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When "Fixing" the Garage Gets Out Of Hand

2K views 16 replies 7 participants last post by  TheCaffeinatedOne 
#1 ·
I've been AWOL for a few months - life intervened and all that, but I've actually been busy. After years of deferred maintenance and hoping problems would go away all by themselves, I finally obtained permission from the Domestic Goddess to pay a little attention to our long suffering garage. 30 Years ago or so, this was to be my woodworking shop. Then I had hopes that it would be my "fix the car myself and save money that way" shop. That didn't work out so well either, so over time it became our stationary dumpster. It was the place stuff went when we couldn't figure out where stuff should go. It became crammed to the rafters with things that were too good to throw away and not good enough to keep. I think I may have set a record for cramming the garage with junk - so much that Lazarus, my JD garden tractor, along with its snowblower had to live outside. No room at the Inn.

About fifteen years ago, I tore down some rotted rain gutter and intended to replace it Real Soon Now. What happened instead was fifteen years of backsplash against hemlock siding. I had a major problem with rotted sills and siding on the front side, and the lower section of the 16 foot overhead door had turned to mush.

A year ago I had a new roof installed - 2 x 3 framework over the old sheathing, filled and sealed with 1 1/2" styrofoam insulation and covered with heavy gauge ribbed steel. That was a major start. This summer I tackled the sills. The building had been raised without pressure treated lumber anywhere; as long as the sills remained mostly dry, they do fine. But the front side was frequently soaked and the sills had disintegrated into compost. So - time to fix the sills. One thing, of course, led to another. I never liked that overhead door anyway. New PT sills all across the front, with new stud extensions to meet the old wall studs, new sheathing, clapboards, and a set of insulated sliding doors running on the inside of the building. Next step will be to do spray insulation on the inside. So far, so good, although that overhead garage door did its best to kill me.
 

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#2 ·
Quite the transformation. Looks good.

So, what's next?
 
#3 ·
Lessee. . . insulate the inside, get the 240V circuits in, throw half the junk out, organize my guitar woods. . . long list. And there's a Gravely dog eater snowblower that needs to be cleaned up and painted.:fing32:
 
#4 ·
What kind of electrical service panel to you have out there? Can it handle the 240 loads?
 
#5 ·
Its an older 100 Amp service in a subpanel routed from the house. I think it should be fine. I'll be running my welder and a plasma cutter from the circuit - although not at the same time. Everything else in the shop is 110/115V, although I may upgrade the air compressor some day. The only thing I'm likely to be running simultaneously will be lights and a large ceiling fan up amongst the roof trusses.
 
#7 ·
Sounds like a very adequate electrical panel to me. I have a 100 AMP subpanel ran off of the house too. It works great for everything that I need. The fluorescent lights do react slightly when the air compressor starts or the welder makes an arc, but nothing serious.

I'm looking forward to your next installment. :fing32:
 
#8 ·
Thanks!

The sliding doors were interesting to build. Each is a 5'x8' stresskin structure for a 9'6" opening. After trying to disassemble the overhead door (NEVER do this alone - the EMTs will drive faster if they hear that two people got hurt), then cleaning up all the broken glass and putting on fresh band aids, I assembled a frame for each door out of 2x3 lumber and punched it together with long deck screws.

I used 1/4" luan plywood (used for subflooring under a vinyl floor) for a skin and with construction adhesive, affixed it to the frame. I then tacked it in place with a finish nailer to hold it till dry. Next time I'll take the extra time to build a simple jig and clamp it; the finish nails were adequate but not very effective.

Next, I flipped the door over and cut 1 1/2"rigid styrofoam to fill the center. When that was cut I hit the inside with low expanding aerosol foam everywhere and used it as an adhesive, piling on weights, buckets and chairs and whatnot to clamp the styrofoam in place while the spray foam set. That worked pretty well. I then hit the entire surface with spray foam and glued / nailed the second plywood surface. Here is where a clamping jig would have made a difference and the result might have been a little cleaner.

However the process worked and the doors were light, quite strong and rigid. They pick up their strength from the triangulation that happens when the plywood is laminated to the foam. In order to be strong, they have to be glued either continuously or at many points. The expanding foam served that purpose pretty well and is a good adhesive.

Finally I installed pine T&G siding on the exterior of each door, glued to the plywood and nailed to the frame. Unfortunately this added about fifty pounds or so to each door, making them a little exciting to move about. I hit that with two coats of marine grade spar varnish.

The doors are mounted on the inside of the building and must work with rollers. I wanted to reuse the overhead door hardware if I could. To allow the old rails to act as alignment guides and not bear all the weight, I picked up four solid rubber wheels, about 8" in diameter. I drilled a pair of axle holes at the bottom edge of each door and used long stove bolts as axles. On the inside these were aligned and stabilized by 1/2" pipe flanges, which allowed a short pipe nipple to act as a standoff to keep the tires from rubbing against the interior door surface. These now bear the weight well, although time will tell if they loosen up. Next will be installing the old door rails and bogeys to serve as a door guide.

If I did this again, I'd stick with the same design except I would use 3/8" CDX or masonite instead of the luan. The luan deteriorates quickly if allowed to get wet. But overall the idea seems to be working. Hope to get the interior and sides painted before cold weather really hits.
 

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#10 ·
I've been toying with the idea that maybe - just maybe - that stuff can find a home inside. But I do have to learn how to throw stuff away.:fing32:
 
#12 ·
I like the doors. Nice insulation value in that foam too. :fing32:
 
#13 ·
The repair looks great.:fing32: I shouldn't say this cause then I will be labeled an enabler, but, be aware that as soon as you throw stuff out, you will need it.
So guess you need to build an extension out back to store the "might need" stuff.:sidelaugh
Oh yeah, in case that idea works for you, I'll warn you. There's the 24X12 shed roof off the back of my garage, a 12 X 14 shed and a 12 X 16 shed with an associated shed roof off that. And I still don't have enough room. Wife says I would if I clean up and throw stuff away.:Stop: Probably not gonna happen. Most everything is out of sight, until I open a door, any door.:dunno:
MikeC
 
#14 ·
Yep. I did that with our house. Two additions over the years. Still have no room. Funny how that happens.
 
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