Garage / workshop project

[gasstingy]

Ok, I found the overhang formula, so here it is: Window height / shade factor = correct overhang. An effective window overhang shades summer sun but allows for winter sun. The overhang amount depends on the shade line factor which is determined by the house’s latitude and the direction the window faces. Refer to the chart below and also measure the overhang’s height above the window sill; then put those numbers into the equation above to get the ideal overhang. {Sorry about the sloppy chart, I couldn't spend enough time to make it look perfect, so this is it.}

Shade Line Factor

Window Latitude in degrees
Faces 25 - 30 - 35 - 40 - 45 - 50 - 55
East 0.8 - 0.8 - 0.8 - 0.8 - 0.8 - 0.8 - 0.8
SE 1.9 - 1.6 - 1.4 - 1.3 - 1.1 - 1.0 - 0.9
South 10.1-5.4 - 3.6 - 2.6 - 2.0 - 1.7 - 1.4
SW 1.9 - 1.6 - 1.4 - 1.3 - 1.1 - 1.0 - 0.8
West 0.8 - 0.8 - 0.8 - 0.8 - 0.8 - 0.8 - 0.8

Therefore, my latitude (Arab, AL) is about 34.33, so I’ll use 35 degrees, my distance from the bottom of the roof truss to the bottom of the windowsill {South wall} is 72”, so 72” / 3.6 = 20”
I need a 20” overhang. My roof trusses cantilever over the side of the building 21”, so I figure I’m close enough.

We got some of the gambrel ends pieces hung Saturday. I made a template and cut / hung the small corner pieces front and back of the building. Then, I cut and installed a vertical wedge shape piece on the right front. Then Ricky showed up, and we worked on preparing the next piece. Before we hung any more, Adam came and helped hang the OSB on the walls. We got 4 of 6 sheets up, including cutting the window opening. The scaffold will need to be moved to get the last two on that end hung. Didn't work on it Sunday, church business takes priority over the building.

I did call Home Depot about returning the tubular skylights. The paperwork says I must have the original shipping confirmation plus the return goods form that came with the order and return within 90 days. I have the return goods form, but did not retain the shipping confirmation. No problem, they resent the original e-mail and I can return them for full credit. Better still, I don't have to ship them, I can take them to the nearest HD store. Way to go, HD!

Hopefully Adam will help again this evening and the weather will cooperate, I'd love to move the scaffold and hang the last two pieces of OSB and put the housewrap on the front of the second story. We'll have to see what the weather does.

[gasstingy]

We sure don't seem to get a lot done when I have seen houses framed, sided and roofed since I hung my trusses. That's the difference between a full crew of people who know what they are doing and someone who's just doing the best he can without many construction worker helpers.

This past week has seen the garage door end gambrel wall end OSB sheets installed and the window opening prepared for the window. For us that meant shimming the truss window opening first. The truss opening was made 37" wide for a 36" window, that was really 35 7/8" wide plus a flange that is a total of 1 5/16" wide all around. Then, the nailing slots are 13/16" from the edge of the frame, so 37" was just too wide. We made a 3/8" shim to go up both sides and now the opening is 36 1/4". Then we put up the housewrap on the upstairs part of the wall. {Of course we had to measure from the bottom of the framed part of the building up to mark where each piece of housewrap would end, factor in a small overlap and pop a chalk line where the upper piece of housewrap goes.} Then hang the housewrap against that line while either reaching from the ladder or scaffold to try and follow that chalk line. Nothing is ever as easy as it seems. When the housewrap was up and secured, we cut the window opening {in the wrap} in an X pattern and tucked it around the framed opening. Then add a layer of a rubber membrane around the bottom of the opening to help prevent leaks. By then it was too dark to see, so the window itself has not been hung. That should happen tonight, God willing.

No real complaints about the process. It is proceeding, nobody has gotten hurt, and no property has been damaged. I don't know what any home hobbyist type doing such a large scale project could ask for.

Tuesday evening we didn't work on the project. I took off work early to go to a meeting in Huntsville {almost 40 miles away} and while up there we went by Home Depot and returned the solar light tubes. That went smoothly and didn't take much time at all. It sure beat paying to ship them back via UPS or a freight company.

[mrd]

Originally Posted by gasstingy

We sure don't seem to get a lot done when I have seen houses framed, sided and roofed since I hung my trusses. That's the difference between a full crew of people who know what they are doing and someone who's just doing the best he can without many construction worker helpers.

