The Wretched Mess Garage

[rubberrodder]

Hello World!
After much soul searching and deep thought, THAT was the build thread title I chose. It pretty much sums up where I am starting this from. Okay... the title only took maybe 2 minutes to come up with but it was that or "Outhouse basement remodel" Now to attempt posting pic's of what I am replacing. Please bear with me. I am technologically challenged.

 

[rubberrodder]

I hope this worked

 

[OldGG]

Is it setting on a slab ?

Where is Tacomatose ? I'm over in Port Orchard.

 

[rubberrodder]

Good! It worked.
This poor old garage was built with no foundation other than some cedar{?} timbers laid on the ground. There is no actual floor to speak of. My benches and tool boxes are on pallets covered with plywood. Where I park my car to work on it is some REALLY old 70's PURPLE and white **** wall to wall carpeting. The remainder of the floor is pathway pavers. I re-did the electrical to make it safe. The old wiring consisted of frayed knob and tube, cloth covered s#%@t, and bits of lamp and extension cord! There were also some kind of animal cages in it when we first moved in. Either chicken coupes or rabbit hutches, I'm not sure. But, I did find old news papers from WWII. One of witch had an interview with a young actor turned bomber pilot named Jimmy Stewart. {Yessir! Mr. Jimmy "it's a wonderful life" Stewart.}
I found out the city does not charge for a demolition permit. Sooo, I plan on arranging for some on site storage, emptying out my collection of "vintage collectibles"...Oh heck, its JUNK!!! Then, play a real life version of "Wreckit Ralph"

 

[rubberrodder]

OldGG,
I'm Just on the other side of the narrows in the south end of Tacoma.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Okay... the title only took maybe 2 minutes to come up with but it was that or "Outhouse basement remodel"

I can change that title for you.


Honestly, from those pictures, that building doesn't look that bad. If you're not going bigger in size and like to work and learn, you can do alot. Tear off the carport, jack up the garage, dig a foundation, a couple courses of block, fix some framing and set it back down.

 

[galute]

What is the thing under the leanto with the white globe looking thing on top? Old gas pump maybe? Looks cool tho.

 

[rubberrodder]

Galute,
That is a wooden homemade version of a gas pump. It opens up on the backside to put all my car wash stuff in it. The globe on top is just a post lamp without the post. I used some miscleanouse bits of electrical conduit, boxes and pvc hose for the nozzle and stuff.
NUTTSGT,
I am going larger in all three directions. the old structure is 22 deep x 24 long x 15 feet tall, with a 10 wide carport on the side. As I get it cleaned out, I will post interior pictures. The new building will be 24 deep x 28 long x 18 feet tall with small enclosed lean to for storage of yard tools, bbqs, deck chairs, etc. Other than the extra 2 feet added to the backside of the building, it will cover mostly the same footprint on the property.
I'm planning on getting started after the first of the year.
Stay tuned for next years show!

 

[rubberrodder]

Hot dawg!
My Father-in-law is meeting me at the contractors office today at 1:00 o'clock to make the down payment and schedule the start date. Then wifely unit and I are taking him to lunch. I feel like a sleazy type used car salesman. I get a garage and Dad gets lunch!

The to do list {so far} stands at :
1, Make the down payment and set the start date.
2, Get my demo permit .
3, Move some fences around for the dog yard.
4, Get onsite storage container.
5, Empty the garage.
6, demolition f old structure.
7, Squeeze "honey-do" list somewhere in amongst all this stuff.
I'm sure there is a ton of stuff that will crop up to extend the list. But, that's where it stands for now.
I will post up some pic's of the inside soon.

 

[kyle@hcb]

Looks like quite a project! Good luck

 

[Ray Kelly]

You really need to get this structure up off of the ground. The wood is sitting in the dirt and is subject to rot and termites. 8" in about the minimum distance for wood to be near the ground.

 

[rubberrodder]

Ray K.
The old garage is sitting on the ground. The new one will not be.

 

[1/2 Cup]

I like a challenge, looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[Daniel Dudley]

I have fixed up a lot of old buildings, and it may be cheap in terms of materials, but it is often quicker and easier to build a whole new building in the long run. In this case maybe not, but you know what you want, so go for it.

