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e: Forgot to choose a tag  This is my garage, or barn, or man cave, or whatever you want to call it. Like my house next to it, it was constructed sometime between 1910 and 1915. I suspect that it's also the last time prior to my ownership that either were maintained. It's 35' x 33', so just under 1200 square feet. It's also the envy of every mechanic and contractor that sees it. I'm thinking about dropping some money into it this coming spring/summer to improve the value of the property and make the space more useful and secure. Since I know there is a huge breadth of professional knowledge here on SA (and a big community of poeple who love renovation porn), I thought I'd ask for thoughts and opinions here. I just need to get an idea of exactly how much trouble I'm getting into. Here's photos of it from each corner.  Southern Corner  Western Corner  Northern Corner  Eastern Corner As you can see from the photos, nearly all the windows are broken in one way or another and big chunks of the siding are falling off. The back never had any real siding at all and the window sills are rotting away. Stuff to consider: External
1. Windows I'm thinking that there are way too many windows on the back, and will likely take out the one closest to the northern corner, since it's the oddest duck as far as size goes. None of these windows open to any real extent, because they're nailed in place, or are just sheets of glass that were framed in around the studs. Would single-pane new construction cheap windows work? What should I expect to pay for them? 2. Replace Siding Before actually doing this, I'll probably have to strip the back wall down to nothing and replace a lot of it that is rotting from exposure. The sill plate is soft all the way along from what I can tell. I'm considering engineered wood (http://www.lowes.com/pd_55897-132-27874_0__?productId=3058153) for the siding (over the barnboard). Is there anything I should be aware of? My calculations say I should need about $1600 worth. How does house-wrap work and would this be a good time to use it? I can't figure out if it's worth it or not for this. 3. Insulate I'd probably just use code-minimum fiberglass or foamboard. Should I use a vapor barrier? How would I install it? 4. Powered Door This door is an absolute monster to open and close. I estimate about $750 for a door, opener and install. I can do the electrical myself. 5. Ventilation I'm not sure what to do about ventilation. I could install roof vent and gable vents. Would that be enough? 6. There are two layers of rolled roofing on it right now. a big part of the top layer was ripped off in a windstorm last summer. It's starting leaking just a few weeks ago. The guides I've seen say patching it is pretty straightforward. Just cut the problem area square, clean it well, lay out new roofing and use roofing cement to seal it together. Does that sound about right? I'm estimating my budget to between around $5,000, but I'm not sure how much of a dream that is. So please fellow DIYers, share your experiences and opinions with me!
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Jan 31, 2014 20:51
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Dragyn posted:It's also the envy of every mechanic and contractor that sees it. Well you've got that right!!! Nice Love Shack you have there. Any pics of the inside? What is the framing like? quote:but I'm not sure how much of a dream that is. So please fellow DIYers, share your experiences and opinions with me! Paging kastein to the "let's jack up walls and replace sills" thread. Kastein please make your way to the nearest white courtesy phone.
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Jan 31, 2014 21:13
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apatite posted:Well you've got that right!!! Nice Love Shack you have there. Any pics of the inside? What is the framing like? Coming shortly. I'm hoping to spend some time there on Sunday and get better inside pictures (it was a disaster in there when I took the first set). I'm renting the house to tenants that this is on the property of, so I'm not always there anymore. The framing is pretty traditional stud framing, with a loft and a steel tube substructure.
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Jan 31, 2014 21:41
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This might seem like a silly question, but that brickwork is a facade siding, right? I can't quite see in the pictures, but I have to imagine it is, since it looks like it's made up of larger "bricks" made up of individual bricks. What's the deal with that vent jutting out of the window in the north/west photos? It'll make a kickass workshop/mancave. Can't wait for more pictures/progress!
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Feb 1, 2014 03:19
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Rotten Cookies posted:This might seem like a silly question, but that brickwork is a facade siding, right? I can't quite see in the pictures, but I have to imagine it is, since it looks like it's made up of larger "bricks" made up of individual bricks. Yeah, that's a facade. The vent is for a cast iron fireplace that's inside. I tried using it once, and it didn't do much to heat the room and just smoked the place out.  I'm not sure what the siding is made of, but it's falling apart.
