26 x 43 Jokers garage build

sixtyfive · May 7, 2013

Well here we go! Getting close to starting on the actual garage part of my build so it is time to start a thread. I purchased a new house September of last year with the intentions of needing more garage. The place was built in 1950 and has an attached "shed" that is approx 19' x 20'. I plan to put a driveway around the existing garage to my new detached build in the back yard.

The past few weeks have been spent removing 8 or so trees. Most were overgrown fence line mulberry's.

So far I have acquired my building permit, ordered the majority of my building materials from Menards during their 11% sale, and lined up help from some of the friends that will be helping me with the build.

I am experienced with every aspect of the build except the concrete work. I welcome any suggestions or criticism you have to offer.

sixtyfive · May 7, 2013

Here are some pictures of the trees that have to be removed to make way for the garage.

I would bet that two of the trees were approximately 50ft tall, two more were 40ft tall, and the rest were smaller.

This weekend I am planning on renting a John Deere 50D mini excavator to begin stump removal. With a smaller excavator like this I think I will need to work my way out around the stumps and cut roots with a sawzall in order to free up the larger stumps. I would like to rent a large excavator but I do not see that being a possibility. If things go badly and these stumps get the best of me, I can always budge my garage over a few more feet. I am debating between the right side of my garage wall being about 1 foot from these stumps, or bumping it over 3 or so more feet.

https://scontent-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/947051_675095952232_963451647_n.jpg?oh=8060d66861ea064e7b605e85158d1e8a&oe=5506EE49
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https://scontent-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/393169_675095837462_1693961166_n.jpg?efg=eyJvbGF0Ijo0MH0%3D&oh=c7e59928d901d5a9621ea1b93d7b3c77&oe=550DDBEF

sixtyfive · May 14, 2013

We were able to get all the stumps knocked out with one days rental. I was even able to get a little bit of leveling off done with the excavator before it was due back on Sunday.

The rule we went by was all organic material larger than 2" diameter was removed. I grabbed whatever else was loose out of the holes too.

I think I was a bit over my towing capacity...

https://scontent-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/394397_676195887952_1553803478_n.jpg?oh=e6ab58760d1fd83d9bcff43f3417f132&oe=5500CFFD
https://scontent-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/310220_676195892942_127680837_n.jpg?efg=eyJvbGF0Ijo0MH0%3D&oh=25b0bd6dd9c2b1b8ffb613c2190ef053&oe=5506E614
https://scontent-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/972239_676195897932_886577541_n.jpg?oh=aad45d14c9cf88fe5fa6b54ef907e661&oe=550CFC7B

I also started a thread with some foundation questions I have. Will be doing the foundation work with the help of friends and family, and I am considering having some professional assistance with finishing of the slab.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3110027&posted=1#post3110027

sixtyfive · May 14, 2013

We were able to get all the stumps knocked out with one days rental. I was even able to get a little bit of leveling off done with the excavator before it was due back on Sunday.

The rule we went by was all organic material larger than 2" diameter was removed. I grabbed whatever else was loose out of the holes too.

I think I was a bit over my towing capacity...

https://sphotos-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/394397_676195887952_1553803478_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/972239_676195897932_886577541_n.jpg

I also started a thread with some foundation questions I have. Will be doing the foundation work with the help of friends and family, and I am considering having some professional assistance with finishing of the slab.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3110027&posted=1#post3110027

sixtyfive · May 15, 2013

On Monday I did some tree cleanup and pulled the trailer out front so that I can get it down to the tree dump this week.

Last night I was able to set the back two stakes for the garage. They are set 5ft off the rear property line. I tied jetline between the telephone poles that are in both rear corners of the lot. I am 3' 6" off of the right property line. I measured 17ft off the right side of my house and shot a laser back to get this marking. City requires the wall be 3ft offset from the property line, so the extra 6" is room for error.

