It's like Christmas! (instead of Halloween)

I came home today and it was like Santa had come early.  Lo and behold, there was a shiny new garage door!

And if you are a real keener, here's the inside stuff:

I'm glad we chose to have Steelcraft install both the door and the opener we bought at Sears.  I opened the opener instruction booklet in order to figure out the remotes and keypad, and saw:

-a quarter inch of instructions (totalling 40 pages)

-16 "Warning" boxes

-8 "Caution" boxes

-5 assembly steps (4 pages)

-12 installation steps (15 pages)

-4 adjustment steps (4 pages)

-1 page of programming instructions

-2 pages of problem shooting

-2 pages of using the remote

-very large safety stickers to put on the door

-monthly safety checklists

Can you say, OMG???????  That would have taken us two days to figure out.  That is not an instruction booklet--that is a master's thesis in engineering.  I'd much rather be knitting or quilting than do that installlation.  Thank you Santa!

The garage door is coming...the garage door is coming!

This past weekend was spent prepping the garage for the arrival of the overhead door, coming on Wednesday. So exciting!  I must admit, I have enjoyed parking in the garage, given all the snowy weather we've had the past couple of weeks--and having a garage door will make it even better.  Then just wait til we get the window and regular door installed!  It is rather funny coming out in the mornings to a dry car, but with snow drifting in the doors and window openings.

Part of Friday night was spent installing an electrical panel in the garage, so we can later have heat and electricity for all the lights.

So no prep work is complete without a Saturday morning (and I mean all morning) visit to Home Depot.  Looking for this, looking for that, but mostly looking for someone who knows their stuff.  We ended up with 4 double sheets of drywall, in 10 and 12 foot lengths, drywall screws, Styrofoam insulating board, and more lumber.  We have to install the drywall prior to the the garage door mechanism going in, as that will cover up parts of the ceiling and walls that we will never be able to get behind to drywall later.

Saturday afternoon was spent doing a bunch of stuff.  First, insulating roof soffit vents, so when Rob blows in the insulation later, it doesn't plug the soffit.  At first, we used this nifty little piece of thin molded styrofoam...

...which looks way cool, but not exactly what Rob wanted for the ends.  This type of piece, as it turns out, goes all up the roof; Rob just wanted an end piece.  So off he went to Rona.  I googled the manufacturer's web site to find an end piece and watched a video on installation.  So after an hour of searching and going to Home Depot, Rob came back with waxed cardboard pieces, with scores in them so they fold and bend into place just at the edge where the soffit meets the wall.  We installed 12 of these:

Then Rob installed electrical wire and ran it to two light conduit boxes and a plug-in junction box.    The lights will be installed later, and the plug-in will be to run the garage opener.  Rob then put around the boxes these plastic molded pieces, that form right around them to act an a vapour barrier (like a big condom, sort of).  The plastic pieces block out the cold air.  They were super neat--sort of like chocolate molds but much bigger.  Mmmmm...chocolate...that's a lot of chocolate! 

Then came putting up vapour barrier and taping the seams on the front part of the ceiling:

Then we hauled out the drywall lift--you may recall we used this contraption a few weekends ago to try and get plywood onto the roof--not so great for that.  But for this, it was the cat's meow!  Slap it on, crank it up, steady it into position, and screw it down. We will blow insulation on top of the sheets later in the project.

We got three drywall sheets installed and called it a night at 10:00 p.m.  Man it sure was cold out there (-10)--I had the usual ski pants, ski jacket, ski mask, and added to the ensemble a long old winter coat and hot shots for my ski mitts.  It took an hour for each sheet--measure the space, cut the sheet, lift the sheet onto the lift, crank the lift, position, and screw a million screws into it.  Well, only three more to go on Sunday.

So we are up and out by 8:00 a.m., as Rob wants to leave by noon.  The rest of the sheets go up.

And from there, we moved to cutting the Styrofoam to insulate around the door frame, in between the studs. 

The Styrofoam bits sure went everywhere.  They have static cling, so we were wearing them for awhile.







And this is it being installed.

Then another round of vapour barrier over the insulation, tacked down with extremely sticky gooey glue and staples.  We installed 2x6s at each end and along the top of the opening, so the installers have something to anchor the garage door to. And finally, we ran a temporary electrical cord through the rafters to the new plug-in space, so the garage door installers can use that to plug in the opener, until we hard wire a new plug-in (and yes, we can do that--Rob got a home owners permit from SaskPower--they sure are trusting!  Just kidding honey).

We had Rob on the road by 5:00--so a little off schedule.  And then in Saskatoon, we got a bit of a blizzard, so I moved my car back into the garage, and Rob raced the storm all the way back to Regina.  And because time was so tight, we justt dumped the tools in the dining room and kitchen--that's where they have been living, but at least we get them somewhat orderly.  But this was a complete and utter disaster, and to add to the fun....we are having a dinner party this weekend for 14 people, so all this will have to go somewhere.

Doesn't everyone have an electrical panel in their kitchen?



Or an air compressor in their dinning room?