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Feb 1, 2014 14:33
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Need some pictures of the outside of your house so we can see the style, materials used, and how to best compliment it with the garage. Need some pictures of the interior of the garage so we can see how it was built and how extensive this is going to be. Need a floor plan of the garage. Any interior walls? Is it a cement pad or just a dirt floor? I can see that there is obviously an electrical hookup, but what about plumbing? Finally, what's the end-result of this thing? Did you want it to be straight garage, 1/2 garage and 1/2 storage, a workshop? 1 or 2 apartments? 1/2 garage and 1/2 apartment? Did you really want to turn it into a mancave with a TV and Sofa and actual flooring, or is your idea of mancave a building with out a leaky roof? How about a quick sketch of the intended floor plan? Are you going to add some interior walls? Are you going to remove some interior walls?
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Feb 1, 2014 15:56
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Dragyn posted:Yeah, that's a facade. The vent is for a cast iron fireplace that's inside. I tried using it once, and it didn't do much to heat the room and just smoked the place out. Don't take my word for it, but that sure does look a lot like asbestos siding....
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Feb 1, 2014 19:24
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Liquid Communism posted:Don't take my word for it, but that sure does look a lot like asbestos siding.... Was thinking the same thing, might be a good idea to get it tested.
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Feb 1, 2014 20:01
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Liquid Communism posted:Don't take my word for it, but that sure does look a lot like asbestos siding.... Turn of the century construction? As sure as God made little green apples. Skip the testing and move right into removal. And please don't skimp on the money for it. That poo poo requires some training to deal with. With it being where it is, the technical difficulty is way down though. Tesla Was Robbed fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Feb 1, 2014 |
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Feb 1, 2014 23:06
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Yeah, that sure looked like asbestos siding to me even from the wide shots. That one photo of the deteriorating panels is the most concerning. Supposedly undisturbed asbestos isn't as much of a problem, but if it looks like that and can shed the little fibers it could be a real issue - don't go poking at it or otherwise gently caress with it without PPE. Like TWR just said though it won't be terrible considering it's the exterior of a shed... Unless you've got more / worse going on inside. I know you mentioned the thing is uninsulated but there can be asbestos in all kinds of poo poo (anything by the fireplace/stove you mentioned?) and if it's broken and flaking away like the exterior panels or just loose inside paper like pipe insulation you've got to be careful.
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Feb 2, 2014 00:51
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Dragyn posted:Yeah, that's a facade. The vent is for a cast iron fireplace that's inside. I tried using it once, and it didn't do much to heat the room and just smoked the place out. http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/protect.htm
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Feb 2, 2014 03:39
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So, my grandmother passed away this evening, so I may not be able to give this thread as much attention as I like over the next few days while we get things in order. For now I'll address what I can with the pictures I already have. Blistex posted:Need some pictures of the outside of your house so we can see the style, materials used, and how to best compliment it with the garage. I'll try to address all of these in turn here. Style isn't a word I would use for the house or the garage, but I'll include a couple of photos of the house. It's cedar shingles which are in tough shape as well.    The garage has no interior walls, only a loft which takes up about a third of the total floor space. It has very little headroom beneath the steel substructure, so it has only been used as storage. Rough cement pad floor throughout. It has no plumbing to speak of, with its own separate electrical panel and meter. I don't intend to add any walls and do any major restructuring to the inside at this point. It's half workshop and half storage and that's probably all it will ever be. Also, thanks for all the asbestos concern. I'm fairly certain you are all right, I don't touch that poo poo up to this point. Though it does fall off in chunks in heavy rain/wind. There's nothing resembling asbestos on the inside unless it's within the fireplace itself, but that seems unlikely. Edit: floor plan / interior time  From the door (east corner)   From south corner   From west corner   Loft views   Dragyn fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Feb 2, 2014 |
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Feb 2, 2014 04:59
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Jesus! Have a yard sale ASAP!
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Feb 2, 2014 15:06
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Blistex posted:Jesus! Have a yard sale ASAP! As soon as the weather warms up a bit (It's been well below freezing in most of New England for the past month). I didn't want to use those photos originally because it's such a disaster in there. All my bachelor furniture, plus some I'm storing for others.
