Adding a winter storage bay

[gasgas17]

So like the title says, I'm adding a winter storage bay on the back of my home based shop we use for my renovation business. Business has been pretty good the last few years so I'm trying to get some very over due home renovations done to my own house. Bad case of the cobblers kids have no shoes or the mechanics car. I have 14 feet behind my garage that is nothing more than a junk collector and I need some winter storage for the boxster and the street bike. We have a mandatory set back of 4 feet on the back line so the most I can build is 10 feet. on the back of my 22 foot deep shop. The back right corner also has an easement for the main sewer line that comes up the back yards on my street. So I need to cut the width short on the addition to 22 feet. The existing garage is 24 feet wide. So the new slab size will be 10' x 22' and I plan to build a sloped ceiling to give it a more open feel. I was really tempted to sneak it in 12 feet wide, but I didn't want to chance ******* off the neighbors by getting too close to the line. I'm already building 100 square feet over the maximum allowable size of 650 square feet for a garage in my area. Although I have enough lot space that I could build a second 650 foot garage. Makes sense eh?

First up was to get rid of a tree that would be in the way of the new garage door. This maple was hit by lightning a few years ago and the back side of the trunk was missing and allowing the trunk to rot out, so it had to go anyways. Measuring the height of the tree with my tape from a hundred feet back and scaling it out, I figured I had about an extra 4 or 5 feet from the house when it falls. So I cut it off 3 feet from the ground for a little safety margin. Landed 8 feet from the house.

As you can see the back of the house is also due for a refit. I'm working my way around a side at a time with all new windows, doors and siding as the wallet allows. Getting it graveled in after excavation of the stumps and scratching the rough grade for the slab.

Ready for rebar and wire mesh. No engineered slab on the old existing garage but it did have a 4 inch curb. Just going with a flat slab on the addition, but with a thickened footing around the edge as per the standard engineered slab method for our area.

Should have added some calcium as the temperature was getting a bit low. Around a high of 8 degrees C the day we poured. It was just getting hard enough for the power trowel at midnight. Kind of gave up and hand troweled it off and went to bed. Although it did take a pretty good polish with the power trowel first thing in the morning. Can't believe it took that long to cure. Lucked out on the finish anyways.

The next day we had it mostly framed up.

 

[Farmall450]

Looking good OP, best of luck. Time for a metal roof perhaps?

 

[gasgas17]

Some more progress. Getting ready for siding and roofing. I plan to go with a new steel roof over the entire garage. The siding will match the new stuff on the house.

 

[gasgas17]

I had the guys insulate the roof and install the ceiling last Friday. Then I worked that night and over the weekend to get the rest of it insulated, wired and the walls finished. I'm pretty happy with the space. The wall opposite the over head door is nine feet tall and will get shelving floor to ceiling 2 feet deep to help de-clutter the other shop. Will also utilize some of the wall space for step ladders and the like. We have a lot of gear for work but I can't really justify a commercial space.

 

[gasgas17]

That is LED lighting and super bright. I could easily get away without painting the ceiling white.

 

[sean Buick 76]

Looking really good! How tall is the back wall and the tallest point?

 

[gasgas17]

The tallest point of the ceiling at the beam is 12 feet. The bay door wall is 8'-1" and the other end is 8'-9" on count of the 2 foot jog in the building. It's mostly sided now. I just have to side the front and 2 feet by the man door. Ordering the steel roof today.

 

[PhantomEB]

Looks great! I was thinking a shed! ��

 

[gasgas17]

The back is all sided around to the front man door now. Just ordered the steel for the roof today too. Also picked up a discount door from my overhead door supplier. It had been installed on a job some where. It must either have been the wrong panel of had some very minor damage on it some where. It looks great on my garage, that's all that matters. It's almost the exact color of my siding. Also picked up a new window to replace the old storm window that was original to the garage. No real window, just a storm screwed to some boards. Welded up some track hanger mounts out of angle for the sloped ceiling.

Still need to side the front. I had sided the front about 12 years ago when I replaced the garage door. It was originally a 16 foot door, I wanted more wall space in the shop. That and the front was in hard shape when we bought it. Then hurricane Juan pulled the service and the rake and some of the siding off, so we had to do something with it. Time to get rid of the white now.

I plan to do something with this wall on the weekend and build the shelving on the end wall with a small bench since I will be able to work on the car over the winter having it at home. Had it stored in a barn with 15 other cars last winter, with no access.

