Broken Old Garage Gets New Life

I might have posted these pics here, long ago. I have this detached garage next to my house that has been in a sad state for a long time...well before I moved in in '99. I have wanted to do something with it for years, and finally am. The goal is not to have a perfect structure. I built a new barn a couple years ago, and that is where my nice stuff goes and where work gets done. This garage will be for storage of household items, maybe some tools, maybe a car, the snowblower etc. You can never have enough storage! This is being done on a budget, to make the structure structurally sound enough to last for a good long while. The way I see it, it has stayed standing despite decades of neglect. With a little bit of money, a lot of my sweat, and the know-how of a professional, she will be saved from further deterioration.

The pics are not new, but the condition of the garage when I started working on it a few days ago was the same as when these were taken.

I think you can see that the garage door opening (a 16' door) is not square. The building is leaning. The door feels unsafe, and I don't like my wife using it. It is solid wood and, based on my estimates, weighs a good 350-400 lbs easy. It is shown in the lowest position it can go...great for letting raccoons in to dump over my trash and to prevent me from putting anything of value in there.


The siding needs to be scraped and painted in the worst way, but except for one or two pieces, is tight and not rotten. The trees to the left have got to go...they are too big to be as close to the house as they are, and they drop needles over everything. Maybe not this year, though...I can't do everything at once!


You could surf the waves on this wall!


Hmmm...I wonder if this has anything to do with that wall leaning like that?


Another view of the bottom of that wall


The entire floor is a cruel joke...poor drainage around the building has allowed water to seep up under the floor after every rain or thaw, then ebb away, then repeat, over the course of decades. Sort of like a tide coming and going, and causing the soil to shift.


The floor here has fallen down about 18 or so inches from its original height.


Those old windows will have to go, I think. One on each side. The 2x4 studs are mostly ok, though some are soft on the bottom. I might just sister new ones next to each, or at least each that seems damaged. BTW, the sad cat in the pic was a homeless little imp who showed up one cold fall day. He now lives inside and is quite plump and jolly.


The foundation has a few cracks, this being by far the worst. The idea is to patch them as well as possible and then move on.


At least the back wall is basically ok!


This really does look depressing, and is sadly one of the first things people see when they get to the top of my driveway.


That's all I have for pics now. I have already done some work, starting over this past weekend. I'll show what it looks like now tomorrow. Not sure when the project will be done, but hopefully by winter!

Thanks for looking. Even though it's old and might be torn down by many, I'd rather save old buildings than rip them apart, even if they aren't particularly special.

I agree on saving the building. It is a pretty structure with an interesting roofline.

stricht8 said:

I agree on saving the building. It is a pretty structure with an interesting roofline.

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And in that sense, it is worth saving it because it goes with the house, I suppose. The house has the same roofline (well, some of the same elements, like the small sloped areas on the gable ends.)

1930s era Craftsman style.

My present place came with a very similar garage and similar problems. It was "racked" like yours, so I winched over the back wall diagonally with a chain and large turnbuckle, then locked it in place with a diagonally placed brace. Then did the same on the front, very difficult to lock it in place, fortunately it has remained in position.

Picture shows it after being raised two blocks, new siding and a new door (that doesn't weigh 400#). I didn't feel like going through the exercise of scaping and painting.

Always liked that end detail, used to see much of that where I grew up (Edmonton)

Niiice, this will be a fun one. Easily saved for sure. Let me know if you need a sounding boards for any ideas. I have lots of thoughts (tested thoughts) on best methods of pulling lean out of a building etc. as you know

Thanks for the comments, guys.

I'll have to admit here that I will not be providing the "brains" for this project. With a baby due in literally days and enough other projects going on, I am paying someone to straighten the building, re-frame the door, replace one section of sill, and make the loft more usable. I will be helping in the areas of demo, paint/trim/interior finishing, and brute force when needed. This guy both my parents and I have worked with before, and he does great work at a great price.

That concrete slab just yells out, "PIT" !!!!

Yeam, I'm interested in what the strategy will be for the slab.

I did not take any pics today of the progress, as promised. Sorry for that, but I got caught up with other projects. I did talk with the builder to finalize the game plan, though.

I will tell you this: the slab is gone.

