Old garage was in poor shape. It was not originally built to last. 2" slab of concrete on dirt, no aggregate, no steel. This was all heaved and cracked and shattered by the time I got it. Poor choice of roof and roof drain for a rainy environment with lots of evergreen trees nearby. The roof was a bathtub, with the drain out the back left (northwest) corner. In the pictures, this is the corner that has the Harbor Freight toolbox stack. This inevitably at some point in the past clogged, and failed, and water ran down the inside of that wall for who knows how long, and rotted out the bottom of the NW corner. This corner then sagged, and the east (right side) wall then bowed out over time to about 10 degrees. The sill plate was a couple of inches off of the concrete. When I got the garage that corner had been patched and reinforced, but the drain had again failed. I fixed it as best I could and tried to keep it clean, but the true answer was a complete rebuild, and this has finally happened.

New garage is robust and awesome.

Specs in a nutshell:
interior ceiling is not quite 10', built as high as code would allow. 10' I beam and gantry crane on the ceiling allow for indoor engine pulls. Old garage was far too weak for a gantry crane.

Overhead Door Co. rollup door is awesome, allows for usage of all of the interior ceiling space for hanging stuff.

240v disconnect is wired in for a minisplit, I will have AC in my garage this summer.

And so, the story in pictures:













New foundation is robust. Over 1' deep around the edges, lots of steel.

























This door is awesome, insulated and commercial grade, but was expensive. But I get all my ceiling space.

New garage slab is higher, driveway is being made to match


Shwwaaaaa new toolbox. Husky, all ball bearing, drawers have closers which is quite nice



Ears on I beam, attached into 4x6 in the wall through the drywall with lag screws.

roughing out where the 4x6 in the wall is

 

You can only upload 100 pictures at a time. Who knew. The final 10:




Test fit of the I beam and making sure the hook works

Test fit of the I beam and making sure the hook works



Mounted. Party time!



Empty storage unit is empty!

 

In for NA build

 

More info on the I beam, as I am sure there will be questions:

4" I beam sourced locally, 7' / foot

I beam support:
a) 4x6 in wall at wall end of I beam. I beam at wall end sits on a pair of 2x4's that run from the concrete floor to the I beam. The inside 2x4 is screwed to the 4x6 through the drywall at 1' spacing; the outside 2x4 is screwed to the other 2x4 by 3" screws at 1' spacing interleaved between the inside 2x4's screws.

b) 4x6 in each side wall, supporting

c) 4x6 cross beam in ceiling (spans roughly 16')

d) I beam is directly resting on the 2x4's at one end, and bolted to the 4x6 at that end with lag screws. On the interior end, there are two grade 8 1/2" bolts that are hanging the I beam from the 4x6 cross member in the ceiling. In the attic there is a 12" x 3" x 1/4" steel saddle plate that the bolts go through as well to distribute the load a bit more.

This is all done according to the real structural I had done.

 

I can only peasant so much

 

I swear i love seeing a garage build more than i like seeing a car build, awesome work

 

Wooo! Nice job on the garage!

 

Good to see you post. Nice garage, so jealous! Mine isn't quite as bad as the description of your old one, but it sounds familiar

 

Very nice!

But... what's next??

 

Nice idea with the ibeam! What's the load capacity for that setup ?

 

slick setup! if the build follows suit, this should be a good one

 

Nice build! But now I am confused.. I came to "Build Threads" for Miata building motivation.. But I am now unsure if I want to work on the house, or car...

 

A vehicle. Working on that.

At 8' hanger spacing the I beam is good for 3000 lbs. I believe the structural was done with 1000lbs in mind. The hoist that I got is rated for 880 with the line doubled.

So it's rated for anything I can realistically get into the garage and expect to hoist. Worst case scenario is ls3+T56, figure roughly 700lbs for that.

 

Nice. I'll have to copy your ibeam idea when I get the shed going later this year!

 

really awesome work on your garage man. I look forward to lurking on w/e build threads you have in teh future. I've always enjoyed all of your build threads, I'm sure this will be the same.

 

Thanks! There may be other build threads in the future as my life circumstances change and allow for more options. But, that being said, this is hopefully the last build thread due to unintended consequences.

 

I expect to post news on this front very shortly.

 

YESSSS. Com back Richard. We miss you.

 

And here we are, back to where we belong. 2001 LS, Emerald Mica, 6 speed w/ ABS and cruise control. Feels like we've been here before. It's a good feeling.

110k miles. Minor cosmetics with the front bumper, where the license plate holder has in the past made contact during parking, and a minor scrape on the right rear bumper cover. Other than that, externally it's in great shape, water was beading everywhere as I sat in 5mph traffic trying to leave Seattle today at 2:45pm.

It has the original clutch still, because it has the '01 judder in certain sets of clutch engagement possibilities. Like, idling in 2nd is too fast for traffic, so you need to downshift into first. Or you're on an incline, and don't rev enough to get past the juddering engagement RPM.

Otherwise mechanically it seems perfect. Had it up to 90 a couple of times once traffic cleared (this is just keeping up with traffic in the fast lane), no vibration whatsoever. It was also raining significant amounts for part of the trip, no leaks, no squeaks, no rattles. The tires on it are only a year old and are Goodrich Comp2 AS's, which is what I would have put on it anyway. A speed rated all season that's trackable. PO gave me a spreadsheet of all the maintenance he'd done and that he could find from other records. The trans even has the Motorcraft fluid in it already. Body panel fitment, especially the hood <--> bumper cover gap, is better than on my original car.

So, very happy. Glad to be back in the community and have projects to think about again.

 

As cool as it would have been for you to buy my car, this seems right.

Did it come with that hardtop or did you put yours on the car?