Garage Countertops Going Cadillac Blue

[Jason Edge]

I have 3 work shelves with countertops flanking the side and back wall on my garage, and a large work bench, and the countertops have always been gloss white but have decided to go with the Cadillac Engine Blue. I guess the fire hydrant I just painted inspired me. Just finished part of my back wall counter.... so I have a looong way to go. I had Home Depot scan a part I had painted with Bill Hirsch Cadillac Blue and think they got it pretty close.

Here's a couple of pics:

[3n49omug8n28i]

Jason that looks like newer joists and plywood floors sitting on your old foundation. Was there some major renovations at some point?

[Jason Edge]

Clovis, I am going to go through and reinforce the entire house foundation. I started on the back room, now our living room around July last year. All floor joists are being double sister-boarded, sandwiched between 2 new 2" x 12"s.  I am tying it all together with 2" x 12" end caps and 16 gauge angle iron brackets. 5/16, 3/8, and 7/16" SPAX Power Lag HDR screws are being used to hold it all together. There is of course PL Premium Construction Glue applied. I started on this back room because we want to build off of it in the near future and put in a downstairs bathroom and bedroom access to this area is easiest from the location where the new room is going on. There is also some settling away from the chimney bases... not much in this room... but will push it up a tad before we build off of it.

For this room I used 20 12" x 16" x 16 foot beams, and 18 12" x 16" x 12 foot beams. Needs to say those 16' 2x12's are heavy and took a few to figure out how to install my self. So that is the new board. You see plywood overhead in the one section because in 1912, that back section was a kitchen, pantry, and open porch. When I bought the house in 1996, I made it one big open room with a cathedral ceiling and enclosed the porch to make part of the room. Since porches have a slope the old porch was torn out and refloored. That is of course a very quick, crude summary. Chimney's were taken out, pipes were re-routed, a drop ceiling was removed, an attic was removed, all walls and ceilings were wired, insulated and 1/2" ply wood was put in to replace the lath and plaster. On the front wall in order to be able to embed the 4" drain pipe I actually double layered the 1/2" plywood so it has 1' of solid plywood.

In addition to reinforcing the floor joists and beams, I completely rewired and have now replumbed under that room.  There was a maze of old and new plumbing and wiring under this section since it had been a kitchen. There was copper, cast iron, PB, CPVC, PVC, in terms of plumbing which as all been replaced with 3/4" PEX for supply, and PVC for drain.   Older LAN Ethernet was replaced with Cat 7, and cable was replaced.  All electrical wiring was redone and separate circuits were installed for GFCI crawlspace outlets, and LED Strip Lights.  So wiring, cable, plumbing and foundation reinforcement were all addressed.

This is of course just one of many project in our house. I have a dozen more "interesting" projects. When we bought the house in 1996 I was pre-digital camera and have yet to scan the hundreds of pics we took early on. there is one of me standing on the chimney that went up through the middle of this room handing my mom a brick to chunk out the side window. Those bricks were in turn used to build a deck by our old cook house...yet another major project.

The Bigger project I undertook last year was the BIG DIG. I Only had about 1 to 2 feet of height from ground to floor joist which meant I basically had to work on my back slithering around like a snake. I told myself when I retire I was going to dig it out so I would have room to work. My goal has been to dig it out now at age 53, so I can sit on my butt at age 63, 73 and 83 and work with my power tools!  So far I have dug out about 3/4's under the entire house. I calculated it a while back at about 100 cubic yards.. not feet... but yards of dirt. I expect to finish in 2 to 3 months and other projects will go much faster. To see more on that project and see where this room's crawlspace started Click Here.

Anyway, here are a few "post-digital" pics of what was going on above the living room floor in recent years.

 

 

 

 

[2o93f8rdftyzj]

Nah, I had on 2 t-shirts, a work shirt and a flannelette shirt and shorts.

Hey Jason, its a real early girl, Nov. 1960 build date and # 7069 off the assembly line.

They were only released here on Sept. 11 1960.

[Jason Edge]

Tony, that is tempered hardboard on the ground in the crawl space. Very durable, and makes a nice surface to slide around on and work.

[1bt7pektvt387]

Now that's a crawl space! Mine is maybe 18" under the floor joists and a dirt floor that is reminiscent of the surface of the moon. I take pride in doing as much as possible when it comes to home repairs and improvements but the older I get, the more I deplore the thought of even getting under the house. 

[Jason Edge]

I use to hate getting under there but I had to do a lot of fast work underneath when we first bought the house. A kitchen was moved to what was a bedroom to make way for a living room, and the entire down stairs wiring was redone with grounded Romex wiring, and much more. On the plumbing I tapped into what was there and T'd off and routed to the new kitchen area.   Having 4 feet of height and a nice flat clean surface to work on via the tempered hardboard and plenty of lighting makes work under there a breeze. I actually now work in this area in my regular clothes and socks! LOL By the time I am 60 (7 years from  now) I would like to have the entire underbelly of the house like this!

[3n49omug8n28i]

Looks great Jason. I must say we are a lot alike, we both have more crap than carters got pills (as my mother used to say LOL)

I had to do some plumbing under the new cottage I bought. It's on a piered foundation and literally is 12 inches off the ground. The previous owner had used a water sprinkler T in the supply line and it cracked at the furthest point from the entrance to the crawl space. I was changing from black plastic to pex from the pump to just under the cottage and pulled a bit of the old stuff out and broke that T. Needless to say it flooded quire a bit and all the ants came out of the ground, ALL OF THEM. Ants dont like to be layed on and squished LOL. Plus being surrounded by water there were a bazillion spiders living under there also. NOT FUN!!!. My solution is that I'm going to raise the whole cottage 1.5 to 2 feet and install a proper friction piling foundation under it. It cant be dug out as water would just sit under it and pool. The water level of the lake is only 2.5 feet lower than land right now. The piling will be 12 to 14 foot 1/4" X 8" pipe and installed with a 100 pound jackhammer standing on top of a ten foot ladder.  Then the cottage is jacked up above the pipes and 10" I beans are pulled underneath and welded to the pipes then I will lower the cottage back to it's new foundation. 

[3n49omug8n28i]

[3n49omug8n28i]

here are the beautiful sunsets 

[Jason Edge]

Sounds like a fun project. I don't have to worry about the hitting the water level, but once entire foundation is reinforced wouldn't mind pushing the house up about 1 foot.  Since our water table is about 30 to 35 feet down and we are relatively at the top of our road it is easier to go down to get height underneath.

[2o93f8rdftyzj]

Oh mate, save all that work until we are there next year, I'll give a hand with it.

[3n49omug8n28i]

Dont worry Kevin there is always work at the islands. And fishing and sunbathing and swimming and boating well you get the point.