Lawn Repair

The lawn was in very poor shape because of all the construction early this spring. I wanted to wait until early fall until I did some repairs to it. I'll post images to show what it looks like once all the grass is in.

Other Views

Another View

Exterior Lights

Finished At Last

Well the day has come and the garage is now finished. It took longer than expected but with weather delays I should have known better. It came out the way I wanted it. People have been driving by when I was outside and said they wanted one like mine. Hopefully this blog has showed you what steps it takes and the time involed with building something like this. In the coming weeks I will be starting on the main house and look forward to documenting the progress.

My Two Cats

During the remodel that is taking place outside. I have my two cats Recess (left) & Oreo (right). They watch the works all day while they are doing their thing. Here is a picture of them taking a lunch break. They are brother and sister. They will be 5 years old on July 13th.

New Driveway

This is a view from the top of the driveway. This is where I expanded it to add enough room for the second car to get in and out comfortably.

This is a picture when the old driveway was taken out. I expanded it from 8 foot wide to 10 foot wide. What a difference.

This was after the concrete truck came over to pour the floor in the garage

When I planned this project I didn't think that my driveway would get destroyed in the process. It was built in 1952 with the house. It didn't have any stone under it and was in some places 3 inches think. The final blow came when the concrete truck came in to pour the floor and the entire thing cracked and shifted out of place. I never seen that before. The workers were even shocked. The new driveway is 1,588 square feet. I adding in new drains and making it 6 inches thick. It will be highway grade. I will be long gone before anyone would have to replace it down the road. The process has been slow. My concrete contractor was referred to me by my uncle and the guy was three days late and now over a week later he hasn't finished. Hopefully he will have it poured before the end of this week.

What Does This All Cost ??

I have received many e-mails from viewers about my project. Thank you for all of your feedback. The most common question is "I love your design...How much did this cost you so I could build one." Well this is a loaded question. Here is how it breaks down.

Tear down of old garage and disposal = $600.00
Permits = $90.00
Footings and cement floor = $4,912.51 (42 inch deep footings & $5.75 sq ft. for concrete)
Framing materials = $1,884.84
Shingles (8 square) = $617.17
Siding = $1,090.00 (10 square)
Door = $119.00
Windows = $545.67
New electrical = $912.13
Lighting fixtures = $289.90
Garage doors = $2,300.00 (2 doors 9x8 carriage style, custom order)
Garage door openers & install = $625.00
Labor = $7,500.00

Total = $21,486.22

I had 9 different contractors price this out and the average amount to do this was $30,000.00
I bought a lot of materials because I had a designer discount licence. I had a friend how does appraisals and this has added $30,000 value to my home. It's over sized with 9 foot ceilings.

****Coming May 10th is a new concrete driveway. 1,488 sqaure feet and I got it priced for $4.09 a sqaure foot. Total pice is $6,100.00. I got 7 other estimates that averaged $8,900.00. Pictures coming soon.****

Cement, Windows, And Doors Are In

I had the cement floor poured today. I wanted a smooth finish but a little bit of grit so nobody slips in wet conditions. It's 4 inches thick and should be ready to walk on in 24 hours.
















Before the floor was poured I had the windows and doors installed. I'm glad I went with three windows on each side. It looks alot better. I just need to spay the door white to match the trim.

Roof Profile Takes Shape

This is a view from my deck. It looks like it starting to come together. Now I just have to get the shingles delived tomorrow and I could get that off the check list.

The original plans called for a 2 foot overhang. I decided to cut it down to 1 foot because I want to copy the overhang design on my house when i'm ready to do that part of my project. If I put 2 foot overhangs on the house it would not look that good. I consulted two designers, my builder, my mother, two friends, and a neighbor. They all said the 1 foot design was the way to go.

Even though I went with a 1 foot overhang I like the extra long rafter tail in the front & back. I may cut a design into them but I'm debating which design to use. I have 9 of them to pick from.

Framing Begins

It took a few days for the weather to clear up and I had a ton of snow on the ground. It's starting to look like early spring. The weather is now normal. and we in for a few sunny days in a row. The guys got a lot of work done in two days. The garage bays are 9x8 and I have 9 foot ceilings. Hopefully the framing will be done this week and by the end of the 1st week of May I could have this rapped up. I am meeting with a contractor that my uncle told me about to pour a new cement driveway because with all the heavy trucks coming in and out of the property they destroyed the 55 year old driveway that was there. The new one will be 11 foot wide where the old one is 8 foot wide.

Mini Pool or Garage Floor ??

Not too much has happened for the past week. It snowed for five straight days. As you can see I have a mini pool for a garage floor. When I measured the snow before it melted I had 30 inches on the ground. I with I had taken a picture this morning because I had one duck and two geese swimming in there. Hopefully the weather will turn better over the next few days so we could start building again. I may have to pump the water out so it dries out faster.

New Garage Footers

The concrete foundation was removed and the footers were dug out. New ones were put in place and looks like there is no turning back now.

Corner of the where the new concrete footers will be poured.

Once the garage came down and everything got cleaned up we decided to move the garage back five feet from where it was originally. This way I could get 2 cars in and out comfortably. It will be a 24 x 24 design with 2 door bays. Each door will be 9x8. The original design has 8x8 doors but I have a 2007 Ford F-150 4x4 so the bigger door will not cause a problem with me getting in and out. This is where I am up to this point. We have been getting pounded with a snow storm for the past two days so the project is on hold until the weather passes.

Garage Demo

Tony (right) and friend love to do demo work. Looks like they had fun today.

March 29, 2007: Today is the day the old garage came down. It cost $400 for a 40 yard dumpster and $200 for Tony & a friend to tear it down. They had it in the dumpster in 5 hours. I was a little nervous because once it came down there was no turning back. I was commited.

New Garage Project

March 28, 2007: After three years of planning what I was going to do with my house I have finally made the decision to start phase I of this project. The new garage design was to originally be a 2 story two car garage. I got the city of South Euclid to approve the variances for height and square footage in October 2006. What was not expected was the price of lumber. It was $4,526.00 more than what was quoted to me 8 months prior. Being disappointed with the increase I decided to make a new design for a 1 story 2 car garage with the option to expand for a second story later. Here is what the old garage looked like inside and out. It was built in 1952.

Time To Start The Project

Welcome to my blog. I have done several remodeling projects in the past and this will be the first one that the progress will be posted online. I bought my home in April 2004 with the anticipation of fixing it up. This house is like the other 10,000 you could find in Cleveland. It's your typical post World War II home.

My goal is to transform a cookie cutter home from the early 1950's and make it the best looking home on the street. I live in an area where there are many early style bungalows. This remodel will focus on taking a post World War II home that you could find just about anywhere around my area and transforming it into a unique place. Hopefully it will work out but you never know unless you give it a shot.