My garage is about that size, and it has the same style of roof as that one. I have seen neighbors in my old neighborhood save several garages in far worse structural shape than that one! The slab is far worse than any I have seen around here though. I would be saving that one for sure!

Who knows, once you get a decent floor in it, and make it structurally sound, you might decide it is good enough to put to hard use! Mine is about 24' x 24'

Did he raise the wooden structure up above the old slab before the concrete came out?

rieferman said:

Niiice, this will be a fun one. Easily saved for sure. Let me know if you need a sounding boards for any ideas. I have lots of thoughts (tested thoughts) on best methods of pulling lean out of a building etc. as you know

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I've always wondered (and this may be a stupid idea).. could you just place a sheet or two of say 3/4" ply on the wall that's leading the lean (ie: on this side of a building leaning this way \ \ ), then push it back into position with the arm of a high hoe or back hoe? Seems that, by spreading the force with the ply and pushing (gently, mind you) with a machine that'll generate a lot more force than a come-a-long, would make the straightening easier and faster.

Buck, this one measures approximately 22x18, so a bit smaller than yours. Are your house and garage from the same era as mine i.e. the '30s? The roof is not that common, I don't think. Certainly not in modern building.

The new floor will not be concrete. This is a BUDGET project, guys, to make an old unusable structure that I pay taxes on more usable and at least decent looking. I will put down some kind of a base and compact it well with one of those machines you can rent from Home Depot. The top 4" or so will be something that I have not fully decided on yet. I have heard of a product called "TRG" that will supposedly pack down hard. The idea here is to use something that I can do myself with shovels, rakes, a wheelbarrow, a compacter, and my Hulk-like strength. I'll probably also put some plastic down between the base and the top material to act as a moisture barrier.

Jack, raising the building sounds like a lot of extra work. What would it be for, I'm curious to know? The foundation walls are being patched, not replaced. So no, the building was not raised before the floor came out.

BTW, the floor came out one piece at a time. I used a sledge, a pick, and a ten gallon bucket to haul away the smaller pieces. Big pieces I just carried one or two at a time. No other tools. 6-8 strikes with the sledge would develop a crack I could exploit with the pick, then get the pick under the broken pieces to lift them up so I could get my fingers under them to carry them out. Took me maybe 10 hours spread out over three days. Anyone know how much a 22'x18' x 5" thick slab weighs? I'd like to know.

My builder did mention a few ways to tackle the lean. These include a turnbuckle, a truck, and yes the arm of a backhoe as you describe. I've also seen people use cable pullers going diagonal across the outside of the wall. Like this:

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/framecarp/liftmove/straighten/garage1/winch.htm

babzog said:

I've always wondered (and this may be a stupid idea).. could you just place a sheet or two of say 3/4" ply on the wall that's leading the lean (ie: on this side of a building leaning this way \ \ ), then push it back into position with the arm of a high hoe or back hoe? Seems that, by spreading the force with the ply and pushing (gently, mind you) with a machine that'll generate a lot more force than a come-a-long, would make the straightening easier and faster.

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regarding pulling a building straight, here's how I went about it with my 30 x 30 x 2-story building:
- Drill through sill plate on the side away from the lean
- Drill through opposing top plate on the side with the lean
- Install 3/4" eye bolts on both sides
- Repeat at end, middle, other end of building
- Attach come alongs and chain (or cable or straps) crank each one in turn

My building is really large so I was only able to move it about 5-6 inches (needed to go about 9 to be truly straight). On a small building like this one, the approach will easily work.

But, if you have a back hoe at your disposal, that's a fine approach too - just for me, buying several come alongs was way cheaper

"Anyone know how much a 22'x18' x 5" thick slab weighs? I'd like to know."

22'x18'x.4167' = 165 cf
Concrete weights 150 #/cf
So that slab weighed some where in the neighborhood of 12.5 tons.

Always fun to think about how much you can move.

I have an old garage similar to this. It is aprox. 12' x 20'. I have been trying to decide that best way to "fix" it up. Mine has a dirt floor, leaning walls, cracked foundation, and framing issues.

I look forward to seeing how your project turns out.

Wakerider, thanks for the reply and the info about the concrete. I am actually pretty surprised by the weight...I figured maybe it was a few tons at most. This means I carried 12.5 tons of concrete in a matter of a few days?

