Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT My 1st Garage Journal

[Idle Serge]

looking great. I think you should fence off the front of the space in your last pic and the just build a lean-to type structure (roof only) , then install a gate on the back yard end. then you have a semi protected space for yard equipment, extra lawn chairs, etc.
jim

I agree with madoc1. Fence it off and put the roof in and have it as a somewhat protected area

Fencing off is definitely in order! I'll ask my contractor about pricing on the lean-to type and see what's cost efficient--I like the idea

I'm pondering the idea of an automated gate infront of the garage but the sliding gates are super expensive

Thanks for chiming in gents! I greatly appreciate it!

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Keep the grass on the tall side, it needs to develop a good root structure in the soil and roots go as deep as the blades on top are tall, on most grasses. Longer leaf of grass collects more moisture, more sunlight and is generally all around better. Keep it tall and it will grow lush.

Charles

 

[madoc1]

sliding gates may be expensive, but gate openers are not. most people around here with an entrance have them. I think about $250 with the solar panel and remote. places like tractor supply have them.

 

[Idle Serge]

Keep the grass on the tall side, it needs to develop a good root structure in the soil and roots go as deep as the blades on top are tall, on most grasses. Longer leaf of grass collects more moisture, more sunlight and is generally all around better. Keep it tall and it will grow lush.

Charles

Thanks for the info Mr. Charles!

sliding gates may be expensive, but gate openers are not. most people around here with an entrance have them. I think about $250 with the solar panel and remote. places like tractor supply have them.

Auto Swinging gate is my top option at this point! I'll look into it! Thanks!

 

[Idle Serge]

Had a really good day yesterday Got a nice breakfast, coffee delivered to my office, a nice BBQ gathering surrounded by friends and family, Sister in law and nephews made me an awesome cake, and to my surprise!!! I got some pretty neat things

Coop got me my tool box!!! Oldest brother got me a storage rack for wheels and Grandma got me a Milwaukee hand truck! Plus a vintage horseshoe set from my father-in-law and a bunch of gift cards



My Birthday was a good day :buddy:

 

[dubber]

happy bday

 

[Idle Serge]

happy bday

Thanks dubber!

 

[sean Buick 76]

Wow, you must be a pretty good guy to get all those presents!

 

[HSpencer]

Your doing really great investments in the home. I like your lawn and landscaping. The neighborhood also looks like a quiet and pleasing place to live.

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

 

[Idle Serge]

Wow, you must be a pretty good guy to get all those presents!

I try to be My father always told me to respect others and be polite. Simple, right? But a lot of my generation has lost the basics of being human

Your doing really great investments in the home. I like your lawn and landscaping. The neighborhood also looks like a quiet and pleasing place to live.

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

Thanks Mr. Spencer! The neighborhood, for the most part, is extremely quiet. Somewhat older part of town so there's more mature residents

 

[Idle Serge]

There's several things I want to get done on my car so I decided to work with what I have now and leave the garage as is...at least for a few months. I'm going to let the heat die down a bit and come fall time start on the wiring, insulate and put up plywood

 

[Idle Serge]

Not much to report--too many things going on at the moment but I did start leveling out the back yard and outside the fence a bit with a tractor I borrowed from maintenance at work:



I'm also trying to prep the ground in front of the garage for concrete and I can't help but notice how dang hard it is...



There's also another long strip along side the fence

Garage is still the same with a crack already going down the middle--not happy about it.

 

[Idle Serge]

Man, it's been months since I've gotten anything done :/ nothing ever goes as planned--I hope things start picking up soon.

Anyhow, finally found time and some dry weather to set the forms and get em ready for the curb I need to put in to prevent the down pour from the alley way which will be a higher grade then the driveway itself



1st time doing anything like this on my own so it's obviously not a piece of art but I'll be getting the mud for free to fill this form in. Downfall is that I don't know when that will actually happen




And that's all I got...lawn seems to have taken a heavy beaten this winter season--it seems to have gotten thin and patchy I hope some extra seed and fertilizer will do the trick this spring. Other than that, the fence needs to go up and I need to get rid of alittle more dirt.

 

[dubber]

/\ Great idea/project to tackle. Hope it all works out for you.

 

[sean Buick 76]

Great to see an update, keep on trucking!

 

[Idle Serge]

/\ Great idea/project to tackle. Hope it all works out for you.

Thank you kind SiR!

Great to see an update, keep on trucking!

