Garage floor... new slab, heated?

[notfarnow]

A combination of factors has conspired to inspire me to pour a new slab in my garage.

1) it's all cracked to bejeeziz and looks terrible, and is quite badly heaved (3") at the center of the garage door opening. I know full well that when I go to sell the house, that'll be an issue for buyers.

2) I really want a maxjax. Really really want. Like, to the point where my wife is telling me I should just get one, because I go on about it like a 5 year old who wants a puppy (I have one of those too). Problem is, as far as I can tell there's no rebar in my slab, and knowing the way other corners were cut, I doubt there's a consistent 4" either.

3) It's cold. When I was a young lad (35), I'd go out there with long underwear and two sweaters, and lay under the car when the slab was so cold my spilled beer would freeze on it. But now that I'm old (38), I just can't bring myself to do it anymore.

I'm finding more & more time to tinker, and my daughter really enjoys wrenching with me (cue cuteness), and, well, I think I have done a pretty darn good job of justifying this so far, eh?

SO

Here's what methinks, but mealsowonders about:

1) holy crap, it would be a HUGE undertaking to just get my garage empty enough to do this, but it probably wouldn't be a bad thing for my to purge my VW diesel and old renault junk anyway. Already a win, my wife is happy

2) Hire some local goons to jackhammer out the old slab. I have no interest in doing MAN work like that

3) Do I put down 2" pinky insulation? That seems to be what the innerwebs says, although I've seen some fellahs skip that, strangely

4) run the pex lines for the heated slab myself

5) instead of the standard anchors that they use for MaxJax, use steel plates with the anchors welded to them, which will be embedded in the slab

6) There's a local builder who owes me a favor. He's going to pour a concrete wall in my basement this spring, maybe get him to pour the floor at the same time and pay him for the difference

7) I have a 60amps in the garage. Not a ton of juice, but I've seen a few people use domestic water heaters for heating workshops, garages and even a cottage. Intuitively, this makes sense to me. I always know WELL in advance if I'm going to be wrenching, so if I had to switch the heat on even 6-8 hours before, that would be no problem. Heck, I do that with space heaters now.

What say ye, pelicans? Am I missing anything?

pics of the garage, in case it helps




That's my daughter. She's pretty rad

[Bill Douglas]

I like it the way it is. But I'm a Kiwi (we are pretty rough).

I see in the pic, the labour is definetly cute.

[notfarnow]

this is a crappy picture (thanks, BlackBerry), but shows how the slab is badly heaved by the garage opening:

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

I like it the way it is. But I'm a Kiwi (we are pretty rough).

I like it just fine the way it is too, in the summer when I can work with the garage door open. Friggin cold in the winter though, and I'm now a wuss.

And the MAxJax thing is driving a lot of this. If I felt I could safely anchor on in my slab, I'd probably live with it. But boy, oh boy, do I ever want a MaxJax.

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

I see in the pic, the labour is definetly cute.

Takes after her daddy. Man, am I cute.

[t-tom]

I have a buddy who built a 60 x 100 shop and had the floor heated. He put in 2 50 gallon water heaters. It's SOOOO Nice. Your feet stay nice and warm.

[Rusty914s]

I've always used some version of:

Floor Insulation - Radiant Floor Insulation - Under Floor Insulation

There are all sorts of manufacturers. YMMV.

Oh, and figure out why the concrete is moving so much, lack of rebar shouldn't be the answer.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by Rusty914s

I've always used some version of:

Floor Insulation - Radiant Floor Insulation - Under Floor Insulation

There are all sorts of manufacturers. YMMV.

Oh, and figure out why the concrete is moving so much, lack of rebar shouldn't be the answer.

Thanks!

Floor has really only *moved* at the mouth of the garage, which is 14' wide. As far as I can tell, they didn't run any type of footing there, so it's just the 4" (ish) slab. There's no way it could hold up to the frost heaving.

In the rest of the garage, the slab is cracked, but not heaved or settled at all.

[VincentVega]

Do you plan to keep it heated all the time? That'll be $$. If not, the slap will take a long time to heat up. I've been going back and forth with this issue, I'm going with forced air heat.

[Shuie]

Do you have any info on the steel plates with the anchors you mentioned? Are you making those, or does someone actually sell them? Im looking at the MaxJax too. I am also probably going to have to do some sort of concrete work before I can completely trust my slab

TIA

[GWN7]

What is the outside walls of the garage covered with?

