Since no one is answering...

The orientation is poor. Maybe it would be better to build a greenhouse against the side of the garage, and use the cement blocks as a thermal heat bank.

Use the inside of the garage as a mostly-shade garden.

Sue

I love reclaimed projects and this is a very cool little structure with a lot of potential. Can you post some interior views and some dimensions? Maybe a better view of whats happening at the rollup? Does the opposite wall step down the same way or are there blocks missing from the top on this side? Exactly how bad is the root damage. Is this something you can do yourself or would you have to hire out?

Jey_l, and Belgianpup, thank you for your input.
I do need the help with figuring the best options for restoring this building to my purposes.

When we moved here about 4 years ago, the structure was filled almost to the brim with the remains of the old roof, broken tree limbs, roof pieces, leaves, and those danged sweetgum balls. The pile of debris they hauled to the street was awful, and also included several old a/c window units and car parts and shingles and nails galore. Thankfully, the city trash dept took pity on me as a little ole lady, and picked it all up with no extra charges.

I never saw how the roof was constructed, but I think it was a shed style which sloped toward the back, based on the lower rows of blocks toward the back. At that time, the lot had a fence on the old property line which was less than a foot from the back wall, which was the eastern side. And on the south end, it was about 5 to 6 feet from the other property line. This last year, we purchased another 25 feet of land from the neighbor behind us. This has allowed us to install a new 7' tall privacy fence around 3 sides of the new land, and we are planning to remove all of the old chain link running behind the building...but not until it cools off. No way would we be able to get close to the back of the garage any other way.

We also had several trees cut down, and I mean they were big ones--4 pines 100 feet tall, 1 big water oak, and the sweetgum which was intent on destroying the building. We did not grind the sweetgum stump, but will let it rot naturally in a few years. But when we break up the cement slab inside the garage, we will then cut out as much of the root as we can and fill in to avoid a foundation problem in the future.

I have the old spring loaded garage door opened to its fullest (faces west) and have propped it up with two of the cypress louvered "screen" doors we salvaged from our river house destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. I think this allows better air circulation, and improves the look of the garage somewhat.

Belgianpup, I am puzzled by your assessment that it is not well oriented as a greenhouse. What orientation would any greenhouse need if added to this garage? I do not want to add more footprint of any structures to our lot, so I can retain the shaded area behind the garage. I guess when I say "greenhouse" all I mean is a plant safety area, which can all year long house any humidity and heat loving plants, including bromeliads, large container plants which like shade, equally large ones which like sun, but are somewhat tropical in nature. If it is considered a "conservatory" would that make it different from a greenhouse? I do need desperately a cozy place for my big plants, in containers, because our little cottage does not have room for them. And I would like to allow my two parrots to spend quality time inside this place during the winter out of the cages so they might exercise by flying.

All trees surrounding the property are on the east and south sides of the garage. Only the small pecan trees on the east are ours, with the trees on the south being in our neighbor's yard. During the winds a few weeks ago, a really huge limb fell across our fence from the neighbor's water oak, which has much rot along its trunk and major branches. I expect more will fall in the future.

Help me work out which direction to orient the gables on any new garage roof. If I stand with my back to the street and face the garage, I will be looking at the FRONT of the building. If I hold out my LEFT ARM, it will point NORTH.
If I hold out my RIGHT ARM, it will point SOUTH. Mobile is at latitude 30 degrees north, all trees to the east and south are deciduous trees. There are no trees to the WEST which will affect the exposure, because they are all across the street--but they are primarily live oaks and pines, which retain all leaves winter and summer. Our house does create some shade in the late afternoon, but it does not fall across the garage at any season.

The roof I was wanting to build would have its gable ENDS facing East and West, so there would be a chance to make the south roof into Lexan panels. Either total Lexan, or standing seam metal alternating with Lexan. I could also make it a LOW SLOPE and cover the proper roofing materials with plants on this south facing side. I think that would help cool the interior, but how about light inside? Could I still put some Lexan panels in a few places while keeping live plants on the roof?

Then I would also KICK UP HIGH the other half of the roof, the part which faces NORTH. It would not intersect the south half of the roof covered with plants, but would be up high enough that I could have a lofted ceiling on the interior, and a wall of Lexan windows PERPENDICULAR TO THE OTHER HALF OF THE ROOF...and it is that wall of windows which would connect the two parts of the roof. In the winter it would bring in a lot of light there, and it would be mostly shaded much of the summer.

Beneath the high half of the roof, sitting on the cement slab, I want to put in a 15 x 9 x 4 foot deep Endless Pool. No permit required if it is above ground. I figure this would help humidify the interior for my plants. It could also be part of the radiant heat source in the winter, right?

