Home Improvement Today?

I’ve wanted to see your wood and massive loads for years.


Not disappointed.

 

I'm blushing I do declare

 

For my daughter 1st birthday. The Redwood is from a tree I removed in my front yard when it died.(Redwood and droughts don't get along) 23/32 plywood and 1" dowels. Dowels were painted with water color and then sealed with butcher block conditioner.

 

Oh My!

 

Ok home improvement gurus, just looking for some suggestions.

I know I've posted in here about my small garage before, but I'm posting again lol. I cleaned it up and got rid of some stuff so that I can fit my 1998 4Runner in there. The goal is to fit my girlfriends 2006 4Runner when she moves in, problem is...it won't. It's too tight already with just my little T4R and a pain to get in and out of the doors, unless I COMPLETELY removed everything from the garage...which I don't want to do. See photos..





So, back to the suggestions I'm looking for. We have discussed buying/building a shed as a possibility, to get 100% of the lawn care items out of the garage to free up some space (the riding mower is already just sitting in the backyard). I still don't believe that solves the issue of wanting to put her car in the garage though because a lot of the items I want to keep in the garage and not have to walk out to a shed to get for using in the house.

Another option we have considered is building a carport. There are some options I believe to do this, and doing it wouldn't cost much more than a cheap little shed.

The dirt area where my truck is parked I would like to either concrete, or gravel...because there will never be grass there lol. It would give a nice large parking/landing area for vehicles. I believe the two options for carport location are either:

A. off the side of the house attached to the brick, make it about as wide as the whole house so that 2 cars could park under it. or
B. over the area where you see her black T4R parked, could also fit 2 cars there.

keep in mind, we are not staying in this house forever, so mainly looking for "value improvement" options that would also make our lives easier. I'm NOT building a shop. Not at this house.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

Personally I would concrete where your truck is parked and build a 2 car carport over the 4Runner and truck, just a simple lean to style carport would look good and be fairly inexpensive.

 

Look at Closet Maid Max Load. There are "Hang Tracks" that are mounted high on the walls (into studs). Then the vertical "standards" attach to them and are screwed into the wall. Finally, brackets are adjustable and placed into the standards, and wire racks onto the brackets. I have this and I have a 400# tool box on one of the shelves and it is solid. The advantage (and what I did), is that you can put all of the shelves high, higher than the doors to the T4R when open. Then you can regain valuable floor space.

 

that's a pretty large area, if I remember my dimensions correctly the area that is already concrete is about 18ft wide, and the are under the truck would be an additional like 12-14ft I think. So you're looking at a 30ft wide carport then. I was originally just thinking doing the area that's already concrete with a carport because it's wide enough for two cars as it is.

something you can't see in the photos, is that the ceiling isn't very tall. you can see the garage door opener, but there is also gas vent/exhaust piping running along the ceiling, ductwork on one side, a window in the corner, and when the garage door opens it takes up about half the garage length. this is a good idea except I have very little usable space for this plan lol. even if I did find somewhere to install it, I'd have to duck beneath it...

maybe this picture shows the ceiling a little better.

 

posted in the garage thread but here were my 2 ideas for possible carports

disclaimer: I'm not an artist.

 

Is that fence your property line and if so is there a side line set back requirement that would rule out the red option ?

 

that fence is the property line, it's actually the neighbors fence. where would I find the side line set back requirement?

I'm in Alabama...things are usually pretty lax around here...but I also don't know anything about this type of stuff.

 

I would call your local building inspection department

 

In my opinion, assuming setback/local codes allow the red looks better.

 

Don't sell yourself short, Michelangelo would be proud

 

It’s 5’ here, but you can get a variance. You would also need to pull a permit, they will tell you what you can do.

 

First time cutting the front hedge, it really needed it.
Only casualty was an extension cord because my dad gifted us a hedge trimmer that was corded (after being told I was planning on getting the dewalt cordless so we wouldn’t cut the cord) so $30 for an extension cord and $30 for the trimmer and we’re halfway to the cost of the dewalt trimmer with only one cut done....


Also, no pictures but the old shed in the back was torn down and put in the dump trailer, as was the 10 foot gate, pedestrian gate, and small sections of fence that finished the gates.
Some point this week we will be welding up a steel frame for the 10’ gate, cutting out concrete to place 4x6 posts in the ground for the gates, and rebuilding the fence areas and gates.

The list for the back is still somewhat long though.

• Cut out all trees on the fence line.
• Move shed from old house to new
• Dig a trench to run power to the shed
• Prep a few areas near the back door for concrete to replace pavers.
• Install LED floodlight
• Verify existing exterior lights will work with new bulbs.

Inside we still have.

• Install dog door from back porch to exterior
• Install can lights
• Install uplights (once paintings are hung)
• Install 2 outlets, 1 switch, and 1 light fixture in office closet
• Run cat 6 throughout the office and 2 runs from office closet to living room
• Paint main bathroom
• Tile main bathroom
• Install trim in main bathroom (repeat last 3 steps for master bath)
• Remove tile in master bath
• Install shelves/rods in closets
• Replace light switches throughout the house
• Replace receptacles throughout the house (2 rooms done)
• Install entry door from kitchen into back porch
• Paint/epoxy back porch floor, possibly also laundry room floor
• Install register in laundry room

Not too much left

 

Did another phase out at a job in the Hudson valley this week, just some ceiling framing but got to see the "atrium" which is pretty cool.
Wide open, probably 30'x70' ish room 30' to the peak. Each bent has a 2" thick steel plate sandwiched between 2 timbers at each miter, with a shear plate at each bolt.
And the ceiling we did.

 

Nice work

Is that roof system SIPS panels over the timbers ?

 

Yup, I think its just OSB up there now until they frame the rest of the roof.

Once the panels are on the decking will be furred up 1 1/2" for a cold roof, which seems kind of odd to me.