Thanks for checking in--I hope I can keep the updates coming

 

[yellowz03]

Great work so far! Lots of time, effort, and money, but what a difference! As far as your curb goes, I'm not sure if you're 100% finished, but may I suggest adding some kickers to the side of your formwork. Add some 2x4's at a 45 degree angle (or less of an angle) to keep the form from wobbling out of plum as you pour the concrete. Something like this:

Just throw a couple nails into through the kicker into the form (as pictured above) and spike a stake in the ground behind the kicker to prevent it from moving. You can also wedge some 2x4's on the other side of the form in between the dirt and form to prevent movement on that side. It may seem like a small amount of concrete, but if the form blows then its already too late. Might as well take a little extra time to brace it up. Looking forward to more updates as well!

 

[Idle Serge]

Great work so far! Lots of time, effort, and money, but what a difference! As far as your curb goes, I'm not sure if you're 100% finished, but may I suggest adding some kickers to the side of your formwork. Add some 2x4's at a 45 degree angle (or less of an angle) to keep the form from wobbling out of plum as you pour the concrete. Something like this:

Just throw a couple nails into through the kicker into the form (as pictured above) and spike a stake in the ground behind the kicker to prevent it from moving. You can also wedge some 2x4's on the other side of the form in between the dirt and form to prevent movement on that side. It may seem like a small amount of concrete, but if the form blows then its already too late. Might as well take a little extra time to brace it up. Looking forward to more updates as well!

Awesome--thanks for the reference; it's a great idea! I would assume the 4 stakes I have along the exposed side won't be enough? I could as a few more as I still have about 4 spares but I also have plenty of 2x4s as you can tell from what came out of the garage floor lol

 

[yellowz03]

Haha, I did spot those when you were in demo mode. I would definitely beef up what you have there. Adding the kickers won't take much time at all. Even if the bottom held with the 4 stakes you currently have, chances are the top will push outward somewhat and you'll be left with a not so pretty curb. If you put the stakes every 4 ft. you should be ok on the bottom as long as they're in the ground pretty good. Make sure to brace both forms on the bottom. You could even do something like this on the top from one form to the other to brace the other side:

http://www.cmu.edu/cdfd/images/mmch/044-forming-up-the-little-wall-for-flood-protection.jpg

Just make sure you give yourself a little clearance (as they did in the picture) so you have room to trowel and finish the concrete.

Edit: Changed the picture to just the link because its HUGE. But it'll give you some nice detail.

 

[Idle Serge]

You're absolutely right--I'll need to beef it up a bit; thanks for taking the time to help a young-in' out!

 

[yellowz03]

No prob! There are lots of great guys on this site with tons of knowledge. Hopefully they chime in as well and you can pool ideas together. There are some awesome concrete projects floating around the site.

 

[Ripcurl]

I am always so jealous when I see people installing air conditioners... Meanwhile in Canada, -40*C 8 months of the year.

Garage is coming along nicely! Looking forward to updates.

 

[xtremek]

Looks good. Can't wait to see the finished product. All of it, not just the garage.

 

[Idle Serge]

No prob! There are lots of great guys on this site with tons of knowledge. Hopefully they chime in as well and you can pool ideas together. There are some awesome concrete projects floating around the site.

Yes--there's lots going on in here; it's rather addictive

I am always so jealous when I see people installing air conditioners... Meanwhile in Canada, -40*C 8 months of the year.

Garage is coming along nicely! Looking forward to updates.

hahaha but that calls for a nice fire place!

Looks good. Can't wait to see the finished product. All of it, not just the garage.

Thank you gentlemen! I will update when ever I actually have some! I'll be around

 

[Idle Serge]

Added more stakes plus some 2X4's to secure the forms from splitting



Concrete guy said that should be sufficient but he will give it a look over soon--otherwise it won't get poured till sometime next week :/ better late than never.


EDIT: As I look at the pic Me. yellowz03 posted in the link, I should have added a small 2X4 under each one to allow for finishing touches...which now I realize that's exactly what Mr. yellow commented lol my noobness has prevailed once again

 

[Idle Serge]

Well, the curb was actually poured today so slab should be in tomorrow:



Framed it up last night:



Around noon, today, they should be wrapping things up:

 

[dubber]

I bet your excited hahaha.

 

[Idle Serge]

I bet your excited hahaha.

Boy was I!




AAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNND now I'm uber excited

 

[dubber]

Awesome. That will change the look and feel of the whole area. I like that you wrapped around to attach to the walkway.

 

[bonecrrusher]

What are the poles for?

 

[Idle Serge]

Awesome. That will change the look and feel of the whole area. I like that you wrapped around to attach to the walkway.

haha yea I figured it would be a good idea to have somewhere to walk on without having to cut thru the lawn...or dirt in this case

What are the poles for?

I will be putting my fence back up--instead of using 4X4 post, I will use these post in place of them. I'll add more pics later this weekend.

