Hi all,
I have been a long time viewer on this site, but this is my first post. When we bought our first house 4 yrs ago, one of my wishlist items was for a garage. In the end we settled for a 2 car wide carport. (The house is a 1960’s special)
Then last year my father in law (in the pic belo hard at work) was visiting from overseas. He is very handy and when I mentioned my dream of converting the carport into a garage, it kicked him into action.
As you can see from the pics, the back and left hand side were part of the house and required almost no work. The right hand side had a concrete foundation coming up 1ft.
Frame the side, and install windows. I did a lot of reading on this site and others on how to do the framing. Many youtube videos were watched on how to install windows and waterproof them. (Let me tell you, it is not easy finding videos on youtube that talk about installing windows that don’t refer to software).
I insulated the walls to enable me to spend some time in there in winter. On the outside, we color matched the paint to the rest of the house. We didn’t want this install to be an obvious addition.
For the inside, I was planning on using drywall and making it look perfect. But after reading a few threads, I decided to use plywood instead, due to its superior door-ding strength. I did finish the windows to look like the windows in the rest of the house.
After 3 weeks with us, my father in law left to head back overseas. The outside walls were complete, but no front door. As luck would have it, my parents were coming to visit. My father (seen below helping) owned up to his lack of DIY skills, and offered to rather pay for an electric door for us. Thanks Dad!
However after getting the door installer’s to give our structure a review, they noted a number of areas we had to work on. So my dad ended up doing a lot of work himself.
A couple of areas that required work:
1) They needed a concrete structure at the base of the door to mount to. I have never worked with concrete before. So we had to build a frame to hold it in, then some way to reinforce it and connect it to the wall and ground.
2) The beam across the top had a couple of problems: It was not level, it was bowed, and twisted. So I had to build a ladder to take them all into account.
And complete:
I have since had new lights installed and a power point.
Thanks to fathers for their help. Thanks to wife for supporting my mini-dream while looking after our 5 month old baby upstairs!! ;-)
Edit:
Per request from a user, here are some youtube video's I watched on how to install the windows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaKXq...eature=related
I have been a long time viewer on this site, but this is my first post. When we bought our first house 4 yrs ago, one of my wishlist items was for a garage. In the end we settled for a 2 car wide carport. (The house is a 1960’s special)
Then last year my father in law (in the pic belo hard at work) was visiting from overseas. He is very handy and when I mentioned my dream of converting the carport into a garage, it kicked him into action.
As you can see from the pics, the back and left hand side were part of the house and required almost no work. The right hand side had a concrete foundation coming up 1ft.
Frame the side, and install windows. I did a lot of reading on this site and others on how to do the framing. Many youtube videos were watched on how to install windows and waterproof them. (Let me tell you, it is not easy finding videos on youtube that talk about installing windows that don’t refer to software).
I insulated the walls to enable me to spend some time in there in winter. On the outside, we color matched the paint to the rest of the house. We didn’t want this install to be an obvious addition.
For the inside, I was planning on using drywall and making it look perfect. But after reading a few threads, I decided to use plywood instead, due to its superior door-ding strength. I did finish the windows to look like the windows in the rest of the house.
After 3 weeks with us, my father in law left to head back overseas. The outside walls were complete, but no front door. As luck would have it, my parents were coming to visit. My father (seen below helping) owned up to his lack of DIY skills, and offered to rather pay for an electric door for us. Thanks Dad!
However after getting the door installer’s to give our structure a review, they noted a number of areas we had to work on. So my dad ended up doing a lot of work himself.
A couple of areas that required work:
1) They needed a concrete structure at the base of the door to mount to. I have never worked with concrete before. So we had to build a frame to hold it in, then some way to reinforce it and connect it to the wall and ground.
2) The beam across the top had a couple of problems: It was not level, it was bowed, and twisted. So I had to build a ladder to take them all into account.
And complete:
I have since had new lights installed and a power point.
Thanks to fathers for their help. Thanks to wife for supporting my mini-dream while looking after our 5 month old baby upstairs!! ;-)
Edit:
Per request from a user, here are some youtube video's I watched on how to install the windows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaKXq...eature=related
Last edited:
