Central Florida garage addition | Page 2 | FerrariChat

Central Florida garage addition

Discussion in 'Florida' started by JohnnyRay, Apr 8, 2019.

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  1. phil the brit

    phil the brit Formula 3

    Jul 7, 2013
    1,215
    Colchester+Clermont
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    Phil Taylor
    I had some shingles come off in hurricane Irma and they were miles off a match for the original ones. I was just wondering if you had come across a color chart. Garage looks great by the way.
     
  2. JohnnyRay

    JohnnyRay F1 Rookie
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    Nov 2, 2014
    2,863
    Central FL/NW WI
    Roofing contractors and supply houses will have selection palettes for Certainteed, Owens-Corning and others. Should be able to find a match that way. Of course, there are batch variations to consider - which is why you ideally want to do a re-roof out of a single load/production lot...
     
  3. JohnnyRay

    JohnnyRay F1 Rookie
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    Nov 2, 2014
    2,863
    Central FL/NW WI
    Project is coming along nicely. Stucco blended in. And we added some detail with keystones and a "thicker" band along with a small overhang above the doors and bay window. Adds a bit of 3 dimensional detail and has the appearance of a beam, rather than just a wrap. Door openings are now 7'-9" vs 7'-0" as originally built to provide needed clearance for boat storage. Not too tall, not too small... :)
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  4. JohnnyRay

    JohnnyRay F1 Rookie
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    Nov 2, 2014
    2,863
    Central FL/NW WI
  5. energy88

    energy88 Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Jan 21, 2012
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    Turned out nice!
     
  6. Clnilsen

    Clnilsen Karting

    Jan 14, 2012
    63
    Celebration, FL
    Full Name:
    Chuck Nilsen
    Welcome to Central Florida! When we were looking for our house (we work for the Theme Parks, so very distanced constrained) it was VERY difficult to find a house even in our decent price range with a sizable 3 car garage near Orlando with room for a lift. They just don’t build them like that here. And every house built in the last 10 years here has an HOA which prevents your (excellent idea!) modifications as an option too. Took us almost 3 months, but we ended up finally finding something with 3 cars.. *barely* enough height for a lift (for whatever reason the builders always stopped the garage ceilings at less than 10 ft), and I actually some workshop space as well which is nearly unheard of. Image Unavailable, Please Login


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  7. JohnnyRay

    JohnnyRay F1 Rookie
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    Nov 2, 2014
    2,863
    Central FL/NW WI
    Looks like you have a good find there! (assuming the home is nice as well) :) We were fortunate enough to find ours in an area outside of city limits, where the lot size is approximately a half acre on the canal or lake - and our HOA is minimal cost and minimally intrusive (a friendly architectural review committee and a small annual fee for street lights is the scope). I know what you mean about the ceiling height - but 10 ft is generous for a normal garage - and will allow a lift with low profile cars. And going two cars deep meas that the front stalls do not have the overhead door in the way. I originally was trying to incorporate a raised tray ceiling in at least one stall section to increase the height; however the complexity befuddled every contractor who looked at it. Finally nixed that (and a separate storage/work room off the back corner) due to huge cost adders. Seems that they could not get their arms around reworking the hip roof construction and were just throwing money at it. In any event, we may skip the lift for now and just bring one more car down. I am curious which lift you chose, what you like about it and where you sourced it?
     
  8. Clnilsen

    Clnilsen Karting

    Jan 14, 2012
    63
    Celebration, FL
    Full Name:
    Chuck Nilsen
    I'm incredibly excited I have a workshop off the back of my garage - it's actually a "feature" that came from the builder cheapening out and not adding a full size theater room to our house. I have no use for such a thing anyway, and the wall basically got shifted back into the house creating this dead area that works PERFECT for me.

    Funny story on the lift - It's actually not the one I was going to get, but around the holidays Home Dept had a 25% off EVERYTHING on their website coupon (only ran for like 4 hours that day) with free home delivery. Did you know HD sells full size car lifts? I didn't. Home Depot didn't know either. :) They actually were on there as part of a reseller program. When I ordered it, I got a call from corporate and they initially refused to ship since I didn't have a loading dock at my house to offload. So I got it delivered to a HD store for free. If you've ever seen a lift shipped, it's a sizable portion of a Full size semi trailer. So the Store receives this and offers to deliver it to my house. I mention there's no fork truck or loading dock here, and the store manager said "no problem" and arranges for a fork truck to come to my house. Easy peasy!

