Andersen's Single

[Andersen]

Hello everyone!



Finally it's my turn to start up my own thread here at Garage Journal. After long time lurking around this fantastic site it's time to kick-off my garage project...



First some short about myself, I'm Frank living in Denmark just half an hour (40km/25miles) North of the capital Copenhagen in a small village. My wife and I have lived here for 10 years, with our two kids (age 6 and 10). I work as an packaging engineer in a Danish pharmaceutical company with business across the globe - giving the opportunities of travelling a lot to execute projects at our different production sites.



After 10 years spending most of the time on kids and renewing the house (build in 1968) - we have installed new Kitchen, bathroom (still missing the last original one), kids rooms, hallway, floors and walls.....you know the drill The house are in a good common size for our family 138sqm (1,485sq ft) three bedrooms, on a 787sqm (8,470sq ft) property.

Also been ten years of living with cars sleeping outside because the house has an attached single garage (originally a carport, someone, sometime, put sides and door in) with no insulation, and only 20sqm (215sq ft) not leaving length enough to fit our recently replaced 2003 Audi A4 Avant.



The Project A brand new dedicated attached single! 4m (13' 2") wide and 12m (39' 4") long ending up being 48sqm (517sq ft) - which for sure not are big, but it really fits in here - my house are placed 4.1m from the property line and we have some quite strict regulations here on maximum 12m of building in the property line - on top of that buildings below 50sqm (538sq ft) are just reportable to the authorities.....so all in all the size fits in!



During my planning and lurking around I have been inspired of different threads here at Garagejournal - both "Dubber's Single" and "Dubber's Double" by dubber, "Rick's Audi Double" by "55cadillacking" and The 12-gauge Garage by "Jack Olsen" and for sure a lot more has been inspiring my to make my own adaption of and implement one way or another...



Just for your curiosity, please find a few of my blue prints (bare in mind that they are in Danish and measurements are in millimetres - that's how we do it í*@#$½í¸) of the new garage - until I have some more to show you guys - you have to be patience, I foresee this will take time to develop - but for those who wait, wait for something good, right?!

Also having a map (our house at the purple pin) of our neighbourhood (the garage will be where the "white roof" are today) just to give you an idea of the placement - the new one will be in the same place, just longer and better in all aspects.

Frank

 

[xtremek]

Dude, that's packing the buildings tight. It'll be nice for you to have a real building. GOod luck.

 

[Andersen]

Thanks xtremek!
It will for sure be a tightly packed space - the old ugly ******* are the same width but shorter than the new one will be... It's quite normal to have garages or carports in the property line - as long as they are shorter than 12 meters (39' 4") it's allowed without any restrictions - besides the height limit of 2.5 meter (8' 2")...


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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[Danish-welder]

Looking good, Will love to see the progress

Og velkommen til

 

[Andersen]

Thanks Danish-welder!


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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[Notgrownup]

Hey, it's compact but it works...You do what you can with what you got is my motto....looks nice...be creative with your wall storage and ceiling....Enjoy...

 

[1/2 Cup]

Andersen, your plans look fantastic, looking forward to following your progress.

Millimetres are fine.

Regards

 

[Andersen]

Thanks both 1/2 Cup and Notgrownup; I like your motto! I will try to have the best out of the space I have available.... The plan are to have two rooms, one for the car and the car only and then a workshop behind....with storage!


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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[Andersen]

During the autumn and winter (thank god the winter were mild this year and it wasn't that cold and only a short period with snow) I did some preparation for the kick-off of the garage build.

I made a small shed in front of our house, it's divided into two rooms; an open one for bicycles for easy use in the daily life when the kids are biking to school and so.... The other part, closed and locked for garden tools, lawn mover among other stuff not belonging in the garage [emoji1]

Please enjoy the development...

Before we started

One more before

Working on the clean up...

Doing the proper base

Started on the paving stones - working long nights...

Done with the base - I think the most popular paving stone in DK.

Time for starting on the shed

Got some rafter up

Started some roofing (base for the final roof) and a wind blocker.

Finally working on the final touch with the cladding

Done - waiting for some hedge plants to fulfil the visual part of the corner.
...hope that you enjoy it as much as I do...!

//Frank

 

[dubber]

Welcome! Awesome to see a different build from somewhere new. Looking forward to watching your single develop. Good luck!

 

[Andersen]

Thanks Dubber, it's a pleasure that you are one of the followers....

