new old house means new old garage.

[User-C3]

I baught my first house a couple months ago. It's a 1925 dutch colonial, which I can honestly say I never thought I would be into but the potential out weighed anything else. The garage on the other hand, is to say the least pretty shot. The only real good thing it has going for it is the brand new roof, and the wood paneling inside. The electrical is horrible, I have been batteling rats, and there is a back addition on it that is nearly falling down, and has a dirt floor. The main garage area is about 20x20 and the addition is 10x14. The garage is detached and centered in the back of the house with a wrap around driveway going behind the house which is pretty convinient. Until I get most of the house remodeling done and I can aford to build a new big garage (something I just finished 2 years ago at the previous house) this will have to be made to work.

So I'll just get straight to the goods, the pictures.

The house





Here is the old place, we just left. This is my ladys first house she bought, I moved in with her, and I built a garage here because she didnt have one



Here is the garage I just left, nearing completion during the build. It wasnt huge, a decent 2.5 that did the job and gave me some space to work.





Here are a couple shots of the new old garage with my stuff just kind of piled in there.





this is what is lining the walls in the main area that I do like, it will make hanging stuff easy and strong, and it looks cool and rustic.



This is the back addition, the mess I will be transforming into my main fabbing area. It will be the area for all my equipment, band saw, drill press, bench grinder, upright sander, welders and so on.



It has this doorway that is all but lacking a door, it just has a screen door on it, that wouldnt keep anyone out if they felt the need.



looking back into the main garge area

 

[User-C3]

So this weekend I tackled the floor in the back area. I did a wood floor made entirely of repurposed wood, mostly pallets. The pallets I found locally from a company that posted them in the free section of craigslist as well as some others I scrounged up around the industrial area near my house.

For the open doorway I decided to board it up. I used some 2x6's the previous owner left in the yard. By the way these people left a bunch of random ****, a lot that has been getting tossed, but some materials that have been making themselves a bit useful. I left the top section open and I am trying to find a window to put in there to bring some light in.



I leveled off the dirt as much as possible and then laid down some roofing shingles the previous owners left in the garage to act as a moisture barrier and help with my little rodant friends from digging in under the floor.



I also had to jack up part of the roof and install a new post which is a 4x4. you can see the new one next to the other 2 that are rotted out at the bottoms. this made the roof sag quite a bit in that area.



the subfloor is just the pallets laid down next to each other. They worked out about as perfectly as I could of asked for being the long style pallets. one of them is completly 2x4 construction. I put that one in the area I was planning on putting my metal lathe.





Then I got to work breaking down the pallets I had collected to get the wood I needed for the floor.



I decided to lay the floor down on a 45 degree angle for strength and because I thought it would look a bit cooler.






And the finished product. Did I mention this floor didnt cost me a single dollar. That is the goal for this garage until I can build a new one. do everything as cheap as possible. I just dont want to spend money on this garage knowing it will be going in the future.

 

[User-C3]

Here is the work bench I built that is in one of the previous photos. I also used a large pallet for that.

 

[TEXINTEG]

I like the Pallet work.

 

[User-C3]

Before we moved I picked up this 1940's Clausing Lathe for $200. I will eventually get around to refurbishing it. Should clean up real nice, and work a lot better than the one I had. Or should I say the one I never had. lol

 

[Mr. 360]

Character is basically everything, and I think this one has a lot of it. Really diggin the skid-wood flooring, love the 0 cost approach. I'm planning on using some pallet wood on my walls, and I think this just confirmed my decision. I'll definitely be watching this thread, good work!

 

[User-C3]

Thanks, I checked out your thread last week and I like your approach as well. Making good use of a tight space.

 

[warmpancakes]

Michigan? Old house looks alot like redford Livonia area

 

[Bull]

I freaking love vintage, resourceful, creative builds like this!

Roofing shingles and pallets; I love it!

 

[cdd1]

OK, I see a Porsche, CTS-V, and a Corvette. All of them yours? Details are required!

Also, the flooring is very cool, nicely done.

 

[dgarage]

Good job!

 

[User-C3]

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated.

to touch on some of the questions,

warmpancakes- I am in michigan yes, just north of detroit.

cdd1- as far as the cars, the vette, the porsche are mine, sadly the v is a company car. I am in love with that v-series though. amazing.

thats what my space gets used for, building cars, and bikes, which is why I need to bring this one up to par with my standards of workspace comfort.

 

[Todd.Brock]

Awesome floor! That will last for years until you are ready for a rebuild!

While we should all be thankful for a job , you better consider yourself damn lucky for a CTSV company car!!

 

[User-C3]

Here are a few shots of the corvette.







The interior I am fabricating. There is still more work to do, this is not completed.





