Ok, the deck's done, so now it's time to move onto the next big project. My garage, while roomy (and a Godsend), is ugly as poo. Time to get some siding on that bitch. I bought the materials today and hope to get it finished by the end of the week. First, some before pics (never mind the snow, the pics were taken back in February '06, just before I bought the house):
, yeah that thing looks rough. Could use a little of that good ol TLC.
Make it bigger too! Thats easier without siding. Just a thought.
How is the lawnmower not rolling off?
Looks nice and roomy put in some extra insulation for those winter projects.
Good eye on the lawnmower.. and good question what IS keeping that thing on the hill?
As for the building, Ugly, but not really that rough (in my definition of “rough’ anyway, different than yours obviously), a lot of potential there. These pictures give you a good shot of the roofline. That a good spot to find a “rough” building where trusses and walls and the like may need fixed. This one looks very flat and square, no sagging that’s GOOD indicates a good SOLID structure. Possibly something going on there in the lower picture with that extension, kinda hard to tell may just be the angle of the pic.
Is that a foundation I see down the right side of pic #1 So foundation at least good good…, appears to have a slab looking at the bottom of the garage doors more goodness.
Nope, I don’t see “rough” here. I see a blank canvas ready for Thunder to work his magic. Ugly no doubt however.
Is it just Plywood right now? i cant tell what it is in the pics. is it insolated? throw a heater or a potbelly, an 2 1200 btu window units youll freeze your ass out of there.
Insulation is the biggest thing you can do to make that thing more comfortable. You could run a nice little wood burning stove in there, and you will stay comfortable. Throw in an old computer loaded up with music, a nice surround sound, wireless mouse and keyboard, and jam while working on the car. I dont know how hot it gets where you are in the summer, but a peak vent and a fan or two would ventilate it very well, which would probably be a great idea since you are deal with cars in there.
Youve dont nothing short of impress me with your handy work, I cant wait to see what you do with it.
I dunno what was holding the mower there - it, along with all the other beside the building, went to the dump within a week of buying the place.
Jim: The building is very solid. It is sitting on a slab of about 12" (I think the previous owner must have owned a concrete company - even that py little shed you can see in the background is on a slab). The walls are studded off with 4X6 creosoted barn beams, and the posts on either side of the big door, along with the footer (or whetever the board at the bottom of the wall studs is called) are 8X8. This thing ain't going anywhere. The little warp you see in the roof where the addition is at was actually built into it (the addition is on a slab too, and the slab actually extends out the full length of the garage and then some - you can see the black tarp lying on it in the bottom pic, above). The addition is solid too, but for some reason he didn't bother making the roofs line up properly. You can actually see where he cut the boards to fill in the gaps. Looks stupid, but it's solid so I'm not gonna do anything about it.
Cougar86_89 and Shawn: The garage is actually built out of 1" rough cut barn boards with a layer of vapour barrier, then a layer of 1/4" aspenite (that particle board ). He actually used the aspenite as siding - I got into an argument with my previous insurance company because they would not insure a building with no siding on it. I had them send out an inspector, and showed him where the aspenite was the siding and that it even had vapour barrier inside it. They ended up insuring it (for $35k, not including contents, which are covered under my regular policy). The barn boards themselves are in perfect condition, but the aspenite has gone all to hell - this stuff isn't designed to be exposed to weather. Still, the guy across the road has lived there for 30 years and said the aspenite was there as long as he lived there (but was actually stained dark brown at some point).
I hope to insulate it before winter. I also plan on making some windows that actually open (I did so at the camp, including cutting the glass). I also want to make new (insulated) doors and mount a fan in each one - incoming air in one door and outgoing air in the other, with a shutter on each one to close them to the weather when required. I'm also gonna make filters so I can ventilate the air while spraying the T-Bird.
I actually got quite a bit done today, considering that it rained all morning and I didn't start until about 1PM. You can already see that this is going to be a very nice looking building when finished - probably will add $10k to my property value :hick::
NICE! That looks awesome Carm!
looking good
!
that addition would be nice for the big air compressor, keeping the sound down, and the paint fumes from contacting the motor.. Moving right along.
Very Nice indeed and 4x6's , 8x8's lol Thats all set to make into a 5 story building. right it aint going anyplace! And yes it should add a good chunk to your equity!
And thats Vinayl siding going on there too ain't it? I may bug ya for some tips on doing that. I have about a quarter of my roof left to cover then I need to side my house... never done it before so looking for any tips I can get.
Cool:D You do some fine work.
Got a bit more done today. It's hard to get much done when it rains every frickin' morning (and tomorrow it's threatening to rain in the afternoon) but it's slowly getting there.
First pic is of that weird joint between the addition and the main building that I was talking about. I think the guy actually built the addition too tall and had to modify where it attached to the main part.
Second and third pics show what I got done today. That gable end was a PITA and took most of the day because every piece had to be cut differently (and the light and rain sensor for my weather station didn't make it any easier). The short part of the wall that leads up to the addition only took about an hour and a half...
what kind of weather station?
