I have too many projects going at once, but today is D-day ... demolition day, so I will kick off my thread for the construction of my new garage and apartment.

What I have behind my house (for another 45 minutes) is an 18'X18' garage with an efficiency apartment above it. Behind the garage is an attached utility room. The primary issue with the structure, aside from general deterioration is the failure of the foundation system. One corner is 7" lower than the opposite corner due to subsidence caused by general settling and infiltration of water through cracks. The rear 1/3 of my lot essentially drains into the garage because that corner is below grade.

So let the pics begin:





The first step in demolition is a sanitary sewer disconnect. The sewer riser for the apartment comes up behind it, inside the utility room, so we didn't know if the sewer lateral ran under the slab. There was a small drain line for the washer that exited the side of the building, so I started there and had to manually excavate to locate the lateral that connects to the main. I was lucky and found almost immediately that the garage sewer line crosses outside the building to get to the lateral. That was VERY good news for the new construction. The not-so-good news was I had to excavate around 4 yards of dirt with a shovel.




Got my inspection and my green tag



The green tag gets me my demolition permit.



We just renovated the apartment a couple of years ago, so it was a little disappointing to see all that work get undone, but I knew it was all very temporary to begin with. The kitchen was really nice for a 79 year old garage apartment.

Is it weird that I feel a little sick to my stomach? Watching the first swipe was breathtaking and honestly really sad. Watching it come down was a little painful, even though I know what's coming will be so much better. It lived a good life and served us well.

Let's get it on!


Oh ****, this is really happening, isn't it?


And there she goes ...

Looked like it was ready to fall down on its own.

Excited for you and the new project!

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Looked like it was ready to fall down on its own.

Excited for you and the new project!

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I was quite surprised at how well it took a beating without total failure. I was like you and figured one little nudge would send it buckling.

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Looked like it was ready to fall down on its own.

Excited for you and the new project!

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I was quite surprised at how well it took a beating without total failure. I was like you and figured one little nudge would send it buckling.

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Well, it was built back in the day they used REAL 2'x4' lumber, etc. Real wood, real quality products, etc!

Did a bunch of renovation work on my parents house over the past few years that was built back in 1946 and my air compressor can't produce enough air pressure (only 120psi) to drive nails completely into the 2x4s with my Paslode framing nailer......have to finish them with a hammer at times!

I don't know if you're in the Heights, but that is one of the Heights-iest buildings I've ever seen...both pre-demo and post.

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I don't know if you're in the Heights, but that is one of the Heights-iest buildings I've ever seen...both pre-demo and post.

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Yes. Just off W. 11th.

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Looked like it was ready to fall down on its own.

Excited for you and the new project!

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I was quite surprised at how well it took a beating without total failure. I was like you and figured one little nudge would send it buckling.

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Well, it was built back in the day they used REAL 2'x4' lumber, etc. Real wood, real quality products, etc!

Did a bunch of renovation work on my parents house over the past few years that was built back in 1946 and my air compressor can't produce enough air pressure (only 120psi) to drive nails completely into the 2x4s with my Paslode framing nailer......have to finish them with a hammer at times!

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I had the same problem with just shiplap - had to hand-hammer almost everything.

Once they started breaking up the slab, it became clear why it failed. It was just bad concrete work. The main slab had a perimeter beam that was maybe 6"-9" deep by about 12" wide. The slab did not have any rebar in it, and the 1/8" 6X6 wire mesh was at the bottom of the pour. I could see the mesh on the underside of the slab when pieces got flipped over.

he gone

Man I could have reused those old wood floors for my garage workshop. Pour one out for 100 y-o wood flooring.

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Man I could have reused those old wood floors for my garage workshop. Pour one out for 100 y-o wood flooring.

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Believe me, you didn't want those floors.

Haha touche

Will you be doing all the framing and finish work?

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Haha touche

Will you be doing all the framing and finish work?

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I'm hiring someone to do the entire project.

This is what I'm having built:



This design gives us lockable storage or shop space, and gives the tenant a storage unit that is accessible only from the outside in the event we want to reserve the garage entirely for ourselves. It also allows us to add a premium to the rent since inner loop storage is pricey.


