Above 1200 Sq/FT Shorty's Shed

[shortykorte]

I'm relatively new to GJ and have been trying to catch up with all the great garages and workmanship. With a nudge from BuickFarmer, I have decided to stop putting off posting my garage remodel.

Since pictures are a must, I am trying to get them collected and get them in order of my progress so please bear with me.

Living in the country, my previous shop was in the back yard. The "D" changed all that. I decided I wanted to live in town and found a great deal on my current garage. My "shed" is part of a multi-unit commercial warehouse. The plan was to build a livable loft in the shed but a wonderful woman changed those plans. More to follow soon.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Thanks for posting.

Looks great, I have often dreamed about doing just what you have done

Looking forward to following.

Regards

 

[shortykorte]

Ok, I found the pictures I was looking for. If I may, a little background from above. This is my shop in the country (first shop). It was 24x32 with 10' ceilings. Since I did 85% of the work by myself and I procrastinate, it took 2 years to finish

I was going for the old wood sided 50's garage like what was in Mayberry. The roof is shingles, vinyl siding, fully insulated and sheet rock walls. Hanging 4x12 sheetrock by myself wasn't fun. I had a 12x17 room in the back part that was going to be the man cave for my collectibles. The front 20x20 was the working shop area. Oh well.

 

[shortykorte]

Due to the divorce, I had to make major changes. 6 loads on a 16' utility headed to the dump. The collectibles went into the rental and the tools went into this 10x12 shed. After a couple of years of bike rallies and hanging out with friends, I needed better access to my tools so I brought a 20' shipping container. The container actually makes a nice secure tool shed.

I decided to live in the big city and always liked the idea of the brick warehouse lofts so I started keeping an eye out.

 

[shortykorte]

After looking for over a year, I found a listing for a place that was perfect for me. The only problem was it was more expensive then what I wanted to pay.

 

[shortykorte]

Here are more pictures of the place. This was going to be a used car lot and the owner had his loft upstairs. This is the office, the bathroom and the area where they detailed the cars. Please note how low the ceiling is in the orange area.

 

[shortykorte]

Pictures of the loft. The bed area is up inside the Olsen Green section. Must be fate.

 

[shortykorte]

After seeing the dumpster, I contacted the realtor. I found out that the interior build was done with out a permit plus there were several things that weren't to code. The owner had moved out of town and the easiest and cheapest thing for him was to demo the place. With the demo about a third of the way complete, I chose to buy the place and take on responsibility of the code violations. I figured, half price, still had all the appliances and a lot of lumber left, why not. So... it's now my turn to get dirty.

Stay tuned for more demolition.

 

[sublime68charger]

Nice

What are all the code violations?

Good luck with the place

 

[shortykorte]

The biggest violation was no permit. Gotta pay the man. Didn't have proper fire barrier between units when using wood construction. Wiring wasn't in conduit. Poorly balanced electrical circuits. Plumbing not vented properly. Ground floor bathroom not up to ADA standards. No fire egress for loft. Not enough parking for the business he wanted. These are the ones that I know of.

 

[BuickFarmer]

So glad to see Shorty's Shed in the gallery line up, I knew it had to be you as soon as I saw it. GREAT read so far. So let me summarize to make sure I understand. You had seen the place with all the amenities in your pictures when it first came up for sale but couldn't afford it. Later you happened to notice the rolloff dumpster out front and inquired as to what was the current status and found that the previous owner had started demo but at some point shagged *** out of town and you jumped on it at half the original asking? WOW, what a great beginning to what I am sure will continue to be a great story. Subscribing now!!

uhhh, one question, is the new wifey helping?

 

[shortykorte]

Buick farmers, you're pretty much spot on. It is a little confusing and I don't know the whole story. There was the owner of the unit and the other person who actually built and lived there. Seems like there was a disagreement. Their loss, my gain. I appreciate your interest in my build. Hopefully it will gave back to all the great builds I've read so far.

yes my wife helps as long as I don't drop a 24' floor joist on her.. more on that later.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Your place is a great pickup for sure.
You really have the basics for a great start.

Thanks for the update.

 

[shortykorte]

Thanks 1/2 cup. you're one of inspirations.

 

[shortykorte]

Since the loft was halfway gutted and the ceiling height under the loft was only 7'4", I decided to remove the loft completely and start over. On with the demo work. Here is the before and during of the living room area. (NE corner)

 

[shortykorte]

This is looking towards the kitchen and the sleeping area. (SE corner)

 

[shortykorte]

Here is a reading area. Not sure what the guy had in mind with this. It was small but a good use of space I guess. The stairs are under this sitting area. (NW corner)

 

[shortykorte]

Here is looking back at the SW corner. Gives an overview of the four different levels. Behind the lower bookshelf (far wall) is the 1/2 bath. Behind the upper bookshelf is a large shower that was about 5'x8'. The designer (reading in kitchen) had some really interesting ideas. I guess this comes with being a product of the 60's and 70's.

 

[shortykorte]

Here is the electrical panel. It's only a 100 amp. Wouldn't work for a living and shop panel. Yes the wires have been snipped for the demo but shows the quality wire job that was done in a commercial space.

 

[shortykorte]

Being cheap.....(or is that frugal?) I have tried to recycle, repurpose as much as I could.

