Recent content by txvoyager

Flooring... And walls Since this is The Garage Journal, its about time to start work on creating the garage and workshop, huh? I ordered flooring for the workshop from Garage Flooring LLC and couldn't be happier so far. You can see the details here: HD Diamond Tile The floor planner on their...

With the sheetrock bedded and taped and then textured, it was time to begin to trim out the interior. My daughter has a friend who built our cabinets to spec, and we chose to make all of our cabinet, built-in desk and vanity surfaces from the same granite. Once the cabinet and...

Time to get all the interior walls closed up... With electrical and plumbing done, my son and I took a day to run all the low voltage cabling. (There will be 4 security cameras: front door and driveway so we can see who is there from upstairs, workshop so my wife can find me and greatroom really...

For peak energy efficiency and comfort, we foamed all exterior walls and in between the rafters, making the entire building conditioned space (no cold/hot attic). It's a messy process, but the results are excellent.

With the framing complete and the home enclosed, awaiting the masons, the plumbing and electrical could start. Our plumbing is entirely PEX lines with the water line coming up through the slab in an exterior wall (easy access in case of any needed future access) to a manifold then distributed...

After spending too many hours messing around with shingle replacement at our last home due to a poorly-installed roof, we decided on a steel roof for this home. Glad it was someone other then I who installed it! Hardy plank siding for the non-masonry areas, windows, exterior doors...

Once the exterior gets cladded with OSB, the final shape of the building emerges. The workshop (15x29) is behind the 12x9 garage door to the left. The two-car garage is to the right with the foyer and staircase headed up off the small porch in the middle. The large area above the workshop is the...

Oh yeah... The OTHER utility... We are on an aerobic system, typical of this area. Our soil has too high a clay content to allow the more typical leech systems that we were more familiar with from up north (we moved here from Minnesota). The system consists of a couple of HUGE tanks, the last...

Unfortunately the big tools all belong to contractors... Id really like one of those mulchers, but, according to the owner its about $150k...

Of course the next step is framing. Its amazing how quickly this seems to go. taking a concept drawn on blueprints to lumber defining all of the spaces of the new building is always very cool... The workshop... Inside, the greatroom with the bedroom off to the left side. The laundry...

With forms set, the next big step was to have the concrete poured. The slab is just under 1500 sq/ft. At this point, the workshop begins to take shape! The recess for the motorcycle table lift, the in-floor lights and the PVC pipe for the Max Jax hydraulic line are the first steps. Each of...

Since the property was completely undeveloped (has always been a cattle pasture to our knowledge) we needed to bring in utilities, a whole new learning process. Water lines were across the street on our east and south sides, meaning that we would need a bore under the street to reach us...

As another aside, living in a trailer on the job site isn't for everyone. We bought the camper specifically for this project and it will be sold when we're finally moved in to the Carriage House. Great to be close to each day's progress, but a challenge to live in the mud and mess...

Meanwhile, it became obvious that I was going to need a tractor to handle a lot of the projects that we'd attempt -- loading and unloading material, clearing land, moving hay bales (two horses), etc. After looking at a dozen or so used tractors and every brand I could find, I chose a 35HP...

Forms for the concrete were set and in-slab plumbing completed. I designed the plan so that there are no water lines in the slab and only the absolutely necessary drain lines. Our soil moves a great deal and slab issues are not uncommon, so I wanted to minimize any future issues. Because of...