OT and enclosed car port

[JIPJOBXX]

For years I have worked outside in an open car port and finally this year I decided to enclose it. And so here is a picture of my project and that young lady is my wife of 44 years. Nice to have my old Dodge in a place where I can really get out of the weather and enjoy working on my old rig. This weeks project is to pull out the housing that holds the point and breaker plate and replace the vacuum advance with a new one! Not a hard job as I tell people I could be Helen Keller and still know where everything is on my old rig.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/1942dodge/IMG_0242-001.jpg

[desoto1939]

It is so nce to hear of a long marriage. So I guess she has decided to keep you after 44 years even with your antique car hobby.

I am going on 33 this year so have a ways to catch you and your wife.

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[John Reddie]

Nice job. I did pretty much the same thing under my deck. We do what we can.

John R

[blucarsdn]

A couple of words of caution about closing a car port in, especially if you are going to store an antique car and/or parts there..

Generally speaking the concrete slab under a car port is of very poor quality. A good compacted gravel base is not used, nor is a vapor barrier between the gravel base and the concrete..

The concrete quality is also suspect, not structural and therefore it is very permeable .. i.e; allows water/fluids to pass through..

Many years ago I built a boat-port in my back yard.. The purpose being to park my ski boat under it, keeping the direct sun off of the boat, yet allowing the flow of air to dry the interior out after the boat had been in the water..

As time went bye the boat went to our lake house, in a specially built garage..

The boat-port sat un-used except for junk.. bikes etc..

As my collection of toys grew the need for additional garage space grew.. I closed the boat-port in.. From time to time I would park one of my daily cars in the new garage..

My '39 Plym entered the pix, not wanting to keep at my off site hobby shop I brought it home, putting it in the spare "garage".

Within a couple of years I noted that I was getting light rust on the chassis, most of which has been powder coated.. Rust freckles also started to appear on some of the chrome.. Hmmm? what was going on?

Southern CA being California, we generally have high heat and low humidity through October, early November.. The weather changed yesterday..

I walked into the Plym's garage yesterday afternoon, the concrete floor was covered with moisture, a haze could be noted on the bumpers, etc.

I am considering the installation of a vapor barrier over the concrete, either that or I will have stop using that garage for my Plym.

I have a brother that lives in Idaho.. He has a building on his property that was built for an equipment shed.. He bought the property because of the out buildings.. He heated the building so he could work on his cars during the winter.. Wrong.. The masonary walls sweat as does the floor..

The only way he can heat the shop is to keep the heat on night and day during the winter months.. Of course this costs a lot of money, which he does not have, ergo, seldom heats the shop in the winter..

Bill

[JIPJOBXX]

Yep I guess when I win a big lotto prise I will have a real garage built. But for now at least like I said befor the wind is not blowing up my *** and I feel that I'm more in control of life.

[greg g]

Put a tarp or a car mat under the car. You can get roll out plastic/rubber parking mats from a number of suppliers. they will keep condensation off the bottom of the car. And as long as there is air passing through the structure half the problem is taken care of.

[Captain Neon]

Put a tarp or a car mat under the car. You can get roll out plastic/rubber parking mats from a number of suppliers. they will keep condensation off the bottom of the car. And as long as there is air passing through the structure half the problem is taken care of.

I agree with Greg. The bottom of your enclosure isn't exactly "hermetically sealed" either so there should be enough air movement in addition to the plastic tarp under the "Cow Dodge." On nicer days, leave the flap open as you show in the picture and you should be able to keep the moisture level down. The tarp enclosure on your carport is def. better than setting outside in the rain and snow all year.

[pflaming]

The installers just finished installing Pergo laminate in all the house except the bedrooms. There was discussion about Pergo in the kitchen and the laundry room for water reasons. Well we did it anyway.

Last night out of curiosity, I submerged a piece in the kitchen sink put a weight on it and let it soak overnight, then kept it in water for 12 hours. I took it out and put it in a sheltered sunny place.

It did not soak up one iota of water. I used my digital micrometer and compared the soaked piece to a dry one. No Difference. So I put another piece into a bucked to old motor oil and will check it out tomorrow.

I have now made arrangements to pick up all his scraps, any color as long is it's the same thickness and when I get enough, I am going to put pergo in my shop!

[chopt50wgn]

I live in a little town 35 mi. ne of Phila. We get horrific humidity in the summer and this summer was the worst.

I have a cement block 3 car shop with cement floor. I have never had moisture on the walls or the floor. ..............ok, I did get some water under one door as the hurricane came thru but the wind was 70mph.

I don't dispute anyone just making a statement on my shop.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I would think I would look a bit closer to the wet Pergo or any other brand of flooring..individual piece in the water..did you use a very good micrometer or just a tape..consider every piece swelling but a few mils..combined this equals to buckling floors..now on a floating floor that may not make much a problem given everything moves together..there are borders for growth and that there is nothing heavy sitting on the flooring to prevent the shifting...now if the material is free..yeah..experiment away..if I were to do a garage floor for appearance..remember this is just an "I" thing, epoxy coating and or Excelon

[pflaming]

I used my digital micrometer and found no swelling, yet your response is note worthy. To then paint/coat it is a great tip, thank you. It might be hard to find a tool or a bolt on a mosaic pattern floor.

I'm in central CA so water will never be a problem, in the summer out here, it's as "dry as a popcorn fart" as my father used to say. And then I do like 'free' and a smooth floor would be nice. Will check the piece that is now in the pail of oil in a few hours.

