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A Homeowner’s Garage Building Checklist (Part 1)
You may have been kicking the tires on building a new garage, remodeling your garage or doing a full rebuild for a while now. Maybe you want to add value to your home, maybe you want to protect your things from the elements, maybe you are starting to feel like you would have been a contestant in our Ugliest Garage Contest last year.
No matter the reason, you have come to the conclusion that it's time for a garage.
We understand. We've helped thousands of homeowners to complete garage projects in our past 35 years. That's why today we'd like to help you know what to expect through ours, our competitors, and any other garage builder's process.
Simply put, we've developed a checklist for homeowners in the process of building a garage.
Recognizing a Need
Before you even make calls, develop a list, or start looking at reviews, you need to recognize that your garage (or lack thereof) is a problem that needs to be fixed.
Garage Remodel
Roofs Gone Wrong: Ice Dams, Curling Shingles, and Leaky Attics
Ready for Memorial Day Weekend? Who isn't? However, as we make our way to the outside in a very Kingsford-commercial like manner, you may notice something is wrong. The freeze-thaw cycle of Chicago has been incredibly treacherous for homeowners and their homes.
If you look at your roof, and notice something like this...
...Your attic and home could be at risk.
It's as simple as this. Any exposed nail on your roof gets hit by water, the water travels down the nail, and into the wood and your insulation.
The wood rots, the insulation sags, and damage occurs. The more quickly you recognize the problem, the more quickly you can get it repaired, protecting the value of your home.
Of course, you can attempt to do it yourself, but as with any dangerous repair (see our article two schools of thought on replacing a garage door torsion spring), it's best to enlist the help of a trusted, licensed, local professional who has been assisting homeowners for over 35 years.
What Garage Style is Right for You?
Whether you're looking to build from the ground up or looking to tear down and rebuild, the possibilities are endless when it comes to your new garage. Whether you're looking for gable, gambrel, custom, or hip; it's important to consider the benefits and key uses for each.
- Are you going to be using your garage for more than parking cars?
- Will you use your garage for storage? What will You Store?
- How many cars (if any) will go in the garage?
- What does the roof line on your house look like?
- One door or two doors? Single or double?
- Where will you be putting entry doors? Front? Side? Back?
These are just a few questions to ask yourself before and during your consultation with a garage building professional. Once you understand these aspects, it's time to decide on the style: Gable, Gambrel, Hip, or Custom-which includes elements of one of the above in addition to window dormers, decks, or more.
Gable Garage
Gable garages are a common type of detached garage, with two sloping sides that come together at a point. The reason that many homeowners would consider a gable garage is that the roof pitch can be slanted at different angles depending on your need.
What Should You Look for in a Garage Builder?
At Blue Sky Builders, Inc., we've been helping Chicago area homeowners to improve the value of their homes with custom garages for the past 35 years. We can attribute our success to satisfaction, in which we've earned an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and a 4-Star rating on Yelp.
Part of our success comes with our ability to answer questions and manage expectations for customers, and with that, we'd like to share some of the common concerns, questions, and decision factors that go into choosing a garage builder.
Before Contacting: Recommendations and Reviews
Ask your neighbors, ask the friendly folks at Yelp; if you're willing to pay, ask Angie's list. Check BBB ratings, and visit their social pages.
Make sure that they've been good to their customers before and after the sale, and that if they use subcontractors, that those people have been effective.
What to Look For
- Common Criticisms on Review Sites: If you're on Yelp, and realize that five, ten, or twenty people complained about the concrete, failure to adhere to a timeline, or pushy sales pitch, move on.
Custom Garage Builders Expanding to the Chicago Southern Suburbs
At Blue Sky Builders, Inc., we've built thousands of quality custom garages throughout the Chicago northern, western and southern suburbs since 1979. There are some suburbs where we can even look down the block and see multiple garages that we've built throughout the years. This always gives us a sense of pride and accomplishment. We build many styles of garages including hip garages, gable garages and custom garages.
2015 proves to be an exciting and productive year for us. With the garage building season underway, you'll be seeing us continue to expand our garage building presence into the Chicago southern suburbs with us currently building a custom garage in Palos Heights, IL among others in the area.
Many times, our new business is generated by people seeing us building a garage while they walk down the street or drive by while we are in their neighborhood. We are always ready to give a friendly introduction and even a few free garage tips! To kick off our Chicago southern suburb expansion, we will have a special Chicago southern suburb garage building expert available to answer questions and offer free on-site estimates for customers in the towns (and surrounding area) of:
From Garage to Arena: What Bands Started in Garages?