 

[Andersen]

Allowed myself a prolonged Easter by taking four days prior to the Easter weekend - giving me 11 days vacation. Starting with a trip with the wife to Sweden for a spa and wellness stay without the kids at a seaside hotel in Marstrand - what a luxury to give your self...
Then back home clean up the old ugly ******* to be able to remove it and giving room for a more beautiful neighbourhood!

Good start, half of the garage (towards the garden) are gone.

As you can see we started from behind, so from the street it was not possible to see something were on the way to be removed [emoji1]

And then the ugly ******* are completely gone....

Just missing to remove the tiles 62x78x9cm (24.5x31x3.5") expecting them to weigh 80kg (176lb) - and there are only about 35 pcs. in the garage area alone - later the rest must go when I will redo the entrance after my build.

It took only two days to remove it, but it was fantastic two days which I have been looking forward to for a very long time.
Rest of the holiday has been with projects in the garden, the weather turned out nicely so it was just to go an do stuff - this (in my head) will give me time for the garage project later on when I have fulfilled what the wifey found important - and thereby important for me [emoji1][emoji106]

Frank

 

[Andersen]

Just got the trailer loaded with the 20 first tiles this afternoon - 1620kg (3,571lb) - pick them up from the ground, move them on a small handtruk, then lift them onto the trailer.....I think my arms are longer now, than when I started [emoji123]

 

[Andersen]

Haven't updated for some time - and I really don't have anything to update... Struggling to find a contractor to do the ground breaking, footing and flooring - ground and concrete work ain't my strongest part. But the offers are way too high, the spring has arrived and the contractors are busy and that pushes the prices - they are simply too busy...
I have one guy in progress at the time, he said that he might have the time within the coming weeks to dig out for the footings and get the dirt away - approx 5 cubic-meters! [emoji15]

But one good thing, the old '03 Audi A4 Avant are sold [emoji106]


Frank

 

[404]

Very nice. Are there problems with the pavers lifting or heaving up when the ground freezes?

 

[captain14]

Interesting build.

Everyone has the same issues with contractor's it looks like. Once you get the foundation and footers in place,do you feel Comfortable doing the framing and finish work?

 

[Andersen]

Very nice. Are there problems with the pavers lifting or heaving up when the ground freezes?

Yes, we have cold winters - or more used to have - and the basic here in Denmark are to dig the footings 90cm deep...

Interesting build.

Everyone has the same issues with contractor's it looks like. Once you get the foundation and footers in place,do you feel Comfortable doing the framing and finish work?

That's the plan, it will be a wood frame and that I see as quite easy to do, need some professionals to do the final roofing and as well some assistance on the electrical part - most for the legal part on the wiring...

Frank

 

[Andersen]

Lack of progress has been THE cause for lack of updates in a little more than a month...

But finally this week I got a great break through on the project - ground breaking this Tuesday, succeeded finding a guy with a small variety of machines and the right contacts, in order to do some digging...

Tuesday 9am

But then things started to happen...

...and the driveway ended up completely filled with soil

Then Betty Boop stopped by and cleared the entire driveway...

Impressed by her effectiveness!

It was a long day - ended up digging the last six meters by hand because the excavator could not find the room in my small dig out....so I think we were done around 8:30pm

Iron and concrete blocks arrived Wednesday morning

...today some materials arrived for the footings and Betty picked up the last amount of soil and I have prepared for the footings, but not entirely ready - so an early start tomorrow are required (ended my "shift" at 10:15pm couldn't really see anything - damned that these light summer nights aren't longer than they are...

The concrete truck arrives at 9:30am and I do have some minor tasks to do before I can say that I'm 100% ready for concreting ...hopefully I will be ready 9:20 [emoji6][emoji1]


Frank

 

[Andersen]

Today it was pouring day....! [emoji295]

Of cause some minor things were working against me, e.g. weather - had quite a wet and windy summer day in Denmark today, 12 degrees Celsius (53F) and the wind has been around 13-20m/sec during the day - and on top of that around 25mm (one inch) of rain.....nice summer weather [emoji299] - worst summer storm in six years...great day to choose for my first experience in pouring!

As stated yesterday I hoped for a little late arrivel,of the concrete truck to be 100% ready - but of cause he was 20 min. early.... [emoji106]
He fiddled a little to get the truck all the way to the edge while we were struggling to be ready...
Here you can see how ready we ended up to be


As you can see he took up all possible space but the truck fitted in all the way.


