New build: Arts & Crafts style garage in historic neighborhood

[Jpfreak33]

Its coming along to well. I love your attention to detail, it will really pay off in the end. Looks great!

 

[lupinsea]

Wow, that looks great, James! Rock on! Nice touch with flashing behind each joint in the siding.

 

[993James993]

Thanks guys!

Another couple of 10 hour days this weekend:

I took your suggestion Lupinsea and cut wooden blocks to support the lamps. The next step will be to cut a 3 5/8" hole in the block to accomodate a round electrical box.

I also formed rain caps out of sheet copper.

Other than that, there is not really much new to show. This is just very time consuming. Hopefully the electrical will happen soon.

 

[Bib Overalls]

My personal motto is "Plan ahead, sweat the details."

People say I am obsessed.

I say obsession has it's rewards.

 

[cdecker]

James, how wide is your trim at the corners? And the sides of the windows / doors? After reading this thread you've convinced me to question the planned use of Tyvek on my build. After doing some research, I'm going to take the same route as you and use 30# tar paper instead. I also am planning on using James Hardies fiber cement siding (7" Exposure) and love the way your build is looking and coming together. Please keep the posts coming!

 

[993James993]

Hi Bib Overalls, I feel obsessed as well! (More about this in the next post.) Thanks for your kind words.

Cdecker, the corner trim is standard 3 1/2" hardietrim. The front and back of the building are 3 1/2" but the sides show 4 1/2" as the edge of the front piece butts up to the side. The moldings around the garage door are 5 1/2" on the sides and 7 1/4" on the top. Again standard Hardie sizes. The windows are 4 1/4" on the sides and 5 1/4 on the top. On the entry door I had to make the top molding 2" wider than the window in order to be at the same height as the window molding. So I made the side rails a little wider as well, going 5 1/2" for the sides and 7 1/2" for the door.

Next time I would go with wood for the corners. The Hardie trim boards are hard to work with and you have to nail them very straight or you nail will disrupt the face of the second trim piece. Note that I went with 1" thick trim.

The 7" exposure will go much faster than my 4" exposure. And you can buy Pac tool's siding clamps that will make installation a breeze. If you do it yourself be sure to invest in a good respirator as there is a lot of dust generated when you cut and drill the planks.

I read that tannins in cedar will cause the Tyvek paper to fail. Not sure if this is the case. I didn't plan on having any cedar but some shims that I purchased turned out to be cedar.

 

[993James993]

Talk about obsession....the bottom of the top plank on the front does not match up to the corresponding plank on the side. This is especially frustrating as I notched this plank to fit around the wooden block. There will be a large lamp that will distract from this slight error so only I will likely see it. I have to change it now or live with it:

 

[texas-saluki]

Talk about obsession....the bottom of the top plank on the front does not match up to the corresponding plank on the side. This is especially frustrating as I notched this plank to fit around the wooden block. There will be a large lamp that will distract from this slight error so only I will likely see it. I have to change it now or live with it:

looks like the row 6 down started to drift about 1/8 to 1/4 " in the amount you have over lapping. and you maintained the amount of drift on each row. IMOP is going to drive you nutty (now that you know it is there) and should take about an extra hour to fix, it maybe more noticable when you get higher above the garage door.

Also nice shop, I like the details for sure. here is a place I a have gotten some lighting fixtures before that you may like also http://www.rejuvenation.com/

 

[993James993]

Hey Chris,

That must be a parallax error. Six down is spot on. I measured with a tape measure. The top three have drifted and I've already pulled off the top one. I'll probably pull the next two although they are not really noticeable. This is a key corner as I will have to walk past it every time I enter the house, but there will be a six foot high fence there so this is likely moot. I'll probably pull them off.

 

[993James993]

Here is a sort of milestone! Side two is done except for the strip under the window!

 

[Motown 454]

Your do excelent work, I love it.

 

[993James993]

Thank you Wayne!

Not much new to report. Still not done with the siding but getting closer.

I finally found an electrician who wants this job. (Not sure why contractors in my area are so hard to pin down. I've had two of them just never return repeated calls.) He came on Friday and got started and should be done with the garage part next week. To complicate matters the local power company and the city agreed a year ago when I got my permits to a new drop with separate meter for the garage. Now the power company is balking and wants me to feed the house from the garage, meaning a 400 Amp panel and then a 60 foot trench. I've agreed to this as the current electric drop to the house runs through a tree and is only about 18" above the roof of my guest house. This is the best solution for the long term but the added expense is not welcome at this time. I mentally separated and assigned the added amount to general maintenance for the house so it's not killing my project budget.