It's a common misconception that garage bands are the annoying group of teens playing skate punk/grunge/death metal too loud in the wee hours of the morning. Although those do exist, there are many more that got started in a garage, found themselves some limelight, and solidified their place in music immortality.
In honor of the LiftMaster Garage Band Competition, in which the garage door opener company offered amateur bands a chance at the spotlight-mainstaging the Charlotte Motor Speedway 600 and receiving a $5,000 cash prize-we would like to share with you a few bands that started in a garage and now live in the annals of music history.
The following list, by no means exhaustive, includes some one-hit wonders as well as some of the key pieces of music history. We've named 10 bands, and provided a link to view a song by each on YouTube.
- Nirvana
- The Ramones
- The Kingsmen
- Creedence Clearwater Revival
The Guide to Getting Everything You've Stored in Your Garage Ready for Use
Looks like Spring, feels like spring. Time to get back outside. Biking, grilling, kayaking, and more. However, if you're like many homeowners, you've stored most, if not all of your outdoor items in your garage. So, today, we'd like to show you how to prepare some of the items that you've been storing for use throughout the warm months.
Prepare your Bike for Riding
Bikes, especially when you leave the tires on cold concrete all winter, may not be ready for immediate riding. That's why we would like to share with you a simple seven step process to get your bike ready for spring, courtesy of SparkPeople.com.
- Clean Your Bike (frame, chain, chain rings, cassette, derailleurs, pedals, brakes, and seat) with a cleaner, using as little water as possible.
- Inspect Your Brake System by checking for evenness, tightness, cable wear, and pad wear
- Clean Wheels with rubbing alcohol and dry cloth, check wheels for evenness and rim damage.
How to Repair Cracks in Your Garage (or any Concrete) Floor
Whether you're looking to paint or epoxy your floor, or are just looking to extend the life of the concrete slab on which you park your vehicle, repairing the cracks and chips in the floor is simple and effective. How do you repair the cracks in your garage floor? Learn how from Blue Sky Builders, Inc.
This procedure is actually quite simple-taking less than 2 hours and costing very little.
Materials Needed
- Wire brush
- Shop Vac to vacuum dust from cleaning
- Caulking gun (for caulk tubes)
- Scrub brush
- Chisel
- Hammer
- Gloves
- Safety glasses
- Trowel
Step 1: Clean the crack with a wire brush or diamond grinder, sweeping away debris or vacuuming the crack.
Step 2: Use a chisel and hammer to break away deteriorating edges, creating either an inverted-V shape or vertical edges. Clean again.
After cleaning the crack, there are a variety of choices for filling the crack.
Has Your Garage Roof Taken a Beating this Winter?
It's over. Winter is finally over. Winter has been tough this year, but as residents of Chicago and the Chicago Suburbs, we've made it through. From the freeze-thaw cycle in late fall to the wet, heavy snow that hit us in January, to the freeze-thaw cycle that has hit us once again in March, we've all made it, but what about our roofs?
Freeze/Thaw and Heavy Snow Damage
Roof damage-especially in garages-can become a much larger problem as years pass. Freezing and thawing, just as it affects the roads on which we drive, affects the shingles on our roofs.
Understandably, homeowners will not face potholes per se, but shingles could pop off, roofs could see damage, weak points could occur, and a 2016 snowfall could result in leaks or collapse.
The damage can be caused by any number of factors, alone or combined, that could contribute to the slow destruction of your roof. These factors include
- Freeze/Thaw cycle causes cracks to form under shingles
Homeowner Spring Training: Getting Your Garage in Shape
Baseball's Spring Training is upon us. With players getting in shape for the long season ahead of them, we would like to invite homeowners to get their garages ready for spring and summer. From cleaning to conditioning, your garage will see a lot more action as the weather continues to warm. Grills, bikes, boats, and more will take the center stage, and homeowners are called to get their garages in shape for summer.
Here at Blue Sky Builders, Inc., we've been providing advice on how to keep your garage in tip-top shape on our blog for a few years, and would like to share with you today a few handy guides on garage care and maintenance.
Durability Exercise: Don't Chance it, Check It.
With garages a main point of entrance in many homes and a major activity hub for families, the garage is important-keep it safe. One of the key safety concerns of homeowners has and always be the garage door opener. This is why in late 2013, LiftMaster introduced its "Don't Chance It, Check It" campaign urging homeowners to complete routine inspections of their garage door openers.
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