Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT Roboto's Garage

[sk8louisville]

My trusses were 24” OC. Too far a span for 1/2” drywall with insulation above, so I had to strap it out to 16” OC. Good luck!

Ah. Makes sense. Mine are too. So I guess I'll be getting furring strips. Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Well, this has been a long time coming. As I've pointed out a few times in the past, I have hated the maroon trim and shutters on my house since day 1. The shutters, window trim, window sashes, door trim, garage door casing....everything the previous owners could paint maroon... they did. Other things had been taking precedence over the years, but today is the day I can finally say that it's all gone.

Here is a photo from the day I closed on my house 7 years ago:

and here is a photo from the same spot today:

And one head on shot as well:

Kind of nice to take a moment to take a step back and realize how far things have come here... I'm also exhausted thinking about all of the work that went into the difference between these 2 pics!

As always, thanks for everyone who follows along and puts up with my non garage related posts as well hahaha. It's been fun to document a lot of these changes.

 

[spudley]

The place looks great. Really like the front entry.

 

[amkluttz]

What a change. The front porch/covering and attaching the garage made such a difference to the house. Getting rid of that maroon trim was the way to go. Great work!

 

[Ronin22]

It looks SO much better now!

 

[T-handle]

Looks great Like a totally different house now. Nice job

 

[nicholam77]

Before and after says it all. You've done such a nice job with the place!

 

[Bob Heine]

An amazing transformation from the front and equally amazing from the rear. At some point you will be amazed at how much you got done in seven years.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Thanks for the kind words everyone! Much appreciated!

 

[cherniavin]

Looking good, keep up the nice work!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

I received the replacement doors for my NewAge 48” locker. Once again, the doors were damaged in transit. I don’t know who they think they’re kidding, but these are severely under-packed. I can see them surviving if they’re shipped in a large lot if you order a large setup from them on pallets where a freight company would handle the shipping, but I am getting doubtful that UPS can deliver this single set of doors without damage. I reached out to them again and we’ll see how they handle it. Pretty disappointing after spending $400 on a cabinet. They no doubt are building these for a fraction of that cost after seeing the quality, so I’m beginning to believe they just build in the cost of sending replacement parts into the price.

 

[Bessy]

Re: Mr. Roboto's Garage Makeover

That's seriously disappointing, I'd be looking for a discount at this point. Shipping/receiving people really don't care, that's just par for the course I guess.

Even watching the guy unload my 42" tool cab upon delivery was cringy (I offered to assist him).


Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

[Mr. Roboto]

They just responded that they will be sending a second set of replacement doors but that they won't ship out until to the middle/end of September due to stock.He made a special request for them to be packed with "extra packaging" so hopefully the 3rd time is the charm? I guess we'll find out.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Had a day to myself yesterday, so I spent it trying to get some more things checked off the never ending list. When we lost the window in the master due to the addition in between the house and garage, I never got around to patching it. Didn’t feel like dealing with the mess that comes with tape/mud with a 2 year old in the house, so today was the day.

Before:

After:

Still need to prime and paint obviously.

I also got the 2 windows painted on the side of the garage, and the shutters up. These windows never had shutters, so I decided to add them while I was replacing the ones on the house.

I had planned on painting the soffit too, but there were a few trouble areas that I was hoping was just peeling paint. Nope, completely rotten. I think I’ll most likely just rip the whole 36’ of soffit/fascia down and replace with pvc and vinyl. At least this means I won’t have to paint it!

 

[Pluribus]

Great job on the front porch, the garage-house connection, and the color! I've never liked seeing an entry door on a 2-story, flat, eave wall, even if it's not in snow country. That porch breaks up the space, adds aesthetic appeal, and it would make me feel much safer from ice & snow that might fall.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Great job on the front porch, the garage-house connection, and the color! I've never liked seeing an entry door on a 2-story, flat, eave wall, even if it's not in snow country. That porch breaks up the space, adds aesthetic appeal, and it would make me feel much safer from ice & snow that might fall.

Thank you! I couldn't agree more. I really love the look and functionality that it added. I'm not sure if I would have had the motivation to do it if the rot issues behind the old steps were not present causing them to be completely removed, but I am glad that it's done now.