 

[captain14]

That one side makes it look totally different with new siding. How any man doors are there? I see one by the front with the window and the last photo shows a entry door with no window.

Are you removing the original back wall or just an entry door where the old window was?

Thanks

 

[gasgas17]

For now, I think that we will keep the 2 shops separate. I had the old door kicking around from the side of the house, so I installed it in the old back wall of the garage to keep the dust out of the new area. Although we did frame a 6 foot wide opening for future expansion of the original shop. I already cut the curb most of the way through in the framed opening too.

 

[gasgas17]

Got rid of the large pile of patio stones Friday and today. Instant apron for the garage door and a nice sloped clean surface all the way around the addition to keep the weeds down. This is the second time these patio stones have been re-purposed. Anyway, instant landscaping is always good.

Tomorrow is inside work day, to get that finished off. They are calling for 5 cm of snow over the next couple days, so it's time to get the car and bike parked inside.

 

[gasgas17]

Snow in November!...................******

 

[gasgas17]

Made some progress on the inside on this wet snowy day. The former exterior wall with the window is all filled in now, with the osb cut for the larger opening if needed later on. A small bench and some much needed storage.

Finally, a spot for step ladders and the like.

And I started decorating........

 

[M-technik-3]

Very sweet addition, Was up your way last month. Can't say I ventured out of downtown all that much. NS has so many brewery's and great places to eat. Next year I'll be venturing there for pleasure.

 

[gasgas17]

Is a beautiful province. If your driving, you want to take in the south shore, Halifax area and Peggy's cove, the Annapolis Valley and of course the Cabot trail in Cape Breton. Stick to the old roads and get a Doers and Dreamers guide. Easy way to kill a week or two. And with your dollar so high it's like the 3rd week is free! A family member has a old house near Bethel Maine, So we have been taking some trips down that way the last couple years. Toured all over the White Mountains on the street bike this summer. Love it down there.

 

[sean Buick 76]

Looking very good!

 

[Fast914]

Hey Gas Gas, you work quick...the garage looks awesome and that door between is really going to make a difference re back and forth through the winter...thinking you need to change your signature if rumours of a new 300 are true...LOL! Grant

...Oh, and I need you and your crew to stop by for some cabinet building and Beer!!

 

[runt262]

That addition looks awesome. Looks like it would incredibly useful. I had to check the dates of your posts a few times just to actually let it sink in how fast you got this up!

Where did you get your source the siding, and what colour is that? It looks really good.

 

[dubber]

Nicely done. Thats a great idea with solid execution.

 

[gasgas17]

That addition looks awesome. Looks like it would incredibly useful. I had to check the dates of your posts a few times just to actually let it sink in how fast you got this up!

Where did you get your source the siding, and what colour is that? It looks really good.

Thanks for the compliments folks. The siding is sourced through Mitten Vinyl products and should be available in any north american market they do vinyl business in. The color is Rockaway Grey. It's a really dark grey/green. Looks really good on the house. So much so my not so favorite neighbor used a very similar color when they built next door. But I digress.....

And the best part of this whole deal yet.....................

Just in time as now they are saying we may be getting a dump of snow before November leaves us. Not the greatest for installing a roof on my garage.

 

[gasgas17]

Good start on the roof today. Stripped the old roof shingles and installed ice an water shield and papered the rest of the roof. Garbage is gone to the dump. Hopefully I can get it finished off tomorrow as the weather is getting pretty unreliable here now.

 

[Firebird 1]

That's a nice build. Not over the top and very practical. I would like to add something just about that size to my barn. I know you have thought this out, but there is no way I would stand those ladders next to my sports car!. I hope you have a good strap holding them against the wall.

 

[captain14]

Making good progress since you started . Is this your business since it went up pretty quick?

What is the heat in the addition since you will be out there working during the winter?

 

[gasgas17]

Making good progress since you started . Is this your business since it went up pretty quick?

What is the heat in the addition since you will be out there working during the winter?

Yes we renovate for a living. Wood stove for heat, plus an electric construction heater. I heated the addition with one of those little ceramic heaters for 24 hours to melt the snow off the car the other day. Half tempted to install a mini split in the addition, but I don't think the wife would be impressed. She wants the house finished.

 

[Power Sedan]

Perfect addition! Plenty of height for a lift someday as well, with the cathedral ceiling.