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Feb 2, 2014 16:10
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If you are anywhere near NC, I will buy that dresser from you in a heartbeat.
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Feb 3, 2014 04:21
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Second from last picture, is that a stuffed dog wearing sunglasses???
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Feb 5, 2014 03:30
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Dainan posted:Second from last picture, is that a stuffed dog wearing sunglasses??? That's Rowdy, and he's my guard dog  Doesn't eat much, no cleanup.
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Feb 5, 2014 15:06
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Dragyn posted:As soon as the weather warms up a bit (It's been well below freezing in most of New England for the past month). I didn't want to use those photos originally because it's such a disaster in there. All my bachelor furniture, plus some I'm storing for others. Sorry about your grandma dude. That sucks. If you're in CT, I can kick a few hours in here and there to help you with this stuff. I'll also be able to pick up some of the materials for a good price.
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Feb 5, 2014 19:28
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Tesla Was Robbed posted:Sorry about your grandma dude. That sucks. Thanks, for the condolences. Cancer sucks. Sadly, I'm in SE Mass, so that would probably be quite the commitment. Appreciate the offer though! \/\/\/ Yup \/\/\/ Dragyn fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Feb 7, 2014 |
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Feb 5, 2014 21:06
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Dragyn posted:That's Rowdy, and he's my guard dog "Scrubs" fan spotted
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Feb 7, 2014 05:18
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Last winter some pretty nasty winds ripped a big section (~200 sq ft) of the top layer of roofing off the garage. Surprisingly, it didn't leak..... Until a few months ago.  Tired of having buckets everywhere to catch water, and inspired by the warm weather we had today, I decided to fix it. $200 and a lot of struggling with heavy roofing materials later, I now have this.  In hindsight, I don't think this was the best method for doing rolled roofing patching of this size, but I'm pretty confident that it won't leak.
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Mar 9, 2014 05:16
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I got a good look at the water damaged sill plate and corner post today, and they are worse than I thought. So I'm certain I'll have the replace about 10 feet of the sill and the bottom couple feet or so on the studs and corner support for that area. I think I understand the basics of replacing these things, but how does one go about jacking up the ceiling (to take the weight off the sill) when the ceiling is 15+ feet high? I feel like there should be a simple answer here, because google isn't helping me out.
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May 4, 2014 22:54
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Spermy Smurf posted:How much would you have charged someone to do this stuff? Or quoted them if you knew everything in advance? kastein posted:I don't really operate on normal person psychology when it comes to this stuff. Start makin' nice.
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May 5, 2014 01:31
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Wow, surprised I hadn't seen this thread yet. Looks like you're in for even more fun than me, but at least you don't have to gut the inside to get to it. I'm in south central mass, you're probably only like an hour from my work up in Woburn. I'm busy as poo poo this week but if you need a hand sometime next week or the week after or something let me know. Jacking up weight bearing walls to replace sills loving sucks, but you gotta do what you gotta do. That siding looks like asphalt siding to me, but the other part of asphalt siding is some sort of fibrous medium that the asphalt is forced into, and with it being that old there's a goddamn good chance of it being asbestos.
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May 8, 2014 16:00
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kastein posted:Wow, surprised I hadn't seen this thread yet. Looks like you're in for even more fun than me, but at least you don't have to gut the inside to get to it. I'm in Dartmouth, MA, which appears to be about 1:20 from Woburn. Though that's straight through Boston and we all know what that does to travel time estimates. I was planning to take a few days to work on it between 5/30 and the week following, since my fiancee is on a vacation with her sister. Would be great to have some assistance with a clue, because I only have a theoretical idea of what I'm doing on this part. That's asphalt siding, but the couple of contractors I've had by for bids so far didn't think there was asbestos in it. It's certainly got that fibrous look though.
