Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Denver MCM garage expansion

[kwyjibo]

I signed up the '79 528i sedan for the Colorado Concours (a fundraiser carshow in a few weeks) as an incentive to get the project moving and because the coupe is sitting on the dealer's showroom. The interior is back together for the first time in about a year. I took the door panels off to fix the window motors but then decided to fix/clean the panels, too. Then I got sidetracked on some other projects. One of these days I'll make new boards but for now the few puffy areas from delamination don't bother me too much. At that time I'll redo the wood trim properly, for now I stripped the cracked and faded varnish and applied a poly finish which should protect it until then. It's looking like the delayed garage construction will push the 5-speed swap until fall or winter.

 

[kwyjibo]

Finally! A garage update - some demo and prep work.
And a photo of the 528i from the car show.

 

[TahitianGreen]

Man, even as is the exterior of your garage is lovely.

 

[kwyjibo]

Sorry about the lack of updates. In addition to the obvious photobucket fiasco, we said goodbye to our dog and goodbye to the contractor (both back in June). The garage work stopped at that point. The concrete work should start again next week so I hope to start updating the garage expansion soon. I've started uploading photos to replace the photobucket ransom notes.

One of the last photos of our girl:

 

[cash68]

Sorry about your dog man. Can't imagine losing mine; luckily I was told she would live forever so I think I'm good.

 

[kwyjibo]

Thanks Cash. She was a great girl.

A long awaited update. We're waiting on the rain so that the slab can be poured. With all the delays so far, what's one more? and it'll give the backfill more time to settle. It is nice to not have the backyard look like a WWI movie set.
Also, the window order is underway but I was given a 6-8 week time frame.

 

[Mpower5266]

Sorry about your dog, but it looks like she had a great life. RIP

 

[TahitianGreen]

My condolences about your pup.

 

[kwyjibo]

Thanks Mpower and Tahitian, it's been a few months but the house still feels strangely quiet.

After more than a few no-shows by the concrete guys, a big surprise to see this going on Saturday (yesterday) afternoon:

 

[kwyjibo]

Woohoo! The project finally has some momentum.

I wanted the addition to be completely open, which meant that we needed a steel I-beam to span 20' unsupported across the room. I'll finish it by sheathing it with wood to match the other beams. Lumber is scheduled for delivery tomorrow.

 

[cash68]

Loving it. You live in my dream home.

 

[TahitianGreen]

Progress! I dig it.

 

[kwyjibo]

Spoke too soon... one wall got framed and then questions about building codes and details came up. Waiting on the architect and structural engineer to answer.

In the meantime, borrowed a friend's truck and picked up some cedar siding. The lumber yard doesn't get many non-pro customers so they didn't have any rope to secure the load and my friend doesn't keep anything in the truck, so I used some strapping from the trash. Pretty sure that I gave some people on the road a good pre-Halloween scare Some of the boards are over twice as long as the truck bed so I stacked the short boards as far forward to counterbalance - it was surprisingly stable but I was afraid that the boards would snap on the drive home.

The longest boards barely fit inside the garage.

for reference, the rendering shows where some of the siding is planned

 

[jimmie jam]

Very nice. You will make a lot of progress now...

 

[TahitianGreen]

My goodness your neighborhood is gorgeous.

 

[kwyjibo]

Very nice. You will make a lot of progress now...

My goodness your neighborhood is gorgeous.

Thanks guys! The house across the street is THE house that magazines and realtors have used as the standard for the neighborhood. We get lots of foot and vehicular traffic from gawkers.
I'll post update photos soon. But I wanted post a photo from this morning: I met some friends for breakfast before playing parasitic-car-tourist (I hitched rides) in other cars.

 

[cash68]

What type of wood is that, that you're going to be using on the exterior?

 

[kwyjibo]

What type of wood is that, that you're going to be using on the exterior?

That's clear tongue and groove 1x6 cedar. It'll get the same Penofin oil treatment as the privacy screen in the front. Speaking of which, I finished another section by the front gate. I still need to add the cap but a bunch of my tools - including router - are still in storage so that will have to wait.