That's awesome.

On your garage, are you imagining going buck-wild and totally restoring it to like-new, or just doing a budget fix-up to save it and make it useful, like what I am doing?

Bull said:

The new floor will not be concrete. This is a BUDGET project, guys, to make an old unusable structure that I pay taxes on more usable and at least decent looking.

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22 x 18 x (4/12) = 132 cubic ft

132 / 27 = 4.88 cubic yards

5 yard concrete x $120/yd = $600.

This is a small enough project that you and two friends could pour the concrete yourself.

For $600 you would have a 4 inch slab, something to think about.

I guess that isn't much money for a concrete floor.

But, I literally do not have two friends to help me. Not even one, really. My one good friend who would be down for something like this moved to Texas a couple years ago. So, it needs to be something I can do solo.

twostory said:

22 x 18 x (4/12) = 132 cubic ft

132 / 27 = 4.88 cubic yards

5 yard concrete x $120/yd = $600.

This is a small enough project that you and two friends could pour the concrete yourself.

For $600 you would have a 4 inch slab, something to think about.

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If you can divide the garage into two sections, (22 x 9), you can pour the slab in two separate pours. It is work, but one man can pour/screed/finish a 9 ft wide strip.

If you can get the concrete truck that only mixes up what you need on site, the concrete cost will not be much more than doing the whole floor at once. Otherwise you will play more for a short load of 2.5 yards.

there are is actually a company around here called short load. they have these awesome mini barrel mixers. see if there is anything like that around you if you wanna pour it yourself. i actually plan on calling them when im ready to pour a small patio.

Ok, time for a quick update. This is not the most exciting stage of the work, I don't suppose, but it's some of the most physically demanding so it feels good to have it out of the way.

Horrible, cracked-up concrete floor is gone. I still need to rake up the smaller pieces and carry them out.




I carried the chunks across the driveway and piled them up on an old concrete slab that used to have a large shed on top of it. Another long-term project to bust that up. In the meanwhile, it's a staging area for construction debris.


Here's the old garage door, broken and defeated on the bottom of the rubble pile. I should have taken some pics of the tracks, springs, and hardware, but they are buried now and I didn't think of it then. Definitely a super heavy-duty setup that you don't see anymore.




This loft area is framed with dinky 2x4s across the span of the garage. Obviously undersized to go that far and also support weight. They will be replaced with 2x8s with 3/4 plywood glued and screwed on top for light household storage, probably of my wife's humongous holiday decoration collection. There was a floor of very old, wide planks. I carefully removed them and am saving them for use sometime in the future. I can't get rid of good, aged lumber!


Part of the plan involves changing the front gable end of the garage. Instead of one large garage door, we are hoping to install an 8' door offset to one side, and then an entry door next to that. My builder mentioned the issue of finding a siding to use to match what is on the garage now, which is old tongue and groove boards. Thankfully, I have a shed with the same siding that I had once hoped to save, but realize now it would be more prudent to take down. I am trying carefully to remove the siding to use for the front of the garage. It's old and breaks easily, but I found a method that by the end of the day was allowing me to remove most boards with little or no damage.

Here it is when I started:


Here it is at the end of the day. I would have gotten more done, but had to go slowly to save the siding and also needed to allow time to mow the back lawn.


Any junk in there is going to get tossed, and anything good is being put in my old barn for now. You can see the old metal desk (manufacturer unknown) that I hope to clean, repaint, and put to use somewhere.

Not being anything more than an amateur, I am often surprised by what I learn about tools by using them. This knowledge usually consists of what must be elementary for other people. For example, I was using my pry bar to get behind the siding and pull it forward to pop a nail head, then pull the nail, and repeat until all nails were out. I then discovered that this V-groove on the bar, which I assumed was just for capturing the head and pulling the nail, works great to CUT them! That method works much better...slip the bar behind the siding, get the nail in the groove, whack the bar with a hammer to cut the nail, and repeat. Much better, and I'm glad I know now, because knowing is half the battle (G.I. Joe reference from my youth.)


Tomorrow I hope to have the rest of the shed siding removed and the framing and roof demolished. Anyone know a safe way to remove that roof? Working from inside seems sketchy, but accessing it from outside seems problematic since I can't reach anything but the edges of the rafters. The building is already feeling wobbly with some of the siding removed...probably does not help that it has some floor rot and has been leaning for years.

