Broadway Wrecker Service Garage

jca · May 31, 2010

Broadway Wrecker Service Garage

I own a 1930s small two bedroom house (1000 square feet) in a historic district. Behind the house is an old cinder block garage. The "three car" garage is 1200 square feet, and opens into a back alley for access. Considering the garage is larger than the house, it's an unusual building for the historic neighborhood it is located in.

Broadway Wrecker Service Garage

The garage is in poor condition. There is no water, sewer, or electrical. The three garage doors are rusted closed and no longer operate. The concrete floor and foundation seem to be in okay shape, but it appears one "bay" was poured at a different time than the rest of the garage, making it uneven. There is also a large tree too close to the building that is most likely causing foundation issues. The flat slanted metal roof leaks everywhere, making the building itself unusable. The cinder blocks and roof structure are damaged in several spots.

The garage building has an interesting (to me) back story. The house was owned by the operator of a towing company ("Broadway"), which operated from the 1950s to the 1990s. I believe he built this cinder block garage on his property to service/park some of his tow trucks. I don't know that he actually dispatched or operated the wrecker service from his home (the towing company had a location elsewhere at the time), but considering it was probably a 24 hour operation, I'm guessing the garage saw some tow truck business activity. Other relics from the wrecker service garage were a full-size working street light/pole on the property and an old engine block in the building when I first bought the property.

Having learned so much from the many great threads/stories about garage projects on The Garage Journal, I wanted to start a thread to solicit help and document any work I may do on the Broadway Wrecker Service Garage project.

I want to renovate the building to get it functioning as a usable garage. Unfortunately, there are a few roadblocks:

I live in a Historic District. Like most historic areas, it is controlled by a city commission that must approve any construction, renovation, etc. -- especially any work that would involve building permits. Since this review process only happens in a monthly meeting with the commission, it can be a very slow process. Which leads to...
Our cinder block building is "grandfathered" in with regards to modern city regulations and ordinances covering building size, location, construction, etc. I cannot level the building and start over from scratch -- I wouldn't be able to rebuild the same size and location as the existing building, if at all. I also may have issues altering the construction of the building itself, such as replacing the slant metal roof with a traditional pitched roof with shingles, or modern siding over the cinder block, etc. It is hard to say what will be allowed.
I cannot invest a large amount of money into this project. I recently have been doing a lot of renovation on our house and property, which has eaten up a lot of money in the short term. (Maybe I should start a separate thread about the unexpected fun of replacing a 100 year old backed up sewer line that runs under the front driveway.) More importantly, I can't invest a lot of money in a garage that would end up costing more than the house itself. Considering the size of the house and the current real estate market, that wouldn't make much financial sense.

I have just started trying to figure out how to approach this project. First step is to find a capable contractor to get estimates and ideas on how to proceed, but haven't had a lot of luck so far.

So my questions: What would you do if this was your garage? Is it worth investing in? How would you renovate? For example, how would you address the major issue of the leaky roof?

Appreciate any help/ideas/feedback/etc.

Exterior Photos:

jca · May 31, 2010

Interior Photos:

RAYJAY · May 31, 2010

If the walls are ok i would just replace the doors and roof, using metal roofing and trusses and use the garage.

I would also see if any one has pictures of the garage when it was in its it prime

might help you see how it was used and what it looked like when it was first built

Junkman · May 31, 2010

Most historical preservation people will allow you to make modifications if they are period correct Example would be to put a peaked roof in place of the old metal roofing. The real problem will be the removal of the tree. They would rather see the tree stay, and the building gone. If this is the case, then you will just have to figure out how to proceed. If the tree were in poor health, then they might let you remove it. I have seen health trees start to die as a result of construction in the area where the roots are located. As for the floor, if the walls were built on a footing, you can jack hammer out the old floor and pour a new floor. From the pictures, it appears that it would be worth saving if you can afford the renovations. I would try to get at least one door open so you can get some air flow into the building to keep mold from growing on the walls and floor. Go to the historic commission with an open mind, and ask them for preservation help. It might be the better way than going there and telling them what you want to do. Let them make the suggestions. After all, it is a lot easier to get them to approve their suggestions that it will be to convince them that what you want to do is favorable.

jca · May 31, 2010

RAYJAY said:
I would also see if any one has pictures of the garage when it was in its it prime

Yeah, we've been trying to research the building, but haven't turned up a lot of info other than what I mentioned, and some of that is just speculation. Photos would be great as you suggested; maybe something will turn up when we have time to research city records at the local library.

banzaitoyota · May 31, 2010

I would stabilize what you have first, then get an engineering/architectural assessment to see if you can afford to keep it, within the guidelines set by the hysterical commission .

