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Garage and Storage in Attic 

April 2012

This project involved taking an old 2 car garage  and rebuilding a new one on the same spot, using the same concrete slab.  The new garage had to have a taller profile to put storage up in an attic space.  Access to the attic had to be through a pull down ladder.  Due to City height restrictions, the garage was limited to 10 ft walls and a maximum of ~16' at the peak (4 /12 roof pitch).

Due to its location, engineering was done for earthquake standards to help it survive a shaker.

The corners had to be reinforced with more concrete and steel underpinning.  Long threaded rods tie the concrete to  special steel walls.  The rest of the pad had large concrete screws to hold  down wall framing to the stem walls.

The lower part framed quickly.  The upper part went fast as well as soon as we determined the right pitch to stay within the City height restriction.

We had to build around a telephone wire.  Each phase had a piece of wood or a rope to hold it away from the roof until the utility company showed up (not yet to date).  Plywood (OSB) was used on the 2nd floor area for storage.

Wet weather showed up for a few days to we wrapped it and covered the roof with a tarp, which worked fine.  We prime painted the trim and put the roof on when more rain showed up.

No water got in - proceeded to getting the roof covered.

Metal straps connect the rafters together.  Large beam holds the spine of the roof together.  Connectors tie everything together down to the ground or the slab.

Since a basketball hoop was going on the front of the garage, the gable wall vents were changed to roof vents to let the hot air out of the attic space.  Wall vents on the other end let the cooler air in.  Eave vents also let in cooler air.

Not an ad for Lowes - just a building warp that works to let vapor out of the walls once they are covered.  Garage door waits inside to be installed.

Covered with stucco wire and paper on the outside; drywall on the inside.


 

 Ladder visible in ceiling.  Opener not connected awaiting texture and paint: better to run wires for sensors after painting.
 

The neighbor sees a different picture from their yard: we will place cement siding instead of stucco.   The siding is faster than stucco and we couldn't easily access the areas between the deck/wood structure for stucco.  Stucco wraps around the corners for appearance but also for a place to butt the brick wall (toothed area to the right) once the stucco was done.

Once painted, the color will match the owners house color for this side only.

 

Stucco 1st coat, garage door on (but not the opener).  A few days to dry out.

Back view - 20' long  - doesn't look like it in this picture.  Due to City parking codes, the door had to open out - 1950s design wouldn't work for 2010 requirements.  Upstairs drop down ladder folds out right to the door.






Epoxy floor took a lot of effort to prepare.  The old surface was sealed and had many stains, cracks, and holes.

It may seem small but the storage area above doubles the floor space.

Epoxy coat just laid down.

See video: inside garage and loft storage areas.