New Garage construction questions

[scoutcub]

Looking at constructing a new 2 or 3 car garage. Not going to live there forever, and will do all the work I can myself to keep costs down. Is concrete block cheaper than conventional construction? For block, has anyone ever stacked blocks directly on top of one another (without mortaring) and then poured them full from the top?
The garage will be cut into a bank, so any other considerations would be appreciated.
I want to have a nice garage, but again REALLY need to keep costs down as much as possible.

Fire away....

 

[WVBill]

Is concrete block cheaper than conventional construction? For block, has anyone ever stacked blocks directly on top of one another (without mortaring) and then poured them full from the top?
The garage will be cut into a bank, so any other considerations would be appreciated. .

From my personal experience in building a 24 X 24 garage-like workshop building.

Concrete block will be more expensive than simple wood frame walls - and MUCH more labor intensive for a do-it-yourselfer.

For foundation walls, concrete block is less expensive than hiring out someone to form and pour foundation walls and is do-able yourself.

Cutting into a bank complicates things a bit if you're going to use the garage walls as retaining walls for the bank.

If you can, I would suggest cutting the bank back to enough slope that it's self supporting and making sure you have enough space from the wall to the bank for working, airflow and good drainage.

Hire out the pouring of a slab with the footers you need unless you have a crew of friends who know concrete work.

Build up two courses of block for stub walls on the perimeter of the slab (except for the doorways) and do conventional stick-framed walls on top of them. Sheathe the outside of the walls with T1-11 and stain with solid color stain.

Buy standard trusses for the roof. apply plywood and shingles.

 

[galen1115]

If you have never laid block before I don't if I would jump on a job of this size. Stick build it.

 

[flusher]

Looking at constructing a new 2 or 3 car garage. Not going to live there forever, and will do all the work I can myself to keep costs down. Is concrete block cheaper than conventional construction? For block, has anyone ever stacked blocks directly on top of one another (without mortaring) and then poured them full from the top?
The garage will be cut into a bank, so any other considerations would be appreciated.
I want to have a nice garage, but again REALLY need to keep costs down as much as possible.

Fire away....

Hmm-concrete blocks--not my idea of simple and easy. Makes my back ache just thinking about it.

Why not go with a pole frame design. Here's a 20x28 ft equipment shed I built a year or so ago--by myself (at age 67). It's has metal sides and roof.









The 2008 Mahindra 5525 came in handy getting the 4x12 beams in place.





There's about $3500 in materials and about 2 months of my time--I'm old and I work slow, especially when I'm on a ladder or doing the roof construction.

You can adapt pole frame construction to whatever garage design you desire. The nice thing about doing it this way is that the foundation is simple to build.

 

[scgargoyle]

The easiest (and strongest) way to lay block is surface bonding. You simply dry-lay the block, then trowel a special fiber-reinforced bond coat over it inside and out. It doesn't seem it would be, but it is alleged to much stronger than mortar. I think stick framing would be cheaper and easier, though.

 

[75H2]

The easiest (and strongest) way to lay block is surface bonding. You simply dry-lay the block, then trowel a special fiber-reinforced bond coat over it inside and out. It doesn't seem it would be, but it is alleged to much stronger than mortar.

My dad built their house in 1980 using this method. It was called sure wall back them. I was just a child but I can still remember helping to mix hundreds of bags of that stuff. Here are some things to think about. It will give the walls a "rough" stucco appearance. If that's the look you want great, if not just be aware. It was supposed to be waterproof, it wasn't. I would also be concerned if the garage wall is build into a bank. A few years ago we had to re-excavate the back of their house to address some water issues. The foundation wall had been pushed in an inch or more over the years from the pressure of the earth. That makes me wonder about the strength claims. And before you wonder he had the house framed before they backfilled so it didn't happen then. I'm not saying it was a bad system. It allowed him to do the foundation himself. But, there are some drawbacks

 

[magicheater]

I have done block both ways. With the stack method you need to mortar the first course to establish level unless your footing work is spot on. You need to re-bar and fill every 4' on a basement for code. Sounds like you have a partial
hill to set back into. You can compromise and pour a floor with extra depth at the perimeter + re-bar and go with 6" block, stack method, just make sure to drill and re-bar the wall to the slab. It holds up well and a 2x6 wall just fits.
Will you be insulating that floor?