Repairing Cottage Garage Framing and Installing New Door

Repairing our cottage garage framing and installing a new garage door gave us the possibility of parking our car in this very tiny space.

We worked on removing the old garage door and replacing it with a new temporary one from the hardware store. It’s not a garage door that we want there permanently. We’re thinking that we might want to build an old wooden garage door from the time period our house was built in the 1930’s. 

We’re working on plans for a new old garage door. I don’t know where it would be on the list of all the projects we have to do around here though. But, it is something that we are hoping to accomplish.

INSTALLING NEW GARAGE DOOR

This was just a temporary garage door that we’re replacing the old one with because the garage door that came with the house was pretty banged up and in bad shape. So it was time to give it something fresh and clean for now. 

The garage door was removed and Nate pointed out how the roof of the garage attached to our little cottage was concave in the middle and pretty much bowing.

Repairing our cottage garage framing and installing a new garage door would make this little old gem start to sparkle again!

REPAIRING COTTAGE GARAGE FRAMING

Nate found a solo contractor to help him with the garage framing and new garage door installation. The contractor picked up some wood to repair the framing structure to fix the bowing on the roof. The bowing was an indication that the framing needed to be repaired and replaced. Then they would work together to install the new garage door after that.

We were wondering who built this garage addition as it seemed to have been poorly built or put together really quickly.

They started to work on the framing first inside the garage and then began to figure out how to install the garage door. Nate dropped one of the screws that came with the new garage door on the gravel floor. It seemed nearly impossible to find! That was the tricky part about working over a gravel floor. 

One by one, each of the garage door layers went up. 

Repairing our cottage garage framing and installing a new garage door is just what we needed to continue to see some progress around here!

MOVING HEAVY CLAWFOOT TUB

Oh, and not only did this contractor help him with the garage, but also helped him move that huge heavy clawfoot tub into the bathroom. Nate wanted to get it in there to make sure that it was the right size and would fit with all of the new plumbing that we had installed. And to see if there was anything he needed to tweak before we put it in there for final installation. So they moved this very heavy clawfoot tub together as I tried my best to film them. 

These cast iron things are no joke. They are really heavy, durable, and strong. Pretty much awesome! They’re just really heavy! They brought it in there to check everything and then brought it right back out. So we were really grateful for the extra hands because there was no way I would be able to lift it!

And now that we had previously repaired the foundation, Nate felt like the floor was less bouncy and more stable. This is definitely a good thing especially when you plan to put a really large heavy antique clawfoot tub in there. It was great that we were able to lay the foundation for it before we got the tub in there permanently. 

CEMENT SLAB FOR GARAGE ENTRANCE

Nate also built a cement slab where the garage door comes down. That way there was a flat surface whether you were going into or out of the garage. Or if you were taking things in or out. And if we wanted to bring the car into the garage. Because everything is gravel inside the garage and even in our driveway. So this created a flat surface for entry in and out of the garage. 

I wasn’t sure again with this project if Nate really knew what he was doing. He said that he had it~ then later said that he was winging it! So I think that sometimes he has in his head what he knows he’s going to do. And as he starts to do it, he kind of just wings it and makes it happen. Then troubleshoots along the way. Maybe if you’re handy and construction is somewhat familiar to you, you can kinda just intuitively figure things out. 

I’ve also never even seen cement being made. I mean I know you mix it with water and Nate said that he just adds enough water for the consistency to be just right. Is there a recipe for that or something? Obviously he’s done it enough to know what that consistency is and at this point, you gotta just trust that he’ll do the best that he can. 

CAN WE PARK THE CAR IN THE GARAGE NOW?

Then we finally tested to see if our car, which is a mid sized sedan, would fit into this tiny little cottage garage. So there we went~ giving it a go! Do you think the car made it into the garage?

Actually we had to move some stuff out of the garage to be able to fit the car in. We were not sure if that would happen, but we hoped it would. Especially here in Texas we get a lot of hail. That way if we knew that a big hail storm was coming, we could have the peace of mind knowing that we could put the car into the garage if we needed to and wanted to. But, we weren’t really sure because this garage was really small. 

But actually, we did get it to fit! I mean, it was tight, but it worked out. That was pretty surprising. Even our neighbors that walked by were like~ wow, you put your car in there. They probably think we’re crazy for even trying to get our car in that little garage. 

We can park our car in our little garage if we want to now. Especially if there is a hail storm coming. We will rest easy knowing that our car is in the garage if that happens. 

Repairing our cottage garage framing and installing a new garage door was an incredible learning experience and now we can finally park our car in there!

2 Corinthians 5:1

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS

Thanks for joining us on this journey! We hope that you will find inspiration watching us learn as we go while we’re attempting to renovate and rebuild this old small historic cottage mostly on our own. Stay tuned for more progress updates ahead!

You can also watch a video about this here.

To see more adventures of our tiny fixer upper journey, click on the links below.

🏚 OUR LITTLE COTTAGE GETS A BATH THEN SANDING AND PRIMING 🛁🧽

🏚 DISCOVERING ORIGINAL GREEN GABLES AND OLD RAFTER TAILS ON COTTAGE 💚🌻