Surprise - Another Project Creates Another Project!

Well you've seen me post about the 55 Bel Air. While it was at the body/paint shop for past 2 yrs now, I took the opportunity to finish the garage. Well there was one other car on my bucket list and one I never thought I would get. But then earlier this summer something followed me home....

It's a clean barn fresh 1940 Ford convertible. It was one of those deals where you just grab it and figure out the rest later! So the garage will only hold one project and there is no way this thing can sit out in the weather, so I came up with a quick design for a side car port. I already have the concrete there on the side, so it would work out pretty well and keep the weather off till "someday" comes. It basically would be 16 ft long and 10 ft wide. I would tie in the first peak change of the roof giving me just enough slope to drain and still span the  drive while keeping the height practical. The key was making it blend in and not ruin the look of the garage.

Setting the posts and rafter support.

 

Setting the rafters.

 

 

Fascia and sheathing installed.

 

The old Ford in it's new home... it stays amazingly dry underneath.

 

New Garage Siding

It was a few years since I had shingled the house but I guess it's like riding a bike too. I used up the last of the leftovers to finish the front. The soffit is all a thin tongue & groove fit pvc trim. The fascia is also pvc.

 

Starting the shakes

 

Shakes, fascia and soffit done

 

Paint finished

 

 

For the back I have to say I cheated a bit. Well, actually I ran out of shakes and didn't feel like ordering more. Plus the back only has 3 feet of space between the garage and fence so scaffold was not an option. Working off a ladder doing all that shake work for a wall no one can see... nah, I've wisened up a bit in the past few years! So I went white vinyl... and it looks just fine from the next street over.

 



Here you can see the new vinyl and the finished glass block windows.

Garage Glass Block

After finishing the door I continued on with the other windows which fortunately were in much better shape as far as the mortar condition. For these I just removed the old wood, built a new pressure treated frame that would hold the window and fit in the stone opening, then install and mortar everything up.

 

Old window and framing - back wall

 

All cleaned out and ready for new framing

 

 

New framing, window, and trim installed

 

Adding chicken wire to hold mortar

 

Filling in with mortar

 



I forgot to take more pics of the finished product. Well I was dodging the neighbors dog on the left side (fence like goes to front garage corner) so I get a pass on that! I think you can see them in later photos when I do the siding. Overall they came out ok considering what I had to work with and now I have extra sunlight in the garage but added security and no more boarded up broken rotted windows.

 



Restoration Burnout

It happened to me and it'll probably happen to you too.... restoration burnout!

I was good till year 5. Around 6 it started to get old and by 7 I found any excuse not to work on the place! I still wanted to get my hands dirty, but I wanted to play with other projects... hobbies I haven't had time for in years and just having more fun on weekends. Then work (at least I have it these days) started to take more time away after the company was sold to new owners and they quickly cut numbers and relied more heavily on the remaining workers. There was the divorce... no comment! And now the new relationship who has the house disease as bad as I do with her own project that I help out on when I can (the posts about "Case de Jessica"). I've also started a bit of a side gig buying antiques at local auctions and reselling online. That became a nice way of paying for the car restoration and other items I like to collect, but again another time consumer.

Needless to say work has come to almost a screeching halt and the blog basically abandoned. Then again how many posts can you do about drywall hanging and sanding???! Basically that's about all I have done on the main house since my last post... in the same bedroom I've been picking at for over 2 years now.

But... the garage is finished (for the moment) and it came out pretty good for what I started with. When I left off the basic roof was completed. Well all of 2012 I didn't touch it. This year however with the 55 hopefully coming soon, it was time to finish things up. Here's a quick synopsis of what I did.

 

I started to replace all the windows with glass block. I picked standard sizes so I had to reframe and fill the walls to fit. Well the first one was all rotted out. And worse was the mortar washed out underneath. So the stone was removed till I reached a solid base to rebuild for a solid foundation to installed my window framing.

 

 

Well here's what I ended up with! I had to take it to the ground and start over. So then the mind starts thinking.... hey, I always wanted a side door so I didn't have to always use the garage door to get in. Well I'm almost there now! So that was the direction I took it in.

 

Making room for the new door up top

Pouring a pad for the entrance

 

 

New frame for doorway (once this was in the rest of the top stone was removed)

 

New door 

 

 Learning to be a stone mason...

 

 

All filled in... not perfect but ok for my rookie stone job.