I'm building a 24 x 28 garage/shop and would like to have more than an
8 foot ceiling height in it. It's going to be a 4" monolithic pad and
I was thinking of laying 1 or 2 courses of 8" concrete block and
building with standard studs to keep from doing lots of cutting. One
corner of the pad will be about 16" - 20" below grade, but I won't be
backfilling around it, so I think I will be ok.
"Thickened Edge Monolithic Slabs" are common here in the Pacific Northwest,
but see your "Garage Height" thread to see my reasons why I decided against
that type of foundation.
I recommend a standard footing, with perimeter foundation wall. Then pour
your non-structural slab.
2. When running the electrical conduit (stand alone garage), would you
run the underground conduit through the floor/block so it goes straight
up the inside walls?
I chose to run my conduit up through the footing and perimeter foundation
wall (before we poured the concrete). This keeps it out of sight, and
provides a little extra protection.
The alternative is to run the conduit on the exterior of the building, then
punch a hole through the wall to connect to your electrical panel. Seems
messy and more vulnerable to me.
I installed two 2" conduits for electrical, two 3/4" conduits for phone or
other use, and a couple of 1" PVC pipes before I poured the footing/wall. I
only used one of each, but it was easier to install the extras now in case
I need them in the future.
3. If I am using 1 or 2 courses of block, is there a recommended way
of tilting up the stick framed walls onto the block/sill plate?
My wife and I worked alone, and built our walls in 8' sections. I cut all
the PT sills to length first, drilled the holes for the anchor bolts, and
made sure they all fit before proceding. Then, I framed up the wall section
on the garage slab, and nailed on the plywood siding. I placed a foam "sill
sealer" on top of the foundation, then my wife and I got on each side of
the wall, and lifted the bottom edge up onto the foundation. We then moved
down to the top end of the wall, and tilted it up into place. She held the
wall plumb while I banged it into position, loosely tightened the nuts on
the anchor bolts, and nailed it in place. Any "stubborn" walls that didn't
line up right were easily coaxed into place using pipe clamps to pull the
wall sections together. It's a bit more difficult than just tilting up on a
flat floor, but not much.
Anthony
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