Luckily he could reach all the way to the inside part of the footing



Due to lack of time and experience we didn't put in supporting beams to keep the formwork/retaining walls in place - so we needed to think different and out of the box when the concrete truck left...
My dad had a construction jack - pushing 3 tons ( 26,500 lb) - so with that little *******, iron U-beams and some long wooden planks we ended up in making a small agility track or hurdle race track on the famous distance 11.5 meters (37.7 ft)



No matter how stupid it looks it actually worked and we managed to push the retaining walls back into position - and thereby kept the concrete filling height... And when the frameworks are removed tomorrow, you won't be able to see that little trick [emoji6] might not be the most professional solution - but it worked.

Looking so much forward to see the final footings when they are unwrapped.

Frank

 

[Andersen]

Today the weather was way better, still quite windy but no more rain....

So the footing has dried up nicely and during the afternoon I've removed the frameworks, how nice the footings looks when they were unwrapped [emoji6][emoji106]
Also managed to fill some gravel (25 wheelbarrows, each containing 10 shovels) on the base inside the garage area... Still having another 10-15 wheelbarrows of gravel in my driveway to put back in - so that will be tomorrow morning...



It is nice for me to get it done tomorrow, before we leave for some vacation - then the rainy summer weather can do some work for me in getting the gravel to set properly before continuing the progress.

Frank

 

[Andersen]

With some great help from one of my friends, we managed to put two layers of bricks (called LECA-blocks, I'm unsure of the English term, but it is blocks made of self-compacting concrete, in the size 15x19x49cm (5.9"x7.5"x19.3")). Luckily my friend are a former professional within the concrete craftsmanship - that were a great help [emoji1]

Street view

Garden view (East facade)

Garden view (South facade)

Next step, preparing for the lift recess I'm the floor prior to full insulation and preparation for pouring the floor....


Frank


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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[marty_p]

Looking great, sir. I admire your determination, and I eagerly await your build progress.

Good luck, and please keep us posted!

 

[Andersen]

Looking great, sir. I admire your determination, and I eagerly await your build progress.



Good luck, and please keep us posted!

Thanks Marty, for your interest - I appreciate followers, so please join in.... I will keep the forum posted on the progress... But it will take time since most of the work has to be done by my self in evening and weekend hours. But trying to do minor progresses at least bi-daily.
Today I succeeded to remove the last of the framing which were stuck in concrete due to a "leak" when we did the footing.
Tomorrow it will be the last gravel in the base, and then I have to do the framing for the recessed lift floor.

Frank


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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[macker85]

Looking good![emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Andersen]

Looking good![emoji106]

Thanks macker85...

Not much to show, but Saturday I managed to do the concrete floor for the recessed area for the lift....

Picture taken just after and it is still covered with plastic to keep the moisture in the concrete for slow process in concrete hardening...

Next step; to unwrap and remove the frame, cut the outer insulation - and of cause prepare for the entire floor to be made.

Having some business travel to France the coming days, slows the progress a little - aiming on pouring the entire floor around August 20.

Frank


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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[Andersen]

It has been a while - but lot's of stuff has happened...

After last update, the insulation job has been finalised and, I did prepare some "cable pipes" in order to get cables and hydraulic wires from the recessed area to the wall - so that my lift are able to be completely hided when we are done... As well I also prepared for some water - both for external towards the garden and internal (of cause hot and cold water supply has been prepared - for both [emoji6])

Also irons are ready prior to pouring concrete.

And then the concrete delivery truck showed up - huge one...

Luckily it was a skilled driver - it needed to be to get far enough into my driveway for unloading to the rear of the garage...

Let's get started...

After 30minutes of unloading - and some detailing it looked like this.

Next morning I watered the concrete and covered it up, to slow down the hardening process in the concrete - in order to have the best final result...

Left it for a week, had some "real" work to do - so I was travelling to Brazil for work a week - my first time, loved it!



I must admit that it has been a struggle to do all this - and I hated a lot of the days - but now, it is wonderful and I'm ready to move on - and upwards....


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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[1/2 Cup]

Another milestone, great stuff.

 

[Andersen]

It was for sure a milestone - and I succeeded, barely....but had really great support from a friend who used to work with this - concreting...


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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[Bib Overalls]

Dirt and concrete work are pure drudgery. In my projects they seem to go on forever. Once they are done, I get a fresh burst of energy that carries me through framing and roofing. When the structure is dried in and the weather no longer controls the work I get another burst of energy that takes me forward through completion.

From the aerial view it looks like you have good access to your back yard from the side street. Can you build an additional garage/work shop in the back yard if you want to?

 

[Andersen]

Dirt and concrete work are pure drudgery. In my projects they seem to go on forever. Once they are done, I get a fresh burst of energy that carries me through framing and roofing. When the structure is dried in and the weather no longer controls the work I get another burst of energy that takes me forward through completion.