At first I wasn't keen on the idea of laundry in the closet, but then I walked through a build of this design and it was less obtrusive than I expected it to be. I like the extra door to the bathroom so guests don't have to walk through the bedroom to get there.

How will you handle parking? Will anyone park in the garage?

Awesome thread. Thanks for doing this. I will be watching for updates.

One space for me, one space for the tenant, unless the tenant doesn't have a car. Surprisingly, half of the tenants I've had didn't have cars.

Gotcha. It just seemed like if you didn't give the tenant one of the garage spaces they would always block one of yalls cars in.

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Man I could have reused those old wood floors for my garage workshop. Pour one out for 100 y-o wood flooring.

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I thought the same for the doors. They sell for about $50 each here on Craigslist, quickly too.

If the stairs were shifted forward to start at the front of the building you could have a larger landing up top. Mover the entryway 3' toward the front and you can market it as having a patio with grill space. Was thinking of where to move the pantry so the counter top could include that corner for more counter space.

I like the storage space, there's never enough.

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If the stairs were shifted forward to start at the front of the building you could have a larger landing up top. Mover the entryway 3' toward the front and you can market it as having a patio with grill space.

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This

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If the stairs were shifted forward to start at the front of the building you could have a larger landing up top. Mover the entryway 3' toward the front and you can market it as having a patio with grill space. Was thinking of where to move the pantry so the counter top could include that corner for more counter space.

I like the storage space, there's never enough.

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Opening into the island instead of an open space creates all sorts of problems for moving in/out.

Could you have flipped the stairs and have the door open to the living room? Then you could add a little landing and it would be a nice deck area.

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Could you have flipped the stairs and have the door open to the living room? Then you could add a little landing and it would be a nice deck area.

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My neighbor just had one built like that and it's a terrible setup. You have to walk all the way to the back of the property to go up the stairs.

I'm in the hospital now otherwise I'd draw suggestions:

1. Rotate bathroom 90 deg. And flip. Make only entrance to from outside of living/kitchen. This was my preference during my apartment years but others prefer from bedroom.
2. When restroom is rotated a pocket would be created to access the bedroom, bathroom and stack closet(that closet w/d room thing is weird) with a door to each.
3. Make a reach in closet in bedroom
4. Assuming there's mil work over counters just verify those 12x48 windows will fit between the upper cabinets and plate line
5. Shifting the stair down would make that door open in front of the island which might be too tight (bad tight, not good tight, tight, tight...). I'd flip the stairs to make main entrance to the living vs kitchen but I'm not aware of the lower circulation situation.
6. Pocket the WH to the back wall next to the storage on a framed platform.

That's all I got. I'll draw it up next week if I get back home in time.

While I appreciate the suggestions, I've been working with my builder on this for six months and we're ready to go to permitting as soon as the demo inspection is finaled.

This is a walk-through of the same design, although mine is 22'X26', not 22'X22':

The only separate utilities the old garage apartment had were electric, cable, and phone. The new apartment will be 100% standalone and will not have natural gas utilities at all.

Before demolition I had to cut the water line to the apartment. I opted to cut it as it came out of the house, but first I had to locate it. That became easy once I was under the house re-plumbing the rest of it and accidentally cut the line to the apartment (and my water heater). I just followed that part out to the edge of the house.


I had to excavate more than I wanted just to find a joint in the line, but I never did, so I just started cutting.



I never did find a joint, so I just muscled it to unscrew it and pulled each half out of the ground when it felt like it wasn't connected anymore. The pipe segment turned out to be 16 feet long.

Sine the water service was going to be entirely new, I actually had the new water tap done a couple of months ago. Some of you might remember seeing a different thread about it.



If you know anything about water utilities, you're probably just as amused as I am to see the old abandoned two-inch water main.


This is the "saddle" for the new water tap. It is the appliance that is actually attached to the water main.


The main ended up being a lot deeper than expected. It was more than eight feet down.




The new meter is in and the apartment has it's own water supply now, or at least it will once I run a water line from the meter to the back of the lot.

If I was still around them, I would love to show these pictures to someone I knew who always believes older = better. Nevermind the improvements in things like this or fire blocking over the last 100 years, it was like religion to her.

Stuff gets old. Tear that ***t down.