Building a Dream

[Vengeance]

One other option I plan to talk about with my general contractor is just adding it on to the existing house.

Apparently it is sometimes easier to get a permit if it's an addition as opposed to a brand new building. It's not an unrealistic idea based on where I was going to put it anyway.

 

[Menace]

One thing to consider with all this, specifically the water / bathrooms / heating aspect is you should also think about the resale value... Sure you might say you will never move but never say never. It may cost you more up front to have these things put in during the construction but it will be a LOT cheaper to do during the build rather than after the fact, and will have a very large impact on the resale value of your property should you ever find yourself in a position to sell.

Just something to think about...

D

 

[QN]

One other option I plan to talk about with my general contractor is just adding it on to the existing house.

Apparently it is sometimes easier to get a permit if it's an addition as opposed to a brand new building. It's not an unrealistic idea based on where I was going to put it anyway.

That probably depends on the region. I've seen it go the other way, where 'additions' like a back porch are intentionally not attached to the main framing of the house. Where you can get a permit for a covered patio, but not an addition.

You may also want to check to see what that would do to your property taxes. Adding 1500sqft as an outbuilding would be different than adding a 1500sqft addition to your main home.

Then again, your contents insurance may be less if it's part of your home rather than in an outbuilding...another phone call to make.

 

[Vengeance]

If I was building the structure at the back of my property and you had to walk some 600 feet in order to get to some running water, I'd agree with you.

But it is going in right beside my house and once you exit the closest bathroom will be 10 feet away just on the inside of the side door from the house. As for resale value, I'm treating this as a "Garage" it going to be no frills, it will have access directly from my driveway and will just be concrete floors and possibly just spray foam insulation for walls. I don't see how adding in a 10 car garage could hurt resale value and I rarely see garages that have running water and a toilet.

One thing to consider with all this, specifically the water / bathrooms / heating aspect is you should also think about the resale value... Sure you might say you will never move but never say never. It may cost you more up front to have these things put in during the construction but it will be a LOT cheaper to do during the build rather than after the fact, and will have a very large impact on the resale value of your property should you ever find yourself in a position to sell.

Just something to think about...

D

 

[Vengeance]

It's all part of the planning process, I do need to call my house insurance and see what they have to say though.

That probably depends on the region. I've seen it go the other way, where 'additions' like a back porch are intentionally not attached to the main framing of the house. Where you can get a permit for a covered patio, but not an addition.

You may also want to check to see what that would do to your property taxes. Adding 1500sqft as an outbuilding would be different than adding a 1500sqft addition to your main home.

Then again, your contents insurance may be less if it's part of your home rather than in an outbuilding...another phone call to make.

 

[Chris Bardon]

I rarely see garages that have running water

I don't know about you, but every house I've lived in with a garage has at least had water (hose hookup), including the one that was detached from the house. It's probably not essential to have it, but it would be a nice thing to have. That being said though, getting hooked up to well and spetic might be much more complicated (although maybe less so if you're attached to the house).

Any thoughts on how to handle the electrical for out there? I know you can (technically, but may not be code) have a secondary breaker box hanging off the main one, but I have no idea whether you can do that to/from a detached building. Would you have to run separate service if you wanted several circuits out there?

 

[Vengeance]

Yea I could see doing that maybe, but that would be easy to add in some copper line at any time, I meant more like a half bathroom.

End of the day it comes down to budget and want vs need.

I need as much space as possible, I don't need a bathroom. So if the choice comes down to the convince of a bathroom or an extra 500 Sq feet, I'm going to take the extra space.

 

[QN]

Since you're just spit-balling here, perhaps adding a holding tank is a reasonable compromise to the cost. We looked at that for our cottage, since like your requirements, it is generally an all or nothing deal. The septic could sit empty for a week or so, then a weekend hits and you have 12 people in the place all wanting showers, etc. In the end we went with a new septic that could handle the short burst of traffic (and tell people to bathe in the lake), but we did look at just adding a holding tank as a supplemental system to the existing septic. Basically the holding tank would catch any overflow and slowly pump it back into the septic over time. Still a good chunk of change, but about half of what it would cost to expand/replace your existing system.