Reused items: frig, hot water tank, lumber, insulation, lights.
Repurposed: stove/powder coat oven, dishwasher will probably become a parts washer, Microwave/spot welder. window wall frame/shelving

This is a mobile lumber cart and in the background is a temp shelving unit for storing the reuse/repurpose stuff.

 

[shortykorte]

The biggest problem I had was trying to store stuff and do the demo. There was some stuff the owner wanted (tires, desk, etc), the appliances that came with the unit, a shop fan that came with the unit (thankfully), the recycled materials and other ****.

 

[shortykorte]

Some work on the main floor. The office bathroom before and during demo.

 

[shortykorte]

Here is the sales office before and during.

 

[shortykorte]

Since there is an insulation company next door, the builder had the front wall, side walls, underside of floor and the underside of the stairs sprayed with foam. I'm still picking up foam here and there.
Pulling up the flooring was the hardest part of the demo. With t&g plywood, coated nails with ridges and lots of construction glue, it took a loooong time and different techniques to get the floor up. The two in the picture are the future Mrs. Shorty and her son. They were both big help. My wife decided she had enough when I dropped one of the joist on her.

 

[shortykorte]

Stairs are down and we're finally getting the joists.

 

[shortykorte]

Finally have the joist down and a big mess. Looking at the top of the stud wall, you can see that the garage door wasn't fully utilized.

After some cleaning up, it actually looks like a useable space.

 

[shortykorte]

A couple of weeks into the demo work, a wet spot developed under the wall adjoining the neighbors unit. At first I thought it was probably from the demo but when I had that complete the spot wouldn't dry out. After cutting to the shared wall I found the leak. It was a pex hose leak coming from the the neighbors bathroom. Hey, who could use more work right? They got it fixed and all is good. Now if I can find the small leaks in my roof.

 

[shortykorte]

Thankfully my brother is in the electrical supply business and got eight high bay lights at cost. He even help me install them. 6 are T8-four bulb and two are T8-6 bulb (over main work area). With an average 20 ft ceiling height, they really light the place up great.

 

[wasfast]

Pardon if I'm a bit confused but is the intent to create "another" living space area or use it as a large garage? I think I got lost when the second wife changed the picture perhaps.

 

[shortykorte]

Went with metal framing because of code. Also went with heavier gauge since I was going to use the area above the office as storage. The full bath is on the left and the office is on right. The shower. If you don't have a shower in your shop, you're missing out. Nothing better then a nice shower when it it is hot as hell. Really rejuvenates you. Third picture is standing at the front door looking into the office.

 

[shortykorte]

I needed the toilet moved and add the shower so had to redo the drainage. With 6-8" concrete, I'm glad the plumber did the jack hammering.

 

[shortykorte]

I forgot to mention but I had to have a contractor do all the work since it was commercial. In Florida, you can build your own 20,000 sq.ft. three story home but you can't build a 8x10 office with a bathroom. Gotta love the government.

The last picture is the nook for the hot water heater and the air compressor. It is on the outside of the bathroom.

 

[shortykorte]

As mentioned earlier, one silver lining was the stuff that came with the unit. A new 50 gal hot water tank, frig, stove, microwave, dishwasher, a commercial garage door opener (with remote) and shop fan.

 

[Minor Swelling]

hope you don't mind me asking, where did this red headed lady painting come from? was it already there or did you obtain it afterward?

 

[shortykorte]

With the CO in hand, inspectors and contractor gone, it's time to figure out what I'm going to do. Since I'm now living with the future Mrs. Shorty, there is no longer a need for a loft, so I decked the area above the office and bath. To the left is the start of the ladder stairs made out of the repurposed window header of the original office.
I'm now a year and half into the project. During this same time I did use the shed to replace the front suspension on my Tahoe so it is paying off.

Enough for tonight. Don't want to bore y'all too much in one sitting. Also Mrs. Shorty is calling.

 

[shortykorte]

Pardon if I'm a bit confused but is the intent to create "another" living space area or use it as a large garage? I think I got lost when the second wife changed the picture perhaps.

When I brought the place I was divorced and wanted a loft/garage so I purchased this. During the demo, I started dating the future Mrs. Shorty and we got married this past May. Sorry for the confusion. One big shop with an office for my collectibles.

 

[shortykorte]

hope you don't mind me asking, where did this red headed lady painting come from? was it already there or did you obtain it afterward?

This is a picture from the real estate listing. The picture was gone when I got the place. I believe I have the other picture though.

 

[BuickFarmer]

Okay, we can see how good you are with pry bars and sledge hammer's, now let's see how well you can use hammers and saws.
Seriously, that was a lot of work.
What are your overall plans for completing the interior now? What type of wall material are in the plans?

 

[shortykorte]

Hammers. We don't need no stinkin hammers! For the most part I've traded in my hammer for a new impact driver and 3-4" deck screws.

The look I'm going for is vintage industrial automobilia. The plan for the office is '50s with most everything in there at least 40 yrs old. The shop area will Texaco, NAPA, pawn shop, automobila and your everyday shop stuff.
Walls will be Sheetrock, old corrugated tin, pegboard, warehouse siding.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

[jbmatth]

I think this will be one awesome place, I can't wait to see how things pan out for you! I'll be subscribing so I don't miss any of the action. Side question, what do you do for a living?