shop/garage conversion to house and back again

[last12know]

bought a house across the alley from me that used to be a shop/garage and am converting it back again. its 22' by 24' with water, sewer, natural gas, phone line and cable. it's on a nice lot that is actually on a better street than my house.

the former owner had made it a house while his new house was being built and when it was done they just used it for a rental...for over thirty years. needed updated badly ....anyhow after getting it and gutting it we decided to raise the ceiling and open it up...it was sagging about six inches low in the center...we raised it almost three in the center and leveled the walls out almost to almost perfect..was 1 1/2 inches out in four ft. on one and 3/4" out on the other. will permanently set the beam and run 2x6s etc.

one other thing...was asking in another thread about what size doors etc...well i want to work in it but don't want it to be a semi permanent parking spot so i'm going with one ten foot door and a mandoor ..i think it will work out nicely....

any comments/ideas?

last

 

[goodfellow]

Don't get rid of the oven -- it'll be great for powder coating.

 

[last12know]

never thought of that....usually send parts to the cities... last time i used an appliance was engine cases in the dishwasher after beadblasting them....

 

[sharpshooter]

Wow, where did the "house" go....LOL

 

[MSRTom]

that's an awesome project, man.

Don't get rid of the oven -- it'll be great for powder coating.

too small for that, don't you think?

 

[russlaferrera]

Great now everyone is going to put a kitchen in the garage. When is this going to stop?

 

[last12know]

actually saved the oven ....not for powder coating ...was kinda thinking fish fries. get a mess of crappie or walleye and some cold beer.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I hope you saved the cabinets for use in the garage, great cheap storage solution.

 

[last12know]

put a couple in the shed but am going to trash them....my cousin recently redid his kitchen and his cabinets were like new. and they are about two to thriee times the space as the old ones and they will look good with the base cabinets that he also saved.

am going to keep the toliet and box it in with a utility sink on the outside back wall of the enclosure. the furnace will also go in the same back corner. its in the same area as where you see the water heater. i also trashed it and am going to get a five gallon point of use water heater and mount it under the utility sink. the floor has three different kinds of tile and i'm going to have to get them up and probably rent some kind of grinder polisher to do the floor. have only had it since the 9th of july....things are going to slow down and get done at a slower pace..

 

[Mikea57]

Just a note of caution - is there any chance that the tile could have asbestos in it? With the age of that building it might.

Great project though!!!!

Mike

 

[car99r]

Oven is perfect size for powdercoating normal every day parts. I use one just like it daily!

 

[MSRTom]

Hehe. Sorry, but I consider longtubes to be normal, everyday parts.

You're right though. You can do a lot of small stuff with a household oven.

 

[Kevin54]

Look at it this way....if you keep the crapper, furnace, stove, cabinets, and water heater.....if the wife ever gets pissed, you could always move out there to stay. Keeping all of that stuff kind of makes it sound like an apartment Well hell, I guess we all want that in a GARAGE though

 

[goodfellow]

Look at it this way....if you keep the crapper, furnace, stove, cabinets, and water heater.....if the wife ever gets pissed, you could always move out there to stay. Keeping all of that stuff kind of makes it sound like an apartment Well hell, I guess we all want that in a GARAGE though

Brilliant!!! Words to live by --

 

[last12know]

well got the roof raised....little over 4 1/2" in the center and after the ridge vent is in you won't even know it was the same roof profile....

got the garage door in ..went with a 10ft door was going to use the original mandoor but didn't have enough room between the doors for lite switches so bought a 30" door and it worked just fine....

here are a few pics... any comments?

got all the wire and can lites....am going with 16 can lites on two seperate circuits (two three ways)...using the can lites so i can use a dimmer switch so when the game is on the lites aren't an issue... also going to have plug ins on a switch in the ceiling towards the outter walls maybe four each side and roughly 8 plug ends each full wall...and 220 for welder and another for stove. got 100 amp service and if it has a switch its going on its own breaker as well as each wall's plug ends going on its own breaker..plus separate circuit for air compress and point of use water heater...the furnace gets its own and the door opener as well.......i forget anything?

 

[last12know]

forgot that when we raised the roof it pulled in the sidewalls ...one was good but the other was out 1 1/2" in four foot....

added the following in edit.
sorry saw that i'd already mentioned the walls....in previous post we'd raised the roof 3 plus inches and let building settle for a few days ...when we came back we were able to bring it up further...after removing jack it settled out to the 4 1/2 mentioned... i think i had a profile of the roof before...i'll have to find it and then take one of it after.... very noticeable difference.

 

[last12know]

picture of how the raised ceiling allowed for the door and how tight it was with the seven by ten foot door and mandoor which hadn't been put in but starts at the outside edge of the window.....

 

[5wndwcpe]

Cool beans,, nice job so far.

