Garage be gone!

Wednesday - 4/27/11

As mentioned in an earlier post, there's a problem with water run off from the street and a roof leak which accelerated my plans on dealing with the carport/garage situation.  They tend to flood with a river of mud in a heavy rain suggesting a need for a french drain between the carport and the street.  I'm formulating a plan for that which I will address in a later post but first the 'garage'.

I  started dismantling it today. 

A little mud with your garage?

I have a water management problem!

It was such an odd feeling when I pulled the first wall panel down.  I had a fleeting moment of wondering if it wasn't a mistake to remove the only source of outside storage....but it was only fleeting.  It was the right decision.  The garage may have been functional space, but it completely detracted from and hid the 'round' nature of the house.  I can always build or have built an external storage shed.....preferably round.  ;-)

Under tight supervision of my Boss, the project manager....

The PM

...it took nearly all day to peel back the outer skin exposing the frame and the roof joists in the center.  

The garage door will be removed eventually

Thursday - 4/28/11
Today I removed the framing and more of the ceiling plywood covering under the roof deck.  I needed to validate condition of the structure to insure no hidden damage stays hidden and problematic later.

Overall, it was in good shape though one of the cross beams might have to be replaced due to water damage, wood rot, and an all you can eat termite fest.  The rest will come down shortly.

You can actually see it's round

It's amazing what removing a couple of walls can do.  It's a vast improvement over the space being closed in.  I have a three (point five) car carport with room to open the doors on both sides!!

The big truck could only be backed in due to the placement of those pesky support posts which are going to disappear very soon!

The vision....
...to make it a drive through carport...or for the more refined amongst us, a Porte-Cochere.

Instead of parking facing the house, you would drive through across the front of the house.  If I can pickup the properties on both sides, I'll add a graveled drive on either side to facilitate entering and exiting and then remove drive in access from the street side as currently depicted.  I'll level the street-side area provide off-street guest parking.  Either way, the four center support posts will go away and the four street-side support posts will move 20" closer to the street to maximize the obstacle free space underneath.  I might extend the street-side roof line and equivalent amount so that water runoff can drain straight into the aforementioned french drain.

In order for the posts to be eliminated, the existing 22' support beams (two 2x6" boards nailed together) leading from the house towards the street will have be extended 2' and beefed up.  I had thought to sandwich the beam with a 1/4"x6" by 24' steel "flat" to provide the necessary weight support.  I'm not a mathematician so I was worried that would not be sufficient but when I pealed back the covering on the two center support beams, I found that's exactly what the builder did so it's a good plan.   My only concern now is that the steel flats come only in 20' lengths.  20' will actually be sufficient but I'd rather have 24' so the steel is resting on the extended support posts.  Will figure something out!

More later!