Thanks for looking.

Nice progress, keep the pictures coming!

Re-Volv said:

Nice progress, keep the pictures coming!

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Will do, and thanks for taking the time to read about my project.

i have the same kind of siding on my garage. i guess it was very popular in the 20-40's. but they do still make it. ive seen it at a few places near me in jersey, and i'll end up siding at least the front of my garage in it when i build a new one.(literally just gonna build a blown up version of the one i have)

also for a really easy time with the boards use a wrecking strap, they are much thinner and dont damage as much as what you appear to be using, but i could mistaken. also one of my fav tools is actually a siding/roofers tool. you slide it up under something, find a nail and hook it(hooks on either side of a long thin bar) then there is a bend in the bar. you smack that bend with a hammer and cut the nail. i use it to repair my slate roof

Is it expensive to buy new? It seems like a great design. The tongue really fits into that groove nicely and tightly. It'd take some pretty fancy footwork by water to make it through the siding. I like it.

metal1313 said:

i have the same kind of siding on my garage. i guess it was very popular in the 20-40's. but they do still make it. ive seen it at a few places near me in jersey, and i'll end up siding at least the front of my garage in it when i build a new one.(literally just gonna build a blown up version of the one i have)

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IIRC I think the siding that you are referring to is called "Shiplap siding" and it comes in two different styles. The style that you have and another that is more squared off. Most lumber yards (not box store yards) carry it.

A quick search brought this up http://www.sawmilltimbers.com/html/lumber_patterns.html and shows the names of various styles of siding.

Thanks for showing this. I've got a 2 car that I thought was beyond fixing, but compared to yours, it's not as bad, so maybe it's worth a shot-or at least getting someone out to take a look at what it would cost.

I was figuring $25,000-$30,000 for a new one - which is hard to stomach when the house is only worth around $100,000. I'd never make my money back on a $25,000 garage.

I don't think I've ever seem a wrecking strap or the other tool you describe. I'll look for them the next time I am in Home Depot.

metal1313 said:

also for a really easy time with the boards use a wrecking strap, they are much thinner and dont damage as much as what you appear to be using, but i could mistaken. also one of my fav tools is actually a siding/roofers tool. you slide it up under something, find a nail and hook it(hooks on either side of a long thin bar) then there is a bend in the bar. you smack that bend with a hammer and cut the nail. i use it to repair my slate roof

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Kart, I'm glad this thread is useful to you, and makes you consider saving your structure. I think mine is in pretty bad condition, but then people like Buck chime in and say they've seen even worse saved. So, yours must be do-able if it is not even as bad as mine!

I will be waaayyyy under $25k, so I bet you could be, too!

kartracer23 said:

Thanks for showing this. I've got a 2 car that I thought was beyond fixing, but compared to yours, it's not as bad, so maybe it's worth a shot-or at least getting someone out to take a look at what it would cost.

I was figuring $25,000-$30,000 for a new one - which is hard to stomach when the house is only worth around $100,000. I'd never make my money back on a $25,000 garage.

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Kevin, I don't think this is shiplap...the siding on my barn is shiplap. On that, the edges of the boards do not fit into each other. They lay on top of each other, one side having a recessed lip and the other having an opposing lip to allow them to cover one another. Not sure that makes any sense, but I have a few pieces I can take pics of to show the difference. The siding on the barn and garage seem to make a much tighter fit.

BTW, it's funny that you linked to that site, as the company is just down the street for me!

Kevin54 said:

IIRC I think the siding that you are referring to is called "Shiplap siding" and it comes in two different styles. The style that you have and another that is more squared off. Most lumber yards (not box store yards) carry it.

A quick search brought this up http://www.sawmilltimbers.com/html/lumber_patterns.html and shows the names of various styles of siding.

Click to expand...

Bull said:

I guess that isn't much money for a concrete floor.

But, I literally do not have two friends to help me. Not even one, really. My one good friend who would be down for something like this moved to Texas a couple years ago. So, it needs to be something I can do solo.

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Where in MA? I can come help ya out. No experience, but plenty of youthful vigor...

dan

In the western part of the state, about two hours or less from Bennington.