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May 8, 2014 16:09
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Yeah, I usually take 95 or 495 and the pike home, since I work in Woburn and live in Southbridge. Hell with going through the city, I don't enjoy pain that much. It's either fiberglass or asbestos. Who knows, at this point. Depending on how much of a drat you give, you can put on a respirator and appropriate tyvek bunny suit, spray the hell out of it with a garden hose till it's soaking wet (the technical term is, I poo poo you not, "adequately wet") and then rip it off and double bag it. No one taking old shingles is going to question whether they're fiberglass or not, I got rid of a LOT of old shingles and poo poo from my place with zero hassle before I even knew that old asphalt shingles might have asbestos in them  so you could simply make the problem go away, though I obviously can't legally recommend that. I've literally never heard of a roofing contractor having shingles tested before ripping them off though, it's pretty common practice to just do the tear-off, dump it all in a dumpster with zero testing, then toss the new roof on.Seriously I would suggest having them tested, but you may open a big can of worms with that. It's probably better if you do even if it costs more in the end. Your choice... you'd have plenty of company, both professional and amateur, going either way. I've jacked up walls two different ways and definitely prefer the way I did it the second time around. Any chance you have a right angle drill? My drill works for it, but the holes end up a little angled, which is only really annoying on an aesthetic level.
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May 8, 2014 16:55
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kastein posted:Yeah, I usually take 95 or 495 and the pike home, since I work in Woburn and live in Southbridge. Hell with going through the city, I don't enjoy pain that much. I only have my good ol' Ryobi drill and a hammer drill, no close-quarters right angle. If it makes the job easier, I have no problem buying tools though. I learned a long time ago that struggling for hours with the wrong tool is worse than just bucking up and buying the right tool for the job.
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May 8, 2014 17:03
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What I did this time around was drill a hole through the center of each stud I needed to jack up. I used 7/8" or 1" 1/8-wall DOM tubing I happened to have lying around as the lifting peg, so it was a 1 inch hole. The 1 inch twist drill (couldn't find my 1 inch holesaw and was in a hurry) combined with the drill happened to be too long to fit between the studs straight, so the holes just ended up somewhat slanted. No big deal if you don't care that the hole is slanted instead of straight, I'm just OCD as gently caress about dumb things like that. (not OCD enough to buy a right angle drill, though!) e: you can kinda see it here. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3478212&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=10#post425521174 Basically I put a solid steel or hardwood beam parallel to the sill being replaced on the inside. Another one on the outside, with the jack under it. Drill holes through each stud to be lifted with the bigass drill, put a 4-6 inch long piece of steel stock through each. Then put steel beams under each end of the steel stock and over the two beams. Then jack up the outer beam one end at a time and block it in place. If you need heavy wedges to get all the through-pegs in the studs loaded evenly before jacking it up, a pile of splitting wedges for firewood work amazingly and are pretty cheap and useful afterwards too. e2: oh yeah. Shoot some spraypaint on all the studs to be lifted BEFORE MOVING THEM and then use a laser or chalkline and a marker to put a level line across all of them, plus one you won't be moving. That way you have a reference point to get them back to the same height when you put the building back down. If some are sunken into the rotten sill, optionally you can use a level to look at the top plate inside the building and find out how much taller you want those to be after the fact, then add that in when putting it back down. kastein fucked around with this message at 17:17 on May 8, 2014 |
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May 8, 2014 17:08
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kastein posted:What I did this time around was drill a hole through the center of each stud I needed to jack up. I used 7/8" or 1" 1/8-wall DOM tubing I happened to have lying around as the lifting peg, so it was a 1 inch hole. The 1 inch twist drill (couldn't find my 1 inch holesaw and was in a hurry) combined with the drill happened to be too long to fit between the studs straight, so the holes just ended up somewhat slanted. No big deal if you don't care that the hole is slanted instead of straight, I'm just OCD as gently caress about dumb things like that. Ok, if I'm following you correctly, you're suggesting something like this:  Where the red is steel stock drilled through the studs (I could probably put it in from the outside and use one continuous piece and the blue are steel crossbars run underneath the red, which will actually meet with the jacks and do the lifting. Does that sounds right? What type of jacks should I use? I see you have bottle jacks in you photos, but I'd never be able to get one tall enough without a lally column of some type in the middle. Referring to your last edit there.. Thankfully the structure is still sound and hasn't sunken into the damaged sill yet, so as long as the new sill is the same height as the previous, I think it will be ok.