The other good news is that I decided to hire a painter. After the siding I am exhausted and tired of working in 107 degree heat. Painting in this weather is hard as the paint will start drying faster than you can paint. He starts next weekend, staining the entry door and the interior wood that will remain exposed!

 

[993James993]

I hope my new 400 amp service panel is big enough...

 

[ersatzs2]

Ha you can't have too much. I thought my 200 amp panel was way overkill but with four 220 outlets each with a 30 amp breaker, plus all the other outlets and lighting, the HVAC guy says I'll need to enlarge the panel to install AC.
GJ should have a 'words of wisdom' checklist stickie. I would add: 'you can't have an electrical panel that's too big..."

 

[993James993]

Thanks Ersatzs. Your build thread is one of my favorites on Garage Journal. I love the design of your building, the lap siding, your liftmasters, those lista cabinets and all the stainless countertops, and don't get me started about the vehicles....am I correct in thinking that your 3.8 is a sunroof delete model?

Anyone who has not seen ersatzs2's build should follow the link in his signature.

 

[ersatzs2]

I correct in thinking that your 3.8 is a sunroof delete model?

thanks for the nice words, the garage is a dream come true and culmination of years of note taking. Actually it's the first garage I've had since I quit working out of my dad's...

The car is a '95 993 SuperCup, built by Porsche as a factory racecar to compete in their 'one design' cup series. So yes they used a non-sunroof shell, 3.8L, then ransacked their parts bins for all the best go-fast goodies of that period. The brakes are just as mind shattering as the engine.

 

[993James993]

thanks for the nice words, the garage is a dream come true and culmination of years of note taking. Actually it's the first garage I've had since I quit working out of my dad's...

The car is a '95 993 SuperCup, built by Porsche as a factory racecar to compete in their 'one design' cup series. So yes they used a non-sunroof shell, 3.8L, then ransacked their parts bins for all the best go-fast goodies of that period. The brakes are just as mind shattering as the engine.

That's awesome! The sunroof delete kinda gave away the fact that this was an unusual car. You are very fortunate to own it. Do you exercise it on the track?

 

[993James993]

I took Lupinsea's advice and used wooden blocks as backing for the lamps. I cut holes in them and installed pancake boxes....

The blocks match the base of each lamp and I will paint them to match the lamp. They should look great.

With any luck I should finish most of the siding this weekend. I have the painter coming to finish the door as well.

 

[ersatzs2]

I took Lupinsea's advice and used wooden blocks as backing for the lamps. I cut holes in them and installed pancake boxes.

You are obviously as crazed as anyone else on the list: you didn't _need_ to make the backing blocks out of oak!

You are very fortunate to own it. Do you exercise it on the track?

Agree: it's a rush. I drive it at track days and I will race it in PCA and vintage locally. I have never unstrapped without a big grin.

 

[993James993]

You are obviously as crazed as anyone else on the list: you didn't _need_ to make the backing blocks out of oak!


Agree: it's a rush. I drive it at track days and I will race it in PCA and vintage locally. I have never unstrapped without a big grin.

You are obviously as crazed as anyone else on the list: you didn't _need_ to make the backing blocks out of oak!

I am slowly realizing that I am crazed.

As to the blocks, oak may not have been the best choice as they are already showing signs of being outside. I primed two of them today and should have the others covered soon.

The siding did not get finished as planned. My wife and I almost had the front done on Saturday and actually got outside at 6:00 AM on Sunday to finish, only to have the neighbor ask us to please hold off on the hammering. Every other weekend I have waited at least until 8:00 AM but this time I was so focused on finishing that I forgot that the noise might disturb the neighbors. By the time I returned to finish the sun was beating down and it was just too hot.

The painter did not come as planned.

I did get the trench finished today! Actually I hired a contractor and his crew finished it, but it's done!

 

[Bib Overalls]

Don't kill yourself. The heat will abate and the materials you have used should be OK without paint for a month or two. You will get a better result when the temperature comes down a bit.

 

[993James993]

Don't kill yourself.

I'm trying to follow that advice, Overalls!

We are trying to hurry to get the final inspections so we can start parking inside. A lot of the rush has to do with our current parking situation-which is down the alley/on the street- and the length of time this project has taken.

I knew early on, back in the planning stages well before we started building, that my strategy to keep the cost as low as possible would cause the project to take longer. Add to that multiple unforseen delays and changes to the plans and we are now well over schedule.

