The Garage - Status Report

Well, it's been a long time since my last post. Life has gotten in the way of posting, and working on the garage. It looks like this renovation is going to happen on evenings only unless I take some time off work since we're so busy every weekend...

The pictures above show the "trusserizing" of the roof. Basically this was a pretty rewarding process of installing the components of my own truss system into the existing roof. Backwards construction, really. I made the inner 6 trusses myself based on templates from the first. By then I had taken a considerable amount of sag from the middle of the roof, and the trusses aren't even supported on the new walls yet! I also felt I could remove the old cobbled-together support beam and posts which I have walked around for years - this was the rewarding part. Working on the two differently shaped trusses on each end proved to be more difficult because of the demolition that was required. I also needed more than my two hands, so my dad came down to help out and we got the framework of these four trusses in together. After he left and before our week-long vacation I was able to brace the trusses. All that is left for the roofing system is to complete the extensions front and rear, but I have decided to wait to do this until I have the side walls built. This will allow me to accurately place them at the right height, since the clearance needed for my new garage door is critical.

The next step, then, is to build the two 2 x 4 side walls. I plan to start this today. I need to make a trip to Home Depot to get the rough sizing for the future side windows so I can frame the walls accordingly. I believe I will build these walls with a PT bottom plate, 92 - 5/8 studs, and a double top plate. This will make the finished height 97 - 1/8, which, since the floor is heaved in the middle, should allow an eight foot height in the centre of the garage...

More posts will come as I can write them.