I bet you were going to suggest to add a car port?? Maybe I still can...

 

[classicJackets]

Awesome progress! Love to see a garage coming together and glad you're soon to be putting it to full use!

Was the rest of the house in as bad of overall shape as the garage? Out of curiosity..
Doug

 

[hobbs4002]

nice work, love all the space you have.... subscribed!

 

[Bib Overalls]

Nice looking project. I am currently insulating my shop and adding finished walls. I'm using OSB. Soaks up a lot of paint but even so, it is cheaper than having a pro hang and finish drywall. In a garage the OSB walls will give you a lot of options for hanging stuff.

 

[Idle Serge]

Awesome progress! Love to see a garage coming together and glad you're soon to be putting it to full use!

Was the rest of the house in as bad of overall shape as the garage? Out of curiosity..
Doug

Thank you for the support!

As far as the foundation, it was solid! Updated electrical, new windows and new roof! But the rest needed some work so we renovated all floors, painted walls with new trim and a custom kitchen plus bathroom.





I'll have to look up some of the before pics

nice work, love all the space you have.... subscribed!

Thanks for tuning in! I hope to start electrical sometime soon!

Nice looking project. I am currently insulating my shop and adding finished walls. I'm using OSB. Soaks up a lot of paint but even so, it is cheaper than having a pro hang and finish drywall. In a garage the OSB walls will give you a lot of options for hanging stuff.

Yes! I had the same idea! no real use for drywall in a shop

Thanks everyone for the support!

 

[Idle Serge]

Did some work over the weekend on the driveway--leveled it out a tad and left some room for improvement but plans to bring a blade so we can fine tune vs using the front loader/bucket; also plenty of room to fill it in with gravel:



Now we have even more dirt to get rid of :/





In the back ground you can see I started putting up the fence



Busy weekend to say the least...so busy I didn't get much more pics at all of what all I did :/

 

[PPihana]

Great looking site. Storage shed and deck rebuild on tap for this summer so I'll be looking for lots of help.

R/PPP

 

[dubber]

Great job inside the house man. Really dig the look. Nice touch turning the back-splash the other way.

I wanna see those before pics.

 

[Idle Serge]

Great looking site. Storage shed and deck rebuild on tap for this summer so I'll be looking for lots of help.

R/PPP

You're in the right place! A lot to learn and see on this forum--you can utilize it to your benefit, to say the least haha

Great job inside the house man. Really dig the look. Nice touch turning the back-splash the other way.

I wanna see those before pics.

I'm glad you noticed the back-splash lol we didn't know if it would turn out but I think it was a nice touch after-all

Wanna see befores huh...k

Kitchen :blah:





Back enter/Mudroom (entire room will see new floors and paint--blue doors will be sanded and refinished wht)





Living room (current carpet was really nice and soft but the color was not what we are going for) New carpet going in, mouldings, chair rail and debating about trying to get the fire place moved--it's in an odd spot when it comes to trying to determain where to mount the tv :/ it's a really nice open space tho.







Bedroom one--we will refinish the original hardwood floors in here (not pictured yet) and stain em a nice dark shade.



Bedroom two--only pic I have atm; closet will be taken done and made smaller to make room for dresser (mood room has alot of storage that we will more than likely use as storage) like stated prior, new paint, carpet etc.



Bathroom:

 

[Idle Serge]

Time for a minor update--haven't been able to do much, like usual; too much to do and not enough time or energy to tackle all of it.

Anyhow, finished off the fence by the garage:





And I also got the front one up--had my cousin come help me all day lol:



With the side of the house finally blocked off, I decided to get some sort of "shed" to store all the unwanted things and stuff I didn't want in the garage out of there and into here...so I come across the harbor freight ad and notice a 10'X17' "Portable Garage" for $199 and obviously I used another 20% off coupon and got it for under 175 bucks out the door.



Open it's contents and just get right to it:







According to the reviews, most were taking an average of 6 hours! I couldn't figure out why...





And after that is when we started struggling...the space was too tight for us to put the legs in so we had to bring it out then once assembled back in it went. after a few hiccups due to the instructions being a little vague and deceiving we got the tarp out in 5mins and it was all said and done:






I'm sure I'll fill the sucker up in no time flat lol

As far as the quality of the HF Portable Garage, it's seems fairly sturdy but there was one part that would prob send some owners straight back:

One of the corner "Ts" was poorly angled when welded--but thanks to the support bars that go on the bottom it straightened out the leg well enough for me to brush it off:



Otherwise, for under 200 bucks, I'm extremely content as of now lol

That's all I got! Now to make some sort of tables out of all these 2x4s to keep things off the ground for when it rains lol