Day 4-6

We now know the demolition won’t begin until next week. The dumpster might arrive late this week, but the actual demo won’t begin until next week. Our contractor assures us he’ll give us plenty of time to notify our neighbors. We’re probably driving him nuts with our concern for the neighbors, but we’re inconveniencing them by taking over the alley for a week. And I know once the demolition is done various crews will still get in their way once in awhile. Also, the dumpster is a two-part process. A large dumpster will be brought in for demo and a smaller one will replace it once our first floor has been carted off. Our contractor says the small one will fit on our property but the large one will block the alley.

I learned the other day from our contractor the garage was built in 1950. Because it was built more than 50 years ago we have to get our demolition permit OK’d by the Historical Commission. I really hope they don’t find anything historically significant in our cracked foundation and cinderblock walls. If for some strange reason they do and the commission doesn’t want us to demo the first floor, we can get around it by demo-ing everything but one wall. As long as one wall is left standing we aren’t demolishing the first floor—we’re remodeling it. The more I write about this stuff the more I think the people who came up with these ordinances and guidelines were smoking crack. Why don’t garages and houses have separate rules?

The following photos are of things I find historically significant and want to save:

I think that’s it. A sink and some cast iron pipes are the only things I want to save (and some limestone stepping stones). I really didn’t care about the cast iron pipes until we were told we’d have to replace them if we moved the second story. Now I really appreciate those cast irons pipes.

And here are some things I can’t wait to get rid of:

This electrical box actually served us quite well. There was one time when our outdoor saftey light kept blowing one of the fuses, but that was easily taken care of by removing the light. It was a little dark back there on winter nights, but dealing with the dark was better than running down once a day to change a fuse (and keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn't electrocute myself).

Can you figure out what this is? I'll give you a hint. It breathes fireballs at least once a year. This is the underside of the gas floor furnace that heats the second story. I was sure if this thing wouldn't kill me with carbon monoxide it would kill me when I lit it. The very small fireballs were produced upon lighting it each winter. I assume it was simply dirt and debris being cleaned out by the fire, but it still scared me every time.

Here's the uneven floor we can't wait to get rid of. The foundation is heaving out of the ground quite a bit. It made it a little hard to pour our concrete counter tops a few years ago, but they actually came out level. Thanks shims.

Day 2-3

I have no idea when the next phase begins. I know it consists of demolishing the entire first floor, but I don't know when the dumpster and demo crew (and toilet) will arrive. Our contractor is supposed to give us at least 24-hours notice so our neighbors can move their vehicles from the alley. I am doubtful we'll get 24-hours notice, but I am hopeful we'll at least get five or six hours notice.

Our contractor says demo should take less than a week. Once that's done they move on to pouring the new foundation.

Day 1

It’s the first day of summer and the first day of our garage remodel—the raising of the second story. Junior Brown and his crew showed up fifteen minutes early this morning. I can’t remember the last time a service person showed up on time, much less early. We were signaled to their arrival by a truck with giant metal beams parked outside the front of our house. The size of the beams made me very worried. I couldn’t imagine how on earth they’d be able to get them down the alley and angled into the garage.

Note to parents: You can click any of these photos to see them larger.

What came next was simply amazing. By trade these guys move old homes to new locations. This job was probably nothing to them, but to us they seemed like miracle workers. While a few of the guys lugged fat wooden blocks (giant blocks) to the four corners of the garage another guy got busy busting two holes through the side of the garage facing the house.


A few minutes later I watched a metal beam poke its way through one of the holes. I didn’t even notice they had unloaded the beams. Several minutes after that another beam appeared in the second hole. Once the beams were in their temporary positions the crew started stacking the wooden blocks in Lincoln log fashion. When they got close to the metal beams they used a jack to lift the metal beam up and squeeze another wooden block in. They kept doing this until the second story was held up on its own. We actually didn’t even know they were done until our contractor called us. We thought the crew left for an early lunch. The entire process took less than three hours! Hopefully what comes next will be as delightful as today (we’ll keep our fingers crossed).





Before and After, Day 1:

My head hurts because of permit people

This week our contractor has been getting the proper permits and filling us in on some of the dumbest City of Austin housing restrictions I’ve ever heard of. We found out yesterday that because we have to demolish the first floor and can’t save any walls we have to move the first floor in by six inches. Our garage is 6 inches too close to the 5 feet setback on our property line. While 6 inches doesn’t sound like a big deal, I’ll tell you why it actually is a big deal.

Since our second story is being remodeled, not demolished (the term the City gives our situation), it’s grandfathered in and doesn’t have to move six inches. This will allow us to keep the original metal-work stairs and also keep the entry where it currently is. We can also keep the cast iron plumbing for the upstairs toilet. If we move the second story to match the first floor footprint we’d have to pay $500 more to have it moved, pay to have the cast iron plumbing replaced, and the kicker: we would have to move the entry to another side of the garage and replace the retro-cool stairs because the rise on them is 1/8” too low (or high—I forget). We’d have to do this because moving the second story means it’s no longer grandfathered in. What’s the solution? Our second story will hang over the first by six inches. Even my five-year-old neighbor can figure out why that code is just plain stupid and why exceptions should be made.



My contractor tells me a year ago this wouldn’t have been an issue. The footprint of our garage could have stayed the same (first and second floors). However, due to greedy developers coming into old neighborhoods in Austin and tearing down homes to make way for McMansions, City ordinances have gotten stricter. The McMansion that was built next to our house a few years ago is no longer legal because of its “billboard” wall that runs 100 feet along our property line. Under the new code the wall would have to have a setback every 32 feet. I really wish that house would have been built after the ordinance was created (it’s that blue thing you see in the photos—the double-high-double-wide, as we like to call it). While I support the McMansion ordinance I feel it’s not fair to those who aren’t demolishing an entire building, are basically keeping the same footprint, and have an issue with six inches. I feel our six inches should be grandfathered in, but on paper it looks bad to the City. In person their moronic ordinance will look dumb. It seems as though the City is making paper more important than design, which I think is the exact opposite of what this ordinance is about.

Stay tuned for "Day 1" and the story of how the second story will be raised by Junior Brown. You just gotta love a name like that.

Introduction

Six years ago my husband and I bought a beautiful home in the Travis Heights neighborhood of Austin. Records state the home was built in 1930, but the previous owner said it was built in 1928. I have yet to research the discrepancy, but plan to eventually. However, this is not about our beautiful home, it’s about our ugly garage. We are about to replace the foundation and then remodel it. I imagine the process will be about as ugly as the garage’s current state. I’m hopeful the outcome will complement our beautiful house.



I don’t have a record of when the 2-story garage was built. By all appearances it was sometime in the 1950’s or 1960’s. I base those dates on the casement windows and other details on the second story apartment of the garage. The first floor doesn’t offer many period details other than the fact the two garage bay doors only allow the smallest of cars to enter.

For the past six years the apartment has been my office, but as of yesterdayI have officially moved out. I have left the piles of boxes and junk behind and am now typing away in my dining room. I guess we won’t be hosting dinner parties anytime soon.

Here are our plans for the garage:

1. Remove the entire first floor and pour a new foundation and reframe it (the second story will be in the air for several weeks).
2. Add a small covered area off the back of the garage. Voila! I get a new laundry room (currently it’s inside the garage).
3. Lightly remodel the second story (open the space up by removing a couple walls, update the space in general).

To give you an idea of how much we’ve scaled back, our original plan was to add a second-story greenhouse above the new area off the back of the garage. How amazing would that have been?!