A little peak at whats going on under the hood of the vette

 

[deter]

nice work on the new garage. Im glad to see im not the only one putting band-aids on a garage that is planned for destruction

 

[stangguy78]

Very nice use of someone else's scraps for the floor. Holy cow, that Vette sure makes me wish I had one of the many C3's my grandpa had; that is an awesome ride.

 

[User-C3]

thanks guys.

Here are some of the latest chopper I built











and this is a gsxr 1000 streetfighter project I did a few years ago.



The porsche is a 78 SC and will be getting the full treatment of custom. It will actually be getting the LS1 motor thats in the vette right now. I picked up a 5.3 LS iron block motor a while back off Craigs List and sold off everything I didnt need or want, making a little more than I bought the motor for. I will be building that motor up for some big boost and it will be going in the vette. The porsche will be getting complete custom suspension, cantilevered F1 style with all custom control arms. I have some wheels for it already that are 17x11 in front and 17x14 out back. Needless to say in order to fit those monsters there will also be one serious widebody kit being sculpted for it as well.
Did I mention I am building this car for my girl?? Mainly just so I can watch reactions when she pulls up somewhere in it. lol and I want something she can enjoy.







In front of old garage




This guy was in the old garage for a little while. Cant claim it as mine though

 

[draglink]

I LOVE that floor!!

 

[cdd1]

Man, nice rides and pics.

and, um, a V as a company car? That's freaking great. You work at GM or an aftermarket tuner?

 

[User-C3]

thanks guys,
I work for GM design. Dont get me wrong I am not a supper baller over here, or some kind of big wig. I'm a clay and digital sculptor. The car is a company car from a program we have, sadly it was short lived and I no longer have the car.

 

[1Garageman]

I love the work you do, on the building and on the vehicles. I am defiantly keeping on eye on this thread!!

 

[bazzateer]

thanks guys,
I work for GM design. Dont get me wrong I am not a supper baller over here, or some kind of big wig. I'm a clay and digital sculptor.

good friend of mine does the same for Nissan Europe. Skillful guys!

Love that floor!

 

[User-C3]

The garage will be coming along a bit slower than I would like, but I feel a nice master suit is more pressing to take up my time in the house. I am also getting side tracked by leaking gass lines in the basement. I did find out this weekend that the garage is pretty much rotten undern it. The cement floor was poored after it was built, and seems to not be built on any kind of foundation, or rat wall, or anything brick or stone like to keep it from rotting away under itself. More on that subject in the future.
I did accomplish getting my window installed this weekend where the screen door was. I had to remove most of the 2x6's I had boarded it up with, but well worth it to be able to do a simple framing for a large window. I really wanted the light and to be able to open it when need be. The window, like that of the floor is reclaimed!





I didnt take any pictures, but the side access door on the garage was needless to say a bit loose. Loose to the point when you try and open it the entire frame fell out of the wall. Everything I find with this place just simply amazes me, people are so carless and lazy. Took me less than an hour to shim it correctly and nail it in place. Rest at ease, it now opens and closes as would expect from a door.

My heat source is coming together.



I picked this up a few months ago. wanted a nice small pot belly stove of just simple woodburning stove but everything was pretty pricy for what I was trying to spend. I found this cast iron outdoor unit and figured it would do the job just fine. Picked up a bunch of material to make my chinmney out the roof from Menards. Love that place!

instead of using the "wood stove chimney pipe" I opted for a much less expensive alternative. I will take these pipes and essentially creat my own insulated multi layer chimney for a fraction of the cost. I will post up details on that as I start to work on it. Probably not to code, but if you dont tell I wont have to come find you!



A bit more attempted organizing and its starting to come together to be something usable in the near future.

 

[NHBandit]

Very nice. I really like the way you're making use of someone elses junk. Brings back memories of the old 3 stall carriage house I worked out of for 30 years at my old place in NH. Even had several custom bikes and a couple Corvettes come out of that garage.

 

[User-C3]

I realized I didnt have any shots of the outside of the garage. Its nothing pretty to look at, lets face it its nothing pretty at all inside and out, but its what I'm working with for now.



Inside the house last night I dealt with a split beam supporting the dinning room. This is after pushing it halfway back together. It was split on this side in 2 spots and running like a champ.



This picture you can see the splits, but this after pushing the beam back together with itself



This was also on the other side of the same beam, not as bad, but on its way



notched out a new 2x8 to put in next to it







I have another 2x8 I was thinking of puting on the other side and tripling it up, but I am also thinking it may be over kill.....

 

[User-C3]

the car on the trailer in front of the garage was picked up yesterday. It's the only one, and at the moment just the bare fiberglass shell. A couple buddys and myself are now in the works of putting something together so we can build it from the ground up.