So I spent the next two hours packing everything up and moving it into the study.  We'll just shut the door and hope no one goes in there!

So the garage door people come tomorrow to install the door and the opener.  That will be exciting and another step further on this journey.  Though I did ask Rob if they will leave the door up or down--if down, how will I get in without a remote???? Of course, I can always go through the other door or window--I know they're open!



A potpourri of construction

Well, it was a mixed bag of tasks this week.  I met the City Building Inspector at the garage on Monday morning.  She looked everything over, and noted a few defiencies that needed to be corrected before we could close it up with drywall and insulation.  We can certainly fix those, but I had to make sure that we could still get it shingled before we had them back to review.  Yes, she said.  Whew--what a relief as we had our shingler on hold ready to deliver and install the shingles, as time was ticking before snow came. (speaking of snow, it has been very cold these past two weekends, so cold that I had to wear a ski jacket and ski pants while we worked outside for 12 horus a day!).

Therefore, let me give a big shout out to our shingler Terry. The shingles got delivered on Tuesday, and by Wednesday, we had a shingled roof.  Ta dah!

And because we liked Terry and his work (and because winter was just around the corner, we hired him to do the soffit and fascia).  So he worked on it, and finished it on Sunday.  Great timing as we had snow on Monday!

On Thursday, our friend Doug and I went to pick up the window for the garage.  We had special ordered it from Home Depot, and had to pick it up at some distribution centre way up in the north end.  Doug drove the truck, and we brought the window back.  The fun never ends.

On Saturday, we went to get gravel from a garden supply place (taking two trips in the truck), and made a new driveway leading into the garage. We laid down one truck load of gravel, then drove on it, over and over to compact it, and then did that again with the second load.  We can now drive in!

Then in the afternoon, we fixed the deficiencies noted in the building inspection on Monday.  That included putting blocking pieces (2 x 4s) along the roof peak in between the trusses.  So Rob put down some wood up in the trusses, and sat up in the rafters, measuring the area.  I got to use the chop saw, cut the pieces, and then send them up to Rob by rope.  We did that for 19 pieces of wood!

That pretty much took care of Saturday.  Sunday brought us doing more deficiency touch ups (blocking on the roof plywood, and gable end pieces).  Then it was time to get some wood to frame in the garage door opening.  Off to Rona we went.  We were about to get some wood cut, when Rob asked the fellow if he had any other pieces.  Well, off they went.  I sat down on the cart.  At the end of the aisle, I saw Rob and guy walk by.  Then they walked by in the other direciton.  Then they walked by again, this time with another employee.  And finally, they walked by a fourth time.  It was quite hilarious watching this back and forthing.  But we ended up with some great wood that won't need painting.  But it needed cutting. at home.  So that meant bringing out a new tool:  the fancy and very big "sliding dual bevelling compund mitre saw". That's it real name.  It adjusts, so it angles sideways (hence the bevelling), but to me, it looks like the Tilt a Whirl at the Ex!

But wait, there's more.  It also has a laser beam that lines up your cut on the wood.  Way cool!

So by 7:00 p.m. on Sunday night, we called it a day.  And Rob and his car got to park inside.

It snowed Monday afternoon, and Monday night.  I parked inside after work on Monday, and on Tuesday morning, after more snow, it was a DELIGHT not to have to brush my car off in a snow storm!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have never had a garage in my life. Sweet!

This what it looked like on Wednesday.

And here is our building permit approval, because we fixed all the deficiencies! Yay!

So this weekend, we will wrap the garge in Tyvek, install the window, and install the door.  It will be nice to have it enclosed, as the snow sort of blows in through the openings, but still nice to park under cover.  And now that we have passed the next stage of building inspection, we can put up some drywall around the big garage door, which is prep work for when it gets installed on Halloween.  What a week we've had and what a week to come!

Reaching the first stage of closure

Last weekend certainly had its challenges, but this weekend went a lot better.  We achieved closure (literally and figuratively!).  We filled in the gaps along the sides of the garage:

And then we filled in the roof:

Yay!  This is a very good thing, as we have the City building inspector coming on Monday, so we had better have the garage all closed in.  What a relief!.  And then, the final symbolic step, we cut off the stabilizing board at the bottom of the threshold of the door.  It's like a normal door opening now.

The garage is beautiful.

We finished at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon.  It seemed odd to finish while it was still daylight outside.  It just seemed wrong to finish so early.  So we didn't.  We laid down 8 paving stones to re-install part of the path, and add new stones to the garage--they made it with one inch to spare to the garage slab.  Wow.

Then Monday I meet the inspector on site.  She had some things she needed us to do, but minor in nature and things we can do this weekend.  And it also meant that we could still have the shingler come out this week.  So I come home on Tuesday night,and lo and behold, we have bundles on the roof:

And  roof vents cut out:

Unfortunately the forecast calls for rain tomorrow, so we are on hold for shingle installation.  But sunny on Thursday and Friday.  Whew!  One step closer....

Thankful for good weather and hard work!