From the aerial view it looks like you have good access to your back yard from the side street. Can you build an additional garage/work shop in the back yard if you want to?

Thanks Bib Overalls - I for sure follow your conclusion here.... It has been though but I'm ready for the next step! And are looking forward to close the outer - so I'm independent on the weather, the autumn arrives soon here in DK - normally it contains lots of days with rain...

Frank


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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[Andersen]

After some weeks of involuntary break to the build I'm about to be ready to move on... My mom passed away, Tuesday two weeks ago, and I have been spending most of my time with my dad and family to get through this hard time - but we're getting there....!

The build looks like this at the moment


From the street
Garden view

But yesterday afternoon all the wood arrived for the framing and the roof beams - and I have also secured all kinds of mounts and screws, so I find myself ready to move on...

$1,800 converted into wood...

Really looking forward to get on with the build, especially now when the materials are more wood and something I have worked with before - instead of all that dirt and concrete.....so I'm happy now!

Frank


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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[sean Buick 76]

Very good start!

 

[Andersen]

Small update on the progress - I'm quite busy work wise at the moment, but last weekend I've managed to do the four wall modules for the facade towards the neighbour border ready for the steel plates to arrive Friday 18th, and I had arrange some friends to stop by Saturday so that we could mount the modules... Friday when I came home, no steel plates had arrived [emoji36] Called the the company where I've ordered them - they checked their supplier, and could tell that the supplier had moved my order one week..... [emoji30] So now, expected delivery Friday 25th

Good progress today! [emoji106] Got the framings for two walls towards the garden done (might change the one to the south - find it quite high, but let's see how it turns out when the roof beams comes up...). My dad came and supported me today, so we got the cut out (in the footing) for the door to the garden done... And as well cut the house roof off where it interfered with the garage wall/roof...

So some really good steps, giving a good idea of the size of the room [emoji3] unfortunately I didn't take any pictures before the darkness arrived....but will follow up with pictures before I continue.

Frank



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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[Bib Overalls]

Friday when I came home, no steel plates had arrived. Called the the company where I've ordered them - they checked their supplier, and could tell that the supplier had moved my order one week.....


Must be a Danish thing. Nothing like that ever happens here in the good old USA.

 

[CAOS]

Sorry for the loss of you Mom, I look forward to following your build!

 

[CuoreSportivo]

Jeg kondolerer med tabet af din mor!

I havn't been at GJ for a long time, and back then my buildingthread was one of only a few danish... So I'm so happy to stop by here again, and se your great build!

It's comming along nicely, and no doubt, the result will be superb!!

When I did my build, all my materials was delivered from "Lavpris Træ" as well... GJ should send them a Cristmas Card ;-)

Keep pushing so that you can close it up before autumn comes!

Best regards, Jacob

 

[Andersen]

Thanks guys for the supporting words....

Just went out for some pictures as promised the other day - status of the nation....

Removal of the house roof interfering with the garage and wall towards the east.
South wall test fitting, it seems quite high but it is due to having a straight facade to cover the roof incline - but we will see if it remains like this...I'm unsure at the moment...
Wall modules ready for the steel plates towards west.

And then I was challenged by a friend lately, the alignment of access to the lift and going in and out of the garage... And then finally something about design - and architecture... I've decided to let go of the door and only having a garage-door - wider than originally...
Principal idea of the change - going for the upper solution.


Frank


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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[Matias]

Nice build!

I must say that without the door, it has a much cleaner look. Also, as I seem to understand from the pictures, you have already two doors, one to the garden and one to the house? So you already have access to the garage without having to open the big door.

I had a choice between two single car garage doors, or one big one. And I chose the bigger one, with the same logic, easier to get on the lift, easier for the wife to get the second car in etc.

Ofcourse, you could add a door in the larger garage door itself, but I'm not a fan of that that look.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Andersen]

Nice build!

Ofcourse, you could add a door in the larger garage door itself, but I'm not a fan of that that look.



Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for your take on this change to my build... I agree with the more clean design on the version without the separate door.
Personally I don't like the "in-door door" solution - so rather without an independent door.

Another benefit, I will save some money on a door - of cause the garage-door will be larger, but not expense wise as expensive as a separate....

Great you guys like the change!

Thanks
Frank



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BMW 120d M-SPORT (2015) Estoril Blue

 

[1/2 Cup]

I agree that the that the single door would be the best option Frank.

Your build is coming along nicely.

I am sorry to read that you lost your Mom recently, our thoughts are with you at this time.

Regards