It's a Wal-Mart one - I know in the USA it's branded as "Weather Channel" but here in Canada it's branded as something else that I can't remember and can't be bothered going downstairs to check out :hick:
I made a mistake calling that thing on the wall a rainfall sensor - it's actually the temp/humidity sensor. The rainfall sensor is mounted beside the garage near the red door - you can see it in the photo above - it's the grey thing atop the black tarp just left of the door (the wire running along the top of the door in the top pic goes to it). The weather station tells inside/outside temp, wind speed and direction (the thing at the peak of the roof is the anemometer), wind chill, rainfall amount, barometric pressure, and humidity. It also makes a very weak attempt at forecasting weather. It's kinda neat (was a Christmas gift) but I had to take it back twice to get one that the wind functions actually worked...
I would have to say it's pretty good looking!
What are you attaching the sideing with. Screws? Nails? size and style?
1-1/2" siding nails. They look like roofing nails buy they're made out of aluminum
I bet the neighbors love having you there now. No more unfinished buildings and rogue lawn mowers clutering up the place.
My dad does siding for a living; he's been a siding contractor for 30 years. I worked with him every summer for 12 years and my brother has been working with him since 1990. Some tips:
- Don't drive the siding nails in all the way...leave about 1/4" of the nail loose. Vinyl siding needs to be able to flex and expand with heat.
- Leave 1/2" between the end of the panel and the corner post (inside or outside), again to allow for expansion.
- When cutting siding with a circular saw, put the blade in backwards. Much easier to cut that way, and the chips fly away from you.
Otherwise, if you can read a level and actually remember to use it (LOL), hanging siding is pretty logical and fairly easy.
Carm, so far so good...looking nice! Gable ends do suck, especially if you're cutting the siding by hand with snips. Anxious to see what you're going to do on that addition, around the doorway. ;)
That would make me the only neighbour in that situation. Out here in the boonies you're required by law to have old equipment and car parts scattered around, and siding on outbuildings seems to be actively discouraged. I'm not totally different, though - note the T-Bird door and old engineless tractor sitting beside the garage :hick:
A level only works on a level building :hick:. I actually mounted the starter strip on the first side of the building using a level, then had to pull it all off when I stood back and saw the starter strip climbing the building so much that it was about 6" higher at the back end than it was at the front. I ended up using a measuring tape and measuring from the eves down and making it the same measurement the whole length of the building. Ain't level, but it's somewhat square with the walls and windows...
I had to do the same thing with the gable end with the big door to make sure that when I reached the top of the door the siding would be at the same level at both ends. I measured down the same distance from each top corner of the door and started from there. These were hard earned lessons from my "practice building" - I sided the cottage two years ago. It was the first (and until this garage, only) building I had ever sided, and believe me, it was a LOT of trial and error and learning from mistakes. For example, I figured out how to properly do the corners on the J-channel around the windows and doors on this building...
...And yes, I'm cutting it all with tin snips. I have about four hundred small cuts on my right hand as a souvenir :punchballs: I loaned my circular saw to my father and haven't gotten it back yet. I used the saw with the backward blade idea on the cottage.
A siding contractor actually gave me the same advice you did about leaving the nails loose and leaving 1/2 inch in the length to allow for expansion.
Another few tips:
A small piece of s siding is great for marking your cuts around windows - simply snap it in place as if it were a full piece and mark where your cut will have to be, then place the s on the "good" piece of siding and transfer your mark over. It's much easier than trying to hold up a 12' length and eliminates guesswork and errors.
Also, start at the end of the building farthest from the driveway. This will reduce the visibility of seams and overlaps from the road.
LOL - now if only I could find me a muppet to shave...
Great advice both of you, Thanks.
Another question: look at your pic with the lawn tractor, right above the hood of the tractor there is a window and a corner of the building. The window get's a J-Channel and the corner has a corner trim (dunno what it's called).
My Question: Should/Can both of these trims be in place before the actual siding is cut and installed?
What about the trim for the Whole building?
My plan has been to go trim out all corners (inside and outside) around the windows, Starter Strip, etc before going back and cutting the siding.
Is this a bad Idea?
Would have been nice to have a "test project", my TEST is my home :hick:
The corners, starter strip and J-channel should go up before the siding. They actually have channels in them for the siding to go into. I don't know if it's better to trim the whole building first, then put the siding up or just do a wall at a time. I did wall-at-a-time because I was impatient to see the building looking better :hick: The important thing, and I'm sure Eric will agree, is to make sure the first row of siding is straight (whether it be level with the ground or straight with the building). Every other piece of siding on the wall depends on that first piece.
Yep, you got it, Jim...if you can reach everything relatively easily (in other words it's not a 2-story building) then tpuppies everything out first will greatly speed up the time it takes to install the siding. Sometimes it's impractical to do that, but in most cases it's much better that way.