 

[last12know]

its been a while since the last post.

i got gravel down, put in a breaker box, wired the lites and outlets, insulated the ceiling, vented the soffits, removed the furnace chimney and got drywall up for the ceiling and furred out around the headers for the walls when i drywall them...

i lost count at thirty some outlets...each wall (outlet wise), the water heater, the lites, the porch and the welding outlet are on there own breaker. here are a couple of pictures....

i've got the insulation and drywall for the walls...will work on them in the next few weeks...

here are a couple of quick pictures....

any comments are welcome...

 

[last12know]

it's been a while... got it drywalled, mudded and painted.....decided to use knock down for the ceiling and orange peel for the walls...after doing so i believe my mud job would have been fine.. guess i should have primered it first before texture to see how it looked... anyhow in the next few days i will put in the outlets and covers...then finish the trim... was going to use flutes and rosettes but the plain trim looks best...was kinda tight to the ceiling for the blocks and flutes don't look rite without them.

here a few pictures... just got the paint done today... as always comments are welcome.

picture of a couple of trimmed windows...

line on the ceiling is reflection from the garage door track

fluted trim that was made up on the floor...my brother will use it at his house since he is using the same trim.....

 

[Kevin54]

Wow...what a HUGE difference. Not only as a garage but it looks WAY better than when it was an apartment!!!! I'm sure you'll get great use out of it now. Glad to see you left the stool. That will come in handy for sure. Did you leave the furnace in? The recessed lights look good in there too. Any plans for the floor or just leave it bare concrete?

 

[last12know]

thanks...
the toliet is going to get turned sideways so when i wall it and the window by it into a small restroom it won't intrude into the main room much...i'll be able to save a foot or better doing it.. (also have an exhaust fan to put in at that time..wire was run for the bathroom).

was going to put the furnace into that same corner behind where the bathroom will be but opted to put in in the opposite corner same end of garage.. the furnace has been in without any problems except it overshoots a bit since it's one open room without circulation unless the furnace blower is running...i planned to put a ceiling fan in ahead of the garage door..to help aleviate the temp. diff. that and/or get a remote thermostat (it's mounted on the furnace now). was waiting to see what it cost and how effective the original furnace worked...after insulating it the furnace is probably over kill (45,000 btu)... heats it up twenty degrees in less than ten minutes.. it cost about 60 bucks for heat/elect for the month...left it at 45 and turned it up when i was there and turned it back to 45...we had a nite of 33 below without wind chill so i think it holds heat fairly well... it had better as it's insulated better than my house...lot quieter too...maybe i'll put a hammock in there..

the recessed lites were a necessity...if i'd put hanging lites or florescent it they'd have negated the room gained by the cathedral ceiling... my truck is too high for the house garage and i had to make this so i could get my truck in it if i wanted... it clears the door with about five inches and i can open the hood without coming close to the ceiling..

as for the floor...i'm open to cheap suggestions.. the racedeck would be nice but pricey..i can get garage mats 10 by 22 for around 400 each i think..can't remember it mite by less or more. was thinking just cleaning it best i can and using enamel floor paint.
rite now the floor is three quarters black colored from the tile adhesive...it looks uneven to the eye because of the different colors but is fairly even..no trip hazards or problems for wheeled tools.

 

[greg]

Very nice work on the conversion . Its easy to build new , rebuilding old stuff is much more challenging .

 

[porschedude996TT]

Looks like a very clean job youhave done. Post some finished pictures please.

 

[last12know]

sorry to have been gone so long.. not quite done but further than i was...just tonite i finished trimming the windows and doors.. put base trim down and trimmed the ceiling... i was going to turn the toliet but i'm leaving it and just gonna wall it in .... i don't seem to have enought time to get everything done. i've got to getan outlet box and wire the ceiling fan..... a few cupboards got hung and i have more yet... the bldg has been used to make trim and window casings for three houses... among other projects... in the pictures i have you'll see a granite tiled table for a ceramic cooker.. needs finishing touches like grout and trim... lately i'm considering making a woodshop out of it. anyhow here are a couple with trim.. i need to get rid of the old door and maybe paint the old windows.. the wood is discolored badly... and last but not least i need ideas for a cheap floor treatment.. the room would look 100 percent better if the floor wasn't as bad looking... at one time it was one of the better featurs..lol... any ideas for a cheap and workable plan for the floor? it had tiles i took up so it's fairly even..just rough looking.

sorry about the dots on the photos..camera hadn't been used in a while and i didn't clean the lense...

 

[harvey4804]

is that a rigid miter saw stand? how do you like it?

 

[last12know]

yes it's a rigid stand.. msuv something or the other... it works very well. the large wheels make it easy to roll across soft ground. and it sets up quick.. very stabil.... i just wish it had more mounting brackets so i could use it for more than the miter saw. the saw is also a ridgid 4121 i think it's discontinued....so i got it on clearance last year. i'd buy another one in a heartbeat.

 

[last12know]

well finally got ceiling fan mounted and some blinds.. for the most part done except for walling in the bathroom, intalling a utility sink, point of use water heater and running water lines...

here is a pic with ceiling fan and blinds... this project is taking a while..

as always comments welcome..