Well, I've taken a few more steps on this project in between work, rain, and a bathroom remodel I was also doing. I got the RV cover taken down so it's out of the way, and after a few meetings with the builder we've set a start date of around May 1st. The rain we've had for the past month has thrown delays into everyone's schedule.
About a week ago I was able to get started tearing down the old garage. I had always planned to do as much of the demo work as possible to save a few bucks, and to salvage some of the bigger lumber.
I started with the front of the garage, and that turned out to be one of the toughest "tear-ups" I'd ever done. Why? Because about 15 years ago when I wanted to put doors on the garage, I found out the front wall was so rotted that it needed to be rebuilt. So, in my typical non-professional builder's way, I over-built it using a lot of ring-shank nails and long drywall screws putting it together. The screws all had to be driven out which took extra time, but those nails weren't coming out even with 3 ft. wrecking bars.
I eventually got it off, then started removing the outside wall. Most of this material is not salvageable, and is being burnt on site.
That little tractor is my back saver on projects like this.
I then pulled the roof off the outer bay by sawing it down the middle over the support beam, which was also a pretty tough job. Lots of tar and paper up there, and the top layer was a type of roll roofing that's put down using a mega-BTU torch to melt the back-side before laying it down. That stuff would NOT tear, and had to be cut off. Ugh! My shoulders are still sore form that! The 2x10's in the roof, the 6x6 posts, and the 22 ft. long laminated beam are what I was primarily interested in salvaging.
After removing the rest of the walls from the outer bay, I pulled down the structure with the tractor. I was pretty sure it would come down without pulling the inner bay down with it, but just to make sure I secured the center posts to a tree on the opposite side of the house with a long rope and some ratchet straps. It all came down the way I hoped it would, staying on the concrete slab, and the laminated beam riding the top of the 6x6's to the ground.
The only thing that would have been more fun than pulling it down would have been to blow it up! :B
Wrecking tools of the trade.
Nail getter. Another back-saver.
Cleaned up the mess and then secured it for the storms we had today.
It's still raining, but the forecast for the next 4-5 days looks pretty good. I should have the rest down in a couple of days.
:):)