Hah, I know precisely where you're coming from. I'm in the midst of building a simple, one-story, 1000sqft home by myself. Designing, building - doing every last thing by myself. Considering I had next to nil experience starting out, it has been a tremendous amount of work in assuring myself I am doing things properly. Sooo much time.

However, I'm using it as a learning experience and see it as on-the-job training. I think the biggest keys to efficiency in undertaking an endeavor such as this is:
1) motivation. push yourself constantly.
2) planning. almost daily, detailed planning beforehand (without going overboard) allows you to move through things at a good pace. this is very hard without prior experience!

[gasstingy]

mrd,

I gain energy from knowing that others can "see" my work, so to speak. It helps me stay on track, so thanks for stopping by and commenting. Best of luck on your home building project. Do you have it online somewhere so I can have a peek?

[mrd]

the blog: vinnie

and pics: pics1 pics2

i haven't updated in a few weeks, the camera went missing. i'll have to get an update up soon.

[gasstingy]

mrd: I went and looked at all your pictures and read some of the dialogue. Great work so far, and I know you'll have a nice home when it's done.

Friday evening we were back on the job and got the window in on the garage door end. I have to tell you, milestones like that are great visual affirmation that someday the job will be complete. Before we called it a night, we took down most of the scaffold from the front end of the building.

Saturday morning, I got an early start by marking where the first piece of OSB would go on the back wall. Then Ricky showed up and helped me put that piece up. It was a leftover from a sheet of OSB used on the front, but was ~ 10" short at the bottom. I just cut a strip from another scrap piece and filled that void and we were ready to move to the next piece when Will showed up. Will showed up shortly afterward and we moved the scaffold around the back and during the course of the day, we hung the rest of the OSB, housewrapped nearly the entire back wall and got the back window in. {I still have to put about three foot of wrap at the very top. I will use scraps cut off from the sides of the upper piece and just fill in the small gap in the middle with tar paper like I did on the front wall.} The upper windows and windows going on the North wall are all Low-E windows. The South wall windows are not Low-E. We want the heat gain in the winter.

As a side note, at 100 degrees outside on Saturday, if you touched the walk boards on the scaffolding without gloves in the afternoon, it was painful. A couple of times I had to sit on the scaffolding and it was way too hot for comfort. When I'd put my knees on it, I'd start by putting my gloves down so my knees had more insulation. But the roof was nowhere near that hot, you could put your hand on it. It was hot, but just not the same as the bare steel scaffold. I plan to borrow an infrared themometer and check the temps so I can share the difference in the next few days.

Tonight is the AEC monthly meeting and I plan to go and let them know that I'd like them to step out of the dark ages and start accepting renewable energy. I've been working on a new perspective for the last few days, and God willing, they will come around soon.

The pictures are the front wearing its window as of Saturday morning. Then, the start of the day at the rear. No pictures of the back wall during OSB hanging, but here we are cuttingthe housewrap in the shade of my front yard. The last picture is us wrapping bottom first on the back wall. We failed to get an end of day picture Saturday. We called it quits at 5:00 Saturday, so the wife and I could take everyone involved out to dinner. We are blessed to have family willing to help.

[gasstingy]

Not much dramatic to report for the week. Monday we went to the AEC meeting and I showed them a TVA report listing all of the utilities that are on the program and told them safety was never the issue, resistance to change was the issue. Then they more/less conceded that safety might not be the issue and then they explained the consulting fees and the thousands of dollars setting up the TVA Generation Partners Program just for me {you know, since nobody else in the AEC service area could possibly be interested in renewable energy}, so they are really dragging their feet. They real bad don't want to take renewable energy.

On Tuesday and Thursday we started cutting out more window openings on the north and south walls. I plan to put on house wrap on the North Wall this evening and try to get both north windows installed so that over the weekend I can concentrate on the south wall. Besides, all of the Low-E windows were stacked on top of the regular double pane windows and this keeps me from having to handle the windows any extra.

We took a few pictures of the windows being cut out, but it would be hard to appreciate how much fun it really is to use a circular saw on the side of a building. I believe more sawdust got on me than the ground! I'm planning to post pictures Monday morning of our progress and if the weather is cooperating I'll have some roof temperature measurements to share as well.

