GAYS MILLS - My big project this summer has been getting a new garage built.  Most other things took a back seat to this major and much needed undertaking: gardening, reading, relaxing, yard work.  But man-o-man the new garage is a wonderful thing.

Actually, the new building is more than a garage. In fact, I alternate in referring to it as a garage, a shed and a shop. It will serve all those functions. It replaces an old shed with a dirt floor that could accommodate a car. The shed had a corncrib along one wall that served as Gibbs’ Lumberyard. A lean-to was attached to the west side of the crib that almost all of a small car would fit under. And, further west, a free-standing, make-shift shelter made from a 10 by 10 dog kennel stood that was used as a tractor-lawnmower-tiller-grill shelter. That hodge-podge of structures is all gone now.

One thing I’m extremely pleased with is the concrete floor in the new 24’X40’ building. I was concerned about a sweating concrete floor and did some research on how to not have one of those. Mr. Jerry Brockway solved that problem for me. Rather than putting a plastic barrier under the concrete as most people and sources recommend, Jerry had me put a layer of ‘clean rock’ or ‘washed rock’ on top of the gravel used to level the site. Clean rock has the sand washed out of it and water is unable to wick up to the surface of the concrete when the weather gets muggy. It has proven itself through some very humid weather. Thanks, Jerry.

I didn’t want a building that was dark inside. There are nine repurposed windows in the building that give ample natural light and they improve its ‘curb appeal’ from the outside.

The building just got wired for electricity last week. It has plentiful LED lights and an abundance of electrical outlets. For sale: many no longer needed extension cords. A new electric garage door opener is still in the box, a project for the near future. 

There are a few details left to do like pouring a concrete ‘porch’ by the access door and a concrete apron approaching the big garage doors. When it rains, even an inch or less, quite a bit of water comes off of the thousand square foot roof and accumulates on the circle drive around the building.  We’re on sand here under a thin layer of topsoil, so the water does soak in fairly soon. I want to help it. I plan on installing a primitive drain to send the water down into the deep sand subsoil quickly. A buried, topless and bottomless plastic 50-gallon barrel full of chunky rocks should give the water an easy way to get back into the water cycle.