Can anyone guess what it is?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Subscribed. Very impressive.

 

[Maartenmk1]

Saleen S5S raptor?

Nice work, subscribed.

 

[lisiecki1]

Rear end looks lambo-ish.....

 

[User-C3]

Yes it is the raptor.

 

[User-C3]

Worked on the wood burner yesterday. I was able to finish the chimney and get everything all buttoned up. I need to paint the stack flat black as well as the mounts. Other than that its working well.

As I stated earlier I made my own insulated stack. I used double walled pipes both larger and smaller diameter. I then used some ductwork insulation to rap the smaller pipe and stuffed it inside the larger pipe. Works pretty well. I can touch the stack and its pretty warm at the bottom where it connects and as far as I can reach up its cool to the touch.



to attache the stack, I had to cut off the flared part of the chimnea. I then flipped it over on itself and had a reducer that fit perfectly over the top of it.















It works great, Im super pumped about it. I just hope it radiates enough heat.

 

[User-C3]

I got a bit done on the master bath in the house. I love old houses, but also hate them. The plaster walls always remind me of the movies.



I was able to get the sink and toilet out and started taking down the seperating wall between the bathroom and the bedroom. The good news is its not a load barring wall.






and just because

 

[BRIANBB]

Wow. If I built a floor like that here in Texas I would have every termite within walking distance show up and bring friends to boot!

 

[k p]

Very cool place! I love your pallet floor idea, good call on having the boards on a 45. I am very jealous of your wood stove, I would do the same but the red tape is too thick. Keep on keepin on!

 

[User-C3]

thanks for the compliments guys. I'm glad everyone loves the floor, I do too. mostly the price tag of it. Its amazing what the floor did to the space. before I didnt want to even go in that area, it just felt like an unusable area, the floor changed all that.

I've been working hard on demoing the upstairs in the master. Sent off the first fully loaded 30 cf dumpster (most of which was filled from the basement walls we took down) and having another one delivered today.

After getting the separating wall down from the bedroom to the bathroom we noticed how bad the ceiling was sagging. I started ripping it down to find 2 layers of drywall and a 5 or 6 inches of sag between the 2 of them. Not to mention the water damage that they covered with the 2nd layer that let the mold fester and build.
I hate lazy people...






She likes throwing the sledge through things. Not for very long though.



This is the built in thats in the hall. I was planning on using the resesed area of it for a resesed door into the bedroom and walling up the existing one. We decided to just get rid of it and flush it with the wall to maximize the bedroom space.





this last picture you can also see the old closet the previous owners had built. that came out as well.









I still have the entire bathroom floor to take up. All of which is cement... horrible

I also exposed the chimney from the fireplace downstairs. There was some pretty old wall paper on it. I am exposing the brick on it and will be building a type of fo fireplace there with the exposed brick on top. aka candle fireplace.

 

[Garage Coffee Roaster]

A lot of work. But will be worth it.

 

[Ed Litsch]

Cool place!! I love the garage, the cars and everything you did with the place. Keep us posted with the pictures!! Good luck!!

 

[Jere]

Lots of cool stuff going on, I will be watching this one.

For your wood stove, might want to move the stove and have an "L" shape with the chimney. The way you have it now looks like all the heat will straight up and out. You will get more heat running the stack pipe horizontally so the chimney will radiate most of the heat.

 

[warmpancakes]

did the saleen body come from new haven?


also if you need more pallets I have some 60x60s at work in wixom

 

[User-C3]

A lot of work. But will be worth it.

You got that right, on both accounts. Thanks.

Cool place!! I love the garage, the cars and everything you did with the place. Keep us posted with the pictures!! Good luck!!

Thanks, will do. I prefer more pictures than talking.

Lots of cool stuff going on, I will be watching this one.

For your wood stove, might want to move the stove and have an "L" shape with the chimney. The way you have it now looks like all the heat will straight up and out. You will get more heat running the stack pipe horizontally so the chimney will radiate most of the heat.

Thats a very good point with the heat. I dont really have the space inside to move it anywhere else, but I have been thinking about other ways to do get more of the heat out of it. I have still yet to light a real fire in there and see how it heats it up. I have been thinking a lot about the heat exchangers that go in the stack and blow air through it. Might try making one of those if it doesnt do the job.

did the saleen body come from new haven?


also if you need more pallets I have some 60x60s at work in wixom

Thanks for the heads up on the pallets, good to know. The body did not come from new haven, we picked it up locally. We are encountering a bit ofnegative effects from it though, and may have to soon give it back due to liabilitys and what not. Lame!! But we will see its not for sure yet.

Really appreciate all the compliments and opinions. I love hearing opinions and critiques about what I do, helps keep the creativity flowing.