When the sun sets tonight I will use the laser to set my front posts, check square of the building, and then set an elevation reference so that I can calculate how much fill dirt I will need. I am hoping to get everything lined up so that I will have a skid loader and some fill dirt to grade out this weekend!

Menards has been sweating me about picking up my special order building materials, which are trusses, siding, and the garage doors. I hope to have time this weekend to pick some of it up and drop it in the back yard.

I am thinking I will be alright hauling the 26+ ft trusses with an 18' car trailer. My house is only about 3 miles from Menards and I can do about 35 mph if I feel the need to go slower.

crackerman · May 15, 2013

sixtyfive said:
We were able to get all the stumps knocked out with one days rental. I was even able to get a little bit of leveling off done with the excavator before it was due back on Sunday.
https://sphotos-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/972239_676195897932_886577541_n.jpg

You should have left this tree in there! It grows perfectly graded lumber, clone that and be a millionaire!!!!! :lol_hitti

Seriously though, what are the boards for?

Zeke · May 15, 2013

It kept falling back in the hole.

Suggestions and advice? Compact, compact, compact. Add conduits and plumbing stubs that you don't think you'll need.

WarrenJ · May 15, 2013

A new project, keep the pictures coming. You know we like to see the progress.

sixtyfive · May 15, 2013

Haha.. yeah zeke hit it on the head, the 2x8's were to brace it while I cut that stump down. The excavator could not get it out of the hole as it was.

Planning at least two pvc runs from the house basement to the garage. I was planning to run electrical from the garage to the house, but I am now leaning towards just having the power company pull a second service to the garage. I need to call the power company to see if there is an additional cost for the second service.

What is the consensus on propane run to the garage? black steel within larger pvc? Or flexible pipe? I asked the power company and their suggestion was to call a plumber. I think my neighbor is a plumber so I may talk to him.

GraveDigger1 · May 27, 2013

sixtyfive said:
Planning at least two pvc runs from the house basement to the garage. I was planning to run electrical from the garage to the house, but I am now leaning towards just having the power company pull a second service to the garage. I need to call the power company to see if there is an additional cost for the second service.

If it is Alliant a second service will be charged at a commercial rate which is MUCH higher than residential.

CNGsaves · May 27, 2013

sixtyfive said:
Haha.. yeah zeke hit it on the head, the 2x8's were to brace it while I cut that stump down. The excavator could not get it out of the hole as it was.

Planning at least two pvc runs from the house basement to the garage. I was planning to run electrical from the garage to the house, but I am now leaning towards just having the power company pull a second service to the garage. I need to call the power company to see if there is an additional cost for the second service.

What is the consensus on propane run to the garage? black steel within larger pvc? Or flexible pipe? I asked the power company and their suggestion was to call a plumber. I think my neighbor is a plumber so I may talk to him.

Talk with your propane provider on running the underground yellow polyethlene plastic pipe from the storage tank over to the garage (likely they will do it much cheaper than a plumber). They will T off near the tank so you get good pressure over to the garage. Lots of prior GJ threads on "Buried Natural Gas" lines that will give you good info. Then use black pipe steel once above ground (ie must have above ground service entry of propane into building - - ie in case there is leak in the underground portion).

Good luck on rest of garage build and hope there is room on your property to plant some trees to replace the ones you had to cut down. That shade is real valuable in keeping cooling costs down.

sixtyfive · May 28, 2013

Well this weekend was nothing but rain. Friday we were able to level out the build site with 5 dump trucks of fill dirt. We also carved down some of the slope down to the garage where the driveway will be and put it off to the side for use later. It is good black dirt so I will use it around the garage.

Until we get some sun to dry things up I will be tying up other loose ends.

https://sphotos-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/379735_679201784112_995545390_n.jpg

sixtyfive · Jul 1, 2013

As of last weekend, I can finally say I really started on the garage!

