questions - used materials, footing drain, more

[Mia]

Are we the only one building a house over a full walkout basement that includes a drive-under garage?
Just thought I'd ask.
the real questions:
I've seen ads selling used glulams.  Are they o.k. to use?  What should we look out for, other than they should be long enough for our house & should look straight & solid?

In the plans for our basement (done by an engineeer, as per the county permit requirement) it shows the drain pipe at the base of the concrete wall, on top of the footing.  Other plans show that drain pipe in the ground on the outside edge of the footing.  Is either way o.k.?  (yes we applied 2 coats of waterproofing & we will use a geosynthetic sheet to keep the water off the wall)

I told the basement contractor that we wanted a doorway for a 10 wide garage door.  So, we have an opening that is 10'3" wide.  Probably should be 10'6".  Can we make it work, or will we have have to get a custom door made?  
Maybe we should give up on the drive-under garage & just have a carport on the other side of the house.  I've never yet had a garage that I could use to park a car in, if you know what I mean.

[Billy Bob]

Hi, Mia!
For an overhead type garage door the opening should be the actual size of the door because it closes from the inside and doesn't actually go into the opening in the wall.  The extra three inches can be used to put a stop around the opening; handy for attaching a weatherseal.

Here's a link to Clopay, one of the popular DIY overhead door companies:
http://www.clopaydoor.com/r-home.asp

They have alot of good information.

The other option is to frame in the opening, put in an exterior door, and hang some storage shelves on the rest of the wall.
[smiley=wink.gif]

[glenn kangiser]

Hi Mia, nice to see you here again.

I don't know of others doing a similar project.

The extra 3 Inches width would accomodate a 2x8 or other 2x each side and leave 10' even if that would help to fit a standard door.

[Pala]

Perferated drain pipe in either location is ok.  It will vary here and there as you install it and dump gravel on it anyway.  It all works and extra moisture falls right into that pipe and starts flowing away.  Try to make sure that you have fall all along the lengths.

For Glulams to "work",  their materials and asembly must not be comprimised.  Not knowing how they were previously treated is iffy to me.  The inspector may also want to see a specsheet for the piece.  You may not get that with second hand material.  It's your call I suppose.

In my experience many garage doors are made-to-fit.  So like vinyl windows; custom is standard.

[Daddymem]

Sometimes the pipes are installed in both places.