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My Dream Garage

3

323Eng

Active member
Joined
Nov 12, 2018
Messages
25
Location
NE Ohio
Hello everyone,

I have been lurking and drawing inspiration from this site for a while now, and I guess it's time to show you what I'm working on.

A few months ago we moved into a new place here in Ohio that has a building out back that I want to turn into my version of a dream shop.

The building is 24x48 enclosed with a 16x24 covered parking area next to it, basically an empty shell with a man door and garage door.

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My plan is to divide the main building into 3 sections, one as a barn for my daughter to keep her goat and cat food and supplies, one primarily for woodworking, and the section with the garage door for 'greasy' jobs like car repair, welding and metal work.

I have been playing around with how to lay it out, and this is what I have decided upon.

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The wood shop and metal shop areas will both be insulated, and the natural gas heater will be in the wood shop. I want the separation to keep dust contained and so I only need to heat part of the shop if I am woodworking. After much deliberation, I settled on a 6' wide pocket door between the 2 and can use fans to move the heat around as needed. The pocket door will allow me to not waste any wall space or account for door swinging space.

Here is a dollhouse view of the plan with some of the bigger tools and equipment in place:

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I'll follow up with progress so far.
 
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OP
3

323Eng

Active member
Joined
Nov 12, 2018
Messages
25
Location
NE Ohio
My first order of business was to clear out some shelves the previous owner left behind, and add a new door into what will be the wood shop. I apologize for the picture quality, my phone got some moisture into the camera and makes every picture look foggy.
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When I peeled off some of the siding to put in the door I found that the building was once painted pink :headscrat and there are some random cutouts in the old T1-11 siding :headscrat:confused:. Not sure what was going on there.

The workbench visible in these pics will also go away, but for now it's keeping a bunch of my tools off the floor.

The previous owner stored a bunch of stuff in the trusses, and they sure don't look like they are designed to support anything more than the roof. In fact, one of the supports on one truss is broken at a knot in the wood. I am adding some framing to allow for a ceiling, so after I get the dividing walls framed I am going to run some 2x8's across to help support the bottom of the truss.

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OP
3

323Eng

Active member
Joined
Nov 12, 2018
Messages
25
Location
NE Ohio
Since the building is constructed as a pole barn, there are posts every 8 feet around the perimeter, with horizontal girts supporting the plywood siding. I looked at a bunch of ways to insulate, and I chose to frame a new wall with 2x4's flush with the inside of the posts. This will give me ~6" of depth for fiberglass batts and the resulting wall will be smooth, with no posts to interrupt it.

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This wall section has framing for a window. I found 2 of these windows in the loft area left behind by the previous owner, and they appear to be sort of a double awning setup. The size is just right and they look nicely made, so I'll use them on the wall facing the house.

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Once they and the door to the barn are added, the front face should look something like this:

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Across the ceiling, I am adding supports every 4', and I plan to attach 2x4's lengthwise every 2' so I can attach the sheeting. This is why I am planning to support the trusses better.

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OP
3

323Eng

Active member
Joined
Nov 12, 2018
Messages
25
Location
NE Ohio
I picked up a propane heater last night at Harbor Freight for $29 with a coupon. It's only 30 degrees today and not likely to get much warmer for the next few months...

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Also received my Chilton's manual and box of suspension parts today. :thumbup:

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I wish the shop was already done - I need to do a bunch of front end work on the Miata. She's a little tired after 145k miles and 27 years.
 
I

IMStuner

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 6, 2012
Messages
483
Location
MA
323Eng said:
I picked up a propane heater last night at Harbor Freight for $29 with a coupon. It's only 30 degrees today and not likely to get much warmer for the next few months...

View media item 88248
Also received my Chilton's manual and box of suspension parts today. :thumbup:

View media item 88249
I wish the shop was already done - I need to do a bunch of front end work on the Miata. She's a little tired after 145k miles and 27 years.
Click to expand...



I need your hardtop!I wish Chilton made a manual for the Mazdaspeed.
image1_zpsiepxb2kv.jpg
 
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OP
3

323Eng

Active member
Joined
Nov 12, 2018
Messages
25
Location
NE Ohio
SO I got a little work done on this snowy night. One more wall section framed, and I framed a little wall above the existing loft area. The loft itself will be part of the barn section, for storing hay for the goats.

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The kittens don't seem to mind the noise I'm making. Anyone in the Akron, OH area looking for a free kitten?

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Now for an issue I'm facing. The original builders evidently did not back fill around the shop properly, and the back section, mostly what will be the barn, has cracked and settled a bit.

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The crack runs approximately where the red line is sketched in here.

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The guy we bought the house from tried to help by filling around the shop better, and the slab is not in any danger of moving further at the moment. There does not appear to be any steel reinforcement in the slab.

In an effort to see if I could lift the slab, a few weeks ago I dug at two spots along the back and jacked it up with bottle jacks. The goats enjoyed sticking their noses into everything I was trying to do that day, sometimes right on top of me!

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So the question is, what do I do? I was able to raise the slab in the spots where I jacked it, but it looks like it just opened another crack nearby. I don't really care that the floor is not perfect, but I also want it to be smooth.

Do I try jacking it up evenly across the back, by putting a 'beam' under the slab and lifting with 3 bottle jacks spaced apart? How would I then support it?

We are planning to dig a pool in the backyard next spring, so will have plenty of fill to make sure the building is properly back filled and graded then.
 
M

MikeF2316

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 29, 2012
Messages
9,605
Location
Thornhill, ON
323Eng said:
...
So the question is, what do I do? I was able to raise the slab in the spots where I jacked it, but it looks like it just opened another crack nearby. I don't really care that the floor is not perfect, but I also want it to be smooth.

Do I try jacking it up evenly across the back, by putting a 'beam' under the slab and lifting with 3 bottle jacks spaced apart? How would I then support it?

We are planning to dig a pool in the backyard next spring, so will have plenty of fill to make sure the building is properly back filled and graded then.
Click to expand...

I would suggest you contact one of those companies that drill holes in you slab and raise it by pumping a grout through those holes. This is often called mudjacking.

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/how-to-lift-sinking-concrete-slab
 
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