Why not just lift the existing garage and pour a new floor? That way you use the existing floor as a base. You can pour a curb around the exterior and gain water proofing and head room for your lift

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by VincentVega

Do you plan to keep it heated all the time? That'll be $$. If not, the slap will take a long time to heat up. I've been going back and forth with this issue, I'm going with forced air heat.

I'll only heat it when I'm wrenching. I don't mind turning the heat on in advance... even if it's 6+ hrs. Lately I find I can block out my time pretty well, and spend time in the garage while making calls etc.

I had a propane forced air setup from a mobile home. It heated the garage up fast, but it was too loud for my liking and was impossible for me to make calls etc. Plus the floor, and my therefore my feet, were always freezing

Originally Posted by Shuie

Do you have any info on the steel plates with the anchors you mentioned? Are you making those, or does someone actually sell them? Im looking at the MaxJax too. I am also probably going to have to do some sort of concrete work before I can completely trust my slab

TIA

MaxJax only seems to supply the anchors that you insert into drilled holes. You'd think they'd have another setup available for fellers who are pouring a new slab anyway and don't want to go that route.

I was thinking of something like this:
MaxJax Custom Install - Porsche 993 - The Garage Journal Board

Part of me is inclined to just do that alone, but I figure if I'm bashing around with a jackhammer and pouring 'crete, I might as well do the whole thing and have a HUGE improvement.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by GWN7

What is the outside walls of the garage covered with?

Why not just lift the existing garage and pour a new floor? That way you use the existing floor as a base. That way you can pour a curb around the exterior and gain water proofing and head room for your lift

that would be complicated


And I'd consider pouring over the existing slab, but I only have 8' as it is

[GWN7]

LOL....missed the part where the garage is attached to the house.

[TheMentat]

I built a new detached and heated it radiant. It also has flex space/office so it stays heated all the time (2 zones). It's much nicer for wrenching, but I ended up spending quite a bit more than expected on radiant by the time I was done.

[908/930]

For the insulation under the pad it should be EPS type 2 or 3 or XPS, higher density then what is used in walls, usually available but possibly have to request it from the box stores.

[look 171]

that garage 993 guy is crazy. Way over build IMO.

How bout' beating out a 3sq' of concrete and go down about 24" and pour concrete and use shims to levels the jacks. its should be nmore then enough to hold up a five thousand lbs car. My next door neighbor had onw that he just put over the existing 4" concrete floor. It held up for a long time until the new owner took it out. If you are worry about the front portion moving, jack hammer out that section and dowel pin some steel and epoxy them to the existing slab to keep it from moving. Do put some rebar in there and towel to finish. Level the floor with self leveling compound and apply that cheap epoxy flooring on top of the whole floor from Home Depot. Put it on thick so the seams will be well hidden. Best bang for the buck IMO. Now, you want to bust it up and put in heat, then that another story. I have no experience build in wonderful climate like your up there, so take what I had to say with a grain of salt.

[diverdan]

Great Idea. In addition the cool slab and bottoms of the cars are great condensation creators. Before you do all that, at the minimum, put down a treated plywood sidewall well below the frost line. A buddy of mine in Michigan merely put 4 inches of foam beneath his 6" slab and the floor is never cold to the touch even in mid winter. An extended awning over the entrance could also help to keep the area near the door dry and eliminate the heave problems. You could also improve drainage away from the building. Good luck.

Dan

[billybek]

I would have liked in slab heat in my garage but there just wasn't time to make it happen when I was pouring the slab when I was a young fella (34) in 1999.
The forced air is fine when you are warming up while working in the space but the slab is always cold. That isn't too bad when working at the bench but sucks when you're rolling around under the car.
If I could go back in time, I would do the in slab heat in a heartbeat.

I have seen a couple of MaxJax installs. One didn't equalize the legs on the drop but the customer service was excellent and had parts and advice to the owner in short order.
They seem to work pretty well.

Cute helper there, Jake....

[1990C4S]

Rip it out. Install a heated floor. Install a lift. Life is short.

[sammyg2]

The solution is simple. you need to build a new 20' x 40' shop with heated floors, 2 lifts, built in wet bar, etc.

Hey if we can dream you can too!