If you compare that to the ongoing cost of renting portalets and the hassle, it may be worth it.

 

[Vengeance]

Yea I'm all for spitballing.

But the rental would only be needed once maybe twice a year tops.

For IFPA they would cover the cost of the rental as they have a location fee that covers things like that, and for things like the CPC or whatever else (Pinburgh North??) the costs would be rolled up into the cost of the tournament.

For all other times, lazy mofos can walk 10 feet and use the bathroom inside the house

Funny of all the items that everyone is fixated on, it's not space or heating or electricity, it's convenience of taking a shit :lol:

 

[Menace]

LMAO. Actually my comment was strictly based on forward thinking and resale value and nothing more. I totally understand these services at this point have little if any value to you, but if you ever had to sell could potentially make or break a sale. (and the only reason I brought it up was I just spent the last year and a bit assisting in the design of the new building here @ my work, and had to deal with a number of these types of 'forward thinking' scenarios)

D

 

[Vengeance]

If it's realistic to rough in without having to inflate costs significantly I'll do it, but if I'm going to have to sacrifice something else to accommodate it I wont be

 

[Chris Bardon]

It's really trying to think of what you can do a hell of a lot cheaper at the outset instead of trying to shoehorn it in later. As for climate, you're planning on insulating and heating, but what about in the summer? Are you going to run AC out there? If you're going with metal exterior, wouldn't that get insanely hot inside? Maybe if you built in large garage doors at one (or both) ends you could get some good air flow through, but I have no idea what that would do long term (i.e. will you end up with a ton of bugs inside, or other wildlife that might wander in from outside)? I suppose if you're going to have a high roof it might not be as bad, but something to think about anyway.

Also, if you're putting in shop space, what would you have to do to add exhaust venting? Would you want to set up space to be able to do clearcoat? Sanding/cleaning that you wouldn't just want to do outside?

If you do go multi-level, I'd look into some sort of hoist system. Easier to move stuff between levels by yourself. Also, remember that there is no such thing as too many plugs. Circuits for the games of course, but I'd also put in a bunch of extra plugs or things like tools close at hand.

Also, I can't remember how far you are from your neighbors, but what sort of soundproofing would what you're looking at offer, or would that even be an issue? Last thing you'd want is to set all of this up, and then start getting noise complaints (or neighbors with shotguns) at 1 in the morning.

But, the REAL question is, how many more games are you going to build into the price of this thing? You know, you could probably get a good start and bring over a whole container yourself...

 

[Vengeance]

It's really trying to think of what you can do a hell of a lot cheaper at the outset instead of trying to shoehorn it in later. As for climate, you're planning on insulating and heating, but what about in the summer? Are you going to run AC out there?

No to AC, I don't even have AC in my main house and have no plans to add it.

Also the pre-fab building has been scrapped. Denise doesn't want it and I heard from Pete it can hurt the resale value on a home since they are an eye sore.

But yes I plan to have large garage doors on both sides so during the summer I can get a good cross wind, plus the initial plan is to have 12 foot ceilings but I have to see how much that is going to cost.

Also, if you're putting in shop space, what would you have to do to add exhaust venting? Would you want to set up space to be able to do clearcoat? Sanding/cleaning that you wouldn't just want to do outside?

I'm still on the fence about this, I've always thought I would add something to do CC, but am not sure, worse comes I could put it on an exterior wall and add in the ventilation, so I'm not to worried about it.

If you do go multi-level, I'd look into some sort of hoist system. Easier to move stuff between levels by yourself. Also, remember that there is no such thing as too many plugs. Circuits for the games of course, but I'd also put in a bunch of extra plugs or things like tools close at hand.

Yep I think I will be going multi level, and already planned for that, I'll most likely put in a very gradual ramp from one floor to the other. As for outlets, yes I've already learned that from my current house, I put a ton of outlets in when I did the new place.