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May 8, 2014 17:32
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Exactly. I didn't have the luxury of using a continuous piece (no way to get it in and I didn't have a long enough piece of stock anyways) and there isn't really a good reason to, so I just cut some pieces off it with a chopsaw. It won't really improve things at all either way, though it would mean not cutting up your stock. The cross pieces for actually lifting it should be as close as possible to each side of each stud to be lifted, anyways, if you only put a few cross pieces the rod/pipe is going to bend or flex further out from the cross pieces. Basically you want it in shear, not bending. You can skip lifting any stud that's been cut or is a jackstud under a window because they aren't really doing much and will just be along for the ride.
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May 8, 2014 17:47
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Why aren't you just using a 2x6 or 2x8 with some timber/ledger loks across the studs to be lifted? It would seem to be a much faster way to do this.
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May 8, 2014 18:14
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Last time I used a dozen 16 penny nails and a pair of 2x6s and it drat near tore out. I know, nails vs screws... after that I decided to go full retard instead of wondering if my method would work.
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May 8, 2014 18:19
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kastein posted:Last time I used a dozen 16 penny nails and a pair of 2x6s and it drat near tore out. I know, nails vs screws... after that I decided to go full retard instead of wondering if my method would work. Well, yeah, I can understand that. But Ledger Loks are structurally rated hardware. There's pretty much no chance of them pulling out. At least I hope not or the south side roof of my office is going to come down on my head.
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May 8, 2014 19:10
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Finally making some progress! I took the week off while my fiancée is off on vacation with her sister, and dammit, I'm gonna use this time as best I can. I started demoing the old ledger and found that it was literally not supporting anything for several studs. This was a 2x6 when the builder put it there. Now it's more like a 1.5x3  So I removed the part that didn't seem to be supporting anything.  A wider view. I discovered that all of the sill in this photo has got to go. Installed the replacement ledger, and sistered up the studs to fit.  I decided to so some exploratory work on the exterior as well and I'm having trouble getting this crap they decided was appropriate siding off. It appears to be asphalt roofing and tar.  gently caress this, I'm hungry, I'm losing the sun. More tomorrow. Dragyn fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Jun 1, 2014 |
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Jun 1, 2014 01:59
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Those pictures look mighty familiar  Did exactly the same thing today, added bonus I think I inhaled half the ant poison spray I shot everywhere over the winter because it got kicked up pretty bad swinging the wrecking bar everywhere.
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Jun 1, 2014 02:28
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kastein posted:Those pictures look mighty familiar I can compare. While I was 20 feet up on a very steep ladder, I discovered a hornet's nest I didn't see from the ground. I was only a foot from it and swinging a hammer toward it. I doused that motherfucker in wasp spray, and myself in the process. I don't like bees
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Jun 1, 2014 02:59
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For future reference, non chlorinated brakleen works just as well and doesn't leave nerve toxins everywhere. I've also killed wasps with charcoal lighter fluid... spray em with it from a few feet away and they curl up and die proper quick.
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Jun 1, 2014 03:04
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Day 2: Continued investigation of the rot. Found the end of it behind my workbench, thankfully that was it on the sill plate, about 20 feet in total. Then I discovered this sistered king stud damage.  That's gotta be the worst I used a powder actuated nailer to join the sill to the foundation, and it was every bit as awesome as I'd hoped. I wish I had more reasons to use it. Here's today's end of day photo. All the structural rot is gone or otherwise supported. Tomorrow I replace sheathing boards and start stripping the exterior.  I'm finding mixed answers online, is it ok to shim studs to the plate with cedar shims? Dragyn fucked around with this message at 03:46 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 02:21
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That sure looks like carpenter ant damage. Make sure they aren't still in there further up. They like wet, rotting wood the most.
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Jun 2, 2014 03:02
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kastein posted:That sure looks like carpenter ant damage. Make sure they aren't still in there further up. They like wet, rotting wood the most. I haven't found a single live creature in any of the rot, and it's all pretty well dried. I'm 99% certain this is ancient damage. My tenant living in the house 20 feet from the garage just told me that they found an outbreak of termites by the side entry, with a few tubes in the supports for the entry stairs. 
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Jun 2, 2014 03:45
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