The Point of No Return

[Rich_S]

Sorry, LesStrat - this is not about Kansas.

I can tell by the rumbling noise that the guys have started removing our garage roof. No going back now; it's sort of alarming. The plan is to:

1. Remove old shingles and sheathing to the large roll-off dumpster in the driveway
2. Carefully remove the existing pre-fab roof trusses and set aside
3. Build a second floor on new open-web, prefab floor joists
4. Replace the old roof trusses and seal it back up with new 35-year shingles

When it's done, the resulting space will be huge - about 25' x 45'. We'll build it out with two bedrooms for kids, a cubicle-style home office for me, and a big family room to which we can banish the kids and their TV and video games. The family room and my office will have a front wall of windows overlooking the river.

Also, lots of room for my gear, Drew's bass rig, and the beginner's drum set that will arrive around December 25th. (We think our 9 y.o. has an ability for drums, but there's no way we're going to keep the other kids off it, so it'll be a "family" purchase. Kids! Take turns! I said take turns! ... Do I have to set a timer?!?)

Of course, thanks to the recent economic downturn, we now expect our budget to run out just as the shell is sealed back up, and the siding is on. Not sure how we're going to get the inside built out yet. I'll have to do a lot of it myself. I'd already planned to do the electrical, no problem there, but I SUCK at drywall.

The next 2 or 3 days, the garage will have no cover, even though it's still full of stuff. So let's do that Woodstock thing... NO RAIN! NO RAIN! NO RAIN! NO RAIN! NO RAIN! (I hope it works better for us than it did for them.)

I'll post some pics as work progresses.

P.S. I'm thinking of hiring Gamera as our interior decorator - good idea?

[tone4days]

best of luck with the project
sounds like a pretty cool setup once youre done
remember, "i suck at dry wall" = paneling


t4d

[Rich_S]

This just in...

The INSTANT they finished scraping the old shingles off the roof....













it started raining.

[tone4days]

oh man, sorry to read this

did they have a tarp ready to go for protection?

gotta introduce them to weather.com

good luck
t4d

[Sanford]

Good luck!

[JB_From_Hell]

Drywalling sucks, sure, but it's not that bad if you take your time.

And enjoy breathing lots of nasty dust

Remember, the key to drywall coming out good is go slow with everything.

[LesStrat]

Don't those guys know how to check a weather report

[Rich_S]

Don't those guys know how to check a weather report

Doofus. That's Kansas, not Weather Report. Can't you tell your Jazz Fusion from your Prog Rock?

[Rich_S]

*&^%$%^#@%$$#@%#@*&%!!!!!!!!!!

I just spent an hour in the garage cover whatever I could with plastic. They got most of the joists and decking up today, but it's not a roof - just what will be the flat floor of the upstairs. Water is pouring in through the seams. I had to cover my workbench, some old kiltchen cabinets destined for the workshop walls, a chaise lounge that'll go upstairs as soon as we have an upstairs.

Did I say *&^%$%^#@%$$#@%#@*&%!!!!!!!!!!? Last week we had an entire week of sunshine. Today, the joists arrive from Canada, and it immediately starts raining.

*&^%$%^#@%$$#@%#@*&%!!!!!!!!!!

[tone4days]

ah, the curse of buying canadian

bummer

i hope it all goes smooth for ya from here on out

t4d

[LesStrat]

*...says the willing victim of NAFTA...*

[Rich_S]

*...says the willing victim of NAFTA...*

Says the guy with the french user name.

Hey, I buy their floor joists, and they come shop in our Target. It evens out.

[LesStrat]

Nope. My username is a conglomeration of axes. T'ain't no french involved.

[Rich_S]

OK, here are the week's photos.

DAY 0




Still waiting for the NAFTA-approved joists to arrive. A mild-mannered two-car garage.

[Rich_S]

DAY 1



Whoa! Where'd the roof go?

After a long day, the joists were up, and mostly decked over. This was when it started pouring.





Day 2 they spent working on framing the stair well and some other invisble stuff, then quit early due to more rain.

[Rich_S]

DAY 3



Headers around stairwell completed, 4'x4' landing in place, decking finished and sealed. The stairs come up from a utility/mud room between the house and garage, not from the garage itself.

[Rich_S]

DAY 4



Three walls up, including the massively heavy front wall. Note the framing for many windows (see Day 5). The upstairs is HUGE - 26' wide x 45' deep.

[tone4days]

very very cool - best of luck as it finishes up ...

what kinda analysis had to be done to be sure the structure could support the weight of a second story and all the stuff that goes with it?

did you need a use& occupancy building variance to put habitable spaces above a garage? that's a rough no-no to get around in these parts ... something about CO fumes rising up from cars in the garage

t4d

[LesStrat]

Forgive my ignorance, but what, pray tell, is a "mud room?"

BTW, it's spelled Wile E. Coyote.

[Rich_S]

what kinda analysis had to be done to be sure the structure could support the weight of a second story and all the stuff that goes with it?

did you need a use& occupancy building variance to put habitable spaces above a garage?
t4d

We know the guys who built the garage for the original owners, so we're sure lower level and the foundation are good to go.

Building permits are pretty loose around these parts. The main concern with the garage is fire, rather than CO. Basically, we need 6" walls between the house and garage downstairs. The garage walls and ceiling need a double layer of 5/8" sheetrock. Actually, that requirement is a bit tighter than other places I've lived. In Atlanta and Houston, we had to have a sheetrock ceiling, but here we need the double layer

That CO idea is goofy. You can tell your zoning board I said so. CO is so close to air in weight that it's not going to rise very well to begin with. If the garage doors are open, it will dissipate faster than it can rise into the living space. If the cars are running with the garage doors closed, I'd be a lot more worried about the people in the garage that those upstairs.

Forgive my ignorance, but what, pray tell, is a "mud room?"

It's the room with no carpeting and the one door the kids (and dogs) are going to be allowed to use to enter the house. In this case, it will also have copious numbers of hooks for hanging coats, scarves, gloves, and more coats. Also storage for snow boots. Also the washer & dryer.

Great minds (especially the Drexel-educated variety) think alike; I was actually considering a laundry wash tub before I read T4D's post. I hadn't thought of the floor drain, though. Hmmm.

BTW, it's spelled Wile E. Coyote.

Excusez-moi, mon ami. I will hasten to make corrections.