Also, I can't remember how far you are from your neighbors, but what sort of soundproofing would what you're looking at offer, or would that even be an issue? Last thing you'd want is to set all of this up, and then start getting noise complaints (or neighbors with shotguns) at 1 in the morning.

Shouldn't be an issue, they are pretty far away, and I don't plan on being up at 1 am anyway.

But, the REAL question is, how many more games are you going to build into the price of this thing? You know, you could probably get a good start and bring over a whole container yourself...

None, that's not fair to ask Denise to help pay for my collection, if there is anything left over after the building is done, we've been talking about a hot tub since we moved in as well, so thatis where it would go.

 

[Vengeance]

So I met with my General Contractor on Saturday and we started to hammer out the details.

I bought up everything, electricity, size, location, ideas, even talked about roughing in the plumping. Talked about attaching it to the house, moving it forward onto the driveway, even adding in a basement for some added space.

The only things for sure right now are. 2 levels, Garage doors on both sides for ventilation, windows in the top floor with vents pulling air out, spray foam insulation, and as many outlets as possible.

But right now the road block is these guys:

http://www.ergols.ca/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

Since I'm on a flood plain I have to have a survey done on the land to find out where I can and can't build. Until the survey is completed I can't really do anything else. The engineer and architect both need the survey to move forward.

I'm waiting to hear back on when they can schedule my survey so hopefully it isn't too far off.

 

[SquidVicious]

Keep the news coming Adam ... great to see it moving so quickly

 

[Honey Badger]

First time reading this thread. Congrats Adam. I know someone who may need space to store some pins soon

 

[Vengeance]

So over a month and still very little progress on this project unfortunately.

I took 3 weeks for the Survey to be completed, and now since that is completed I'm waiting for my General Contractor to come back to me with some drawings from the architect on what I can build and where.

Here is what the survey looks like for anyone interested



It's all gibberish to me, but I'm sure it means something to someone

 

[DRANO]

Any progress is good progress Adam.

Mine is just a new basement and I already have a floorplan drafted up in CAD with game names and layout all figured out.
It's enough to make me giddy. I can only imagine your excitement with a purpose built structure.

 

[nics135]

Some advice since I have done this already:

Giant garage doors at both ends (or sides) I would avoid. While you may get a bigger cross breeze in summer you will also get a constant draft in the winter that will matter more. For me it worked out that the end I wanted doors was also the end that had the least amount of wind. Plus with both doors open and lights on in the summer it will fill with bugs out where you are. You also lose a lot of wall space. You also need to consider mice...those little bastards have no trouble getting in around big garage doors. And the biggest pain in the ass is with both doors open I occasionally get some stupid bird in there and those are not always simple to get back out.

On my mine I have twin 10 foot tall insulated roll up doors at one end (barn is 36x60). I have 3 windows down each side. With the windows open and these are screened the barn is usually fine in the summer (the high ceilings help) on the first floor. I get a good breeze across that way. The second floor has large windows on each end but still gets hot during August afternoons. This is actually a good thing in the late fall and early spring though. I have large ceiling fans which will take of that but have not installed yet.

Also do not forget to put some man doors in (regular size doors). I have one between to the 2 giant doors and one on the side,

Not too sure about the ramp idea unless you want to make this accessible. I would advise straight stairs. The gradual ramp would take up a lot of space and how often do you really move games from floor to floor anyway (ignoring the initial hassle of getting them all in there). To me the biggest problem hauling games out of basements or with stairs is the inevitable corners or tight ceilings etc... None of this should exist in your outbuilding.

You can never over plan this. I did not make enough different CAD drawings of different floor plans to see what worked the best. These help sort out electrical outlets. lighting and panel placement, heating if you are putting in furnace, window placement etc.. For the most part it came out all right but there a few things I would do differently.

Best advice, look at as many existing buildings as you can before you settle on plans. It is a lot easier to tell what you like and do not like when you are standing in a completed structure than you can looking at drawings. I looked at probably 50 or more around where I live.

 

[SquidVicious]

As far as moving games from floor to floor couldn't you setup a winch type system not unlike the one Jim Wilks has ... uses way less floor space and still saves trying to heft them up and down stairs.