[gasstingy]

OK, so I never get anywhere near what I want accomplished in a weekend. Friday evening we put house wrap on the north wall and called it an evening. It’s difficult to get it straight and smooth with only two people, but Ricky and I managed. Saturday morning my sister and brother-in-law (Donna & Alan) called and asked if they could borrow our trailer and of course I agreed. We had to unload the rest of the material that was on the it and move the scaffold to get it out of the garage. When they arrived, it was mostly ready except moving the scaffold. After they helped Ricky & me move the scaffold, they were off with the trailer. We now have working space inside!

When they got back, Ricky and I had put in the first north wall window. The hitch we had installing the window is a problem I had not considered when framing the walls. The windows I bought were listed as 36” x 60” size, so when I asked what dimension to frame the rough opening, they said add ½” both ways and it would be good. Well, the window frame was only 35 5/8” x 59 5/8”. The nailing flange around the window has slots to put nails in and they are 13/16” from the edge of the windows frame. This means if the window is at the bottom of the opening, the nails do not hit framing across the top of the window. If the window is centered, you can nail both sides though. I cut shims for all the bottom of the window openings to rest the window on when we installed them. After shimming the openings, we added a rubber membrane to the bottom of the window openings and about 6” at the bottom of each side. When we installed the windows, we plumbed them first and then nailed them in place. Ricky and I hung the first one, and Alan and I hung the second one {both on the north wall} with Donna helping run back and forth with tools we needed when we needed them.

We broke for lunch and to take a break from the 99 degree weather. About 3:30 pm, I took an IR thermometer and did the totally unscientific roof and scaffold temperature test that I promised I’d do. I used a ruler to make sure I took my reading from 12” above the surface in all cases because there is a slight variance for distance. This is what I measured {all in degrees f}: For the bare steel scaffold that I said was painfully hot a week earlier, it was 121.6, the garage silver galvalume roof was 102.1, our blue galvalume roof {with 7 years of filth accumulated} 121.7, a mobile home roof {with a silver colored coating} 143.6, and finally a brown shingle roof was 144.3. All my measurements were finished at 4:15 pm.

We went back to work on the south wall and got the third window opening cut out and the door opening cut out before the weather turned bad. We also removed interior bracing that sticks out into the garage and cleaned up inside the garage. I actually parked my car inside because of the storm that came in.

I think we have enough house wrap to do the south wall, but don’t expect to have enough for the front wall, so it will likely get tar paper. I don’t plan to buy a 100’ roll of house wrap to get 25’. It costs too much to have 75% left over.

The pictures are of Alan and I on the scaffold with Donna in front of it {we’d just finished installing the second north wall window}, a view of the south wall from the outside and a view of the south wall where the window openings still need cutout from the inside. The pair of 2x4's that you see sticking up are tacked to the upstairs floor so we can lay a piece of 4x8 sheet goods on it and push up from below and have someone pull up from above {10' garage ceiling}.

[gasstingy]

I thought I'd wait until I had pictures downloaded to post again. It was a reasonably productive weekend. We finished cutting out the window openings and hung all five windows on the south wall. We had used a grey roofing membrane for our window sills weather barrier, placing it at the bottom and about 6" up the sides. That lasted for 6 of the 9 windows, when we ran too short to finish. So on the last three windows, we used the grey stuff on the bottom and Protecto Wrap on the lower sides. {We've been joking and when we say "Protecto Wrap" we say it like it we were announcing a comic book superhero.} In 100 degree weather, it helps lighten things up. Of course, a wet dew rag and a wet towel around your neck helps too.

Picture 1, I'm putting the grey membrane down on the sill, with Ricky's help to keep it straight. In the second picture, I've already put on the lower side piece and am putting the little outer corner piece on. Picture three is my daughter Jennifer helping put the Protecto Wrap around the perimeter of the window, on the flange to cover all of the nail heads. Sort of an insurance policy against leaks. Picture four is the finished window install and picture five is the south wall with all five windows, wishing it had a door.

Last night, I put tar paper on the small unprotected part of the wall and cut the housewrap and tacked it so it would be close to ready for a door. I've already picked up two walk-in doors and 70 pieces of 12" x 12' Hardie Plank siding. I also got a quart of a light red paint I thought I'd like. We painted a piece of siding so we could see it in the sunlight and didn't like it. It came out almost a raspberry color. So, we're going with a plain red semi gloss. The next day or two will be us painting the door frames before installing them. I'll try and get some more pictures when I have progress that shows, soon I hope.

[Daox]

Good stuff. The windows all look very good. Protecto Wrap is a pretty funny name.

Is that the south face with all the windows?