When I envisioned building this project I wanted to hire out certain portions (concrete, framing, roofing) and do the rest myself. At the time I calculated that this would save me about 50% of the cost of having a general contractor do the job and would give me the satisfaction of participating in the build. This has all worked out. If I had it to do over again I would do it the same way.

But when we planned the project I confidently told my wife that we would be done by March end. I had no idea it would stretch out so long.

To really drive this point home, our other neighbors stated building a new garage about a week before we did, back in October. They hired a contractor to take care of everything and he was done in January. They have a beautiful garage. Of course my wife is now asking why they were finished so fast.

Anyhow we are getting closer!

 

[993James993]

Here are some new progress shots.

I had to trench from the far corner of the garage around the back and over to the existing panel on the house. The trench is about 70' long and 22" deep. With this job I found out that the previous owner had put in a galvanized pipe to take electric from the house panel to the converted carriage house. This installation is 15 years old and completely rusted. It's also about 2" from grade. I plan to replace it with the proper materials at the proper depth. Here is a shot of the trench.

The painter came on Monday and stained the entry door, along with the interior windows and he repaired the finish on the carriage house doors that had failed. The color is a little darker than the sample but all in all i like how the door came out. He did excellent work. As the floor is already covered I am having him stain the interior wood that will remain visible. This includes the rafters, tongue and groove and the rafter ties. I want this done before I put up dry wall and he starts tomorrow. I'm going with the same Penofin oil but in a blonde color. I'm glad I'm hiring this out. I can just see spending 5 weekends messing around with this trying to do it myself. This way it's done professionally in 3 days and I can work on other stuff. It also lets me get rid of the scaffolding much sooner and it will be done and over with before we start parking inside!

 

[lupinsea]

That is a goregous finish on the man-door. Looks great!

 

[993James993]

That is a goregous finish on the man-door. Looks great!

Thanks Lupinsea! Your shed build is coming along nicely.

The guy who finished the door is now staining the ceiling. I choose a beautiful color called sierra. I would describe it as amber. Looked great on the samples and in my mind's eye. But not sure about how it will look when finished. It's very orange and intense. I hope it will not contrast too much with the door and windows.

I'm glad I hired this job out. The odor gives me a headache in a few minutes. Will post more photos this weekend.

 

[993James993]

Here are some photos.

The electrician wanted changes to the trench. This was not insignificant. We also discovered that the prior homeowner had sub fed the converted carriage house with galvanized conduit pretty much at grade. It all has to come out. The three yards of fill you see in the second shot are from that section.

On a better note, my wife and I finished the front siding!

 

[wrigh003]

Wow- really coming along great. You've got something to be proud of, there.

And that man door is freakin' gorgeous.

 

[Motown 454]

Nice work its looks great. I agree that door is sweet!

 

[993James993]

Wrigh003 and Motown 454, thank you for the nice comments! That made my day!

The door locks are here but I haven't put them on yet. I think I'll wait until the electrical, interior stain, insulation and drywall is finished. That way I won't have to deal with a locked door while I am at work.

The electrician came by today to check out the trench and review the outlets. I'll have a 220V outlet for a lift, one for a welder and one for a compressor. Thats in addition to the regular 120V ones. For lighting I'll have pendant lamps over the work bench and then some wall mounted ones on each wall. I don't want to clutter up the open ceiling so I am foregoing hanging lamps at this time. I might put the circuits in for future planning.

 

[E30bimmer]

That door does look awesome--jealousy is setting in right now.

Had to include this photo of the back of our bungalow since the colors seem to match what you've chosen. The art glass casement windows actually came out of a house on the corner of our block after they installed new vinyl windows. I know, crazy people right? His wife said they were drafty. As you can see I still have to paint the actual window frames green. Had the framing and storms for the windows done by a real craftsman here in Chicago who still makes wood ones out of cypress and chose the green to work with the light yellow--which unfortunately is vinyl siding installed by the previous owner. I have future plans for replacing with real clapboard since the house is brick with just the back porch enclosed and sided. ALso gonna remove the aluminum soffit to expose the original beadboard soffit underneath.

Anyway, don't mean to threadjack. I really like everything you're doing and keep it up!

 

[Bib Overalls]

Did you hand dig the trenches? I'll bet that was (no) fun.

 

[993James993]

Did you hand dig the trenches? I'll bet that was (no) fun.

I hired an excavation contractor thinking that he would use a ditch witch. His quote was to hand dig it and the price was right. (Of course any quote would have sounded great after the first one I got, which was open ended starting at $1800 to $2200.) Amazingly the two guys that he sent out completed it in about 10 hours over two days. Luckily the area is shaded most of the time. There was a lot of caliche (duricrust) which is a form of calcium carbonate. This stuff is hard.