Ok, another thought for the south part of the roof. Would it be a good mounting surface for solar panels if not plants on the surface? Or should I just reserve the main house roof which faces south for the solar panels? That portion of the house is in the sun almost from dawn to dusk.
Even in winter, it is sunny because of the deciduous leafless trees.

The other option for the roofing is to put the gable ends oriented north and south, so the flat portions of the roof face east and west. This will make the building look like an Irish stone cottage, which is a great thing. But by doing the roof this way, all chance of solar panels would be scotched. And planting the roof would be an iffy deal. It would give a lot of head room for the interior , but no way to have a loft with an elevated platform to expand the usable space. Other than the Irish cottage effect, I do not like this roof setup.

Note: the INTERIOR FLOOR dimensions are
273 inches WIDE or 22'9" on the wall with the swingup door.
223 inches DEEP or 18'7" front to back
This does not include the thicknesses of the cement block walls.

I appreciate your help with the optimization of this little building. In our small city lot, it consumes a lot of valuable realestate, and I want it to pull its weight by contributing to our enjoyment of our space. We are getting too old to do all the heavy work ourselves. But we truly want to continue involvement in gardening activities winter and summer. I can see a small window a/c at least kicking the oppressive heat down a notch, or enough that we and our plants can have a chance to thrive.

Jey_L, I will upload a few more pictures when I find them. My photos are organized by year/month taken.

You ask about the way the blocks step down from front to back. Both side walls are the same, staggered. And the back wall is low all the way across. I do not think we want to keep that setup, but will build the wall heights up and equal all around. The tree roots lifted up a big chunk of the slab about 4 inches above its normal position. I think that will need to be dug out to remove the old tree roots, before we pour more cement to increase the foundation depth. None of the wall perimeter seems to have sunk, so I do not think we have to mess with that. And while my DH is very experienced with cement construction (he is a retired engineer), we would need to hire out the work.

Thanks all, for your time and thought.
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And I put a canvas gazebo inside the garage a year ago to try heat abatement, but it did not help. In the far left is a portion of the crack in the wall due to tree roots lifting the foundation and slab in that area.
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Hi ML,

Love it!!

Have to go look at a roof today but if you could provide a basic floor plan with wall heights noting door locations along with other things you may have salvaged (sorry about your misfortune) and want to incorporate into the design I'd love to help you with your ideas.

I used iPhoto when it first came out and had to redo all my image folders as that did not work for me and I'm certain I hadn't taken any pictures in 1903.

Hi ML,

I just couldn't see the gable roofs. I'm seeing something flat possibly for planting with drainage dripping down chains on the inside to some sort of planters.

Do you consider the OH door as part of the footprint? I have a few ideas but all include some sort of structure.

If you think it's completely bugly let me know. No offense taken. It's why we call it an "exploration". I just could't see what you see but I have no idea what the house or anything else looks like.

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Hi ML,

I see it now. Not sure exactly what it is I see but I will work on it tonight.

Hi - haven't really gotten into all the tech stuff here, but my first knee-jerk is that it's not suitable for a greenhouse. What you'd end up with is a lot of plants reaching like mad for the light on top, getting more and more straggly, and as someone else said, the orientation isn't the best to begin with. I like the idea of keeping the place, however, and can think of a lot of other ideas for it... like an art gallery, or yoga room, and the idea of an infinity pool is cool!

Jey_L, you have the feel of the inside as it exists now pretty much right on. The levels of the cement blocks are about 9 foot high in the front and go down to about 7 in back. BUT, that is intended to change.

The structure must be reinforced. It will end up being an almost square roofless structure, oriented almost exactly on the cardinal compass points. i.e., N/S/E/W....So I could "orient" it any way I wish. Belgianpup, which orientation is correct for approximating a greenhouse? Can you point me to a place where I can read about the correctness of a greenhouse.

This is the thought I am exploring at this moment. Imagine a "living roof" or green roof on the lower (right) side of the drawing, which is the south end of the building. I'd take the LEFT or high side which is the north end, way up to allow vertical windows of Lexan to be at the intersection with the low side. Imagine that high end being above the Endless Pool (tradename & not an infinity pool).
Perhaps have a small loft up there accessed by spiral stairs. Anyway, here is the sketch.
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I do like the little entryway created by the raised metal door but it can be changed to something to further the stucco craftsman little house we live in.

If you wish to see any photos of my garden you can find them on Webshots.com at the link below. Look for the albums called Casa Del Sol house or garden. We are always working on it inside or out, so keeping up with the way things look is pretty hard. The "back forty" piece of land we recently purchased is the shady spot behind the old garage. We want to stay pretty much within the current garage footprint. With the exception of an entry which could be all french doors as far as I'm concerned...or Lexan panels. I'm really into Lexan. That's what we used on our sun porch. Bulletproof is good enough to endure hurricanes IMHO.
Thanks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Casa Del Sol House & Garden albums

Hi ML

Sorry about that. I couldn't get away from that Mexican Hacienda, first impression. I had done these the other night but had to leave for a few days so wasn't able to post them. I will go check out your garden from here.

