16' x 24' Single car + budget build

[Zengineer]

Bought the house in December of 2007, my first house. Came with a decently sized carport, 16' x 24' or so, with a cracked and broken slab. Provided some covered parking and workspace (though cold sometimes!) for the better part of 2 years.

In October of 2009, we started what was probably the biggest DIY renovation that I've handled solo. Previous to that, I did bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen, etc. I really had no concerns about undertaking the project, I've always been able to plan and do well enough to get excellent results.

We knew that we wouldn't be in this house forever, so it was time to build some sweat equity and have a bit of space to continue house reno's in as well. Garage on the cheap...

[Zengineer]

The existing slab was cracked and sunk, probably about 8" at one point. I decided to break up everything that was cracked or sunk, leave what was ok, and repour. (to save a bit of cash) In retrospect, I would have done things differently and taken up the other slabs as well. Not a huge issue, but the end result would have been just that little bit better.

Breaking up the concrete with the jackhammer wasn't too bad, took about 4 hours and was physically pretty demanding work. Once I figured out a system to do it effectively, it was much easier. I'm glad it was a sunny October day, and not a sunny July day however.

Pulled out about 10tons of concrete rubble, 5 pickup truck loads. Hand bombed in, hand bombed out of the truck at the recyclers.... on the cheap!

[Zengineer]

Regraded a bit, leveled out the base, and power tamped it for about 3 hours. (overkill I hope)

I decided I was going to try to do it in 1 pour, as the existing structure was intact and everything I'd be adding was not structural, beyond holding it's own weight. In retrospect I would have had A+ results in 2 pours, but I ended up with B+ results... a learning experience, and less expensive.

Repoured 8 yards of concrete, fire time pouring it. Wasn't perfect, but I learned a lot for next time. It actually came out ok, I just expect perfection from myself... and concrete isn't super forgiving for the first timer.

The following weekend studding went up. 2x4 24" OC, got a free-bee window from a neighbour.

Also upgraded the service and electrical panel to the house, from 100A to 200A. In the process I moved the panel into the soon to be garage. It made life much easier by doing that. All my new garage runs were short, and I didn't have to pull down half the house to run wire.

[Zengineer]

The following weekend, all the sheeting and tar paper went up. A couple long days, and putting up tar paper by yourself sucks. Managed to get it straight and so on, but it's a bit tedious and difficult solo. I had some help doing the peak area though.

Things go so quickly at this stage, you can really see the difference in just a day's work.

Following this (not much for photos) was interior wiring. I wired in 8 (3x3 grid - center missing) boxes in the ceiling for lighting, and put in 8 2-gang outlets around the perimeter of the interior. All these boxes (save one) were put in at 48" height to be overtop of any future benches. 1 was in the ceiling for the garage door opener, as well as an overhead reel.

In total, I put these 8 outlets on 2 15A breakers, and the 9 lights on a 15A breaker. I also added in a 220v dryer plug on a 30A and an electric baseboard on a 220v 30A breaker.

Lighting is ceramic base with 60w bulbs. ($20 for the whole garage) I would call the lighting levels average. Some task lighting will be added over benches/tools anyway, so that's just fine for now.

[maddog1949]

looking good. hope to more pictures.

[t12i867]

Nice lil add on to the house =)

[Zengineer]

A couple other notes, the ceiling height is 9'6", which is an absolute god-send. I have no idea how anyone can function with an 8' ceiling in a garage or shop!

Main door opening is 10' x 8'. That extra size has come in handy more than once.

Man door at the rear is 36". I was going to put in double doors, but at $800! vs. $149 I just couldn't justify it with the overall budget in mind.

Budget was to be $5000. I'll talk more about that as I update the thread, but it's not far off.

[Motown 454]

Nice job its coming to gether well. That will make a nice work space for you.

[Zengineer]

The original plan was to try to match the stucco with the rest of the house. No much of a surprise, but the rocks used on my house in 1964 weren't available anymore.

The options were to refinish the whole house (quotes around $12,000) or to go to plan B on the garage. Plan B won out, at about $800.

The hardiboard went up between Christmas and New Years, with the help of a
(great) friend. It's a bit of a pain to work with, but other than the weight and dust it's not too bad. I just used a cheap (disposable) circular saw blade and it worked quite well.

No photos of it going up, as you can imagine in late December we were concentrating on getting the job done, rather than taking photos.

I may yet paint the gable end of the garage dark brown to linet up better with the rest of the house's style. Still some work do be done beside the driveway, and around back as far as landscaping goes. Soffits yet to come as well.

