My carport is on a cement slab, about 23'x24', attached to the house via the roof and attic and to the laundry room. It has the laundry room exterior wall on one side (a bit more than half the length of that side) and a matching length wall opposite that. The “back” of the carport is open, and the “front” is open and also lacks a bit less than half of the sidewalls, as described.
For the sake of simplification, let us call the walls as you would see them if sitting in the car, head in. The wall straight ahead of me would be N. The wall to the house’s laundry room would be E. The opposite 1/2 length wall would be W and the wall where the garage door will one day be can be called S.
The house is a pier and joist structure, no cement slab. There is a 24” (or more, perhaps) brick skirting around the entire house with steel grates at all the normal points as well as an access door down on one side in the fenced part of the house. The slab of the carport seems to be about a foot and a half or a bit less above the ground level, leaving about a half a foot to a foot of brickwork above the slab before you get to the actual house.
[The carport is in the rear of the house, if that matters.]
Initially I will frame-in and build the S wall, which currently is open space.
The problem is that the corner of the house where my wall will have to join up is sitting on that brick skirting, which runs down the E wall, a doorway with a step up into the house in the center of that short wall, so the other end of that same short laundry room wall is also living on that brick skirting.
The W wall is also a bit more than 1/2 of the carport depth, both running from about 10’ back from the S edge of the carport (where the garage door would go) to the N corner. The new N wall would simply have to run the space between these two short walls.
However, the W wall is strictly a frame with OSB cladding that has been painted. It has vinyl siding on the outside and some quarter round at the bottom of the inside face in order to make it look a little less redneck-y. ;-)
If I want to have a wall that joins with the house, do I have to use bricks at the bottom (or cinderblocks) to join the new construction to the old? Or can I simply build a wooden frame that attaches directly to the house's bricks?
Further, if I *do* have to use blocks or bricks to join my new wall to the old corner will I also have to take down the W wall and put up bricks to the same height all the way around the garage and reframe the wall so the sill/footer lives on top of the new brickwork? I do not care whether the walls of the garage "match" the walls of the house as far as the line at the bottom being even. The cladding can go to the slab and extend below the bricks. I know that would look bad, but I need to get this done.
Anyway, step one would be framing-in the N wall and tying it in to the house properly, then installing all the OSB, waterproofing, clapboards and such. After that I will have an open box that overs about 1/2 of my roofed-in slab for my cars.
At that point I need to cheaply wall-in a small workshop at the corner of the W wall to the centerline of the space and around to the new N wall.
I really need to get this done by midsummer.
Next summer I can extend the E and W walls to the corners and frame in a garage door opening. I am not in a big hurry to do that just yet. I need to build a shop so I can get back to work. (Very long sob story. Don’t ask. Suffice it to say that I need a safe place for my tools and my big workbenches that I can lock up when not working.)
I really just need help with building N, tying it into E properly, and altering (if necessary) W.
What should I do?
Here are a pair of photos of my space to help you visualize my rambling description.
Thanks for any help!
Wade
For the sake of simplification, let us call the walls as you would see them if sitting in the car, head in. The wall straight ahead of me would be N. The wall to the house’s laundry room would be E. The opposite 1/2 length wall would be W and the wall where the garage door will one day be can be called S.
The house is a pier and joist structure, no cement slab. There is a 24” (or more, perhaps) brick skirting around the entire house with steel grates at all the normal points as well as an access door down on one side in the fenced part of the house. The slab of the carport seems to be about a foot and a half or a bit less above the ground level, leaving about a half a foot to a foot of brickwork above the slab before you get to the actual house.
[The carport is in the rear of the house, if that matters.]
Initially I will frame-in and build the S wall, which currently is open space.
The problem is that the corner of the house where my wall will have to join up is sitting on that brick skirting, which runs down the E wall, a doorway with a step up into the house in the center of that short wall, so the other end of that same short laundry room wall is also living on that brick skirting.
The W wall is also a bit more than 1/2 of the carport depth, both running from about 10’ back from the S edge of the carport (where the garage door would go) to the N corner. The new N wall would simply have to run the space between these two short walls.
However, the W wall is strictly a frame with OSB cladding that has been painted. It has vinyl siding on the outside and some quarter round at the bottom of the inside face in order to make it look a little less redneck-y. ;-)
If I want to have a wall that joins with the house, do I have to use bricks at the bottom (or cinderblocks) to join the new construction to the old? Or can I simply build a wooden frame that attaches directly to the house's bricks?
Further, if I *do* have to use blocks or bricks to join my new wall to the old corner will I also have to take down the W wall and put up bricks to the same height all the way around the garage and reframe the wall so the sill/footer lives on top of the new brickwork? I do not care whether the walls of the garage "match" the walls of the house as far as the line at the bottom being even. The cladding can go to the slab and extend below the bricks. I know that would look bad, but I need to get this done.
Anyway, step one would be framing-in the N wall and tying it in to the house properly, then installing all the OSB, waterproofing, clapboards and such. After that I will have an open box that overs about 1/2 of my roofed-in slab for my cars.
At that point I need to cheaply wall-in a small workshop at the corner of the W wall to the centerline of the space and around to the new N wall.
I really need to get this done by midsummer.
Next summer I can extend the E and W walls to the corners and frame in a garage door opening. I am not in a big hurry to do that just yet. I need to build a shop so I can get back to work. (Very long sob story. Don’t ask. Suffice it to say that I need a safe place for my tools and my big workbenches that I can lock up when not working.)
I really just need help with building N, tying it into E properly, and altering (if necessary) W.
What should I do?
Here are a pair of photos of my space to help you visualize my rambling description.
Thanks for any help!
Wade
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