My wife and I bought our 1930 rambler in Minneapolis almost 2 years ago. From the beginning, I knew the garage was not going to cut it for a grease monkey like me. Luckily, my father-in-law is an experienced carpenter and knows his way around wood, and the second we were moved in to our new house we started planning for the Do-It-Yourself garage build of our dreams.
2020, the year of quarantine, started off with our engagement! Then, by April, we had built a 400 square foot paver patio, and we knew exactly what to do next, so I started drawing. My background is in mechanical engineering. This allowed me to draw and design a garage to meet city code and not involve a costly architect. Since the city would only allow us to build to match our house’s footprint, which is 836 square feet, our original plan of 26ft wide 24ft deep slightly altered.
Needless to say, the drawings approved were for a 28ft x 28ft square garage. Go big, or go home, right? The concrete company broke ground on August 7, and on August 21 we had materials delivered. Every waking moment of the next 4 months were spent building and working on the garage. I was able to do everything with the help of my father-in-law and close friends. Wiring, setting up a two post lift (a must have!), insulating, and plumbing gas for the radiant heater were all done by a group of guys with no professional experience.
To finish off the garage, I chose to cover the walls in OSB plywood, because of the practicality of being able to secure anything I want to wherever I want. No struggle to find studs.
The flooring I chose was Swisstrax. Swisstrax is made from a bi-product of oil refining. It is 3/4 of an inch tall with a 1/2 inch standoff to allow water to flow underneath it. One huge upside is the ability for water to flow uninterrupted and not having to walk through pools of water. There will be a full article highlighting my long term review in the future!
Keep an eye out for the upcoming Swisstrax article and feel free to reach out to me for any of your dream garage questions!