My uncle came in and busted apart the remaining three stumps that were too large to pick up with the skid loader. We have all of them out of my yard now.

https://sphotos-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1044907_686568735682_702134945_n.jpg

Last Saturday we dug the trench. My dad ran the excavator while I checked depth off our laser and worked on belling out the bottom of the trench. Sunday was spent tying rebar and getting it all squared up in the trench. We also had a good sized cave in on the front right side of the garage. This is on the side of the garage that had more standing water prior to our digging. We just ran the concrete wide in this area and it probably cost less than an extra yard of concrete. We also rented a submersible pump to get water out of the trench prior to pouring.

Monday morning the inspector showed up around 10:30 and cleared us for pouring. He asked that I have an extra rebar in the trench where my electrical panel will end up going to be used as a ground. He mentioned it needed to be 20 ft long. We were supposed to have a window of no rain from 12 - 4 so we called for the first concrete truck to show up at 12:15. We kept pretty dry until the second truck showed up and we got poured on by an inch of rain. This led to my foundation being a bit rough. We will have a bit of work to do with the block in order to get everything back to level.

https://sphotos-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/968979_686568945262_128262873_n.jpg

sixtyfive · Jul 11, 2013

Well I ended up getting all of the slop cleaned off the concrete a couple weekends back and did some calculations for my block wall. In checking off of a laser we found that the foundation was 6 inches out of level!

We squared some lines back up with where the block would lay easily on the foundation, and there was no rain in the forecast for a whole week. I was able to acquire a Partner quickie saw for $150 and picked up a new diamond blade that was a beast at cutting the concrete block for height to correct my concrete mistake. The block laying is going better than expected, especially since none of us have experience with this part of the project.

We were able to knock the corners out on the 4th since I had the day off.

https://sphotos-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/1002281_689280346592_81100536_n.jpg
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Friday after work we knocked out the back wall.

https://sphotos-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1069977_689280411462_826032724_n.jpg

Saturday We built the first 43' wall.
https://sphotos-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1010830_689280431422_1000514037_n.jpg

By Sunday I was running short on friends to help, but my girl was picking up the slack!

sixtyfive · Jul 11, 2013

Due to grading issues I am going to end up running a 4th course of block. This will also help in getting me the ceiling height I need for a lift. Picking up some more block tonight, and hoping to be ready for my slab guy to do his part by next week. Out of the entire project, the slab is the only labor I am planning to contract out.

Kevin54 · Jul 11, 2013

Do you use solid block for the tops in your area or no? Just curious. Around here they are called termite blocks because termites can't get through them.

And you guys grow huge Mulberry trees in your area. Those are the tallest I have ever saw. Our is about half that height.

One other question....is there a reason that you didn't want to add the garage onto your house and cut a door between your existing garage and new garage?

Looking forward to your progress pics. Looks great so far, other than the mud. But I don't think anyone is escaping the mud and rains. I know we aren't. We've had rain every day for the past few weeks.

sixtyfive · Jul 11, 2013

Termites are in small pockets around here but I am not familiar with seeing the termite blocks. I did have to replace the 2x8 footer on my grandmothers garage last year. I replaced it with green treated wood since I was told that termites do not eat the treated wood or that if they do it kills them. My building materials were spec'ed out by Menards and they did include a green treated footer. I have not seen any signs of termites at my house thankfully.

I do not see a lot of Mulberry's in this area. My neighbors were thankful I took them down. I do not think most people are as fond of them as they are of other hardwoods. The other side of my back yard has about the same amount of them lining the fence, but they are not quite as large. I have two other ones up close to the house as well. The neighbors told me that the previous owner was a tree hugger!

There were a few factors that led to me going the detached route.
- I would have had to fight more elevation. Where my garage is there was 1 foot of fall towards the back of the property. Up closer to the house I would have been fighting closer to 4ft. Ill try getting a picture of this.
- I thought about doing a 3 stall attached to the back of the existing with doors facing North, my attached and new garage doors both face East. I chose not to go this route because I did not want to worry about turning sharp to get into the garage.
- Having a pull through the attached setup would be a pain with having to shuffle cars around. I have a few roomates and the existing driveway is already too narrow.
- The existing garage is only a 19 x 20 so I would have ended up heavily modifying it in order for it to work.
- Best reason of all! If I build detached, I can always add on to the attached later!

