Garage Ceiling and Lights Part 3

The primary reason for the recent progress on the garage is my new-to-me minivan. We used to have a metallic red 2001 Honda Odyssey and it was the perfect multi-purpose vehicle. If the catalytic converter hadn't been stolen, we would probably still have it. A couple of weeks ago I came to the conclusion that the '67 F250 is still some time away from taking the place of the old minivan, and what we really need is a stopgap: something we can use to move building materials and be a backup for our other cars. The result of this decision is the silver 2014 Odyssey below. Apart from being newer, it has eight seats instead of seven and has the modern backup camera and Bluetooth connections I didn't know I needed.

I made a run to the big box store on Friday morning for more OSB sheathing and insulation material and then the first task was installing insulation at the rest of the left side of the garage:

The next logical step would have been to cover the insulation with sheathing...but there was nobody around to help so I moved over the right side of the garage and ripped out the rest of the ceiling. The next photo was taken after removing all the old screws and having a MASSIVE cleanup.

Moved on to installing blocking; this photo was taken part way through the process:

Then more insulation installation (!) There is a spot above the Mustang that I can't easily reach, but otherwise I'm done with the fiberglass. This felt like a good stopping point.

The next day was very wet Saturday. I got started by making a trip to the dump in the 2014 Odyssey. There is so much space in the minivan that I was able to get rid of ALL the debris from removing the garage ceiling and all the broken siding and whatnot that was left over from the deck project. This also gave me a lot more space in the garage to work with. 

Sheathing installed at the left rear quadrant with help from Amy Sheep:

The left side of the garage is finished bar painting and re-installation of the lights, so I had another big cleanup and then I moved the '68 over to the that side of the garage.

Finished off the insulation: 

The last little bit of Saturday was spent installing sheathing at the rear with assistance from Amy Sheep.  There is space equivalent to a couple of sheets still to do:

I had a leisurely start on Sunday. By mid-afternoon I had the rest of the sheathing installed, all lights put back and most of the dust swept up. The sheathing will be primed and painted at some point in the future; don't hold your breath!

Cabinet Saw Room Refinements Part 1

For some context, this room is located next to the garage and is connected to the main workshop at the other side. This area was mostly filled with dirt and rock when we first moved in, but has since been converted into a very functional area (see elsewhere in this blog, natch): 

Apart from the table saw and the jointer, everything else is on wheels, and it's all capable of being connected to the dust extractor.

So, no problems with any of that, but there is some room for improvement to the storage options. The top edge of the foundation that we spent months installing makes a sort-of shelf and that is it:

This is how the concrete looks with everything cleared off.  I've wanted to make this area more storage and display friendly for a while. The first step of this process is installing a level timber shelf which I can build cabinets or more shelves on top of. 

The top edge of the concrete is actually more or less level, but the front face is far from straight or flat. I broke out the laser level to help assess the situation: 

As usual my shop cat was on hand to help with aligning the laser.

I'm taking measurements from the edge of the sill plate which is the only consistent datum point:

The shelf is made from some pieces of leftover siding and will extend 12-1/2 inches from the sill plate. It is difficult to line up the edge of the board with the laser, so I am drawing a pencil line half an inch from the edge of the board and aligning that with the laser:

As I mentioned above, the top of the concrete is more-or-less level...I want my shelf to actually be level, so I ground down the high points and planned the underside of the boards as necessary to achieve this:

I used countersunk tapcons to attach the boards to the concrete: 

I'm adding a perpendicular panel in front/below the shelf. This board is just a backer for anything I want to wall-mount below the shelf.

The front edge of the concrete has a lot of variation - some of the early forms were not strong enough and suffered some bowing when we poured the foundation.  I had to make some custom shims to keep the backer board flat:

The shims were anchored to the concrete with tapcons and then the backer board was attached with brad nails:

Far end done:

Where the concrete was bowed the most, I had to use a mixture of 1/4" plywood and some pegboard instead of the 3/4" siding to keep everything flat. 

This is with some of the tat restored. I will be building some cabinets in this area in the future.

Garage Ceiling and Lights Part 2

Eighteen months ago I ripped out the front half of the garage ceiling and installed blocking between the joists to provide extra strength:

I also installed a bunch of modern LED lights. The intention was always to insulate the ceiling, but in the meantime, I have been working on making the deck above this area watertight (or avoiding doing so, which accounted for a good few months of the last year and a half). 

So, even though the deck is not completely finished yet, I have decided to move forward with the garage ceiling. At the moment the garage does not have any insulation, so it is baking hot most of the time and cold in the Winter months. But not for much longer! I'm using a mixture of R30 unfaced and R15 faced insulation. This way I can install a layer of each material into the ceiling cavities for a total value of R45 AND have a vapor barrier at the warm side of the partition. 

The ceiling cavities are 36" wide, so the first step is to cut the 25-foot roll of unfaced insulation material into eight suitable pieces. I made the cuts with a Milwaukee knife which is razor sharp and some help from my Shop Cat. 

The insulation is 15 inches wide, which is the standard for 16-inches-on-center framing. However, the cavities in my ceiling are ten inches wide, so I have to cut a five-inch strip off each piece of material:

The faced material was trimmed into similar 10" x 36" pieces, and the excess vapor barrier was retained.

The unfaced material goes in first:

Followed by the faced insulation. The untrimmed vapor barrier is helpful for stapling the material to the joists, and then the excess can be trimmed away wit' sithers.

The offcuts are half the size of the ideal pieces so they can be grouped together and installed without any more cutting:

I was able to fill one complete strip of nine cavities with one roll of each type of material thanks to making use of all the small pieces:

This is quite a bit later. There is a gap in the middle that I can't reach without moving the Mustang, so I'll be coming back to that area later.

Before I move the '68 it makes sense to install the sheathing at this side of the garage. I needed help from Samuel Sheep to get the first board tacked down. I want to be able to remove the sheathing later if I need to, so I'm installing it with screws...a LOT of screws!

First three boards done! I'm not using full sheets - the boards are around 36" wide - and I installed temporary wood spacers between the boards:

After the spacers are removed, I have 1-1/8" gap where I can re-install the LED strip lights. There is not enough space to install the lights on top of the sheathing and still be able to open the vehicle door. 

Time to move the Mustang - the car is running right now, but I have not dialed in the clutch, so I put floor jacks under the differential and the front cross member and pushed it sideways across the garage.

This would have been hard work on my own but fortunately my favorite Shop Cat was around to help:

Finished off installing the insulation:

Put the lights back at the front of the garage. At this point about a third of the ceiling is complete.

The next step is to rip down the rest of the old ceiling and get rid of all the grot and old insulation material. I'm aiming to finish the left side of the garage while the car is on the other side.  

 

This is after removing all of the old screws and nails and having a massive cleanup:

Installed double blocking front to back to strengthen this area: 

I used up the last of the insulation I had on hand. I ran out of vapor-backed material so I had to improvise with some tar paper - it's just the same but a different color, as my father might say.

There is a difference in the height of the ceiling where the most recent bit of the garage meets an older section. Our house has been added on-to and pushed-out so many times it is difficult to be sure which bits are original. I had just enough insulation to get up to this point: 

Installed my last sheet of sheathing over the insulated area: 

I need to install insulation material at the rear section of the left side and then cover it with sheathing...

Then I have to do the same at the right rear quadrant: