Homerr
Well-known member
THE NAME: When we bought our house in the summer of 2013 our real estate agent talked of houses being 'RTE', or how they Return To Earth. Our 1955 house is doing just fine but the garage is trying it's best to RTE. But it was a great find in the city, the largest and best garage we looked at in our price range - and the house was the best for our needs too.
DESCRIPTION: 780 SF total; 20'x30' main area with an 18'x8' garage door on the alley; 12'x15' 'gardening room'.
PURPOSE: Ultimately to house the build of a 1970 Charger. For now it has been a staging area for house projects and occasional forays into automotive work. I'm going for a functional garage and am not too concerned with the aesthetics.
PLANS: Hang upper cabinets, remove non-functional plumbing, replace window with an operating window, grind slab and paint, replace man-door, replace lighting with Costco LED shop lights, integrate compressor.
HISTORY: Not known when built, but apparently not with the house. It was originally 20'x24' with lap siding and possibly no slab. It was later extended 6' toward the alley, 12'x15' area added, and a slab poured throughout. It was resided with cedar shingles to match the house when this addition was added.
The house across the alley was owned by the family I bought it from (the granddaughter) and they built this house in 1955 and moved to this place. They used the garage as a storage and mixing area for paint for a residential painting business. My neighbor across the alley rebuilt his garage which this family had used for their painting business too before moving across the alley and he had to haul out many yards of soil which they had just dumped the paint waste right on the dirt floor.
PROBLEMS: The RTE part...the foundation is cracked and bowing out on the west gable (the wall with the window). The roof sags. I've been monitoring since we moved in and am watching for any change. Probably soil contamination under the slab.
I've done a quick model in ArchiCAD:
When we bought it:
Sink and urinal! But non-functional, a crushed PVC line near the house hose bibb was the supply (they hooked a short hose up apparently when they wanted water to the garage). Drain goes who knows where, but 99% sure not in to sewer.
100 amp and 220v. The compressor PVC lines are crushed at the couple of drops so it's non-functional.
The roof sag in foreground (note that the house roof is in the backround):
The gable "truss" now 6' back from the garage door where the original 20'x24' garage ended (also shown in previous pic):
Painting last summer:
The south and east paint has the harshest exposure and blew right off with even a little pressure so I just went with it, the other sides only had some bottom edges that the paint pressure washed off. I did let it sit a couple of weeks to dry out. A moisture gauge confirmed that the shingles had dried out. I ended up replacing 2 boxes worth of shingles that were cracked or too far gone.
South side pressure washed, east side as bought but flaking badly:
Shingles being replaced, original construction shown. Foundation crack repaired by previous owner. I added the spray foam insulation to keep critters out - had a rat which was a mess:
West side primer going on. Just the bottom edges came off pressure washing. The darker gray shingles are pre-primed replacements.
And finally, here's the workbench I recently built:
DESCRIPTION: 780 SF total; 20'x30' main area with an 18'x8' garage door on the alley; 12'x15' 'gardening room'.
PURPOSE: Ultimately to house the build of a 1970 Charger. For now it has been a staging area for house projects and occasional forays into automotive work. I'm going for a functional garage and am not too concerned with the aesthetics.
PLANS: Hang upper cabinets, remove non-functional plumbing, replace window with an operating window, grind slab and paint, replace man-door, replace lighting with Costco LED shop lights, integrate compressor.
HISTORY: Not known when built, but apparently not with the house. It was originally 20'x24' with lap siding and possibly no slab. It was later extended 6' toward the alley, 12'x15' area added, and a slab poured throughout. It was resided with cedar shingles to match the house when this addition was added.
The house across the alley was owned by the family I bought it from (the granddaughter) and they built this house in 1955 and moved to this place. They used the garage as a storage and mixing area for paint for a residential painting business. My neighbor across the alley rebuilt his garage which this family had used for their painting business too before moving across the alley and he had to haul out many yards of soil which they had just dumped the paint waste right on the dirt floor.
PROBLEMS: The RTE part...the foundation is cracked and bowing out on the west gable (the wall with the window). The roof sags. I've been monitoring since we moved in and am watching for any change. Probably soil contamination under the slab.
I've done a quick model in ArchiCAD:
When we bought it:
Sink and urinal! But non-functional, a crushed PVC line near the house hose bibb was the supply (they hooked a short hose up apparently when they wanted water to the garage). Drain goes who knows where, but 99% sure not in to sewer.
100 amp and 220v. The compressor PVC lines are crushed at the couple of drops so it's non-functional.
The roof sag in foreground (note that the house roof is in the backround):
The gable "truss" now 6' back from the garage door where the original 20'x24' garage ended (also shown in previous pic):
Painting last summer:
The south and east paint has the harshest exposure and blew right off with even a little pressure so I just went with it, the other sides only had some bottom edges that the paint pressure washed off. I did let it sit a couple of weeks to dry out. A moisture gauge confirmed that the shingles had dried out. I ended up replacing 2 boxes worth of shingles that were cracked or too far gone.
South side pressure washed, east side as bought but flaking badly:
Shingles being replaced, original construction shown. Foundation crack repaired by previous owner. I added the spray foam insulation to keep critters out - had a rat which was a mess:
West side primer going on. Just the bottom edges came off pressure washing. The darker gray shingles are pre-primed replacements.
And finally, here's the workbench I recently built:
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