My garage from 1919.

I tell people I have a stone garage and usually get the same response . . . 'you mean brick?'

No. I mean stone.



With some waste oil . . .


Would like to see original pictures of this.


Kind of wish I still had the windows installed. Can't imagine what it would cost to put some back in after cutting out the brick/stone that replaced them.


There is attic space also, I can't store too much up there though, it doesn't all me to do much more than kneel up there. Can't keep ladders up there since it would be such a grind to get them down.

Wall separates the two bays, I'd like to get rid of it, but it is structural, so I'd have to have someone come in and but in a wood or steel beam in its place, I am extremely interested in doing that, but the garage needs some upkeep and the wall isn't really that high on the priority list.

Wow, this could be a REALLY neat old garage if you restored the original door hardware and built some new carriage doors. All the help you'd need is here on this site if you search and decide to take it on.

Windows: If those headers are still sound there's no reason you can't chisel out the brick. Just make certain the beams are solid. Just make sure you replace the windows with era-correct wood windows. Take some measurements and start searching for a local building wrecking company. They sell the old stuff out of structures.

Wall: Yes, taking out the entire wall would be costly BUT, you could sawcut out a pedestrian door, even a bit larger (maybe 4-6 ft) with no issue. You'd have to replace the portion removed with a structural frame but that isn't as difficult as it sounds. I recently removed most of the back wall from my 1930 garage (no, not a stone or masonry structure) and mine was WAAY more work than this would be. I'd take it on.

In short, you sawcut out the stone and shore (if necessary) with wood. Install a structural channel as close to the width of the existing wall as possible and that mounts to the stone via drilled and epoxied bolts into the stone. Home Depot/Lowes sells the epoxy you'd need. If you have more interest in the idea, drop me a PM and I can explain better.

Just to peak your interest, take a look at my, "Gray Garage" thread to see what I did all alone. See posts #13 thru about #24 for more photos if you're intersted. You'd NOT have to dig the foundations I built if you only take out a relatively narrow width wall section. You can do this. Good luck and keep the photos coming. I'd love to see how this comes out.

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144618

I love this garage! mine is from the 1930s and I wish I too could have seen pictures of it back when the previous owner was rebuilding tractors in it.

Do you plan to heat with waste oil? When you got the garage was there anything cool in it?

thats a sick old garage for sure! i would leave it

Well thanks to all. Nothing of interest in the garage. I moved in about 7 years ago and it was just the homeowner's junk. Since I can't afford to tear it down and build a new one, I just have to start seriously thinking about doing a quality restoration of what is there.

As far as opening up the garage, the wall is just 2x4 studs with plywood on one side. While I could remove the sheathing and maybe one stud for ease of movement, removing the wall and putting in a header/beam would require far more phyiscal ability and engineering skill than I have. I'd need to have someone come in and engineer a beam/connection scheme since it isn't all that cut and dry with regards to where the header lands at both ends.

I would love a steel beam, but wood may be what I end up having installed. I just want to avoid a column.

Waste oil was for my Powerstroke Diesel, after 10s of thousands of miles, I started burning up fuel pumps within months of each other, so I stopped using it as fuel. I thought about heating the garage with it, but it would be years before I could ever dream to afford a waste oil heater.

But the reality is the garage needs interior wall rehab and then needs to be wired up with outlets and lighting . . . along with running power to the garage, but I can do the interior wiring by myself pretty easily, but of course I need a folding ladder . . .