Also, I finished up the window patch job in the master. It's not perfect, but good enough I suppose. I am not great at tape/mud.

 

[Ronin22]

It looks great!

 

[Bob Heine]

I find dimmable or three-way lights on their lowest setting improve my tape and mud work. If that doesn't work, a nice piece of artwork that SWMBO loves comes to my rescue.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

I had to pick up a new oil lift drain... the old Harbor Freight one I've been using for the last few years is just falling apart, and is poorly designed. Went with the Lisle 11102. My daughter is absolutely obsessed with helping me with things around the house now, so we teamed up on putting it together after dinner last night!

 

[nicholam77]

That's awesome!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Well... the time has come. It’s been one year since I did the addition to connect the house to the garage. The inside has been 100% unfinished since then, but I’m finally just now staring to work on it. I have some time off this week so I’m going to be chipping away at it the best that I can.

Today was day 1.... spent several hours out there making my plan of attack, made my first big run to Home Depot, and framed in the wall around the vent pipe for my oil boiler. Gotta start somewhere!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Well, it's already Thursday of my week off, and I'm nowhere near where I had hoped to be. My daughter came down with something, so I've had her a few days, and we had a bad wind storm come through last night and I was without power for most of the day today, but I guess any progress is good progress. Excuses, excuses... right?

Framing is all done. I had to strap out the wall along the garage for 2 reasons. 1, I need space for some electrical. And 2, the door they used going in to the garage is framed out for a 2x6 wall. My garage is framed with 2x4s (unfortunately) so it protruded out a lot. This meant I had to shave about 3/16" off the broad side of a 2x4 to make the drywall sit flush with the door. A planer would have made quick work of this, but I do not have one and didn't really want to rush out and buy one, so I ripped slivers of wood off each one on my table saw. This was both time consuming and a little dangerous, since it's kind of a risky cut, but I survived. Also strapped out the ceiling with 1x3s.

Electrical is done. Outlets are all in, overhead cans are wired, complete with 3 separate switches controlling them (something new for me, I've never wired up a 4 way switch before) Ethernet cable is roughed in, and I wired in an AC disconnect outside too because I may end up putting in a mini spit in here. Yes, it may seem like overkill, but if we end up having another kid, I will lose my office (which is now the 3rd bedroom) so my desk will probably end up out here. So, conditioned space would be a requirement for that.

Also, wall insulation is about 90% done as well.

I am still undecided on how I'll insulate the ceiling at this point. I did blown in on my garage, but it was a much bigger area and made sense. This time, I'm not so sure. I already put the strapping up, so some of the options that would normally get stapled to the underside of the rafters is out... unless the strapping itself is enough to hold up insulation until the drywall is hung? I'm all ears if anyone has any suggestions.

At least the weather has been pretty nice this week for the most part, and I've been able to sit out on the back deck for lunch every day and admire the foliage.

That's it for now. Next up is finish wall insulation, decide on ceiling insulation, and then start hanging sheetrock.

 

[M-technik-3]

Nice work, yeah yesterday was ****. Lost a tree here and yard was flooded in the back as we had 3 inches of rain supposedly.

The nice thing is you don't have to rush to finish this space.

 

[nicholam77]

Looks like a lot of progress to me!

That must have been a pain to rip all those 2x4's down. I've done that on much shorter boards with my jobsite saw to square up 2x4's and had to take a bunch of passes. Maybe your table saw is more powerful.

Great work so far, looks like it will be a nice comfortable space when finished.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Nice work, yeah yesterday was ****. Lost a tree here and yard was flooded in the back as we had 3 inches of rain supposedly.

The nice thing is you don't have to rush to finish this space.

Thanks, hopefully there was no related damage from the tree or water.

Looks like a lot of progress to me!

That must have been a pain to rip all those 2x4's down. I've done that on much shorter boards with my jobsite saw to square up 2x4's and had to take a bunch of passes. Maybe your table saw is more powerful.

Great work so far, looks like it will be a nice comfortable space when finished.

Thanks! Yes, it was a bit of pain, and took 2 passes per board. The saw had the power, but the blade height doesn’t come up high enough to do it In one pass. So I had to make one pass, flip the board, and complete the cut from the other side. My already dulling blade is now completely toast after all of that though haha.