 

[rubberrodder]

1/2 Cup,
Me too!
Daniel D. ,
As I've said, this structure is old, small, overly ventilated with the doors closed, no floor, dry rotten from the floor up the first 2 feet in places. I DO NOT drive nails into it as it might collapse in on me. IT AINT WORTH SAVING!!! [unless you count firewood potential]

 

[rubberrodder]

ALL RIGHT!!!!!!! I got my down payment made, AND my demo permit today! Waiting for the Tacoma fire department to call me back about using the old garage as a training burn. That would make clean up a lot easier. For my onsite storage, if I put it out on the street side of the property, I need a $250 a month "baracade permit". If I put it behind the structure, in the dog yard, no permit required. HMMMM...where to put it?, where to put it....? Like Hank Williams said "move it on over old dog" HAHa

 

[rubberrodder]

Here are some more pc's.{I hope} The first pic is the "Paved" section of the floor. The next two is the dirt floor with osb and old carpet over it. I did that to cut down on dust. The rest are to show WHY I am tearing this structure do wn and how I came up with the thread title.

 

[rubberrodder]

More pictures of how this thread got its name. First & second picture is the small den I built out of the rabbit hutches that were there when we bought the property 22 years ago. the third pic is the carport that was added years after the original building was put up. And the only concrete in the whole thing. The "gas pump" is just a big wooden box that opens on the back side, I keep my car wash stuff in it. I did wire the globe for a light though.

 

[rixtrix1]

Cool deal on the new garage. Please post pics of the demo, especially if the FD gets involved!

 

[rubberrodder]

rixtrix1,
Unfortunately, the fire department basically said there wasn't enough "training" involved with burning my garage. Way too simple a structure. Oh well... On the progress side of things, I got my onsite storage taken care of, AND filled up!. The storage unit rental delivery person couldn't get it into my back yard. So, it ended up out front. I called the city and asked how they measured their right of way{they wanted a $250 a month "barricade permit" for blocking it} and was told 15 feet from the center of the street. I told them I am at 19 feet from the center of the street and was told "no permit, no problem". Anyway, 1 or 2 more dump runs and the REAL demo can begin!

 

[rubberrodder]

We are planning a "DEMO" party for next Saturday!
Lots of pictures to come!

 

[Mike Miller]

Party on dude.

 

[rubberrodder]

Oh boy! more pic's. As you can see, there just aint much structure left to work with economically. SO! Tear it down and go BIGGER!
Yes. All that bright stuff is day light showing through the holes in the walls!
The 3rd and 4th pictures are from opposite corners of the garage. the two,2x4 uprights are left over from the original rabbit hutches/chicken coupes.

 

[rubberrodder]

With the windows out it looks even more derelict and run down. And, no, the little trees did not help make it smell any better. As of Saturday {2/15} this all is going away. I have a 20 yard dumpster coming Friday afternoon to chuck it all in. I am still waiting for the city electrical inspector to call me back about how to run the temp service to the house during construction. I know, I got excited and ahead of myself with out having this done ahead of time.

 

[64LeSabre455]

Had to come over and check it out! That sure is rough lookin. Hope to see some progress pics real soon.

 

[rubberrodder]

Hey Buddy! good to hear from ya! You betcha! Going to take lots of pic's tomorrow during demo. A bunch of mia familia are coming over to take out their frustrations on this kindleing pile. post a bunch up this week end.

 

[rubberrodder]

Alright! pictures of actual demolition!
Wifeley unit says its good to demo. My son says "demo is fun!" and that's two of my brothers in law and one niece mangling the roof. There was three layers of roofing on that mess. the original cedar shake, the composition rolled roofing, then the aluminum sheet.

 

[rubberrodder]

more pic's
This is the carport that was added on to the garage Some time shortly after concrete was invented. The supporting 4x4 columns weren't even anchored on the bottom. We simply pulled them out from the below. That was the easiest part of the demo. And,yes it was raining. February in the pnw!