It's a mighty kind offer, and if I decide to go with concrete then I will have to consider. That's hard work to volunteer to help a stranger with.

Foul said:

Where in MA? I can come help ya out. No experience, but plenty of youthful vigor...

dan

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Minor progress today. Removed the siding from the north wall of the shed. That left only the east wall with siding on it. The shed leaned heavily to the east, and it was feeling very wobbly with three sides stripped. I did not want to be on the east side pulling boards and have the damn thing fall on me. So, I knocked out all the framing on the south side (with the windows) and then about four on the west side before the roof finally came down and then the whole thing collapsed to the east. I cleaned up all the debris, and have an intact east wall laying face-down in the grass. It will be nice and easy, now, to remove those siding boards tomorrow. Hopefully, I will have salvaged enough to use on the garage!

Three sides stripped:


Collapsed:


Where I called it quits at the end of the day:


East wall, ready to give up its siding tomorrow:


Inside the shed, someone had built a little medicine-type cabinet into the wall using an old wooden box for the door. The door is too cool to throw out. When I saw the "Hood" logo I assumed the dairy company, since that is the only "Hood" I know. But this appears to be from a box for rubber shoes. I'll clean it up a bit and hang it up somewhere in my barn or garage as a decoration. Love the old stuff!

The desk is an old "tank desk" like as not the brand is either Steelcase, or All Steel. If you do not find an exterior badge at the pencil tray, you might find a decal or stamping or other identifier of the brand on the inside of a drawer. Most of those old desks and furniture of that appearance is old government or military surplus.

BTW: Great job so far on the building.

looks alot like my old garage. should be nice when your done

too cool - I love the old stuff around the edges and the old door! Looks like some back-breaking labout! Stuff I did TOO MUCH of when I was also full of "youthful vigour"...now I wouldn't touch it!
how about using all the rubble as a retaining wall, rock garden, pond wall, or??? Are you gonna burn all that scrap wood, or haul it?

If your going to pour a slab, may as well make it 6" and have it last. 4" slab would need quite a bit of rebar to last in a place that gets frost like most of New England does.

twostory said:

22 x 18 x (4/12) = 132 cubic ft

132 / 27 = 4.88 cubic yards

5 yard concrete x $120/yd = $600.

This is a small enough project that you and two friends could pour the concrete yourself.

For $600 you would have a 4 inch slab, something to think about.

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e-tek, I like and have thought of using the rubble for SOMETHING, as I have no intention of paying someone to haul it away. Between this garage floor and then the concrete from two large shed floors, I am going to have a mountain of the stuff. I lack creativity and the skill to know what to do with it, and how, though.

Shed siding reclamation stage complete! It was a beautiful day here today, although I did feel like a cookie baking on greased pan during the high noon-three pm period. But, I saved what I hope will be more than enough siding to use on the front of the garage. Next step: remove old garage wiring so builder does not have to deal with it.

Here is the shed's "foundation" that I discovered under the floor boards. Sunken and rotted are the two words that come to mind. My grandfather pulled this shed onto the property from a neighbor's land maybe in the 1940s or 50s. I can't blame him for the way he set it up...it lasted him for his lifetime.


Demolition completely done and shed pad given a quick rake. I obviously need to spend more time getting the ground here into shape, but that's a pretty low priority at this point.


Here is all the siding that I saved. Some of these pieces have sections that were damaged during removal, but most of what is pictured is usable.


I took all the drawers out of that old desk (except for one that has no handle) and did not find any manufacturer markings. I was hoping to clean it up/repaint it and use it in the garage, but now I think I might throw it into the next dumpster that we get. There is a bag of fertilizer stored in one drawer that I think is responsible for causing the bottom of the desk to rot. In the pic, you can see the ragged edge of metal. Underneath that, there is a small hole, and the metal in the area feels thin. I'm not sure it's worth messing around with.


On a final note, I apparently disturbed a nest of hornets of some kind that have a large paper nest in some tall grass near the shed that came down. At one point today, there were easily hundreds of them buzzing around. I tested my luck and got right up to within a foot or so of their damaged nest that they were repairing. By the end of the day, I could see they had fixed most of the holes that I had seen earlier. Pretty cool. I have had a long-standing truce with winged, stinging insects. They don't touch me, and I don't spray them.