My Dream Almost Complete At Last!!

[Steve]

The lintels over the pipework went in ok. The one by the septic tank pipe was a bit overkill to be honest as the corner pillar by the door wasnt actually over the pipe. It was close though so I came down on the side of caution and put one in just to be safe. If that got broken it would be a nightmare to fix.

[Charger]

That looks fantastic Steve

hats off to you for having a go yourself

so much more satisfying when you’ve built something yourself

you certainly had some challenges getting over the plumbing

keep the photos coming

[Steve]

Thanks Si, it is satisfying as its gone well but I didnt have a choice really as finances dictate that I couldnt pay anyone to do it for me. It was DIY or dont have a garage

[Steve]

Wont bore everyone with rubbish about how I laid blocks, how sore my back was and how many times I clattered my fingers etc so heres a few pics of the process up to lintel height.....

[Steve]

Few more....

[Steve]

I was given a couple of used concrete lintels by a neighbour so decided to use them for a threshold for the main door. I offered to pay for them but he said he was given them by a customer when he did some work and the owner told him to just have them before his wife found a project for him to use them on

I decided to set them into concrete and it worked well....

[Steve]

A bit out of sync but further down the line, I made some alterations to the profile of the threshold to allow the doors to seal neatly ..... sorry the pics are on end but Im not sure how to change that

[Steve]

Finally for today, I had some very welcomed help from my farmer neighbour, Stuart, who had a very usefull bit of kit for placing the 3.6m concrete lintel above the door opening. I just couldnt have done this without help.

[cadboy]

That looks such a good job that I may do the same some day, may not be a garage but an extension of some kind

answers to your questions Steve, no the Barracuda is still with me and may be at Stars & Strips again this year so if you are coming, let me know and I make sure I stay with the car .
No retirement yet still need money to live and enjoy life.

[Steve]

Ive got to say that if I can do it, anyone can so you will have no probs at all

Sorry, I had it in my head that you were retiring a while back but Im obviously off the mark there. I thought it was in a thread somewhere but I must have been dreaming or all the cement dust has fuddled my brain

I dont think I will be there next year as it was a birthday gift to me and a bit of a one off but if I do, I will let you know as it would be great to see you. I also saw Si's lovely Charger and tons of other great cars etc.

Cheers Steve

[rocket70]

The nice thing about working on a car in your own garage is that you can stop what you’re doing and walk away. You don’t have to worry too much about putting stuff away… you can just come back to it the next day.

[Dave999]

fantastic.

a garage always looks best on the first day

car + tools + kettle

after that....anything else is in there purely to take bites out of your shins and to hide your dropped 10mm sockets, yes you can hear them land but can you find them.....NO

and if mine wasn't full of crap id be surface grinding and painting the resultant nice smooth floor... wipe clean and no more gravel down your collar when you are rolling about looking for what you dropped. and you don't wear holes in your overalls at the knees and shoulder blades and no need for flattened cardboard boxes to assist an easy slide under the car.


Dave

[Steve]

Yes, it will be great to do a bit of fetting and it not be weather dependant for a change.

That is my nightmare Dave, Im a really tidy person ( I call it healthy OCD) and any garage Ive ever had has always been tidy with spanners all in descending order on tool boards and all the same way round etc. If its not, I cant rest until it is If I ever let it get untidy I have to spend time getting everything sorted and neat, then my eye stops twitching and I can sleep again. You should see me with books cutlery and cushions in the house

I would like a concreete floor in there but all my pipes run under it so Im just doing a compacted gravel surface with concrete 'islands' under workbenches etc. I may eventually slab it but not for now.

This is my current set up with the car. She isnt suffering at all but will be great to be in a garage. It takes ages to cover her back up after a run. When there is a spell of dry weather, I leave her uncovered to air

[Steve]

After I got up to lintel height, I started on the roofing timbers. I chemically bonded the studs into the house wall for the top plate and went slightly over the recommended timber sizes just to be sure it was strong enough....

[Steve]

The single pitch side was easy enough but there was a bit of head scratching to work out the angles for the double pitch section....got there, eventually

I then started blocking up to the roof line on both ends