And yeah, Carm is right on. The first row being straight is the key. That's not terribly difficult if the siding is going to be all on the same level around the building. But if you have to step it down or up at some point, then it can get tricky. My dad sometimes uses a water level to figure things out. Plus, even though the siding panel is so many inches high, it's the installed size that you have to figure from. An 8" high piece of siding will usually finish somewhere around 7-1/4" to 7-1/2". It's because one row hooks onto the one below it. You have to allow for that vertical lapping when figuring the dimensions.
Oh, and you should also have corners that line up with each other. To me that was the toughest thing to do, because you can easily pull up too hard on a locked panel, nail it...and then it throws everything else off above it. Frustrating sometimes.
But don't let this scare ya. If you have any inclinations toward construction then you'll figure it out just fine.
I feel like I'm jacking Thunders tread,
Well cancel out the "reach everything easily" as yes it's two story.
And as for "any inclinations tword construction" let's hope so... from fraiming on I doing it myself. theres a pic here (http://"http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showpost.php?p=156906&postcount=15").
Done lot's of this before but never this type of sideing. My father used to work for a Lumber supply company and was a remodeling fool (discount prices)
Getting it straight is going to be easy. The house (new construction) was frammed by my 30(something?) year old nephew that has his own biz... he did a real good job, straight as an arrow and level as a lake. I'll just run my starter row at the bottom and be fine.
One more tip, Jim: When you're cutting siding with a pair of snips it can be as sharp as razor blades. You don't really need to know how I know that :punchballs:
I got some more done today.Those two walls I finished don't look like much, but I had to replace the bottom four feet of sheathing on both walls, and on the one with the small window in it I also had to replace the bottom half of all the studs, plus the footer (or whatever that piece of wood at the bottom of the wall studs is called). The addition was studded off with simple 2X4's and they all rotted. I put pressure treated boards in place of the rotten ones, so it shouldn't rot again. Now I've just got to do the end facing away from the house. This should prove to be interesting because I'm going to make two casp00get-style windows before siding it. The one thing that has always bothered me about this garage is that none of the windows open except that little bitty one on the addition. This means that I have to open the doors when it's hot inside or whenever I want to ventilate while spraying or sanding something - this results in horse flies, mosquitos, and black flies coming in to feast (and land in fresh paint). My solution will be to make two windows to replace two of the existing ones. The new windows will be on hinges so I can swing them inward, and will be sized so that I can fit a box fan inside each one - one to draw air in, one to draw it out. Air circulation and mosquitos should no longer be a problem. I will be making the windows from scratch including cutting the glass), and will of course be taking pics :hick:
I was actually surprised when doing the wall on the addition with the door in it - I thought it would be crooked as hell. As it turned out the corner and door are both plumb - the wall the addition is attached to is about 1.5" out of plumb over 8 feet, hence the very uneven gap between the door and wall. It was interesting cutting siding to fit that gap - I had to add 1/4" for every piece starting from the bottom.
that turned out really nice Carm. Mr. Fix It. You have plans to nicen up the inside now?
That did turn out nice. Looks really professional. Good Job
Man that makes such a differance. Nice Job!!
I've already done a bunch to the inside, but it was more functional than aesthetic - rewiring it, for example. When I bought the place there was a single bulb in the center of the ceiling and one outlet at the bench (very similar to the house itself, which had one outlet and a single overhead light with pull chain in the ceiling, in each room). When I looked I saw that the previous owner had run an 8/3 cable underground and had two circuits on that cable - one for the light, one for the outlet. He must have had plans to do more wiring - either that or he got the cable for free (8/3 cable is very expensive, especially the stuff rated for underground installation, which this stuff is).
I installed a small circuit panel with breakers - one for the compressor (small 115v belt driven model with 20 gallon tank), one for the welder (small 115v flux core wire feed welder), two for the bench, one for the lights (one 40-w CFL [equivalent to 125 watt normal] in each corner plus a twin tube florescent over where the engine compartment would be in a car parked inside, and another twin-tube over the bench), and one for each side wall (with two outlets on each side wall circuit). There's also a 230v outlet. The garage is wired very nicely now - it's nice to be able to weld while running other equipment, and it's nice to not have to wait for the compressor to stop working before using, say, the drill press.
I also upgraded by way of getting equipment - the aforementioned welder, drill press and compressor, for example, plus an oxy/acetylene outfit (geared to work with propane), floor jack, bench grinder, 2.5 ton engine lift and 2-ton engine stand, jackstands, and a buttload of hand, air and power tools I had from when I was still working as a mechanic. I've got the place pretty well outfitted :D
That's not to say I won't be upgrading the inside of the building itself, though - I'll just be taking my time doing it. For example, I'll buy a batt of insulation, a couple of pieces of particle board, and insulate a section of wall. Then when a few more bucks make themselves available I'll do another section. And so on until it's insulated and paneled. I also want to replace the py home made woodstove with a real one that throws actual heat :hick: and maybe, just maybe, I'll try to find a mobile home furnace and install forced hot air heat at some point...:D
Nice, does it even get hot enough up there in the summer to warrant A/C'ing the place?