Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT My collection of garages….

[shaune]

I first joined here 2006 (holy ****, that long ago) as I had decided it was time to add onto my existing 22x24. I tried to buy my neighbour’s property with a garage on it but at that time we did not agree on a price so I thought I will add on to my existing. I have always fully intended to document this with pictures and keep it updated……I have also intended on exercising each week and learn to play the piano …. i successfully provide disappointment with ease.

So, once the background details were sorted out, lots of graph paper with measurements of cars and equipment. No computer drawings, no architectural engineers, no beauty designers…..it’s just a garage and I spent time surfing here. I bought a 14 by 24 garage package, white metal siding, 2 windows, person door, 8 x 9 garage door and required shingles. The walls initially were going to be 2x6 stud but I was concerned about interior space and changed to 2x4. First stupid mistake.
Prices this far after the story are irrelevant, the completed addition totalled $22,000 (2009 Cdn prices)
A local contractor was booked and he started the dirt work. The crappy red garage is the neighbor’s.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Awesome. I was going to ask about the old truck/suv in the background but it looks like that is the neighbors too.

 

[shaune]

The work started July 2009. As a last minute change to my plan I realized I was 40 square feet below my maximum allowed. Talked with the builder as he was digging footings and made a bump out that will be seen in upcoming pictures. The intention was always to have a hoist so I requested plenty of rebar. Mistake #2 was not having styrofoam put under the concrete pad. The edges were about 6“ and the rest of the pad is about 4”. A floor drain was discussed, like draining into a bucket but the intention for this addition was to not have wet things in that area. A decision I am still content with. The one photo shows my old garage pad, built in 1966ish, and how little concrete was screeted around to the far corner.

 

[shaune]

I did rent a snorkel hopper to move the wet stuff and my helpers appreciated that. It was an additional $500 but one our backs enjoyed. There was problems with the concrete order that day and when there is only one supplier in town…..she can screw you as deep and hard as she wants. I think we needed 10 yards and the driver only dropped 3 yards ( I may have the numbers wrong), so a rush trip to get more and when the bill came she charged me for more than could possibly have been delivered. The contractor and her came to an agreement in between the amounts…..oh well. The concrete was finished nice, smooth enough to sweep but not slippery polished. And after all these years I think there are 2 hairline cracks. I recall the rebar bill was $800. You can see the “bump out” 4x10. My contractor had a plan to build that in as the rafters I bought were for a 14 foot wide building.

 

[shaune]

So next walls start going up, 12 foot walls, 2 windows at the long end. The windows were placed in a position that now bugs me. I chose the odd positioning to suit what I thought at the time would be work bench / shelf locations. It isn’t until much later I call this mistake #3, not a big deal but for someone that likes symmetry and balance
You can see how the “bump out” was built now, I thought the kid was pretty smart on the design. He also tied the wall joining the existing garage nicely too. Stripped back the shingles and built the new wall on the line of the existing.
There was no plywood sheeting for the outside, strapped with 1x4 and then the metal siding went on.

 

[shaune]

Awesome. I was going to ask about the old truck/suv in the background but it looks like that is the neighbors too.

The wagon is the neighbour’s and 20 years ago I asked to buy it. Nope gonna fix it up one day. 67 Falcon 4 door wagon. Pretty rusty but all repairable. About 4 years after my garage went up, so 2013ish, he moved it to another of his “junk yards”. 27 years later……it’s still sitting.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

The wagon is the neighbour’s and 20 years ago I asked to buy it. Nope gonna fix it up one day. 67 Falcon 4 door wagon. Pretty rusty but all repairable. About 4 years after my garage went up, so 2013ish, he moved it to another of his “junk yards”. 27 years later……it’s still sitting.

Haha. That’s what they all say it seems. I can’t say I’m not guilty of that either haha. A guy offered me $200 for my van I told him no way I’m going to fully fix it up one day. Well it’s still setting and I have not really had time to figure the idle issue out.

 

[shaune]

So by fall the place is sealed up, but just a cold empty shell. You can see how the 2 windows are not placed balanced. Plan was to have spray foam insulation done now but the cost was 3 times what bats were going to cost so through the winter I puttered with insulating, good vapour barrier, sealing, taping. The electrician came in, I had plenty of plugs installed, thanks to my research here I knew to install more than I thought I would need. 2 welding plugs, 2 lights on the wall for when the hoist is up. You can also see from the street view that the addition is barely visible. The original garage was needing some attention as well. Both doors were 7 foot wide and only one was functional. I purchased 2 decorative doors and subsequently made the south door an 8 foot wide one. The north door is fine still at 7 feet wide. I did the widening and it was a good job. Nothing sagged or crashed down during the renovation.

