My father is 95 and has a lifetime of amazing tools in his garage. I'm talking good old school American made tools that came from a lifetime of being a bada$$, a mechanic and a union electrician for 5o years. The majority of these tools he no longer uses and is ready to pass them on to me but told me he would not be giving me a single tool until I had a safe place to keep them. I had an old flat roofed carport with open sides that had a rotten roof and leaked everywhere. It was not cutting it. It had to go, time to build a shop. Now I am not a rich man, I am a teacher in the south so I do ok but I have to be frugal. If I was going to do this I had to do it on the cheap, which meant doing it mostly on my own. I have had friends help with a few major steps over 3 separate days; Concrete pour, first big framing day, truss setting day and roof sheathing day. Other than that I did it all myself. The only labor I paid for ($900) is to hire an electrician to run the service from the house panel out to the shop. This process started in the spring of 2020. I live is a historical district and we need all new structures approved by a committee. Well COIVD slowed that down a bit, but by May I was ready to roll. Luckily I am a teacher and had the whole summer off to accomplish this. Step 1: Demo Carport- Having a tractor made this step considerably easier. Also I have a city refuse collection center 1/4 mile from the house. So I ripped the thing apart, some dude came by to grab the metal and stacked the wood on a trailer got it to the refuse collection center in a couple of trips. Also that huge dying hickory came down too. $400 for a guy to drop it, cleaned it up myself. Step 2: French Drain- The back of the carport had a 3+ foot concrete block knee wall built around the back of it due to the existing grade. The back left corner would always get water in it due to what I imagined was at least partially water seeping through the block. This would not do for my new shop. Rented a mini ex and dug a french drain. Kinda sketchy digging on the slope but we got it in without incident. Step 3: New concrete slab on grade. The carport had an old broken asphalt slab under it that dropped 13 inches from 1 corner to the next. That would not work for a stick built shop. 7 ton gravel leveling course to bring it up to grade. Then it was form time. The new shop would be built right up to the edge of an old 3' rock retaining wall. So to make this work the slab had to turn down and encase this old wall. First, using a concrete mixer I had to pour a footer for under the turn down slab. I had not really ever poured concrete or made forms but I know they had to be burly to withstand the weight of concrete. I did my best. I made one mistake that got REALLY scary during the pour. I imbedded concrete anchors in the footer that I used to bolt a 2x4 bottom plate to. The uprights for the form sat on those. The mistake I made is I didn't toe screw the uprights into the bottom plate. They bowed but did not break. PHEW!! Note to self: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A CONCRETE POUR. I thought I had it, the driver even commented on how good it looked 1 minor oversight and it almost was a tragedy. SUCESS!! Check out that bulge!! I had never done a slab pour DEFINETELY not a 10 yard pour. Had 1 buddy with experience. It turned out pretty good. We ran 6 bags short, ran to Ace, mixed it up in the mixer and VOILA! My canvas was ready!!! Thanks for listening. Hope this isn't too long winded. I have yet to do a write up on this but of any forum I have belonged to I feel like you guys would enjoy it. LOVE the positivity here. I like to use threads like this and social media as a journal of sorts. Helps me remember the whens and hows of the things I have done. And if someone else can learn from it or live vicariously through me, even better. MORE TO COME! Let's build the shop!!
I really did get quite lucky. My lumber was delivered July 24th at normal prices. By the time I ordered my roof sheathing prices had gone up $7 a sheet, but I could have (and did) get MUCH worse. I got in JUST before the roof blew off. The trusses were almost a disaster. Had to BEG the guy to deliver them and they did although a week late. If I would have waited another week or 2 I bet I would have never gotten them. Time was ticking! My lumber was delivered July 24th and I had to be back to work by August 8th. No time to lose. July 25th: Wall day. Had 4 or 5 friends come help me get started. Of course I supply breakfast, lunch and of course BEERS! Here was our progress after Build Day 1 July 26th -29th I spend by myself putting up the Front and back walls. The back wall was a bit more trick because I had to build it in place standing up due to irregularities in that silly knee wall. The front wall I built on the ground and picked it up into place. The inspector approves. August 1st - Had a crew of friends help with the trusses. A bit more expensive but SOOOOOO much faster! I bet we got all of them set in 2 hours. Thank goodness for friends! August 7th- A buddy came help me sling some roof sheathing and on August 7th, they day I was supposed to begin work we were dried in!! PHEW!! August 20th - Doors and house wrap A week later I put the metal roofing on by myself but I have no pictures of that. After that I WAS SPENT and she stayed mostly in the shape you see her for the remainder of the winter 2020. The next thread will have some window installs and siding. A few specs. She is 24.5 x 27.5 about 670 sqft. 8 foot ceilings. I plan on putting a 10 foot wide by total garage depth shed roof off of that left side but have not gotten there yet.
