My carport conversion

[NorthernVA]

Hello to all.

I wanted to start this thread to detail my carport to garage conversion. It is a large 1 car carport. It can almost fit my two cars in tandem. Instead of trying, I'm going to turn half into my work area (minus my wood shop in my basement), and the rest as 1 car storage. I'm going to create a second carport for my jeep on the side of the garage. I am thinking about getting a lift, but I'm on the fence. Below is the beginning pics. I already started doing some minor electrical to get ready for the garage door install.

 

[madmanmerc]

i knew someone who did the same thing, turned out nice. whats under the cover?

 

[NorthernVA]

2008 Mercedes CLK 550. The pollen out here is terrible, I can't wait until I can park her uncovered indoors.

 

[NorthernVA]

I finished running all the outlets on the house side brick wall. The last outlet will continue to the ceiling once I know the exact location of the garage opener.

 

[NorthernVA]

Sine my house is 50 years old, I spent the whole afternoon ripping out outdated cables from the exterior. We now have fios, but previous owners had direct tv and traditional cable. Consequently there are a lot of useless cables hanging around the house.

Here is a recent spring pic.

 

[HSpencer]

Beautiful shrubs and home. As a 30 year retired US Army guy I really appreciate your flying the American Flag.

 

[NorthernVA]

I fly it proud all year. Thanks for your service!!

 

[KF5LCH]

Nice looking place you have. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the carport.

 

[NorthernVA]

Just got my permits squared away. Construction starts this weekend.

 

[theroyz71]

Subscribed. My carport is very similar to your's (except for the Mercedes, LOL!) and I have been thinking about enclosing mine too.

I keep my Jeep in mine.

 

[NorthernVA]

I got a lot of work done this weekend.

Framing
OSB
Wrap, and
Hardi

It's kinda hard hanging 12' spans of hardi solo, but I managed. The electric shear is a must. The only issue I had was with compensating for the grade of the garage, which caused the brick pillars to not exactly be square. I was planning to take the hardi upto the trim and caulk. Which I did, but because of some large gaps, I decided to rip a 1.25" x .25" trim and attempt to hide the caulked gap. It's water tight for sure, and I think it looks good. Opinions welcomed.

 

[HSpencer]

Good work. That is looking nice. Did you not want any windows in the wall? Looking at the framing in the openings, you may be missing the chance for a lot of natural light. However, security will be better, and you will have more wall space. Good job and keep us posted!

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

 

[NorthernVA]

Between the windows in the garage door and an entry door in the back, hopefully that will be enough natural light. I am going to use those walls for bike storage. I was I'm the air about windows, but at the end decided not to go with them.

 

[justintiime]

subscribed. I don't have a carport, but everyone else down here does LOL Anxious to see what you do with it!

 

[onewaydave]

Beautiful shrubs and home. As a 30 year retired US Army guy I really appreciate your flying the American Flag.

ditto the flag.

Dave.

 

[dubber]

Awesome, i have a friend who will be tackling a similar project in the future so i'm interested to see what is involved.

Also would like a peek under that car cover, well if its in fact German engineered

 

[NorthernVA]

Hers a pic, and yes its German

 

[theroyz71]

Looking good so far. My carport is completely open on three sides. I have wrought iron columns instead of the brick half-wall.

 

[NorthernVA]

Another day another wall.

 

[kyle@hcb]

Cool project

 

[NorthernVA]

Finally turned a corner. Did I mention I hate house wrap.

 

[NorthernVA]

Oh and as a side note, got a new front door installed yesterday, much better than the 50 year old one that was hanging.

 

[NorthernVA]

Started working on the backside of the garage. What I didn't realize is that the half brick wall slants about 1.5" in 8'. I compensated with ripping some trim to the proper grade.

Also took some time and cleaned the jeep.

 

[JMURiz]

Cool project, where abouts in NoVA are you?

 

[NorthernVA]

Cool project, where abouts in NoVA are you?

I'm in Falls Church, u?

 

[JustinS]

Keep up the good work, will be a nice place to store the MB.

 

[JMURiz]

I'm in Falls Church, u?

Whoops, forgot that part, I'm in Arlington...so we're very close to each other.

 

[cderalow]

heh thought that looked sort of familiar. My office is in Falls Church

 

[NorthernVA]

Made some more progress. First a Craigslist find. I paid $300. It was a little greasy, but cleaned up nice. My wife is eager to get it out of the dining room.

Finally finished all the basic framing, osb, wrap and siding. I still have some trim and caulking work tomorrow. It will be ready for paint next week.

 

[Kevin54]

It's a little too late now, but where you added the stud walls on top of the brick walls, you should have had some "Z" flashing installed. In doing that, no water would come in under the bottom plate of the 2x wall or partial wall. Make sure you keep it caulked good and hopefully you won't have problems.

 

[NorthernVA]

Thanks for the advice. I created a z flashing type channel using the PVC trim. But it will be well caulked prior to paint. I also caulked between the hardie starter piece and the bottom piece of trim prior to installing the planks.

 

[NorthernVA]

The exterior is substantially complete. Finished all the trim and caulking, I'm now jut going to wait 7 days so everything dries properly then off to paint.

I even had time to replace the shutters on the front of the house. The shutters on the third window are the old ones, and the first two windows have the new ones. A real pain, I choose composite shutters, and I am happy with the fit and finish.

One problem during the inspection, is I realized I need to close this window.

It sits between the dining room and the new garage, I decided to turn it into a recessed wine rack, and then sheet rock the garage side. Pics to follow.

 

[JimVonBaden]

Cool project, where abouts in NoVA are you?

I'm in Falls Church, u?

Whoops, forgot that part, I'm in Arlington...so we're very close to each other.

Alexandria here!

Nice work so far!

Jim

 

[theroyz71]

My mom and sister live in Alexandria.

Looking good. I am seriously thinking about closing in my carport. I think mine might be easier because I don't have any windows or half walls. The biggest thing holding me back is trying to tie the exterior together so it looks original or at least so it doesn't stand out like a sore thumb. My basement rancher is brick all around except for a wood insert below the living room windows which I could use to tie everything together.

 

[HSpencer]

Great snag on that Matco box!!! I like it terribly!!

 

[NorthernVA]

Slow day at the conversion. Decided to build some Jeep door and top storage.

Also, started pulling electrical. 14 outlets so far.

 

[NorthernVA]

And finally finished trimming out the back landing.

 

[JoeKramer]

Well done!

 

[sscustom]

very cool project

 

[Dr Dave]

Nice job, it blends in good with the house.


Dave