 

[shaune]

I do not recall the time line by this time but if I was doing the work is may be the following winter. So the existing garage I did have the ceiling insulted a few years before starting all this. I had a wood stove in there and it was better than I ever had years before. Looking at the interior picture I know I had my lowered 96 chev then because I see the fender chrome on the wall. I would remove the chrome each winter to minimize salt collection areas. The engine is a 390 for the 67 Mustang fastback, you will see parts of it in upcoming pictures. The old steel flip up door with a strip of styrofoam at the bottom to “keep the cold out” when I would work out there. I am guessing the door changes came several winters after construction of the addition because the engine under the cover was another 390, I have different sleds and under the car cover is the 52 Plymouth.

 

[shaune]

Now you want to see the inside of things. The first picture was a dilemma that slowed me down. I was not sure on how to have a person door and garage door on the same wall inside the 14 feet. I read what I could on the journal about doors in doors, swing doors and what ever options were out there. In the end, because of the bump out, there was enough room.
I also read here to not put anything in your new garage until it is done…..failed there. My idea of a work bench at the long end changed quickly when I saw how to utilize the bump out. I built a steel bench to fit with the tool box at the time. I knew I wanted lots of lighting so a 4 foot LED over the bench and 4 500 watt fluorescent curly bulbs in the roof, then 2 LEDs on the wall under the expected hoist. So far I have been happy with the lighting. The existing garage had my work bench under the window and I liked that, looking out over my domain, but the set up now is fine. I did only order 1 opening window at concept time, some days that might have been a mistake but we have 6 month winters here so…..
Mistake #4 wasn’t thought of till later and I wish I had a row of thin windows up high by the roof line facing south. Maybe my next garage build…..

 

[shaune]

So now it is on to the hoist. 2 or 4, because I thought there might be some storage in my future I liked the 4 post and 2 post seemed scary for balancing…….the debate rages on in many forums.
In Canada we have Princess Auto, equal to American Harbour Freight. My trips to the city I would stop at PA and check their hoist they had on display, one day it is on sale….hmmmm.
I bought it $100 over their cost and $400ish if I remember for the hydraulic power pac. It is a Danmar 7000, also the debate rages on but I LOVE IT ! It was the store floor model so when I picked it up it was still partially assembled, as in brackets and rollers and the cylinder were still in place. Trailered it home and weeks later (I am slower than molasses in January) I assembled it by myself with my cherry picker on a full Sunday. By evening there were no more parts and it was ready to go. I had to wait 2 weeks or more before I got back to the city for the hydraulic fluid…..that was poor planning on my part. The ramps are an issue to store but…..I struggle
The 14 wide part of the garage is barely enough, the hoist is offset to one side to allow room to move and shuffle on the other. 12 foot ceiling….more like 12’ 5” is barely enough for the vehicles I currently have. Ceiling fan placement was critical and when the cars are backed onto the hoist I have to ensure the hood is closed before going up high. No…..I have not made the mistake yet…..yet !

 

[shaune]

No need to advertise how useful a hoist is, all y’all are the choir. I find the past couple winters the top car is storage and I tinker on the bottom one. The story continues eventually as now I am even working not even in this garage some winter days…..you will see as this story rambles on.
These pictures can show how much room there is around the hoist and vehicles. The other side is manageable, I initially called it shuffle room but it is a bit more than shuffle.
You can see my heating system, Kozi wood stove. It works ok, doesn’t roast me out like I think it should but wood is plentiful all around me. I do have a 220 construction heater I will use along with the wood and once the place is warm the wood stove will turn off the electric heater. The door between the garages is higher R value than the 2 outside ones. This might be mistake #5 on the 2 outside doors. They could have been higher but at the time…..I did not intend on heating the whole space. Again I can live with this mistake and I can’t remember the difference there would have been on price. Enough that I cheaped out I guess.
The addition still needs insulation on the short wall above the existing garage and a few more sheets of chip board …. Molasses ….. January.
Past few winters though I get the tunes cranked, the heat going and I am very content.
Now you say, a collection of garages, yes. This was a story on adding onto my existing garage. Hopefully someone wanting to do something similar can pull from my pictures or my mistakes.
I will add to this thread in the coming days about the other garages…..mostly just to show, not much to learn from them.

