Hole Into Garage Space For Refrigerator

markoni

Yeah, I know, what the heck is he thinking? This is for my friend who always wants to walk the building code/architectural line and never involve permits unless he's building an entire structure. I've usually worked as the assistant to small contractors for the last 20 years and do many trades but lately I'm on my own.
In rearranging his kitchen he wants to buy a new double wide freezer /refrigerator (about 60" wide) and put it in the small laundry room/pantry where an existing small reefer is. I'll be tearing out all the 12" deep cabinets that are there to make room for it widthwise, and so it won't cramp the passage through this small room he wants to cut a hole in the wall so it will extend into the garage space at least a foot. I certainly like an occasional challenge for functional or artistic reasons but he has a habit of assuming "what's the big deal" or using the word "just" or that classic phrase "that can't take that long" (hmm, that's five four letter words...I try to tell people that and they look at me strangely). Yeah he's a piece of work but that's another thread...
I have never seen this done and even though his garage is just another junk storage area (don't get me started on that part of him)I'm not crazy about putting in a weird box extension unless it can be done with some architectural integrity, even in a garage. I've
known him 15 years and with all the other work I'm doing there after being slow I promised I'd ask several experienced comrades what they think. He wants more counter space in the kitchen at the expense of his family of four having to walk into the pantry room to access any food. Then again they've had that spare reefer in the pantry anyway and then there's the third reefer in the adjoining guest house ... you get the picture. This is an ongoing idiosyncracy of his remodeling/general logic that I have reluctantly come to accept. Any real world experience, suggestions or pure satire welcome.

Same Old

What's your question?

Tom R

I often recess them into the wall cavity itself in kitchens to gain that 4" of space, - - just a matter of cutting through the plate and a few studs and their drywall connectors and throwing in a small header, - - no real need to disturb the adjacent room's drywall . . .

I'd say if he wants it done and is willing to pay for it, - - just do it.

If he's willing to pay more extra yet to make it look less obtrusive from the garage side and wants to gain some storage space at the same time, - - pack out both sides with 'same-depth' shelving . . .

Tom M

You need to do what Tom R says and double layer drywall. The garage is a fire rated assemble between the house and that barrier is being broken. Dont walk the line you need permits for this job. Convince him to do it right, its not expensive. People are afraid of permits cause they dont always know what there doing. You would be approved for a new header then fail in the field because you didnt know about the fire rating. Then the inspector would become a jerk bla,bla bla.

markoni

Thanks for your responses.

I won't be able to do the permit with this guy so I'll probably skip it, and occasionally I love to tell him it just ain't gonna happen with my name on it considering his outlaw nature. Sometimes the codes do make me roll my eyes which I feel I've earned from 20 years of inspector inconsistencies, job specific judgment calls, and also from studying the electrician's exam prep guide. No offense to any inspectors as I appreciate the amount of knowledge beyond mine they need to know and update constantly.

The following back story/rant is somewhat related to the post but feel free to skip it as there are no questions, and forgive me if it goes in another thread.

Concerning the idea of permits with this guy, years ago he had a very flaky and occasionally competent handyman do a lot of work at his house, including building an unattached 10x20 room and adjoining 15x30 foot deck on the hillside in his backyard WITHOUT A PERMIT.

He wanted this as a HOAFH. (Sorry, I had to create a new acronym-home office away from home). The guy had tons of concrete poured and framed it and it was left blowing in the wind for months before I finished it for him out of pity. (I could write a book on this handyman's flakiness and the S-M remodeling relationship that my friend perpetuated with him for years.) Here it is years later, he built another much less kosher structure UNDER the deck, and like cruel poetry somehow finally triggered a building inspector visit after it was done. Yeah, just when I was building a stairway down to its entrance, the famous $7/hour stairway...too much digging...but I digress.

Well, you guessed it, my buddy the permitaphobic faces the dark night of the soul on those two structures which will be mostly deconstructed. He's a real piece of work-I suppose he keeps hallucinating that he's on a farm miles from nowhere when he is in fact in suburbia. So that's the long answer for getting a permit unless he builds a second story.

markoni

How far away do you have to move from somebody so you never feel tempted to get involved in their loopy remodeling projects?