Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Great grandpa's garage rebuild

[adamsc21]

Long time lurker first time poster

A few years ago I bought my family property in Mears, MI (Silver Lake Sand Dunes). The property was originally my great grandparents than my grandparents and now ours. The property was fairly vacant from the late 90's until recently with only one or two visits per year by myself or friends. Since then my now wife and I have been living in Metro Detroit, Kansas City and now Cleveland due to our jobs. Well this year it was finally time to start putting some life back into this place.

I figure I'll start with pictures from when the land was bought, trailer brought in, garage being built and ultimately where we are now and where we're trying to go.

Of course I have a lot of questions and I'm always open to criticism / helpful tips. The garage will become our hangout area moving forward until we can justify building a house or barndiminum of some sort up there.

Basic overview
-2 properties side by side 75' x 150' (Total size 150' x 150')
-Garage original size 21' x 16'
-Trailer with addition built on in the 70's

 

[adamsc21]

This summer all of the cleaning and rebuilding started
Garage full to the brim

Fenced in area for wood originally but it became a storage facility for junk

Dumpster arrived and cleanout began

Some animals had made residency in the back half of the garage where a tree fell through

The original wiring was scary in my eyes so we upgraded to a new panel, ran most of the wiring as of today including 220 for a new well pump going in next year, 60 gal compressor and Miller syncrowave 250

 

[adamsc21]

With the new electrical I wanted to bury the line. I do not like this current main panel sitting outside so I left access to the meter and next year this will get fixed.

With pouring a new slab for the back 8'x16' of the garage we figured why not have some more where nice to work in the front outside of the garage. We were all new with pouring concrete and the truck came in and we figured it out on the fly. I think it turned out pretty good for having the duck crew on it


Since it was the original roof from 1972 the shingles were due for replacement and there was some rot so we replaced the OSB and had to sister 3 rafters again we believe this was the best route. The garage is built on 2x4 24" OC including the rafters. From what I've read on here this is fairly common for older builds. The new back section was built with 2x4 16" for the walls and 2x8 24" rafters

Lit up at night

 

[adamsc21]

Building walls for the rear section and enjoying our hardwork! Also all supplies and hauling people around was done with my 2012 jetta sportwagen TDI. Multiple trips and trailer loads full of OSB, 2x4's, scrap, shingles etc etc. Also I don't think I stated it earlier but all of this work was done in 6 days with some good friend.

This is the picture from that back section when I arrived that week

This is how it looks right now with my R1 powered single seater and VW Turbo EFI manx style buggy

 

[adamsc21]

Next year will include siding, door, windows and insulation (possibly drywall). The back area will be sectioned off and made into storage, air compressor, and general tools/workspace. We also like to play hammerschlagen late into the night and this area is becoming more and more popular so we're moving our big log indoors

 

[Uncle murph]

Building walls for the rear section and enjoying our hardwork! Also all supplies and hauling people around was done with my 2012 jetta sportwagen TDI. Multiple trips and trailer loads full of OSB, 2x4's, scrap, shingles etc etc. Also I don't think I stated it earlier but all of this work was done in 6 days with some good friend.

This is the picture from that back section when I arrived that week

This is how it looks right now with my R1 powered single seater and VW Turbo EFI manx style buggy

Looks like fun, I wouldn’t worry to much about the panel,my shop panel has been on a outside wall for 35 yrs without a problem.

 

[adamsc21]

Well that's good to hear! I ended up putting a better cover on the panel so it's not as exposed to the elements

 

[xtremek]

I'll follow along for the fun. Good to see a building being saved.

 

[dwysywd]

Welcome to the forum and welcome back to “up-north” Michigan! Love to see resto projects. Congrats on a job well done and a great start. Look forward to seeing more. What kind of projects you plan to use the Miller for?

 

[adamsc21]

The miller is mostly used for fab projects on dune buggies, roll cages, random art and exhaust. We've been in the process of moving so it's been a lot less fabrication projects and more home projects as of lately

 

[adamsc21]

Another trip up north getting prepped for a new well, finished some electrical, heater installed, new door way and shingled the back half. Slowly but surely it’s getting there.

Plans for this year. Well, finish outside, windows, doors and get it insulated

 

[j p smith]

looks like a fun project, good luck with progress this trip.

 

[Boon]

Looks like you are doing it right. No shortcuts. Good deal. Looks good.

 

[adamsc21]

The well is in! new lights in the back half and getting ready for the next week long excursion up there with friends. The next trip will include finishing the outside ie siding, soffits, facia etc. insulating and closing in the walls and attempting to run water to the old trailer that sits on the property. The goal is to do all of this in October some point.

 

[captain14]

This is going to be a great getaway location when it’s all completed.

How far away from your home is it?

 

[adamsc21]

That's the goal! Right now I live 6 hours from here so we try to go on long weekends but it doesn't happen to often. I do work remote so that helps when I get a chance to go up without blowing all of my PTO

 

[captain14]

That's the goal! Right now I live 6 hours from here so we try to go on long weekends but it doesn't happen to often. I do work remote so that helps when I get a chance to go up without blowing all of my PTO

I’ve been watching a YouTube series on a guy building his cabin on a lake in Michigan I think. He seems to go for several days at a time to accomplish his goals/projects for that time period. He mentioned that at some point In Time he will get to where he can just go and relax and hang out.

He has shown a couple of breaks where he is fishing from the dock or just sitting on the dock with a beverage at the end of the day.

He has built some things in his home garage and installed them upon arrival.

 

[thammel]

I’ve been watching a YouTube series on a guy building his cabin on a lake in Michigan I think. He seems to go for several days at a time to accomplish his goals/projects for that time period. He mentioned that at some point In Time he will get to where he can just go and relax and hang out.

He has shown a couple of breaks where he is fishing from the dock or just sitting on the dock with a beverage at the end of the day.

He has built some things in his home garage and installed them upon arrival.

I'd love to watch this too...what's the name or title?

 

[captain14]

I'd love to watch this too...what's the name or title?

This is the first video in the series.

“Echos Up North”

 

[adamsc21]

Another successful week at the property with some friends help. New siding, (Have to finish soffit, fashia and drip rails still but everything is ready for the winter), most of the mini split is installed, garage door (now 9'x7' vs the previous 8'x7'), exterior door, new sheeting on the outside, insulation, stove, sink, hot water heater and even a little bit of drywall. Slowly but surely it's coming together.

Next trip will be wrapping up the outside, finish the little bit of insulation, hang drywall / metal ceiling, build some bunks/storage and start to enjoy it

 

[adamsc21]

Well I was able to finally spend a week up north this year and decided to do more organizing/cleaning of the property vs solely working on the garage update. This included a lot of power washing, building shelves, scraping, tree trimming, leaf blowing and getting the trailer to a more livable point.

Bonus point while I was there we got some insulation hung in the ceiling and got the mini split functioning