[Zengineer]

An insulated 8' x 10' door was added, I believe it's insulated at R12. Also added a belt drive opener, weather stripped the door, etc. It was important for me to have a drywalled, finished space inside the garage, so the ceiling drywall went up early on. Also mudded the section where the opener mounts so that I wouldn't have to fiddle with it again later.

I have some health issues that have prevented me from spending any longer than about 10 minutes on a ladder at a time, so the mudding for the rest of the ceiling will be a painstakingly slow process.

All the walls are insulated, as well as the atic space. For about $250 in this case, it was a no brainer. Unheated it has stayed between 12°C and 24°C through the winter and summer. I've put in heat to dehumidify, and keep it around the 12°C mark during cold snaps.

Pretty nice in there today! (See thermometer)

[Zengineer]

Still areas that are unfinished, and that is because there are still some changes to come. Around the panel, I've left drywall off because I am going to redo the room on the opposite side of the wall. Part of this will be to run dedicated lines to that room (home theater) as opposed to the current setup where those runs have other areas of the house on them.

Nothing like turning off the bedroom light breaker, and losing the kitchen counter plugs, office computer, laundry room lights and rear patio lights...?

The garage is not yet finished, but obviously is being used for a number of projects despite that. Some tools have made their way in there, and I will drywall and mud, paint, etc. at some point soon!

[Zengineer]

Which brings us to earlier this week. I got a smoking deal on some ball bearing slide lower cabinets, at $149 a piece. Picked up 3 of them this past winter. In order to make the best use of them I wanted to put them in a bench. Steel would be my ideal, but I had some 2x4's around, and they are damn cheap.

Still to come is a 3/16" steel top... just have to get to the steel store when they are actually open.

[Zengineer]

Put a 10ga steel top on the bench earlier this week... steel has gotten majorly expensive in the past few months! $217 later for a sheet of 10ga.

I could probably get it at half that price through my old work, but it would mean a 2 hour round trip. So I have some extra steel for the next bench! 10ga is the minimum thickness I would go with, but it should be pretty resiliant. For the "main" bench I'll probably put it over top of a sheet of plywood for more support. (concerned with it denting if abused, not concerned about it failing)

Been mudding the ceiling a bit every evening for the past week... coming along. Should be able to complete the first coat of the whole ceiling by the weekend. Slow going, but at least it's going...

[Zengineer]

Slowly, slowly the mudding is getting done. 2 coats done now, just some sanding and another coat and a bit more sanding... then comes some paint!

Also picked up a 3-ton arbor press recently, nice, inexpensive, useful tool.

[speedracer]

Great idea with the cabinets and bench.

[4StarCstms]

I'm liking the bench ya made. Two thumbs up from me!

[Artistic]

I see your a BMW fan . Nice progress.

Btw, are you in B.C. ? Those plates look familar, but hard to tell from the pics

[Zengineer]

Yes and yes... I have a couple of bimmers (325is and 528iT) and soon to have another. Located on beautiful Vancouver Island, in BC.

[Zengineer]

Picked up a 32"x60"x3/4" steel welding table a few weeks back, for free. It's been sitting in the truck while I try to figure how to get it out. Nothing overhead I could use, no cherry picker, nothing. Time to be creative... while moving a 600-700lbs table!


The table in all it's glory.


Step 1 - Build 2x4 apparatus in 5 minutes. They are now for sale through my website for the low price of $199.99. Hardware and lumber extra.


Step 2 - Insert apparatus into table. Use 10' 2x4's in the 5' table to (hopefully) only have to deadlift 175lbs and slide it at the same time. Put boards down on ground leaving back end of the table in the truck. Yes, the 2x4's are bending that much!


Step 3 - Find some blocking for the legs on the ground, deadlift table up a bit and rest legs on a stable surface.


Step 4 - Reposition apparatus for pushing, rather than lifting.


Step 5 - Apply load to the apparatus, and drive truck forward a few feet. (a second person helps here) Gently lower table feet to the ground. Warning, table is heavy!


Step 6 - Reposition apparatus for lifting again. Lift table and slide out blocking. Set table on terra firma.


Step 7 - Use floor jack to lift up dead end of table, deadlift the other side using the apparatus, and drag it into position.

Next steps are to cleanup and refinish the table! Though, the rest of this weekend will be spent working on the garage rather than the table.

[RbrtAWhyt]

That's making my back hurt...