Perhaps not.

I have finally found a few moments peace wherein I can post photos of the garage build. It’s lengthy and has a lot of pictures.  Click below the fold to check them out.

Anyone who’s read my blog in the last 2 or 3 months should be well aware of our little construction project.  We used to have the ugliest garage in Edmonton; a 1950’s ramshackle monstrosity that could barely fit our old car into it. It’s a project we started back at the beginning of July.  Demolition details are here, here and here. Since we’re trying to manage the build on a tight budget and our awesome neighbours are volunteering their time and talents to help with the construction, the past few weeks have been dedicated to building the new garage. After many fits and starts the concrete was delivered and finished at the end of July.

Did I mention it rained that day?

Concrete, when you can manage to get a delivery date, arrives and is paid for no matter what the weather.  Despite checking the forecast the night before, the weather wasn’t perfect for pouring or finishing concrete.  It drizzled all day.  Lucky for us our neighbours aren’t a crew of amateurs.  They rigged a series of tarps over the cribbed area so the concrete could be finished and no rain would fall on it.

Ideas in action.

E finishing the edge of the concrete.

Drew, E and L carved their initials and the date into the wet concrete at the edge of the cribbing.  A 2008 quarter was added to the mix. Apparently I’m chopped liver as I wasn’t asked to add my signature to the mix.

Now we wait.

A few days after the concrete was finished the garage package (materials) arrived.  Lots of wood, man doors, and two windows.  Apparently we’re building a monster garage. The men rattle off stuff like “20×22 with 9 foot walls and an 8 foot (h) double-wide door.”  As long as it looks like a garage and I can park my truck in it in the end I’ll be happy.  I’m just thrilled with the thought that for the first time ever I won’t have to scrape ice and snow off my car for an hour before I can drive to work in winter.

Nary a divot in site. The concrete was perfect.

Getting underway… Raising the walls.

It’s starting to take shape.

It seems like L is always on my roof.

E arrives from a hard day’s work just in time to help T with the rafters…

…and roof

Finishing up the outside sheeting…

…then sheeting the roof. Not bad for a day’s work.

Somewhere during all this, we (J and I) managed to feed the boys breakfast, go grocery shopping for lunch and dinner, and feed everyone.  We just didn’t take pictures of the mini-feasts.  They were definitely worthy of the title feast.  5 men working hard all day eat ALOT!  Not to mention all the water they drank.  I seem to recall it was 30+ on Saturday.

I did, however, get pictures of the mid afternoon snacks.

After the boys called it quits for the day – sometime around 6pm – the fun began.  Since E isn’t a fan of steak, Drew prepared a tonne of lemon pepper chicken breasts for him.  The rest of us gobbled down steak with all the fixings like there was no tomorrow.  R, T, and E toddled off home shortly after finishing supper.  The night was still young.  D and L spent the rest of the evening gossiping around the firepit.  Loxley arrived at some point so I’m certain she, J and I are on the upper deck somewhere gently heckling the boys.

The next morning L and Drew began shingling the roof.  R, E and T were taking a much needed day off.

I don’t recall how long it took to shingle the roof.  They also installed the two windows and the man door along the back wall at some point after the shingling was completed.  I’m sure L said they finished up under 4 hours.  I do remember there were roasts on the BBQ for dinner.  *yummy*

Once the walls were up and the man door and windows installed we were back in waiting phase.  The company that supplied the garage package didn’t have a garage door in the size we ordered available when they delivered the materials.  We had an option of waiting until the door arrived before they delivered the materials, or getting the materials first and the door later.  We opted to put up the garage and wait for the door.

A week later it arrived.

Despite the door installation instructions being in L’s hand, they didn’t actually read them at this point. They ended up setting the door up and then discovering the pieces had to go in a specific order. They uninstalled and reinstalled the door 3 times if memory serves correctly.

When they discovered they needed to uninstall the door for the 3rd time, Drew decided to read the instructions…

With the doors on the dogs are finally allowed into the garage.

You’d think that because the garage is built and the door is installed I’d get to park my truck in it.  Well, you’d be wrong. It’s wired and ceiling and outdoor motion lighting have been installed.  Last week E helped Drew Tyvek the building. It’ll likely be a few more weeks before we can save up enough $$ to purchase the siding.

The garage has now been standing for a few weeks and I’m still parking outside.  Yes, that’s my baby truck in the picture. The one I don’t want to be standing outside in the cold scraping frost, ice and snow off of.  Sure. It looks warm outside now.  Looks can be deceiving.  It’s been dropping to near 0 in the evenings this week and you can smell snow in the air.

In preparation for the 8 month cold spell that will soon arrive, L and Drew have spent the past few days installing the soffits and facia and insulating the walls and ceiling.  Gutters and downspouts are next week I think.

I’m saving the saga of the garage door opener for another day…

And because I finally got around to taking pictures of them:

The woodshed Drew built under L’s supervision.

My birthday present from L.

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