Thanks! Mud was a pain. Last year would have been a way better year to build. But I just got this place in September of last year.

sixtyfive · Jul 24, 2013

Block is done, dirt is leveled off, and stone is in. I would have been ready for my concrete guy this week, but someone broke his leg when he was leaving a bar... :wtf:

He will be out for about 2 weeks supposedly, so we are going to get started with framing. This week I hope to get the sill in place and make some final calculations with window spacing and where my two post lift will sit. This weekend we will start with building the walls. I may end up leaving a few studs out so the concrete truck will be able to chute in towards the back of both sides.

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Truck fits in real nice!
https://sphotos-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1070001_691844243522_1347385912_n.jpg

sixtyfive · Aug 7, 2013

We have been killing some time waiting for the concrete guy to be ready. The last two weekends we have gotten everything framed up and the majority of the sheeting on. The rest of the sheeting will wait until the trusses are on.

I really underestimated how tall 12' walls would be. My neighbor behind my property called me an ******* a couple days after the walls went up. I guess he is not happy with the couple extra feet!

This wound is just about healed up. I took a framing nail to the knuckle. My buddy had the nailer a bit too close to the edge of the board when attaching the stud to the top plate. Luckily it did not hit tendon or anything else.

https://sphotos-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/73568_694543065062_1284567611_n.jpg

End of day 1 framing-

End of day 2 -

gordyy · Aug 7, 2013

You have a great project going on
and one cute lil helper there too

rmckee · Aug 7, 2013

Looks good! I can't imagine how annoying the rain/mud was.

vtec?lol · Aug 7, 2013

Looking real good!

StupidSheet · Aug 7, 2013

Going to be following this build. I'm right at the start of a 26'x48' running the doors the same side as you.

Great helper you have there!

randomtwinkie · Aug 7, 2013

No glasses for the kid?...

sixtyfive · Aug 13, 2013

randomtwinkie said:
No glasses for the kid?...

Good catch. I will get her to start thinking they are cool too.

sixtyfive · Aug 13, 2013

rmckee said:
Looks good! I can't imagine how annoying the rain/mud was.

Working in the mud was almost as annoying as being delayed 3 weeks due to rain. Oh and the 2 months due to winter hanging around way too long.

I tell myself that I would pay someone to do the concrete/block work if I ever go through this process again, but looking back the labor never seems quite as rough as it was.

sixtyfive · Aug 13, 2013

StupidSheet said:
Going to be following this build. I'm right at the start of a 26'x48' running the doors the same side as you.

Great helper you have there!

I am happy with my decision to put the doors on the narrow end. It worked out best for my lot size and will save on concrete and awkward approach angles in the long run.

She is all about the garage build!

sixtyfive · Aug 13, 2013

gordyy said:
You have a great project going on
and one cute lil helper there too

Thanks!

sixtyfive · Aug 19, 2013

We got the majority of the walls sheeted 2 weeks ago. Had to wait a little bit for my concrete guy to be ready, but the slab was poured last week.

https://sphotos-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1004925_696694663242_1729191372_n.jpg

I did all of the concrete prep work and paid a crew to handle the pour and finish. I used 4" of crushed lime stone. I then put down two layers of 4 mil poly film. Rebar was spaced 4' on center and put on plastic chairs. I ended up cheaping out and not spending the $1000 for 2" XPS foam.

The concrete crew showed up with only two guys and planned to rake the concrete to the back of the garage. I helped em out with this task for a little under an hour until their other two guys showed up. We ended up ordering 16 and 3/4 yards of concrete and ended up using all but half of a yard. The slab is about 4.5 inches thick with 8" thick 2' x 2' pads for my lift.

https://sphotos-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1098469_696694713142_1488998599_n.jpg

We centered the cuts on the garage doors to keep me well away from my 2 post lift pads and spaced the cuts from the back wall accordingly.

