23x38 Overhaul in MN

[h0uli]

I recently purchased a house after years of renting and was fortunate enough to find a property with an existing 23x38 garage. At some point prior to my ownership an addition was done to the back of the building to bring it to its current size. They left half of existing end wall and cobbled together a sliding door to close off the rear section. It has a 40A sub panel which is a nice starting point for my re-wiring.

In preparation for winter I am hoping to complete the following work:

- Remove the dividing wall
- Complete re-wire
- LED lighting
- Replace existing windows with more efficient insulated windows
- Install R-13 fiberglass in the walls
- Sheetrock the ceiling and install blown in insulation
- Run underground gas line and data conduit from the house to garage
- Install a gas heater

I'm excited to finally own a place and get to work. Here are some progress pictures:

These first few are 'before' shots and the start of tearing down the dividing wall. I'm trying to work around my move-in mess. It feels really big with the old end wall completely removed!

 

[h0uli]

These pictures bring the project up to date. There is a gate mounted to the outside of the garage that was bolted through some 2x4s that were face nailed to the studs. I removed those, notched the studs and installed blocking to keep the gate from compressing the sheathing into the stud cavity. Everything now sits flush and is ready for drywall.





I picked up a bunch of faced R-13 fiberglass at auction and got the electrical panel cleared out, insulated behind, re-mounted and ready for new circuits.

 

[h0uli]

Here's an update on the progress I've made over the last week or so.

Lighting is wired and most of my fixtures are installed. I'm using 48" T8 LED tubes at 4000K. I have (8) 4 bulb fixtures that I got for free on CL. They are evenly distributed through the space and (3) 2 bulb fixtures I had existing mounted over what will be a workbench across the back wall.



Garage door circuit wired



The biggest item checked off the list is the replacement of the old window on the back wall. I picked up this awesome 96x24" window on CL.











Not pictured but also finished is installation of all electrical boxes and wiring for the 2x20A circuits that will serve each side of the interior.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Will S.]

Very nice work, and good progress. Keep'em coming.
Did you convert the 8 light fixtures to LED? Interested in whether you removed the ballasts, or simply use the LED tubes that work off the old ballasts.

 

[isonic]

I picked up a bunch of faced R-13 fiberglass at auction

Looking forward to updates! Where 'abouts in Minneapolis are you? I am north in the burbs. What auction did you go to to score the insulation?

 

[h0uli]

Very nice work, and good progress. Keep'em coming.
Did you convert the 8 light fixtures to LED? Interested in whether you removed the ballasts, or simply use the LED tubes that work off the old ballasts.

Thank you! The previous owner of the fixtures had converted them to LED by removing the ballast. I had to make sure to order opposite end wired bulbs in order for them to be compatible.

Looking forward to updates! Where 'abouts in Minneapolis are you? I am north in the burbs. What auction did you go to to score the insulation?

I'm also just outside the cities in Mounds View. I've had good luck with K-bid for buying building materials. I just scored 8 bags of blown in insulation for the garage attic last weekend.

 

[isonic]

I'm also just outside the cities in Mounds View. I've had good luck with K-bid for buying building materials. I just scored 8 bags of blown in insulation for the garage attic last weekend.

Cool, I will check out K-bid. And small world, I am in mounds View too!

 

[h0uli]

I've made good progress since my last update, here are the big items:

At some point a previous owner had added on to the garage. The connection between new and old building wasn't good at the top plate. Because the top plate was not continuous across the connection point it was causing a high spot in the trusses which translated to a visible 'hump' in the roofline.

I started by temporarily bracing the connection point. you can see the vertical seam in the top plate where the new and old structures meet.



I cut out both 2x4s in the top plate and installed new ones to span the gap and overlapped the seams.



I then had to get a little creative to pull everything in place. Used the loader on my Kubota BX to pull the trusses down and attach them to the top plate. Everything is straight now.



Then I moved on to another window install. I got a great deal on this brand new Pella double hung window on marketplace so it went in to replace one of the old single pane awning windows. It's done now but I don't have a finished picture .

 

[h0uli]

Continued from post #8, a small teaser of the materials I have waiting to be installed.

I pulled a very burly shelf and lots of square tube from the scrap bin at work. Should be enough square tube for a large workbench build once the interior is finished out.



Through multiple auction wins and craigslist deals I have amassed everything else needed to finish out the garage except drywall. Gas line/risers, electrical conduit, blown in insulation for the attic, R-13 fiberglass for the walls and a 50k Mr. Heater unit to keep everything warm.

 

[h0uli]

I've made a bunch of progress but haven't taken many pictures. I do have a before/after shot of the exterior lighting I installed recently.

Before:


After:

 

[E.rodz]

welcome to the site and glad to hear you have got some space to create your slice of paradise. keep the pictures coming.and congratulations on your new house!