Also, I’ve decided to lay down 2 opposing layers of R-30 batts up in the ceiling after doing some research. Hoping to bang that out today/tomorrow and then it will be time to hang Sheetrock!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Insulation is now complete! I need to add the second row of directionally opposed insulation in the attic, but I’ll do it after the Sheetrock is up so it’s there to hold it up better. Finally ready to hang drywall now.

 

[Unruh]

Great work! I hope all this work hasn’t been messing up game night!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Great work! I hope all this work hasn’t been messing up game night!

Thanks! The next one is in a month! hahah

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Was able to set aside a few hours today to get the ceiling hung. I certainly miss having the drywall lift that I used when hanging the sheetrock in my garage, but I made due.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Drywall is (almost) done! There is one piece that I cut to shape (behind the box fan) and laid in place, but need to add the cut outs for electrical boxes still. Other than that, it's all up! I am going to reach out to a few people to see about taping and mudding for me. I am just not in the mood This was my first time working with 54" wide Sheetrock too. I definitely see the benefit (in this case, it eliminated an entire horizontal seam all the way around the room) but they're kind of a bear to work with by yourself.

It's definitely nice to see the addition at this stage though. I've been dreaming about it ever since buying this place.

 

[Bob Heine]

I used the same drywall lift for my garage ceiling repair. Mine was just a little shorter so I could set it on a floor jack. I like the idea of fewer seams but the 5/8" 4'x8' sheets are already a bear to lift. It always amazes me how much drywall it takes to cover a small space but at least you didn't have to do a closet.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

I used the same drywall lift for my garage ceiling repair. Mine was just a little shorter so I could set it on a floor jack. I like the idea of fewer seams but the 5/8" 4'x8' sheets are already a bear to lift. It always amazes me how much drywall it takes to cover a small space but at least you didn't have to do a closet.

Are you talking about the wooden support T I built to hold up the ceiling sheets in the corner? If so, yes, it was a real life saver!

Fortunately, everything in the addition was 1/2". I had the foresight to use 5/8" fire rock along the left wall in the garage with the hope that I would some day be able to build this addition, so I was covered there from a code requirement. But yes, it took a total of (14) 12 foot sheets! I purchased one extra just in case that I did not have to use as well. But we all know that if I did not buy it, I would have needed it.

I actually thought about building a closet to the right of the boxed out area in the corner that encapsulates my heat vent pipe, but decided against it due to the added complexity. I was not in the mood for all that went along with it. In general, I'm kind of over it when it comes to all of these house projects to be honest. I'm hoping this will be the last one for a while.

 

[Pressingonward]

Your hard work is paying off - it looks great!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Your hard work is paying off - it looks great!

Thank you very much!

Day 1 of tape/mud is complete. This time, I can take zero credit. It pains me to admit, but I hired it out. This was going to be the largest time sink for me in completing the interior, so I decided it was best off to have someone else do it. I'm sure it will come out better as well. He expects to have it done by the end of the week!

 

[Bob Heine]

Good decision. Sanding the ceiling alone would take me a week.

 

[Finallygotit]

^^^^^


What he said.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Good decision. Sanding the ceiling alone would take me a week.

^^^^^


What he said.

It has certainly been nice coming home from work every day and seeing progress out there!

2nd coat was completed yesterday.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Some updates since the last post... tape and mud was completed, primer up, and ceiling and walls have been painted. Installed the recessed lights too (i've had temporary bulbs in there this whole time to keep the real ones clean) I also ordered the LVP flooring today as well. Starting to take shape! The flooring is a gray looking (fake) wood, and I'll be doing white trim. I have to say, the LVP floors have come a long way. They look pretty convincing, and since this is a mud room, the fact that they are waterproof, scratch proof etc is what sold me!

 

[mmsheb]

That is looking really good! Nice addition for you.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

That is looking really good! Nice addition for you.

Thank you very much!

I started out trimming out the windows and doors. Anyone have any recommendations on filing the nail holes and closing up the miters? I’ve read some saying paintable caulk, others say wood filler. I’ve never really done any finish interior trim so I’m not sure which way to go! As you can tell from the pre primed trim I used, I’ll be painting it white.