All in all I am pretty happy with the work that the concrete guys did. It is not perfect, but it turned out better than if I had done it myself, and I was able to save some cash compared to having someone do the foundation to slab work for me.

Kevin54 · Aug 19, 2013

sixtyfive said:
We got the majority of the walls sheeted 2 weeks ago. Had to wait a little bit for my concrete guy to be ready, but the slab was poured last week.

We centered the cuts on the garage doors to keep me well away from my 2 post lift pads and spaced the cuts from the back wall accordingly.

All in all I am pretty happy with the work that the concrete guys did. It is not perfect, but it turned out better than if I had done it myself, and I was able to save some cash compared to having someone do the foundation to slab work for me.

What you may want to do is run some water in the garage towards the front, all the way across and see if the water runs to the corners. If it does, then you may want to run a couple more saw cuts to direct the water. For instance, on the left hand garage door, make the left hand side of the door...the cut go left to the wall somewhere at an angle, and on the right hand side of the door, take the cut to the right and stop somewhere in the center of the garage and with the same angle as the left hand side, if that makes sense.

That way when any water would run off of the vehicle, the saw cut would direct the water to the door and not the corners.

If it doesn't run to the corners now, well.....forget what all I said. :lol:

sixtyfive · Aug 29, 2013

Kevin54 said:
What you may want to do is run some water in the garage towards the front, all the way across and see if the water runs to the corners. If it does, then you may want to run a couple more saw cuts to direct the water. For instance, on the left hand garage door, make the left hand side of the door...the cut go left to the wall somewhere at an angle, and on the right hand side of the door, take the cut to the right and stop somewhere in the center of the garage and with the same angle as the left hand side, if that makes sense.

That way when any water would run off of the vehicle, the saw cut would direct the water to the door and not the corners.

If it doesn't run to the corners now, well.....forget what all I said.

The concrete guys told me that they would slope out from the front corners. Its not a visible slope, but we did get some rain and I did not end up with any standing water in the corners.

sixtyfive · Aug 29, 2013

Well the trusses took a whole weekend. We got them up and braced the first day, and then realized they were all messed up on the second day! We leveled the back wall and set the tops and bottoms based on the first truss. We should have put a string line on the top of the wall as we were a bit over an inch off. This led to the bottom of the trusses being spot on, but the top being shifted back.

https://sphotos-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1235900_699392566622_743381272_n.jpg
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We managed to get everything fixed up on Sunday and some more bracing put in. I took some time off work to play catch up due to our mistake. I took last Tuesday off to build my gable end overhangs. I planned on taking last Thursday off to do roof sheeting but it was rainy until 11am. Rather than wasting my vacation time I went into work for half a day. We were able to get the roof almost all of the way sheeted. I finished up with sheeting last Friday.

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I remember reading about Falcon's shingles sliding off of his roof due to morning moisture. I threw some 2x4's on the roof to brace my shingles up just in case. I carried up 33 bundles Friday night. The old lady was nice enough to grab them from me and put them on the roof. So much nicer not having to walk off the ladder with a bundle on your shoulder!

https://sphotos-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/10856_699393105542_1189582180_n.jpg

I had one person helping me roof in the morning and two in the afternoon. We got done with most of the roof Saturday. Sunday morning I cut the ridge and finished with shingles. Also put the ridge vent on. We called it a day due to how hot the roof was getting. I will try getting up there and knocking out the cap at sunrise this weekend.

https://sphotos-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/996589_699393110532_1150804503_n.jpg

vtec?lol · Aug 29, 2013

Good stuff!

sixtyfive · Oct 1, 2013

It has been awhile since my last update so it is time to play catch up. Things have been going good and I have not had any real hold ups. Most complicated thing has been figuring out the pitch of my driveway, but we will get to that in a bit.