Cooling off out here, only going to be in the high 50's over the weekend, I'll have to find my jacket.

"epoxy coating and or Excelon". . . what is Excelon? I guess I could use google and find out.

Edited November 9, 2012 by pflaming

[greg g]

We have a laminate (faux marble) floors in our master bath and in our laundry room half bath. We had a leak, from the toilet feed line, while we were away for a weekend. this was just a drip and there was not really any standing water during the incident. After the repair was made and the floor dried out the only thing I noticed was the edges curled at the seam where the direct drip was. Based on this, you might want to measure the width of the piece rather than the thickness. I think lateral swelling may be more of a concern than delamination. In the main bathroom it has been expoed to plenty of water where it drips as we get out of the shower and splash and drip at the sink. This floor has held up without a problem for 10 years. Using scraps and leftovers might make a good garage floor. I wonder though if it might not be crushed when you use a floor jack or have an engine hanging on a stand and in one place for a while?

[pflaming]

In response to the query, what would happen if a motor stand or _____ stood on the pergo for a long time, would it indent it? I took a piece of Pergo this morning, put it in a medium sized bench vise, tightened it all I could and left it for six hours. The vice made NO impression. Strong stuff.

[DJ194950]

Looking at your pic. Now you need to replace the kitchen cabinets. Tile with granite and install all stainless steel applicences (or has the the newest color appli. changed recently according to the remodeling shows??)

Anyway you'll need to upgrade the garage to match! Granite work bench tops, toolboxes in stainless (or the newest colors)!!

Looking good!

Hope you can appreciate my CA. Humor!

Soon to be the Best garage in central Ca.!

Doug

[T120]

Okay, What is California humour?.. Are we talking pink as well for the garage?

Edited November 9, 2012 by Ralph D25cpe

[DJ194950]

:confused:I only meant with the Ca. homour that that the prices of houses several ago that people where upgrading according to the shows. Thinking that everything updated would make more than the costs if sold! Wrong then, way worse after the crash!, after sales prices dropped at least 50% in most areas of central Ca. Anyone notice that After the crash on home prices, Some shows started cost vs. return on a upgrading vs. sales prices??

As to colors- MANY San Francisco people have some diff. ideas on many things as compared to Most people in Central Ca.!!!

Wives have a say on garage color??, sorry i don't even want to go there!

Sorry, after 3 x's not even a discussion!, but can centainly appreciate the people that found the right person for them!

Hope i didn't open open a big can of worms!

Just a little kidding!, OK???

Doug

[RobertKB]

Hope i didn't open open a big can of worms!

Just a little kidding!, OK???

Course it's OK. That's what this forum is about. Sharing information, experiences, and some good natured fun!

[T120]

...Just my dry.ca humour, eh ..While I respect my wife's tastes in decorating - there are boundaries.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Ralph D25cpe

[pflaming]

DJ194950

"Looking at your pic. Now you need to replace the kitchen cabinets. Tile with granite and install all stainless steel applicences (or has the the newest color appli. changed recently according to the remodeling shows??)"

DJ you are either a prophet or a scoundrel. Now after taking out the carpet, the wife of 54 years wants "AREA RUGS"! I think I'm going to find a 'kick ***" banner for her Christmas present.

[DJ194950]

Seems i forgot to mention the lighting. Maybe it's dated??

Hope you don't let your wife read this forum:rolleyes:

Never heard of finished wood floors for working on/ storage of cars except for museums! You'll spent all your free time dry mopping and putting wood floor shine on, leaving little time to work on your car. But you won't have to think about damaging the floor.

After completed, i'll have to come down your way just to see this!

Good luck with house remodel and wife!

Best to ya.

Doug

[blucarsdn]

The installers just finished installing Pergo laminate in all the house except the bedrooms. There was discussion about Pergo in the kitchen and the laundry room for water reasons. Well we did it anyway.

Last night out of curiosity, I submerged a piece in the kitchen sink put a weight on it and let it soak overnight, then kept it in water for 12 hours. I took it out and put it in a sheltered sunny place.

It did not soak up one iota of water. I used my digital micrometer and compared the soaked piece to a dry one. No Difference. So I put another piece into a bucked to old motor oil and will check it out tomorrow.

I have now made arrangements to pick up all his scraps, any color as long is it's the same thickness and when I get enough, I am going to put pergo in my shop!

If you do so make sure you follow the directions and put a vapor barrier between the substrate and the Pergo...

[blucarsdn]

I live in a little town 35 mi. ne of Phila. We get horrific humidity in the summer and this summer was the worst.

I have a cement block 3 car shop with cement floor. I have never had moisture on the walls or the floor. ..............ok, I did get some water under one door as the hurricane came thru but the wind was 70mph.

I don't dispute anyone just making a statement on my shop.

The quality of the construction is the big issue here.. If the masonry block walls are grouted full and the cement slab is structual grade concrete concrete, vapor transmission will be very minimal.. The main problem is that far to many people build to a budget in lieu of correct industry/code standards...

Watch the news etc., following a big wind storm, the majority of masonry building that collapse are un-reinforced masonry.. Bill

[pflaming]

My son's father-in-law learned the manonry trade in Germany before he came to LA. When the big quake hit LA not one of his chimneys fell but he was busy for two years doing repair work, he reinforced everything or he wouldn't take a job.

Reinforced concrete in San Francisco is what got" _______", a lady, the architect job for Herst and his castle in San Simeon. Her buildings in San Francisco did'nt fall either.