Garage find ........garage?

[Jantrix]

I've offered to build a new manger of my moms ceramic nativity scene this coming x-mas, and decided I'd buy enough basswood to do a garage dio while I'm at it.

I built a 37 Chevy garage find hot rod last year and now I want to do the garage it was found in. I want to do a small one car detatched garage that looks very old and has been closed for a long while and is just filled with old junk around and even on top of the car. Like some of those awesome places those American Pickers guys go.

However I want to do it sort of cut-away style. We'll be able to see in the open doors, but I want a better view from the top and side. However I'm at a loss as to how to do this without making the building look damaged. I want it to LOOK like the wall/roof have been removed/altered for viewing.

Has anyone done something similar who might give me a few pointers?

[Eshaver]

Rob, iffin it was me , I would frame the building as I would a real garage as in 18incher studs . Run the wires through the lower middle , about 20 inches off the ground . Old Garages had Fire braces at the middle , IN THA Center running horizontal . Well, DECENT ones I have seen did . You might also consider having "Overhead track " mounted Tongue and groove doors as well. hey, Plywood doors are a recent innovation .

Now onward to a semblance of a roof structure , the rafters are run on 21 inch centers . Yes , run the rafters so as to have some 12 volt lamps to help illuminate the structure . Simple shades can be fabricated out of Styrene pipe and add flat stock and tapered to look like a forged piece . You can use some Bondo to help with the shaping .

On the floor , crumple some toilet tissue and spray it with a grey so as to look like old newspapers , have some rags just laying about too. Make sure that there are cartons tied with string . Have some photo reduced license plates nailed to the wall be sure to weather the floor , at least somewhat and make it look dusty ! This could include straining some dirt through a fine screen. Make some miscellaneous garden tools too, every garage has at least a few . Hey, go to the doll house shops on line if yer not proficient making them !

Ed Shaver

[Jantrix]

Dave, thanks very much! I have that book..........................somewhere.

Thanks for the advice Ed.

[KHamilton]

Rob, here's a shot that might give you an idea how the "cut" the structure.

Think of it as building a complete structure and then slicing through it with a clean, vertical cut.

If it's a "clean" cut, the building shouldn't look damaged.

Hope this helps.............

[Jantrix]

Thanks very much Ken, thats exactly what I've got in my minds eye, just more cluttered.

Hmm. Doing something similar with a peaked roof might be a serious challenge, having to cut trusses in half and so forth.

[GTMust]

Don't want to get in Ed's bad books, but, as a retired architect, I should add a small correction. Wall studs (usually 2 x 4's) should be at 16" on centre and ceiling joists or trusses at 24" c/c. Some very early garages may have had the studs at 24" c/c, and of course, some were build with whatever scrap lumber was lying around and at whatever centers the builder felt like! Older buildings didn't use trusses though..... and were usually "stick framed" at 24" c/c... using 2 x 6 joists and 2 x 6 rafters for a normal 12' x 20' single car garage in the early 1920's. As cars got bigger, so did the size of a garage so bear that in mind when dating your building. Different spans... larger lumber!

For good detailed information on stick building the roof, including "collar ties". etc., Google "roof construction" and you'll find lots of diagrams to show how it was... and is... done. "Fire stops" as mentioned by Ed were only used when walls were covered on both sides to stop any fire travelling up inside the wall. So you don't need them on open stud construction. However, on earlier garages, a diagonal brace was used at the corner of each building wall, half mitered into the vertical studs.

Also pay particular attention to how you frame around door and window openings.... I've seen many great looking dios that wouldn't last more than 3 months in real life!

Even though it's "only" a garage, attention to these small details can make the difference between a good dio, and a great one. Do your homework by researching through Google before you start construction.... and you'll have a dio to be proud of.

Hope this helps.......

Tony.

Edited March 6, 2012 by GTMust

[Chuck Doan]

I once built a peaked roofed shop that was a complete building, but one wall was missing and a rectangle was cut out of the roof. I don't have a picture featuring that side, but all the framing and trusses were there, just not on the missing wall and roof hole. So it looked like a complete building on one side and the interior was fully viewable on the other including the roof underside detail. Hope that makes sense.

Edited March 6, 2012 by Chuck Doan

[Jantrix]

Great info guys. Thanks very much. Chuck that's exactly what I'm thinking about.

[Wayne's World]

There was a lady here in Lakeland a few years ago that finally sold her son's 66 Vette. He bought it, and went back to Nam for a second tour. The garage was 12' x 20 'or 22'. She sold the car, and passed away within months. By the late 90's, the roof on the garage was severely swayback. The doors seemed really rotted, as through the years, we could see more and more what the car was. As far as I know, the car was cleaned up and sold at Barrett-Jackson, for a lot more than he paid for it. Shame is that mama died soon after, so there's no telling where the money went.

As a personal aside, one of my buddies from high school bought a 69 AMX out of a farmer's barn in 1981. He paid $900 for it. We took it out that night and lined up against an 80 Trans-Am. We spun tires though 4 gears. Danged dry rot.