Would be a neat building, but you may have the deck stacked against you; depending on how wound up your commission is.

jca · May 31, 2010

Junkman said:
The real problem will be the removal of the tree.

Yeah, we are not interested in removing the tree. I was just mentioning that it was too close to the building and is likely causing issues. This is why we need to find a contractor to give us a pro's opinion about all the "issues".

Junkman said:
Go to the historic commission with an open mind, and ask them for preservation help.

Based on our previous experience, I think we would be better served by working with a contractor who has experience working with the historic commission approval process.

RAYJAY · May 31, 2010

jca said:
Yeah, we've been trying to research the building, but haven't turned up a lot of info other than what I mentioned, and some of that is just speculation. Photos would be great as you suggested; maybe something will turn up when we have time to research city records at the local library.

is Broadway wrecker still in around? even if they were bought out buy some one else, towing guys do keep old pictures around :thumbup:

51rider · May 31, 2010

Post #2, picture #6. looks like a serious case of wet rot to me.

Get some air in there as soon as you can & if it starts to grow fungus, DO NOT go in there without some kind of mask on.

+1 on what Rayjay posted unless there are issues with the walls that cannot show on the photos.
There is a product over here in europe called decra roofing http://www.decra.co.uk/
who make lightweight, moulded & coated steel roof panels.
There are variations on this theme some come with bonded insulation & have different roof styles. You might be able to match the originals in colour and style but the important thing is that most of these systems can be used with very shallow roof pitches such as the existing.

As for the tree, there are a couple of options; 1.is to leave it; 2. Kill it off so it has to come down.
If you want to know more about #2, drop me a pm.

I think you are being very sensible in trying to find a contractor who has worked with the Historical Preservation people. I wonder if they keep records of 'approved contractors'-could be worth a call. If the Historical Society is a public body, i.e, part of the city then anything like this would have to be a matter of public record & should be available in the town library or wherever public records are kept.

Good luck & keep us posted. :thumbup:

jethro29 · May 31, 2010

cool place,lots of possibilities.if the let you put an a-frame roof on it then youd have room for a lift in the center.rrrrrrrrrr............

jethro29 · May 31, 2010

cool place,lots of possibilities.if they let you put an a-frame roof on it then youd have room for a lift in the center.rrrrrrrrrr............

John R. · May 31, 2010

I'm under the impression that most buildings in a residential area that are of a business nature and "grandfathered in" general do not allow for major repairs or renovation to the structures. Simple repair, paint, and general house keeping items is all that might be allowed.

Maybe the first place to check is with the powers to be and see what they consider being grandfathered in to mean.

Daniel Dudley · Jun 1, 2010

It costs a lot to fix rotten roof timbers. Fix your roof asap, even if it is a patch job. This will give you a usable space, and time to think it out. Rubberized reinforced patches work well on metal, and are easy for the DIY. Snow Roof Systems makes a good product, IMO.

Kevin54 · Jun 1, 2010

You need to get some mortar in the cores of the blocks and get them filled in. Water sitting in the cores for a long period of time can lead to deterioration of the blocks.

You need to read thru this thread about restoring an old business. This was an old welding shop. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51567&highlight=1930's Just make sure you have quite a few refreshments to hold you over until you read thru it. LOL!!!

little d · Jun 1, 2010

jcs, if ya dont mind me asking, why are ya looking for a contractor? i dont see anything a diy couldent handle. your talking about a tight budget, this would save ya a bundle! you have a world of help here, im sure theres nothing you could run into that we couldent walk ya through. just a thought.

markviii · Jun 1, 2010

jca,
Looks like you have a great foundation to build on. Kevin54 has given you the link to our thread (as he said, it's long - 60 pages - but there's lots of stuff there that might help give you ideas. PM us with any questions, especially about the block construction and the roof).

Not knowing what your personal skills and resources are in terms of concrete, electrical, lighting, tuck pointing, roofing, etc., it's difficult to give guidance form this end. Just take it slow and in stages as you find room in the budget. If you have to outsource work, find the best people for the job who really know what they're doing. Sometimes that costs a bit more, but they work faster than average and the jobs hold up over time.