So it was Thanksgiving long weekend, which for most people meant three days off work and lots of turkey!  For those of us building Monster Garage, it meant three days of hard work and eating fast food.  Our task this weekend was getting all the roofing plywood on the roof trusses, to get the roof ready for shingling.  But first, we had to get the sheets of plywood onto the roof.  We had tried two different methods last week, both equally scarring.  This time, we tried a neat gadget Rob had bought last year, in anticipation of drywalling at the cabin:  a drywall lifter!  Just put the sheets of plywood on the device, crank the handle, and up she goes.  Sort of reminded me of an medieval catapult!

Rob assembling the contraption

 

A man actually reading instructions!



The drywall lift in action

But this worked for only two sheets before we threw in the towel. The technique was rather precarious and way too awkward doing the lift onto the device and doing the lift onto the roof. So we then changed to the tried the true method--tying a rope onto each sheet and me lifting at the bottom and Rob pulling from the roof. OMG. We had to also lower pieces of plywood, as some pieces needed cutting to fit within the trusses.  Up and down, up and down.  Cutting, cutting, nailing, nailing.

And we also met a roofing contractor at the garage, to get a quote for him to shingle the roof.  The price was very reasonable and they could do it during the week.  Done!  That is a relief, as winter is knocking at the garage door (well, if we had it delivered and installed...) and we are running out of time.  And then we got the south side roof installed by the end of Saturday.

South side roof installed

And we even had time to go get more plywood from Home Depot, which we just stowed in the back of the truck--and because we didn't want to unload 20 sheets of plywood, we just backed the truck into the garage overnight--the first vehicle to christen the garage!

We were so tired we went to bed by 9:00 p.m.!  And then with so much sleep, we were up by 6:30 a.m., just waiting to get out there.  But I made Rob wait until at least 8:30 a.m. to turn on the air compressor for the nailing gun--don't want to wake the neighbourhoods too early.  So Sunday was pretty much a repeat of Saturday. Up and down with plywood and lots of cutting and nailing. Monday morning involved a bit more cutting and nailing, and then a run to Rona for more plywood and getting them to cut the small pieces for the gap at the peak of the roof, and the boards for the gap along the walls. But by the time we got home, the wind was gusting up to 50k an hour, so I didn't want Rob going up on the roof in that. Plus we had been invited by friends to go over and watch the Rider game--which was soooooooo tempting. Thus, we stopped work for the day--yay!

North side of the roof

So this weekend we WILL finish the roofing and fill in the gaps along the sides.  Then we can call the building inspector, get approved, and then get the shingling done.  So that we can be thankful for!

It doesn't seem like much...

...but it was two 12-hour days of labour.  We put up the soffit boards along the edges of the trusses on the north side.  That took all Saturday morning.  Measuring, cutting, lifting into place, nailing, then moving the ladder, and doing it all again.  Then we put up the gable ends on the west side of the garage.  These are pre-made pieces that sort of look like ladders (two pieces of 2 x 4s, with wooden slates in between them), and they overhang the edge of the garage, as there are no trusses there.

Installing those was loads of fun, let me tell you.  They are heavy.  They have to go right to the peak of the roof.  I am short.  So what we rigged up was we tied a rope to the end and heaved it into position at the peak with me hanging on for dear life.  Then Rob would run up the ladder at the roof corner, bungee the wood temporarily into place, then run back to the other ladder and go up to the peak of the roof, squeeze in between the trusses, and air nail the top of the wood.  Then he'd run down again, and nail the corner piece, and then nail all along the middle.  Each of those gable ends took over an hour.  We installed two on Saturday.

Then Sunday morning, we first installed plywood on the north roof edge.  The first row of a real roof.  Very exciting.  And even more crazy to install than the gable pieces.  Rob would go up the ladder.  I would hand him a sheet of plywood, as far as I could reach.  He would get balanced on the ladder and then pick up the piece over his head and alley-oop it up and onto the roof.  Kinda  risky.  And then a wind was getting up, so he had to time his alley-oop in between wind gusts, or else he would become a human parasail. And once in position, we adjusted the board to have a 3/4 inch overhang, so I had to hold the board in place from the ground with a 2 x 4, while he positioned it and air nailed it.  That took all morning. (at one point, I said this was crazy and there had to be a better way.  We tried a different way, and that was even worse!).  We installed four pieces of plywood.

Our very first piece of roof plywood!

Then we went to the south edge, and did the soffit board installation (remember: move ladder, position, measure, cut, nail, repeat as necessary), But we had to do some serious tree pruning first, as that is the side between us and the neighbours, and it is full of trees.  And then after a few hours of soffit, we did the gable ends on the east side of the garage (heave rope, up and down the ladder, nail, up and down the ladder, repeat as necessary). 

All roof edge overhangs installed

So this coming weekend we will put all the rest of the plywood pieces on the roof and brace the trusses.  I think we are supposed to do something else, but lord knows what that would be.  It's the Thanksgiving long weekend, so three full days of work.  Oh joy!  But Mother Nature is starting to turn down the thermostat, and we are in a race agianst the snow to get the garage shingled and Tyvec'd before winter.  Wow where did the summer go?