    I actually like the Danmar lift I have... it works well for what I need of it. It goes up, it goes down, and has plenty of interlocks for flexibility in spacing. I did have it professionally installed (wife insisted) but it only cost me a few hundred to do so. I did also spluge on aluminum ramps however.. the steel ones that come with it are WAAAY to heavy for easy use.
     
  9. tamiami

    tamiami Karting

    Mar 14, 2007
    85
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  10. JohnnyRay

    JohnnyRay F1 Rookie
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    Nov 2, 2014
    2,863
    Central FL/NW WI
    Yikes!
     
  11. Randy Forbes

    Randy Forbes Formula Junior

    Jul 14, 2006
    741
    Sarasota, FL
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    Sports Cars Plus,LLC
    Johnny Ray, that's certainly one way to do it! I guess it just depends on who you're talking to for "garages not a thing" in Florida! I like what you've done, and I'm sure the finished product will look like it had been planned that way from the outset. Good job!

    My wife and I spent the better part of two (2) years (2009-2011) making some fourteen (14) trips to the Sarasota/Bradenton area looking for our full-time forever home. We were looking at existing construction because of the depressed market at that time__LOTS of inventory available__but we just could not find a house that A) appealed to my wife (curb appeal, practical layout, decent kitchen, etc. and B) that would work for my garage and workshop needs (I do repairs/reinforcements on 1998 to 2002 BMW M Coupes & M Rdstrs as a home-based business). Also, our search was limited to houses built since 2007 and the latest huricane standards.

    Ultimately, our only recourse to get what we both wanted was new construction, knowing it would cost $100,000-$200,000 more than picking something already on the market. The NEXT HURDLE was the realization that VERY FEW "developments" allow construction of a detached garage! Expanding our search criteria, we found that "equestrian lots" was a thing in Florida, but these typically were limited to subdivisions offering five (5) acre lots (!) which was more land (maintenance AND taxes) than I was interested in. We expanded__geographically__our search to stretch to the less fashionable area easy of I-75, and struck gold! We'd looked out this way as early as 2000-2001 (Panther Ridge) but wells and septic tanks was a non-starter for us. Ultimately, we stumbled upon Twin Rivers and an absolutely fantastic builder (I swear, it was like having your dad build your house for you__ZERO CHANGE COSTS, amenable to whatever we needed/wanted; we added up the dimensions of our guest bedroom bed & two nightstands and discovered it would be "crowded" so he bumped that bedroom's outside wall out an additional foot to accommodate our furniture!). Anyway another nearby subdivision cut an 800 SF cap on detached garages (that would barely fit an RV?) but here, no such limit! The primary stipulation being that the architecture of the detached building match that of the main structure (house). Well, who wouldn't want that anyway?!?!

    To nip this long story in the bud, we moved in the 27th of April, 2012, and we just love it here! There's a conservation area behind us, and a pond that wraps around two (2) sides of the lot. We see plenty of wildlife; all manner of birds, lots of deer, an occasional bobcat and Florida Panthers, even a black bear a couple of times (!). If I can remember how to post up pictures here, I'll include a handful to offer visual context...

    Curb appeal

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    My 3-car 1000 SF garage (presently only housing 5 cars; '57 Healey, '99 M Coupe, '99 M Rdstr, '01 M Rdstr & wife's X5M)

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    Obligatory Ferrari pic in the detached garage (neighbor/customer's car; I was fitting ss headers to replaced the melted factory crap)

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    Three hundred foot (300') driveway leading back to detached (1050 SF w/12'4" ceiling) shop; LOTS of off-street parking for parties :)

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  12. JohnnyRay

    JohnnyRay F1 Rookie
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    Nov 2, 2014
    2,863
    Central FL/NW WI
    We had to be on water. Had the "northern" version of what you have when we were in Minnesota. 850sf attached. 1200sf detached. Now if we could find 5-6 acres on a nice chain of lakes... :)

    BTW - your place looks great. Pix of the detached garage please.
     