In order to get the garage space into some minimal shape to begin using it, you need to attack (literally) the most important things first - roofing and at least one usable door. You're so lucky to have a cleared-out garage. Avoid cluttering up the space with things other than what you absolutely need. We find that once you start occupying the space, the renovations take a back seat because you have to work around all the "stuff".. It looks like you're starting with an empty space, and that's great.

Plan it out on paper - both the renovation stages and the layout - ahead of time and then start working through the list. We've been at ours for 4.5 years and it's been very rewarding. We didn't find this forum until this past January, but it's been a fantastic resource and great support. We feel like we've made lots of friends all over the world!

Welcome to the GJ family.

Chris
(aka markviii of the Restored 1930's Auto Shop; significant other of BB727)

Bib Overalls · Jun 2, 2010

Your building looks to be really low in relationship to the surrounding ground and the alleyway. Is there any evidence of flooding? Do the neighbors have any recollection?

You say the doors are rusted shut. But it looks to me like soil may have washed down and built up in front of the doors, locking them in position.

I would not invest any money in rehabilitation until the drainage issue is resolved. The fix may be as simple as raising the floor with a concrete overlay. Or it may require drains and trenching.

My point, I guess, is that it does not make much sense to put a new roof on a building that is falling down at the bottom.

I hope I am wrong about all of this but, from the pictures, drainage is an issue that need to be evaluated before any work is done.

markviii · Jun 2, 2010

You might try contacting local collector and antique car clubs to get more info on this business. There may be some guys there who are not on the computer who might be able to tell you more. We have two 90-year-olds in our club who worked in many of the dealerships in our area or had their own shops and can still tell us where every auto repair shop and wrecker service was for the past 70 years. I hope you can find pictures of the business and the house. If the man ran his business out of the back door of his house, there was a close relationship to homelife, as we found with our shop. I see that you were contacted by a cousin. He should be able to put you in contact with kids, grandkids, etc, who might have some pictures. It's worth a try!

uniongoon · Jun 2, 2010

Or you can do what my buddy did when he did not get the building permit he was seeking, his house "accidentally" fell over.

jca · Jun 27, 2010

Just wanted to thank everyone for the replies/advice/etc. A quick update: For the past month we have been getting estimates from contractors and builders with regards to our garage renovation project.

I don't know that we would be able to do the renovation on our own as a DIY project as some have suggested, so we have been hoping to find a contractor. Unfortunately we haven't had much luck finding contractors in the past -- so far calling around and meeting different people about this project we have seen many "contractor stereotypes", both good and bad. I guess it's a good thing when a contractor doesn't make a good impression on first meeting which gives you a bit of warning to stay away. On the other hand some builders seem impressive on first meeting but are far more expensive than what we can afford.

Anyway, I think we may have found a contractor and are preparing our application for the city commission to get approval on the project sometime in July. Fingers crossed. In the meantime I'll be reading this helpful forum to get ideas about what we should and shouldn't do.

rlwhitetr3b · Jun 27, 2010

jca said:
get approval on the project sometime in July

Good luck! :beer:

We will all be waiting for a report and hopfully pictures of the project as it progresses :bounce:

jca · Jul 14, 2010

Broadway Wrecker Service Garage update

Update on our garage renovation project.

In the past month we hired a contractor and worked with them to submit our application/drawing to the local city historic commission. That was followed by the monthly meeting of the commission where your project is discussed and given a yay/nay vote by the members of the committee. Thankfully our plan was approved. (Someone at the same meeting had their application rejected which may have resulted in a very costly mistake on their part in nonreturnable materials they purchased before approval.)

So we have begun demolition on parts of the garage, which so far has included removal of the three old garage doors, four metal awning style windows, and removal of the metal roof panels. They have also dug the trench for electrical running from the house to the garage.

Stuart in MN · Jul 14, 2010

Re: Broadway Wrecker Service Garage update

jca said:
Thankfully our plan was approved.

Congratulations! Looking forward to photos of your progress.

51rider · Jul 14, 2010

Glad to see progress on this one-I thought you might have had some real hassle with it.

Good luck & keep us updated with photo's.

markviii · Jul 14, 2010

Now the real fun begins!

little d · Jul 14, 2010

congrats. that should be nice when ya get her done.