Speaking of my dad who kind of got this whole ball rolling for me. I mentioned he was an electrician for most of his life. Started out as a lineman on the front lines during WWII, and then as an Electrician for the Chicago Board of Ed. for the rest of his adult life. But I never learned much about electrical work, truthfully is scared the crap out of me. Fast forward to this shop build, I wanted him to come help me wire the garage, but he got COVID and it almost got him. Stubborn ol' SOB spent a month in the VA hospital but he beat it at 95. They took such amazing care of him in there at the VA and I thank them everyday for his life. Long story short, he came down here this past spring to help me wire the shop. It was such an amazing time learning to wire from him and now I feel rather confident working around electricity. With his guidance I wired the whole garage. We sat at the kitchen table and he taught me how to wire outlets And made sure I wasn't screwing it up where it mattered Oh yeah and remember those tools I was talking about? Here are just a few examples: Old school Black and Decker Drill Sharpener, barely a piece of plastic on this thing Like new condition Milwaukee Hole shooter Anyways, I am going to end this here. Thanks for reading, hope I wasn't too long winded. Here is what she looks like now, still a ways to go; caulking, paint, facia, gutter, etc. But we are making progress. The should be done by 2022. Having a shop like this is a dream come true. I am a tinkerer, I like to build and do, now I have a space for it. So excited! Thanks for reading!!
Great shop! But even greater that you got to spend extra time on it with your dad!! Glad he is around and able to teach you some of his trade. Thanks for sharing
Don't really think your DAD, is a ''stubborn ol sob'', if not for guys like him, this world would be down the tube faster than you can even think. Didn't you say he's a vet? I'd say he's a lot better man at 95 than most are at 1/2 his age.
Great thread, nice shop. Good to see another Dixie fellow on here. Some neat similarities here. Your dad is 95, my mom just turned 95 Monday. You joined FHC on Oct 26th, my dad's birthday, he would have been 104, he was a WWII vet also. Where in Tenn do you hang your hat? We are in middle GA, close to Sandersville.
B.Brown - Oh he is a good man, good as they get. I meant the Ol' SOB comment in a very lovingly way. He is 95 and still driving, shoveling snow, etc. They live in Chicago. T.Jeff Veal - I am in Chattanooga. And Happy Birthday to Mama!
Nice Build @ chris G, you got skillz! The concrete slab over my bridge has the same buldge (knew it was gonna happen with some jerryrigged forms)... but it was still a bit scary hearing those sheets of plywood creak, crack and pop. Looks like you had your forms braced perfect, did one of the kickers fail??
Sorry for the hiatus, life has been hectic. Well I thought I had it perfect, but overlooked 1 thing. I imbedded bolts into the footer to attach a 2x4 bottom plate. But when I attatched the 2x4 uprights I forgot to tow screw them into that bottom plate. So as the weight hit it the plywood bulged out. Luckily I staked it well. The city inspector told me to park my tractor against it for safe measure, but I got cocky. Glad it didn't fail!!! Thanks all for your kind words. Been a fun project. Yeah, dad is doing well for 95, well 96 now. He is slowing way down since he kicked covid. But he is still kicking. Looking forward to seeing him for Christmas and getting some more tools from him.
Yep, JUST over the line. If I was a golfer I could probably hit a golf ball into GA. My 15 acre property in actually IN Georgia on the other side of the line.
Great shop build Chris G . Bet your dad is proud of what you have done. Glad you still have him also.
Awesome work. You took that trashed old carport and made a beautiful shop! Nothing like spending time with pops either. My dad is a retired electrician also. I would always do a new outlet or some new switches myself, maybe run a little new construction wiring but that was about it. I’m 40 now and just starting to learn some of the more advanced stuff from him. Ran a new service entrance last week with him. Enjoy, that’s what it’s all about.
