Laredo's 1915 Single-car rescue project

[Laredo]

Long story short, my wife and I bought our house (circa 1905) about 6 years ago with full intentions of tearing down this garage and replacing it with a larger 2 car. The house is beautiful and in excellent condition, but for some reason the garage (built in 1915) had been neglected for some time. After a couple years of researching, planning, estimating, and consideration, etc, the cost and the headaches of getting what we need and still meeting all the setback rules, zoning requirements (we live in a “historical” zoned neighborhood) we decided to stick with our original little 12x17 and make it work for us. What we didn’t expect was that as we started out restoration project, the “cute” factor of our little garage has actually started to grow on us. Here’s a few before / after photos…

Before:








After:

 

[Laredo]

View of the "matching" house...

 

[Laredo]

The goal was to first stop the deterioration, then extend the life and usability of the garage but not bust our budget in the process.
We’re not done yet, but here is what we have done so far:

First priority – new roof. The old roof was basically “roll-on” roofing paper that leaked badly. Some of the tongue and groove sheathing boards were rotten, especially on the lower edges. After these were replaced, we went over the top with OSB sheets. Our original plan was to do the complete roofing job ourselves, but bad weather and under-estimated the time commitment meant hiring out the shingling.

 

[Laredo]

2nd priority – paint. Despite the roof leaking for years, fortunately the sill plates and the walls were still in decent shape. You may have noticed, the exterior was actually 2 different colors! When the previous owners painted the house, they painted only the sides of the garage that faced the house (??). After hours of scraping and priming, it’s all one color now! Still have some trim to finish up.

 

[Laredo]

Next – dirt floor – ugh! Considered laying a concrete floor, but then stumbled upon some new Swisstrax garage tiles on craigslist for super cheap, so…with time and cost being a consideration – we went another route.

 

[Laredo]

Next priorities:
Water management – we have about a 6” driveway slope, TOWARDS the garage. I know this sounds crude, but I currently have the garage door sand-bagged to block water from flowing right into the front door. With the dirt floor, this got really messy. I have to figure out some kind of drainage or diversion to give the rain somewhere to go, other than INTO the garage. Stay tuned…

 

[xtremek]

It looks like a cute place, the house and garage. I love the race deck. Are there any other plans for it? Maybe some flower boxes for the windows? Have you checked out Mr.360's thread? Anyway, it looks very nice.

 

[Laredo]

New door and trim...

 

[Laredo]

It looks like a cute place, the house and garage. I love the race deck. Are there any other plans for it? Maybe some flower boxes for the windows?

Yes, and yes! I'll be doing some electrical updating as well, current wiring and supply is, well....not pretty! (more on that later). We have also contemplated the flower boxes.

Have you checked out Mr.360's thread? Anyway, it looks very nice.

Yes again. Awesome thread, I've been "borrowing" ideas. And thanks! I am somewhat challenged by the low rafter / ceiling height, just barely 7 feet. Doesn't leave a lot a room for shelving or overhead storage. And I would kill to have just a couple more feet of length.

 

[jwhcars]

Both your house and garage are charming. It's nice to see an old garage brought back to life.

 

[volleyball]

That garage is nice. It is just begging to be lifted and A concrete floor and maybe short knee walls of brick or blocks with stone facing. You will fix your drainage and head height issue in 1 job.

 

[Laredo]

That garage is nice. It is just begging to be lifted and A concrete floor and maybe short knee walls of brick or blocks with stone facing. You will fix your drainage and head height issue in 1 job.

Agreed, this was also a serious consideration...might still happen. We would have to reframe the doors, etc. I'm a bit concerned about how the added height would change the look / shape of the garage from the outside.

 

[volleyball]

You have to raise it or lower all the surrounding grade. Since the sill is most likely rotted badly, raising it is your only option. Lowering the doors is not a big deal. Way easier than raising them.
Or extend the doors lower. Who complains the door opening is too tall?

 

[Zeke]

You have to raise it or lower all the surrounding grade. Since the sill is most likely rotted badly, raising it is your only option. Lowering the doors is not a big deal. Way easier than raising them.
Or extend the doors lower. Who complains the door opening is too tall?

Gotta love that answer.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I'm always fascinated by garages that old - if you think about it, in 1915 there weren't very many people who owned cars period, let alone people who had a garage to put them in.

 

[Laredo]

I'm always fascinated by garages that old - if you think about it, in 1915 there weren't very many people who owned cars period, let alone people who had a garage to put them in.

Me too. The house is newer than many in the neighborhood, most are 1880's - 1900. But most of the garages are 1950s' - 60's. This is one the oldest garages I know of. It was framed with actual sized 2x4's. I suspect it was built just big enough to fit a Model T (and nothing more), but considering folks back in those days didn't have a lot of extra "stuff" to store it makes sense. There are a couple of original carriage houses around that are mush bigger but they had to hold horses, carriage, hay, grain, etc.