Daniel Dudley · Jul 15, 2010

That is great ! I don't know why, but I keep seeing the exterior with red Texaco leeters across the top and a red stripe with red stars over the door. Maybe a couple of old pumps between the doors.

It would make a classy retro.

dipper · Jul 15, 2010

Congrats on getting approval from the townies. You have what appeared to be a good structure to start with, and it sounds like your plans are coming along well. Getting it closed in with a new roof, windows and doors will be a big improvement....and some electric too.

Keep up with the pics.

John R. · Jul 15, 2010

You would think the town would be just as happy as you to have it done.

Wingnut65 · Jul 15, 2010

Congrats on the approval and your progress! It looks great so far.

See if you can salvage any of the roofing lumber for future projects. A lot of time old wood from buldings is old growth that you just can't buy any more.

Good luck with your project!

SM Racing · Jul 15, 2010

Where in AL are you? That area looks similar to mine in Huntsville. The Five Points Area has many buildings like that.

Cougar67 · Jul 20, 2010

I'm glad you are saving it. We had a one car version of that garage behind a 1908 house we used to have. It was rotten to the core and had an old VW bug leaking oil into it. I think PO of house had never been in there! We had to replace the roof deck with 3/4 ext plywood and then used roll roofing (cheap). It had rolling doors but a thief did us a favor and broke in. The insurance company insisted it was cheaper to install a nice new overhead rolling door. To which I added an electric opener. You would not believe the value a garage added to an old home here in VA. Old houses here don't usually have them. We were thinking about adding an outside stair and a deck on the roof but ended up selling it. House was on the market 7 days. Since you are in a city you can go to the main downtown library and look at old "City Directories." They are like phone books but go in order of addresses. You can go back in years and figure out how many years your tow service was in business and if it operated from your house.

jca · Jul 23, 2010

Broadway Wrecker Service Garage update

A few more pictures of progress on the garage.

You can see the pile of wood from the roof "structure" removal. We were able to save a few pieces of wood, but most of it had water damage. After the roof came down, they repaired various wall blocks, and removed the old concrete headers above the garage door openings. The old headers were pretty low, and since the floor may be raised from the new driveway/floor concrete pour, we needed more headroom, hence the new wood headers. In the photos you can see the new attic trusses going up -- looking forward to the storage space this will create.

With the new roof, the garage is now bigger than our actual house -- 1200 sq. ft garage versus 1000+ sq ft house. You could literally fit our house inside the area of the garage. I believe our house is 6/12 pitch, while the garage is 8/12. Sadly this unusual size garage may not help (or in some cases it could hurt) resell value, which is why we are concerned about "overbuilding".

gfd_703 · Jul 23, 2010

Never fear, several of us on here have garages either larger or more costly than our homes.

IH8Z28S · Jul 23, 2010

To certain people a bigger garage is more important then the size of the house!

colt340 · Jul 25, 2010

[email protected] said:
To certain people a bigger garage is more important then the size of the house!

Amen to that. I wish I had that height for storage space. Where I live
the height is limited to 15 feet high at the peak.

jca · Aug 2, 2010

Broadway Wrecker Service Garage update

Progress photos show sheeting going over the trusses, shingles being laid down, and Hardie siding going up on the roof gables. Inside the garage electrical is mostly finished, with the electrical panel, conduit/wiring, and outlets in place. The pre-hung steel door and custom wood windows arrived to be installed.

The next big step is the concrete pour for the new driveway and floor. We're concerned about the driveway because one of our cars is a Mini Cooper Clubman (with it's low/long wheelbase), which I'm worried will scrape on the short driveway with a steep angle transition into the garage.

Midwest Vette · Aug 3, 2010

It is looking great. Nice work. :thumbup:

ct71rr · Aug 3, 2010

Very nice so far. Keep up the progress and pics!

jca · Aug 9, 2010

Broadway Wrecker Service Garage update

Phase 1 of our garage renovation is nearing a close. We're going to finish the rest of the exterior siding/painting/etc. as a Phase 2 of the project, hopefully in a month around the time we seal the new concrete floor.

These photos show the old asphalt and area for the new driveway being cleared. Concrete for the driveway and new interior floor was poured. New barn style lighting was installed for both the interior and exterior, along with the new garage doors and openers.

Broadway Wrecker Service Garage

Active member

Attachments

Active member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

MEMBER EMERITUS

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Active member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Attachments

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Active member

Attachments

Member

Well-known member

Active member

Attachments