  13. Randy Forbes

    Randy Forbes Formula Junior

    Jul 14, 2006
    741
    Sarasota, FL
    Full Name:
    Sports Cars Plus,LLC
    Thank you! I've kind of let the place go this past year, as far as keeping up with the landscaping goes, but that's about to change; I'm four (>4) weeks post-op from OHS/AVR, so I am expecting to start increasing my energy and stamina real soon :)

    Here's a few I could scrape up of the detached garage.

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    A/C is a MUST in Florida! I had the hvac unit installed prior to doing the remainder of lighting and air lines.

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    This car sat up on that lift for close to a month while I finished the garage's build out. It was the 1st customer car I did in FL, and was shipped from Washington State (I've since done 4 more cars from WA, and countless ones shipped from SoCal).

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    Apology for the picture quality, but this is the view out the back of the shop from one of the work benches. I know, tough life, eh? :)

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  14. Dean Palmer

    Dean Palmer Formula Junior

    May 21, 2010
    406
    St. Petersburg, FL
    Full Name:
    Dean Palmer
    Looks great. When I bought my last house, a suitable garage was one of the toughest things to find! I had to compromise, but finally have the floors coated and the AC installed. Now I can actually work in there most of the year without heat stroke.
     
  15. JohnnyRay

    JohnnyRay F1 Rookie
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    Nov 2, 2014
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    Central FL/NW WI
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  16. energy88

    energy88 Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Jan 21, 2012
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    The turbine wheels and red lines really make that car!
     
  17. BMW.SauberF1Team

    BMW.SauberF1Team F1 World Champ

    Dec 4, 2004
    14,244
    Cool garages in this thread. Is there a reason why connected RV/boat garages are not that big of a thing in Florida? I think a lot of people would like it personally...tons of room to do whatever and use as a shop if not rv/boat parking.
     
  18. Randy Forbes

    Randy Forbes Formula Junior

    Jul 14, 2006
    741
    Sarasota, FL
    Full Name:
    Sports Cars Plus,LLC
    #43 Randy Forbes, Oct 12, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2019
    I can only imagine that the greater percentage of neighbors don't like looking at them, and (mistakenly) perceive their property values being lower... :dunno:

    While fully intended for me to play with cars, the builder after sizing out my garage (and requiring a few setback variances from the subdivision, though it still within county limits) said that "a 27'-28' boat with trailer would fit nicely!" Potential value adder, in the event the next owner is a boating enthusiast ;)

    Johnny Ray, that Corvette ('65 or '66?) is GORGEOUS! Did I mention how many Corvettes are in my neighborhood...? I'd sure like a '65-'67 BBC Coupe with a/c and just so my wife would drive it, a T400 trans**

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    ** say what you want about sports/GT cars and a manual trans, but EVERY FLEET NEEDS a couple of cars with only two (2) pedals. Four (4) out of our five (5) cars are manual trans, so you know where my allegiance lies. Several years ago, my wife broke seven (7) bones in her left foot and ankle; without an automatic (she had an X5 4.4 and then a 535xi through that ordeal) she'd have been grounded. I had open heart surgery between 4-5 wks ago, and you'd be amazed as to how moving extremities affects your breastbone (and I HOPE you never find out)!
     
  19. Randy Forbes

    Randy Forbes Formula Junior

    Jul 14, 2006
    741
    Sarasota, FL
    Full Name:
    Sports Cars Plus,LLC
    I know, right? I chose to forego a "nice" floor in the detached shop (and a/c in the attached one, because it's just for parking in) because A LOT of welding goes on out there, and there's not much you can put on a concrete slab that will stand up to molten steel/slag (except that dark red Italian tile you find in an industrial kitchen, but that's big $$$$$).

    Both when looking for a place in Florida, and the last home we had in Ohio, I remarked to the real estate agent that there isn't anything special about a guy wanting a nice, large garage, so WHY is it so difficult to find? We're not unique, LOTS of guys (and I know some pretty tool-savvy girls too) want a place to work with their hobbies.

    Our last house in Ohio was under five (<5) years old when we bought it, and the owner/builder said HE KNEW HE COULD SELL THE HOUSE if it had a big garage and a big master bedroom (the MB closet alone was 12' x 20'__they'd charge it as another room when we'd get the carpets cleaned, lol).