 

[shaune]

Garage number what ever, we bought a condo a few years back in the city and it has an attached garage ….. plus restrictions .
It was a contravention of the condo bylaws to do mechanical work in your garage but ….. well, forgive me for I did some sinning.
The Mustang needed headers and my town has no exhaust shop so I figured….install the headers in the condo garage and then drive it to the exhaust shop. Well a test drive around the block clearly showed me this would be a city police officer‘s duty to pull me over and be tossed in the gulags. So Mrs has CAA and she gets a couple free low kilometre tows a year.
The picture on point more so to the forum is the work bench I added to this tiny garage. Bought a truck tailgate for $40 and hinged it to the wall so I can not do mechanical things in my garage. I hang my head in shame tonight to say it has become a flat surface that has collected junk …. But I should be a little work bench for small spaces.

 

[BoxedWino]

Garage number what ever, we bought a condo a few years back in the city and it has an attached garage ….. plus restrictions .
It was a contravention of the condo bylaws to do mechanical work in your garage but ….. well, forgive me for I did some sinning.
The Mustang needed headers and my town has no exhaust shop so I figured….install the headers in the condo garage and then drive it to the exhaust shop. Well a test drive around the block clearly showed me this would be a city police officer‘s duty to pull me over and be tossed in the gulags. So Mrs has CAA and she gets a couple free low kilometre tows a year.
The picture on point more so to the forum is the work bench I added to this tiny garage. Bought a truck tailgate for $40 and hinged it to the wall so I can not do mechanical things in my garage. I hang my head in shame tonight to say it has become a flat surface that has collected junk …. But I should be a little work bench for small spaces.

I'm not totally sure of your total garage ensemble, but you could always consider the one in the city as your "Display" garage for the finished product storage and showing off. Glad you are taking the time to share your experiences with us. I just did the same myself after waiting about as long as you. Love the old cars, be sure to show off your entire inventory of old iron, especially if you have something unique to the great white north. Always interesting to see something different. Thanks, for sharing.

 

[shaune]

Well this is titled my collection of garages…..here is the latest.
Last summer we ended up finally buying the neighbour’s property, which was the catalyst from years back to build my addition. It was either build an addition or buy their property and when we couldn’t agree on a price I built. 13ish years later we bought it in a rush, it had been for sale officially for the previous 2 years and then we heard someone put an offer and had plans for a rental property to built….NOPE ! We offered slightly more and here we are. There was a 1950s house on the land that was torn down 10 years ago and with it the power to the garage was cut too. The property needed lots of cleaning up…..12 dump trailer loads, the
previous owner let us use his dump trailer which was oh so nice of him considering it was ALL his junk and he was suppose to help clean up.
Anyway the official ownership of this lot, 65 x800 has been a great purchase and the 28 x 32 garage is fantastic.
It was built in the early 60s, 2x4, 8 foot wall, insulated but to 60s standards so not real well. The concrete has some cracks and I get effervescent powder in some spots which is puzzling.
About 5 years ago he had a new roof put on…like new rafters kind of roof due to rot.
There is no power in the garage anymore and so far I am just using it for storage so I have a motion activated solar light on the wall that works well. If I need better lighting I run an extension cord to my main garage and LED work lights. I now get to park my winter daily driver car in there and run an extension cord when I need to use the block heater.
That red paint, what ever brand it is, was splashed on in the 60s…..he got his money out of that paint. The place was an eye sore.
First I blanked off the entrance door that faced away from our house and I put a new door facing the street so I can see it. The garage door was a slider that didn’t seal well and looked ugly so I bought a 9 foot door that matches our first garage.

 

[shaune]

He left his junk Mustang in there for the summer after I repeatedly reminded him to move it. I eventually moved it to one of his other properties…..says he has big plans for it, last I saw it was still outside !
When he had the new roof done he had then reinstall 4 light sockets, so if I ever want to reporter the place I can get power from somewhere. I haven’t looked into that yet.