When the electrician saw it he wanted several changes and I had one of the guys return that Saturday. I wanted to see what the soil was like so i helped him for a couple of hours. I climbed into the trench at the rear and found that there was no where to put the dirt. I had to get a bucket and carry it out. Not fun. After that I helped the guy extend the trench to the guest house. He broke up the caliche with a pick and i shoved out the dirt. After two hours I was done. He then spent another hour or so on the area near the panel. Fortunately the electrician was happy with the changes and I can say I participated in the dig!

 

[993James993]

That door does look awesome--jealousy is setting in right now.

Had to include this photo of the back of our bungalow since the colors seem to match what you've chosen. The art glass casement windows actually came out of a house on the corner of our block after they installed new vinyl windows. I know, crazy people right? His wife said they were drafty. As you can see I still have to paint the actual window frames green. Had the framing and storms for the windows done by a real craftsman here in Chicago who still makes wood ones out of cypress and chose the green to work with the light yellow--which unfortunately is vinyl siding installed by the previous owner. I've still have to paint the actual window framesI have future plans for replacing with real clapboard since the house is brick with just the back porch enclosed and sided. ALso gonna remove the aluminum soffit to expose the original beadboard soffit underneath.

Anyway, don't mean to threadjack. I really like everything you're doing and keep it up!

E30bimmer, thanks for the post! You are not threadjacking. Your windows are beautiful. What a lucky find for you.

In my living room there are built-in book cases on either side of the fireplace. They seemed odd to me until I finally realized that they were cabinets without the doors.

The prior owner of my house owned a bed and breakfast inn next door. In a converted porch she had six old stained glass windows hanging in windows in the exterior wall. I figured out that her six stained glass windows were the cabinet doors from the living room. When I asked her about it and she told me that they were hers and she was never giving them up. Eventually she sold her B&B and I managed to buy the doors from her. I then spent several years trying to find replacement hardware because it was gone. I've yet to rehang then as she filled in the wood with wood putty and I've not figured out how to easily remove it but this is on my list of things to do. Here is a shot of one of the six doors when it was still hanging in the house next door.

 

[993James993]

Here is a shot of my electrical trench with the 2 1/2" ridged PVC for the electric, the ground rods and braided copper cable, and orange flex for CATV. Inspection is tomorrow.

Here is the ceiling after the amber stain was applied.

I'm hoping this will not seem as intense once it dries.

 

[lupinsea]

I wouldn't worry about the intensity. I think it looks great. Spices up the interior, especially with that wonderful sheen to the wood.

 

[abstamaria]

Fantastic thread, 993James993. I have been going through it in detail.

 

[993James993]

Hi Lupinsea and Abstamaria,

Thanks for the encouragement! I've followed both of your impressive threads continuously.

The electrical inspection didn't happen yesterday and today the city has an unpaid furlough day due to budget issues. So now the inspection is set for Monday.

The painter will come today to finish staining the ceiling and rafter ties which will let me move the scaffolding out and see the space completely empty for the first time.

I've been looking at the measurements of the cars and the benches and it's not clear that everything will fit and still leave ample room for my wife to park and still walk around the front of the car. If the car is set within 6" of the garage door it will work but I need to allow for some variation. I've already had to move the planned location of the lift from the west to the east side because her car is a little too long to park on the east side. The entry door would hit the front. The original plans had a sink in the corner but that had to be eliminated and the free benches I picked up are 30" deep. I may replace the top of one bench with a 24" deep top. I hope to put the car and the bench inside this weekend to know for sure.

The size of the building was limited due to zoning and fire setbacks. I would have gone bigger if I could have!

 

[scheu]

993James993,
I think we all wish for more space. But having limited space makes you think creatively, which you already do. Look at what others have done with smaller spaces here. I love this forum for all the ideas and suggestions. Maybe the benches could be cut down? Anyway, love your build.
scheu

 

[993James993]

Thank you Scheu for the nice comments. Two of the benches I plan to use were free to me and the 30" tops are in bad shape. If I use these benches I will need to replace at least one of the two tops and reduce the length by an inch or so so that everything will fit. The interior is 21' wide, give or take an inch. The plan is to have three benches that will go wall to wall.

The stain is now on and uniform. I like it much better than at first.

And finally I am almost ready to decide on the exterior color for the siding.

These are the finalists.

 

[993James993]