The power company showed up to replace transformers and poles on our block. So of course the day was cut short because of the power outage. Bigass wooden beam is up and you can kind of see the window and sliding door openings. Hope that the last wall is framed and sheathing up tomorrow.

 

[kwyjibo]

Quick update on almost done framing.

and looking across to the house:

 

[Brian R]

Great thread. Love the design and your cars.

How do you handle snow with flat roofs?

Apologize if you have already addressed that - I haven't read every post yet.

 

[kwyjibo]

Great thread. Love the design and your cars.

How do you handle snow with flat roofs?

Apologize if you have already addressed that - I haven't read every post yet.

Thanks Brian! I've enjoyed the thread on your house, too.
Denver gets about 5' of snow annually, but unlike the East Coast, it will usually warm up (sometimes to the high 70s) between storms. Often the snow will last only a couple days, so it doesn't build up. In NH, there were places on our property that wouldn't see direct sunlight for 5-6 months because of the snow piles. We've been in this house for 3 years and only had one problem when a falling branch punctured the TPO membrane.

Update: I've attached two photos from today - one from the back yard and the other looking through the garage to the back. I moved all the siding and remaining tools to the other garage and removed the temporary wall that was separating the two spaces, so now I can get a feel for the tandem garage space.

 

[TahitianGreen]

Holy cow that looks spacious. Big yard too from the looks of it (for being in a city)

 

[kwyjibo]

Holy cow that looks spacious. Big yard too from the looks of it (for being in a city)

The original garage was roughly 24x20 and the addition is 20x16, so its significantly larger than when we started (But it is smaller than I originally planned). When the new parking spot is occupied, the work area will be about 16x10. I'm sure at some point I'll be wishing for more but given that I previously worked in a couple feet at the end of the garage or on the driveway, the new space will be a luxury.

you're right, the yards in the neighborhood are pretty reasonable for being in the city. The back fence is about 25' from the house so there's enough space for a few fruit trees and garden.

I've uploaded a couple photos from yesterday's small progress. I picked up my router and finished the fence cap. The rocks are also in place around the apricot tree.

 

[kwyjibo]

Finally had more lumber delivered, including OSB for the wall sheathing. Still missing the boards for fascia....

 

[kwyjibo]

And now that the long Thanksgiving weekend is over, the sheathing is up.

 

[cash68]

The original garage was roughly 24x20 and the addition is 20x16, so its significantly larger than when we started (But it is smaller than I originally planned). When the new parking spot is occupied, the work area will be about 16x10. I'm sure at some point I'll be wishing for more but given that I previously worked in a couple feet at the end of the garage or on the driveway, the new space will be a luxury.

you're right, the yards in the neighborhood are pretty reasonable for being in the city. The back fence is about 25' from the house so there's enough space for a few fruit trees and garden.

I've uploaded a couple photos from yesterday's small progress. I picked up my router and finished the fence cap. The rocks are also in place around the apricot tree.

What kind of wood is this?

 

[kwyjibo]

What kind of wood is this?

Western Red Cedar - clear for the boards facing the street and knotty for the others to save some $. Treated with transparent Penofin Premium.

Updates:
- window delivery is delayed until mid-Dec. Oh well.
- I couldn't find a perfect match to the original T1-11 siding. I ordered a stack of the closest match.
- Roofers said that they would be here soon.
- Electrician dropped off some supplies and should be starting as soon as the framing inspection is done.

 

[kwyjibo]

Roofers didn't show up on Friday so I thought that I'd be screwed for the rain/snow predicted to start on Monday. Nope. They came this morning (Saturday).

And... we have a roof!!! The photo is from sunset - They didn't finish trimming and are coming back next week but we should be waterproof.

I forgot to mention earlier that I decided to move some concrete pavers to the otherside of the front yard. One of the slabs was cracked during the concrete work and the fact that it was the one right at the future site of the front door, I decided to move them to a less traveled (less seen) path. This photo shows where they were before. You can see the temporary plywood walkway to the front door and the trench I'm working on for future drainage.