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I added some can lights into the soffit which looks amazing. I really wanted to add some into the front of the garage but I was not sure on how to install them so that they did not aim at an angle due to being on the gable end. I bet there is a different type of can light out there that can handle this, but I skipped it for now.

https://scontent-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1234381_707914538522_449216182_n.jpg

I flashed around 2x8's to form my garage door jamb. I am really happy with how this looks from a distance, but my flashing did not turn out as good as I had hoped. I will end up needing a little bit of caulk where the pieces meet.

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It was the first time my dad and I had put up a garage door, so the first one took a day and the second one went quite a bit quicker even setting it up myself. Right now one of the doors is a bit over sprung so I will need to turn it back down a bit. Also the track is a bit tight so I am going to fudge it out of level. The block foundation is deciding where the bottom will sit which causes it to be just a little too tight.

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https://scontent-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1379424_707914688222_582339725_n.jpg

This picture shows the slope I was trying to achieve. I need to get the water to run off the left side without going into the garage.

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Gentle_Ben · Oct 2, 2013

sixtyfive said:
I really underestimated how tall 12' walls would be. My neighbor behind my property called me an ******* a couple days after the walls went up. I guess he is not happy with the couple extra feet!

I know how you feel, my 12' walls looked much more reasonable on paper, in reality they are massive. My neighbors didn't call me an *******, but I noticed some of them being less nice, and I know I had at least one complaint to the city after my walls went up.

I think my neighbors would have been annoyed no matter what I built, my neighborhood hasn't seen any new construction in over 20 years. People here don't like change.

sixtyfive · Oct 11, 2013

Our first pour was a bit rough. We went with 3" slump since we had quite a bit of slope and it was a pain to get screeded!

https://scontent-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1380478_710674806922_548175739_n.jpg

I finished up siding the front and prepped for the second pour over the weekend

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The slope of the driveway was a success, we got a decent rain and I did not get water under the garage doors. there is an inch and a half slope over 6 foot forward from the garage as well as 3 inches of slope to the left side of the building. this puts the left 6ft out corner 5 1/2" below "zero". I avoided spending $1600 plus the hassle of installing a trench drain!

https://scontent-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1392006_710675126282_434724075_n.jpg

Losing daylight fast this time of year.

https://scontent-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1379206_710675181172_626774622_n.jpg

Doing the driveway in four sections is working out great considering we have little experience.

We are pouring the final section in about an hour. So in a week I will be able to drive into my garage!

gricegear · Oct 11, 2013

Looking good so far!! gotta love progress no matter what it is. Keep plugging along!

Harleychanic · Oct 11, 2013

Looks great! Just out of curiosity how large is your lot?

bigbadjim · Oct 11, 2013

Looks like the driveway turned out good. 3" slump is like head cheese and miserable to float hey? At least you screeded the concrete and didn't screet it.

sixtyfive · Oct 14, 2013

Lot size is just under half of an acre. The city bases allowable detached building size on lot size so when I was looking for a house I purchased one that would allow me to build a decent size 4 car garage.

Concrete is done...ish. We ran a bit short on the last pour. I was widening the driveway out to the street by two foot as well. I only need 11ft x 2ft of concrete to finish it off so I will likely just mix my own bags with a concrete mixer.

Currently all of my concrete cuts run parallel to the street. What are your opinions on cutting it the other way as well? The widths of my concrete are close to the 8 - 12' spacing that I should be cutting. Both pours in front of the garage are 13' wide. Along side the garage is 12' wide. The tie in to the existing drive is 15'.

Getting my electrician over has been like pulling teeth. He is one of my buddies so I have to work around his schedule. Well see if he shows up tonight.

My short list right now --
Put up the remaining 12 or so pieces of siding
Rough in the rest of the electrical
Get inspection
Finish, cut concrete & pull forms

26 x 43 Jokers garage build

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