 

[SiGmA_X]

Nice work, gasgas. Fast, too! It's like you've done this before

 

[gasgas17]

Finished off the steel roof today. I'm pretty happy to have that done before we get any amount of snow. Now to fit some time in the schedule for the rest of the siding. I plan to pick up the last couple pieces I need to do the front as it will have some vertical siding on the gable. Just debating if I will heat the new bay full time for the winter. Most likely just to 10 degrees C to keep the damp off. Maybe a mini split?

 

[gasgas17]

Not too much happening in the last week since I finished the steel roof. But I did manage to install some safety straps on the ladders. Just in case of a tip over.

If you ever need to drive some eye screws, the proper driver comes in handy. I'm pretty sure I broke mine a while back abusing it at work, so I made one from a light fixture rod and a zip wheel. worked awesome.

While I was out there this morning, these guys showed up to install a gutter. Pretty brisk out there today at -10C. I don't really mind working out side in the winter, but the transition from fall to winter is the hardest part for me.

It's been nuts at work leading up to Christmas trying to get all our jobs wrapped up, so not much progress on the garage. On vacation from the 23rd to the 2nd, so I'm hoping the weather will cooperate, so I can get the front of the garage sided. Also have a cheap heating system in the works. Stay tuned.

 

[hoyt]

Nice work on the shop!

 

[hoyt]

What have you been up to?

 

[gasgas17]

I recently built some upper cabinets for my brothers garage

and was wishing I had something on the bench to use as a third hand during assembly. I thought a tail vise with a row of bench dogs would have been perfect. So I found this one on line. https://hntgordon.com.au/collections/bench-vices-clamps/products/tail-vice
A bit pricey for what it is but exactly what I wanted. So I engineered my own from the guts of a crappy old wood vise from Canadian Tire/China and my misc metals stash.

Whats left of the donor vise

I harvested the screw with handle and of course the nut from the thumb release wood vise. I had to cut the screw off the handle to reverse the thread as it was square cut only on one side. The nut was also now mounted in the live jaw of this tail vise instead of the fixed portion of the existing wood vise. this meant the force would be applied on the opposite side of the thread so creating the need to reverse the thread. I simply drilled a hole into the handle portion and inserted the 1/2" end of the screw into it and welded it. Then set about building the rest of this fine piece of engineering.

Utilizing some 1 1/2" box tubing and a piece of 1 1/4" box tubing for the jaw guide, I was able to build this tidy little unit. I also had to do some machining to both ends of the screw and make the end plates and retainer clip for the screw. Luckily both of my brothers are machinists and I was able to borrow a lathe and mill.

Now for a way to mount it.

 

[gasgas17]

So I added 3 plies of 1"x4" maple to edge of my bench, leaving a notch for the vise.

Allowing me to arrive at this set up to hold the vise.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Vise/i-hrts45m/0/8aecf3b7/L/20200517_113035-
L.jpg

The throat plate is made from a piece of left over Ebony

Now we are about 85% complete. we just need some dogs and dog holes.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Vise/i-25Prs7m/0/641bc8e3/1280/20200517_111612-1280.mp4

I opted to buy a 3/4" brass self storing bench dog from Lee Valley for the bench dog holes.

 

[gasgas17]

Then the last task was to make a dog for the vise. I bought a hunk of 1 1/2" brass round stock 4 inches long so I could make a couple variants if required. After all, it was going to be machined by a carpenter! Off to use my brothers lathe again.....

I did have my brother cut the flat as it needed to be at 2 degrees to keep the material from lifting off the bench. The mill has too many levers to figure it all out without making grinding noises from the milling machine within earshot of my brother.

So to complete this project I had to buy about $40 worth of rough Maple, a $40 3/4" brad point bit to drill the dog holes, the $20 brass dog from Lee valley and a $20 chunk of brass to machine the vise dog. Not too bad as only 20 bucks went to building the actual tail vise.

The finished vise

 

[gasgas17]

The throat plate made from ebony has 2 coats of shellac buffed out with some fine steel wool and it looks like something that just rolled off the Bentley assembly line. I'm pretty pleased with how the whole thing turned out. I did add a stud to the bottom of the vise with a threaded thumb nut under the bench to prevent the end of the vise from lifting up under load and I welded a piece of sheet metal on the top of one end of the 1 1/4" box jaw guide to prevent any lift of the end of the jaw. I can't believe how smooth it runs with that half nut.

 

[MIB]

Beautiful work!

 

[red]

Nice!
looks like hanging out with your brothers has paid off . . .

 

[sean Buick 76]

Good work!