And here they are in their permanent home, leading to the side yard. I still need to find a good source for the black beach pebbles.

 

[TahitianGreen]

I like that low fence in the last picture.

 

[jimmie jam]

The pavers look great! When you find a reasonable source for the black river rocks, do tell...they are very expensive here too.

 

[cash68]

So is that just white elastomeric roof goo?

 

[kwyjibo]

I like that low fence in the last picture.

Thank you. The only problem is that it's apparently the perfect height for the squirrels to sit on while they enjoy their pine nut breakfast so there's a pile of chewed up pine cones and poop on it every morning.

The pavers look great! When you find a reasonable source for the black river rocks, do tell...they are very expensive here too.

I've gone to many dealers in the area and these rocks are consistently 2-3 times more than the next-most expensive rocks!

So is that just white elastomeric roof goo?

Basically, but they like to call it TPO (thermoplastic olefin). Both the house and garage had it when we moved in. It's been a good roof so far and we don't have any complaints. Our neighbors with the original tar and gravel have constant leaking problems.

The electrician is planning to install the new panel and move the service loop and meter next week so I need to have the location ready for him - I want to have the area painted before he installs. It has been freezing here for the last couple of days so my board priming was delayed. But I managed to get a few boards hung and painted by this evening. I got a coat of paint onto the fascia board so I can actually see the color combo together for the first time.

OK, strange lighting in the last photo. THis one shows a more accurate picture of the grey color. You can also see the pale pea soup (aka puke) color that is currently infesting our walls in the background.

 

[TahitianGreen]

I like the pea green color

Grey will look great too though.

 

[kwyjibo]

We thought that we'd like the green better but something about it just looked like faded, old paint, even when it was new. It was sad to feel like the house needed a new coat of paint every time we drove up.

Not much to add today, just finished the siding on the wall up to the junction with the existing siding. I plan to replace the old stuff after the addition is 'complete'.

 

[kwyjibo]

Let there be light! The electrician moved the service and meter to the corner of the addition by mid-afternoon. The attached photo is from about noon, after the panel and mast were installed. If anyone in the Denver/Loveland area needs a great electrician, I highly recommend Brandon at Infinity Electric.
Now, if the windows would just show up....

 

[kwyjibo]

Weekend recap:
The windows showed up last Thursday! The installers got the garage windows at least tacked in so the garage is now "weather tight". I asked them to finish the sliding door so that I could finish the siding up to it over the weekend - the electrician comes back this week to wire it up and will be installing boxes for an exterior outlet and a sconce on that wall. btw, that is a temporary solution for the downspout.

And taking a few steps back, you can see the windows around the corner. The ones on the house are also being replaced so that they all match. I've been focusing on the garage so the drainage project has just been an open trench for a while. The drains will have to wait because next on my list is to hang the horizontal cedar siding under the windows.

Update on the contents of the garage: a friend's garage condo was recently completed and he's letting the BMW stay for a while. It's got some interesting company.

 

[jimmie jam]

Looking very good! I kinda like the pea green, but I'm just crazy like that. You will find that the finishing details will take the most effort to get completed...you are on your way!

 

[cash68]

S4 gts?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Subscribed!

 

[kwyjibo]

Looking very good! I kinda like the pea green, but I'm just crazy like that. You will find that the finishing details will take the most effort to get completed...you are on your way!

Being relatively new to the area, I'm spending a lot of time sourcing materials. Luckily one of my friends is a native and has remodeled a few houses so he's been very helpful in sending me in the right directions.

S4 gts?

S4. Owner is lurking - we'll see if he adds more details.

Subscribed!

Thanks for reading. It was slow going at the beginning while we waited for permitting, but I hope to get to the more interesting bits soon.

Today's update:
Spartacote polyaspartic coating on floors. I bit the bullet and got the floors coated. I was thinking of putting off the decision for a while but then I would have to move everything (cars, cabinets, and junk) again. Honestly, I just wanted it to be done so that I could go on with the finishing touches.