 

[shaune]

Lots of clean up was done to the property, scrape steel and JUNK was hauled away, and trees cut that were overgrowing. The one picture shows the concrete pad where the old house once stood. The other picture is a shed that his grandfather built……I assume his grandfather laid down those shingles when the shed was first built !!!! I figure the shed is 60 plus years old and it is totally rotten. He was to have it moved this summer 2021 but here it is fall of and it is still there. It WILL be gone next spring !
We “squatted” on this land for several years after his dad moved out, they used the garage for storage only then and I kept the weeds cut down and kept the driveway cleared for them.

 

[shaune]

This was last winter, my first winter of ownership and it was great to get those items out of the elements. As we all know, the battle to keep clutter and junk at bay can be a challenge. For the winter I stored a newly acquired 65 Ford truck, my snowmobile trailer, some bigger shop tools I don’t use all the time, my friend’s 70 TR6, watercraft and a quad, plus my winter daily driver (the 65 will be my summer daily driver). You can see where I blanked off the old person door behind the desk.

 

[shaune]

So here are just some renovation pictures. Installing the person door to a better location. The installation of the garage door. That makes 4 doors I have installed, all by myself. You get handy doing those on your own. Last week I offered a friend assistance to install his 2 new garage doors, geez it is easier and faster with 2 people . The window I changed out as the original was all wood framed with individual panels….that were rotten and broken. So this window came from my original garage as there I installed a new vinyl slider and this 1960s aluminum one went to the storage garage. Smaller obviously so I reframed it to all fit.
The last picture was not my work, I contracted that one out. I knew when I bought this place the wall was rotten, the 1/4” plywood siding was rotten and I knew studs would be compromised too. Now I am a guy that hates to pay someone to do something I can do myself but I am also realizing my time is valuable and I have money so I farmed out this repair. There were 2 studs black for most of the 8 feet, the sill plate was crumbled for 10 feet and even the header plate was rotted….thus the new roof a few years back. My guy fixed it all up. Eaves trough on both garages will reduce the water between them and I did some dirt relocation between the 2.

 

[shaune]

Now I am almost up to date in my story, this is now mid summer 2021 and we had to do something about the painted plywood from 1950s. Again I paid a guy to do this as he is way faster than I would be. The siding isn’t completed yet as I type this but this month it should be.
Mrs has never liked the white metal siding on the garage addition and I admit I could have picked better choices, mistake number what ever, and so we had the vinyl ran over the white metal on the side we see. I really like the change.
The story is this world wide pandemic has shifted the vinyl delivery continuum several months back and so we wait. Really like the look of the place now and we may have the house done next summer.
Anyway, there is what I call my collection of garages. I pinch myself everyday to ensure I am awake and not dreaming. This isn’t as grand as some showcase on here but for me….I am livin a dream folks.

 

[shaune]

An addition to show that the outside renovations on both are done, or almost done. Got my decorations back up. That vinyl shake siding took 6 MONTHS to get here. Solar lights are back up and shining brightly.

 

[shaune]

I have been absent for over a year here, not sure what took all my time but I’m maybe back for a bit.
Pictures of the inside maybe now to show …..
When I retire my big tool box from the hangar will come home and sit where the smaller box is, I will have to cut down my already small work bench but it is the same height as the tool box so maybe even more work surface.

 

[shaune]

Been collecting a few trinkets….

 

[shaune]

Had this old main breaker box kicking around, repurposed.

 

[shaune]

Upgraded my compressor this fall, I had a bought this Pioneer new several years back and it served for what I needed but now that I have a cabinet sandblaster I knew I needed an upgrade. So through the summer I watched some auctions and bought this Eagle from an auction where the old fella was moving into an apartment, with the tax and auction fee I think it was $840.
The Pioneer I bought years back for $500ish and I see online they are closer to $1300 now !
Trying to sell the Pioneer now and the Eagle runs fairly quiet and when I get the sandblast cabinet set up I expect it will be adaquate.
I will upgrade the water separator system later.

 

[shaune]

Mentioned elsewhere, my new to me band saw from an auction and the belt sander that the high school was disposing of. Upon retiring I had to bring home my big tool box from the hangar… and find a place to put it. I knew this was coming, I sold the top hutch and then had to shorten my bench 11 inches, removed the wheels from the roller and raise it to the same height. Not ideal but I am making it work. The smaller tool box that sat there before was moved to the garage at the condo.