    The garage in the place was nice: from the street it looked like a 2-car garage, but the one side was 42' deep! Called a tandem garage, the area all the in was like an old single car garage, and that's where I installed a floorplate lift and did all my work. Only a 9'3" ceiling, so the top 1 or 2 inches of the columns went through the sheetrock in between the floor joists (I framed them off...)! Where there's a will, there's a way ;)

    OH! And there was a full unfinished basement (what I wouldn't give to have that here in Florida__except it would be flooded); xlnt place to keep spare parts, and "stuff", so as not to clutter up valuable garage space. I even put my air compressor down there, with the riser going up 9', through the garage wall and another 9' up. Hot, compressed air would exit the tank into the cold steel black-iron riser and moisture would condense instantly. You could not get a drop of water out of any of the shops air taps, no mater how long and continuously you ran a high consumption tool.

    The old place; it was a great house, and we loved it, but it had the misfortune of being located where it got cold and snowed!

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    The hot & cold water (built-in vacuum cleaner station) and floor drain made keeping the cars clean in the winter easy!

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    This one was good for five (5) cars. The blue Coupe would be displaced by my wife's X5 (or later, 535xi) during the wintertime.

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    Again, obligatory Ferrari pic (308 GT4)

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    The gray '01 and the Healey are mine, the rest were there to be worked on (the 2 red ones were locally owned).

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    Since 2013, a Corvette owner lives there (there's also a Corvette next door now too__both are red)

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    Did I ever mention the 2400 SF shop I built (literally; me and 1 other guy) when I lived in Louisiana? Another time then... ;)
     
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  20. JohnnyRay

    JohnnyRay F1 Rookie
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    Nov 2, 2014
    2,863
    Central FL/NW WI
    My first interest was the white/red color combo. It's how they originally came in 1953 - and I had a 94 6 speed convert in the same colors. Always thought it was particularly classy, sharp and easy to maintain because of it and have had a C2 just like it in the back of my mind for many years. The wheels and tires certainly add to the look, but may not have been original to the car - although they are claimed to be OEM (not repro) wheels. And, the sidewall option was gold or white back then. Not redline. The take rate on these wheels when new was less than 5% back in the day, yet most high end mid-years seem to have them now - thanks to the high quality replicas available. Hoping I actually enjoy the car as much as I believe I will, as I bought this locally for my "retro" ride in FL this winter instead of shipping my MkIII Cobra down....
     
  21. JohnnyRay

    JohnnyRay F1 Rookie
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    Nov 2, 2014
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    [QUOTE The old place; it was a great house, and we loved it, but it had the misfortune of being located where it got cold and snowed! [/QUOTE]

    Same here. In Minnesota we had 6 acres with woods and a pond. A 4 BR ranch with an oversize 3 car attached and a 1200sf matching carriage house/car barn. Weather, taxes and politics drove the sale... ;-)
     
  22. BT

    BT F1 World Champ
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    Mar 21, 2005
    15,291
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    Bill Tracy
    Our large garage addition was actually quite a hindrance when we went to sell our place 8 years ago. The original garage was about 1,000 s.f., and we had a one car workshop in the back of the house, but the big 1800 s.f. garage seemed like a problem for most buyers. 'What am I supposed to do with this space?' was the most common thing we heard. I offered 'workout space / kids play area / build out as a n in law suite / artist studio / keep using at as a garage, but mostly people just said 'No thanks, too much space.'.

    :(
    BT
     
  23. Dean Palmer

    Dean Palmer Formula Junior

    May 21, 2010
    406
    St. Petersburg, FL
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    Dean Palmer
    No such thing as too much garage space :) I can't figure people out these days. Same morons who leave a $50k+ car out in the weather and have the garage filled with worthless crap, and also pay for a "storage unit." SMH :)
     
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  24. energy88

    energy88 Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Jan 21, 2012
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    Unfortunately, the general public is stupid. Cannot see the benefit of anything already under roof (on a $/ square foot basis) and the smaller incremental costs to add another bedroom, den, play room, theater room, etc. to the main house.
     
  25. JohnnyRay

    JohnnyRay F1 Rookie
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    Nov 2, 2014
    2,863
    Central FL/NW WI
    Wierdos. Sorry you had to deal with them.

    The carriage house sold the Minnesota place. And the new owner is still keeping me up to date with his improvements. I can see that a large garage in a purely residential area might be a different story though. Those folks want sidewalks and granite counter tops. The people who seek acreage also want the "toy barn". Its part of the reason they are locating out of town in the first place.
     
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