, like basketball, fire pit, and also the occasional detailing outside when it gets too dark out. I'll be talking to the electrical folks anyways to install junction boxes in certain spots. I will be sure to ask them their advice.

Also, I might have a change of heart in terms of lifts. Found out that BendPak has gotten worse in quality - made in China, versus a more robust lift made in USA like Rotary/Revolution. I'll post up some options later.

Rog13GTCS

We have a neighbor who has a backyard court and b-ball goal. They have something similar to this.

If they are in your budget, I'd go LED. We are slowly replacing some of our lights with LEDS. I prefer the warm yellow vs the cool blue tint.

PaxtonShelby

Congrats on a great-looking and well thought out home and dream garage! I am squeezed in a 2-car garage with 7.5' ceilings and it is rough! It is great how flat your lot is - hard to get that in many places here in Pittsburgh! In the next 5 years I will be moving to a smaller home with much more property and garage space than I have now. I'm hoping to then have room for our cars plus those of my parents and in-laws, since we currently have cars stored here and there with daily drivers sitting outside. Anyway - best of luck on the build and keep the updates coming!

FromZto5

Thanks man! Sorry I've been out and busy on the house build and selections. I have to buy those LED's soon.

Thanks Paxton! Yes, the flatness was definitely a plus. I chose the lot on purpose with it's nice wide and flat attributes. Us car guys always need room for our toys...

==========================

Update: Sorry for the delay in updates, but really, there was no progress in the last 3 weeks. It was in the single digits with wind chills in the negative, so the builders paused. Framing actually started late last week!!! So right now, we have a tentative closing date of mid May. We'll see how true that is and if it holds.

Here's some updated pics of them working it:

Stage_3

Looking good Burton.
When will the new castle be completed?

FromZto5

Thanks Tony! Long time no talk, buddy. Sorry, been swamped. Completion date is mid-May, tentatively. Hopefully pulled up. We're putting our current house on the market soon - hence why I've been so busy. I DID have time to rotate Marilyn's tires in the garage though, since she's hibernating. hehe.

So - I already have updated pics. The pics above were from Friday close-business time (COB). Then I drove over there again yesterday COB, and this is how much they got done in ONE DAY. Holy COW. And yes, I caught them working well into dusk. They're a great crew. They finished putting up all the perimeter walls of the house already. The garage walls are not up yet - but hopefully today or tomorrow. More pics then!!!

Stage_3

That's awesome man. They are working like mad to get it done! Awesome.
Keep us posted!

FromZto5

thanks Tony!

Also other update! I ordered my LED Floodlights for the house! Important for cars, because I plan to put 2 in the back of the house, where I can detail when the sun goes down. Then I'll put 1 in front on top of the garage so I can detail in the front of the house when the sun goes down There will be 1 on the side for security too of course.

I ordered 4 total, each of them totaling about 2400lm each, 4000k lighting. They are IP65 certified, warrantied for 5 years, and work from -40 to 122F. They are motion sense, but also can be overridden to go permanently on or off to function like a regular light. I'm stoked! They arrive tomorrow. The electrician will install when house is at that stage.

xtc.inc

Keep updating with pics, super cool to see this kind of stuff.

What is the square footage of the actual house, and what is the square footage of the garage itself?

FromZto5

Thanks Alex! Heck yeah... this thread is serving as my historical database that I (or others) can refer to in the future.

The house is about 3400 sq ft total, the garage is about 1210 sq ft. So it's not THAT big by any means. It's comfortable living space for me and the family.

So, funny story today. I swung by this morning to give the crew coffee and donuts. I told them how much I appreciated them working in this cold and how great a job they're doing. They not only loved the donuts, but he tells me, "Yeah, I heard you're really into this garage.". I laughed and said, "OH YES. Did my project manager tell you that?". They're like yep. LOL. So they were extra careful with the garage floors and it's all covered so nothing is scratched, etc.... haha. I love it!

But anyways, this morning, I went over there to see that the walls are partially up in the GARAGE!!! They got that all done up to dark yesterday... these pics were taken at about 7:30 am CT this morning. I'm excited to drive by this pm and see how far they've come. This garage is starting to look "real". I can visualize myself in it now. Hehe. The close up of the opening is the 3rd stall door opening. Ahhhhhhh so nice.

xtc.inc

Looks awesome. Cant wait to see it done.

FromZto5

You and me both, Alex! Well... really, you, me, and rest of my family

So where do I begin with updates? I've been negligent on updates last few days mostly because I've been sick with the flu. Perfect timing I know.

But I have a lot of pics and updates - these guys work fast. Maybe it's due to the donuts I brought them? I still need to drop them off beer sometime. haha.

So here's updates. They are posted in order of occurrence. I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

Friday, 1/13 - early that day



And here's the garage at that point - looking down the 3rd stall out the rear garage door. I love the space on the left side to store shelves and other stuff.



The same day, my LED FLOOD LIGHTS arrived! All 4 of them.



Friday, 1/13 - end of day (yes, these guys are FAST) It's starting to look like a real house and a real garage!







And then we had some freezing rain the last few days, so work stopped a bit. But here is where they are at as of end of day Tuesday 1/17/17.. The roof sheets are on!!! They still have to do another roof peak, but then they will probably be sealing the house in the next week or so.






I wanted to point out something else - here's a close up of my custom trusses in the garage...the ones that result in my Tray ceiling for up to 14'+ feet. It came out AWESOME. That will be perfect for my lift. It's so cool to be able to walk the inside and get a solid feel for everything. It's hard to see in these pics, but I pointed the iphone camera upwards to see the trusses.







Oh and get this... wanna hear something funny? My wife visited the property over the weekend, and she catches a dad and his son walking inside our house, particularly the garage and pointing at certain features of it. Yeah that's right dude - be jealous. Be very jealous. LOL.

Electrical walkthrough is mid Feb. That's when I get all the Security system installed, plus wiring for all my planned detailing lights, 220v outlets in garage, heater, etc...

Oh another thing, I'm getting some quotes on having them install either waterproof paint or paneling, so that I can wash and detail cars inside the garage with no concerns on splashing.

Stage_3

Coming along very nicely Burton!!!
Keep us posted.

kylerohde

Burton - one thing to keep an eye on is that all your housewrap is installed properly. So many builders are sloppy with the stuff, leaving rips, seams, etc. and not doing it right because you can't see it as soon as the siding goes up. Good visuals of proper installation here: http://www.dupont.com/content/dam/du...r_Bulletin.pdf

In a couple of your pics, it looked like there was some sloppiness so thought I'd share. I work in advertising and had a housewrap client for years, so know this stuff a little bit

FromZto5

Thanks guys! Kyle, I hear ya... I talked to my project manager about that. That was after some strong winds/rain that we had just prior, so it blew all that crap. I am driving over today to make sure it's all better, and also to see the latest progress.

p.s. I have to update you guys on what I decided for the garage walls - to help with water splatter during car washing.

typesredline

What is the update??? 😩 wanna know about the garage walls! It's been 14 hours already lol.