 

[rubberrodder]

The rest of the garage proved to be a bit more stubborn. We started pulling off siding on the west wall. That's my brother-in-law Gil in the yellow hat, my niece Tiffany in the white hoodie, and b-I-l Chris in the rain coat and other brother, Isreal in the poncho. We used Gil's truck to pull the corner post out and NO COLLAPSE! We pulled more siding off the south wall and the front corner post out, NO COLLAPSE!

 

[rubberrodder]

Me, asking "WTF?? Why aint it falling over????". The wifely unit taking pictures for her facebook page. You can see how ALL of the wall studs have been knocked loose from what remained of the sill plate. We had done the same thing to the south wall as well. It was getting real wobbly by this point, but still wouldn't fall over. We were able to push on the north wall and it wiggled a bit. SOOO, we just kept pushing on it till it finally surrendered to gravity. My brother in law Gil is an animal with a sawzall ! The last picture is of us all looking at it going "Its gone. Its REALLY gone." And I'm thinking "oh ****. what have I gotten myself into? Now I HAVE to build something"

 

[rubberrodder]

More pic's
Day 2. Gil "mr. Sawzall", came back to help me finish doing the clean up. We managed to get it all into a 20 yard dumpster by loading it real careful and cutting stuff up real tiny. One friend came by and took a bunch of siding and the sliding door. He builds "artsy" furniture out of it. The other nice guy stopped and asked if he could have the old aluminum roofing. I said "sure. But you got to take it all" His simple reply, "no problem".

 

[rubberrodder]

The last little pile of scraps. The wife{C.C. , the best thing in my life} approves. My brother in law, Gil Mendoza, the master of the sawzall and absolute garage killing animal and myself. The last picture is what we were able to accomplish in just a total of nine hours over two days. Having power tools and a huge family helps... a LOT. I told him if he ever needed a kidney, I would talk the wife out of one of hers!

 

[rubberrodder]

Still having "fun" with getting the electrical bids. One company says go all underground. Another says put the 200 amp service on the garage and go underground to the house. Somebody else says my electrical panel on the house itself is out-dated and that has to be replaced as well as the garage work. The company I was going to use in the first place said just put in an auxiliary pole with a meter on it to satisfy code and use what's already here.
The city code inspector was here today and said "just put up a permanent pole with the meter on that and use what you already have. Then all you are doing is "doglegging" around the taller garage. It's the cheapest and easiest thing to do." I like her.

 

[rubberrodder]

Last picture of the old garage before construction begins. Bye, bye old garage!

 

[64LeSabre455]

Ya better hurry up and get it built! The old Buick needs a warm home! Have you drawn up any plans for the new garage?

 

[Mike Miller]

Tearing down the old garage was the fun part, wait till you need the first tool you stacked up in the front of the storage pod.

 

[rubberrodder]

Hey Mike,
Funny you should mention that....
My contractor went to pull the final permits yesterday and was told "Nope! you cant build over 15 feet high!". I'm planning on 18 feet. I took the plans down to the city municipal building and told them I had been told repeatedly I can go as High as 18 ft. The nice young lady took a look at my plans, site plan, etc. and said "lets go talk to Craig, sometimes how they figure building heights is a little vague in the code book." A VERY special thanks to Craig Kuntz down town for his help today. With some minor alterations I got the plans approved at the actual height I wanted! The garage access is now on the back{west} side from the alley instead of the front{east} side from the street. And I had to add 3 more feet to my setback. I can live with it. I am still going to park the drivers where I always have. But on the street side I will paint an open garage door scene!

 

[raddksn]

Is that really Craig's last name

 

[bczygan]

As a builder, I am almost always in favor of conserving and rehabbing existing buildings.
But this one could have gone either way for me. And if I, like the OP, needed a bigger space, then demo would have been the answer for me as well.
Great job on the demo.
One point to remind others about is that when you demo a building, the grandfathered setbacks, height limitations and other zoning regulations disappear. Usually the new regulations are more restrictive. You can sometimes avoid this by keeping one wall of the old building and calling it a rebuilding or rehab. It's worth checking out in advance.

 

[bczygan]

Is that really Craig's last name

Is his middle name Getz?