You are here:
The new walls go up and already show how much height will be gained. The old walls were 8-feet high. The new walls are 11-feet high. Combined with a taller pitch on the roof line, there will be a tremendous amount of area added to the garage’s interior. The door opening is also increased from 7-feet to 8-feet tall. Not that I plan to park any trucks in there but you never know! Other than added clearance, at this height the door will look more balanced on the taller wall.
This photo shows the new 14-inch ridge installed and the header for the new window in place. The original construction placed the header so high that the neighbors were calling it “the church steeple”. I had a talk with the architect and finally convinced them it needed to be lowered significantly, despite their preference for a stronger structure. Considering the small overall size of this garage I don’t feel it will be any problem whatsoever and ultimately they agreed.
Only a couple days later the roof structure has been completed. The 10-inch rafters will allow both insulation and recessed lighting to be used in the ceiling.
The outer wall taking shape. I questioned the strange header arrangement and the contractor’s answer was “Why not?” I guess he felt it was stronger that way so he took advantage of the extra length. I wasn’t entirely convinced but deferred to his expertise.
Walls nearing completion as electrical work begins. The electricians ignored a lot of my requests and I wasn’t thrilled with the overall quality of their work. I spent some time correcting things myself.
Starting to look like a garage, and I still have a skylight.
The walls and trim are nearly done. The idea is to match the style of the garage to the rest of the house, as if it was built that way. The workers had fun making the scallop pieces along the front.
The window is finally installed. We’re ready for the roof and siding! At this point we actually have a fairly weather tight structure, except of course for the missing door.
First car in the new garage, with special “sap drip” protector above and “oil drip” protector below! We had to be careful to keep oil and other contaminants off the new concrete so that the floor coating would adhere properly. Thick plastic sheeting proved to be the right tool for the job. My car tent was built from PVC and thin plastic sheet. It worked, but always felt like it was about to topple over. I should have used something stiffer!