I think we're closer. If you can ignore the materials this is just a rough out of the shape. The pilasters on the exterior were what I was thinking to cover the support for whatever goes above as I was uncertain of the existing structure and wether it was built on any type of a real footing or not. The doors are just an idea to represent a Palladian style "window".

I haven't really shown anything for materials but my thoughts were a cultured stone and white concrete trim. I was thinking a lock deck with a 4" slab for the roof garden With raised planters on the surface. Living roofs are nice but rather high maintenance. W/ the lock-deck and slab you can plant a grass or creeping plant or use pavers over top.

I am familiar with Endless. The pool is the tricky part of the equation as the smallest ones are still rather large for the space and what you want to do with it. I was showing the 7 X 12 (8'1" X 13'1"). Did you have any dimensions in mind? Were you hoping for a stock configuration or a custom one? Would you consider a fully in-ground installation and a custom deck cover or is the floor space not a concern?

I am showing a loft as you had mentioned before. Is that still a consideration?

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View from the loft

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I hadn't realized how close you were to the property line. Will the town try to prevent you from rebuilding?

I was thinking exposed rafter tails and it would match the existing. For some reason I thought your house was brick which was leading me to the cultured stone. Not that I'd rule it out but would consider a different style than what I had originally thought.

BTW Nice SaladMaster. Do you use it waterless or do you just use them as pots 'n' pans?

Wow, you have really put some awesome stuff together there! I had not envisioned it as being that fancy, Jey. The town will "grandfather" the structure in as long as we do not make it a place of habitation on a permanent basis. No guest house with a bath and kitchen, I think that is the killer. But if I have water and electricity, that would not be detrimental to
getting permits to restoring it. Even if it is about six feet from the property line. The privacy fence on that south side is a foot within our property line, in order to leave the old chainlink fence which belongs to the neighbor.

I think the smallest of the Endless Pools will be fine for us. If it is above ground, we do not need a permit for it. I will ask my DH to take a look at the foundation, which may or not have the strength to support more weight and stress. We were exploring possible ways to strengthen the walls and figure the shape of the new roof.

The rafter tails would be appropriate since we have then on the stucco house, a wee bit Craftsman in its style. It is a simple stucco covered house, and I would not want to upstage it with the Teahouse (which is how I've decided to name the garage).

I'd like the pool at the north end of the structure, standard basic pool. There would be room for it to have the long dimension E/W and the short dimension N/S. That would essentially fill up the LEFT half of the Teahouse. There does not have to be a loft but I was going on the assumption that the roof would be a split gable with the ends E/W, the LOW half being on the south, the HIGH half being on the north over the pool. Windows facing the south are always good in our latitude, and even now in our sunporch, that exposure does not get too hot....it is always the east and west sides that need protection.

The rain chains you mention are neat. There is a resort in Costa Rica which has them as the downspouts for their gutters, and they work like a charm. With our property layout, an above ground cistern could be located behind the Teahouse out of view but totally usable. I like the windows you showed in the first scheme your drew. And I really like the hacienda approach, simple and unassuming. I am really a lifelong fan of shutters in all styles, and natural air ventilation methods. I can see the Teahouse having floors out of newpoured stained and polished concrete.

About the pool. We can probably drill a well in the back yard, it would not be a deep one. Of course, we already have an irrigation meter. The mechanical workings for the pool current/filtration/power could be located behind the Teahouse for easy access.

I love the palladian style window. Keeping the profile of the building as low as possible will be more in keeping with our humble neighborhood.

We are almost ready to apply the exterior stucco to match that on our house (over Duroc, sprayed on coat). The Lexan panels in the back side of the roof closed that in earlier this week. The double doors replacing the unsafe spring up metal garage door were primed also.

The contractor had to tear down one corner of the old wall to get at the tree roots lifting up the cement slab. Then he dug under the perimeter of the entire garage and poured a reinforced foundation to hold the walls. That was done with a cement truck and some wheelbarrows. Next, they laid the new cement blocks to create equal height walls, about 9 feet I think. Braces were placed on the one old wall that had been leaning outward. Then, the cement pump truck arrived with lots of hoses and lots of men in heavy rubber boots, to fill the hollow walls with cement slurry, and then to pour another six inches on the slab. Rebar was jammed down in the walls also, to give some purchase for the roof tiedowns. It sat for a couple of days and then it rained. Next they framed the roof, and the portions of the roof that would be standing seam silver metal. They had already put in the small loft across the north end of the structure, and could stand on that for part of the roofing job. It was awesome to finally see a roof growing where none had been since we moved into this house.

Since we were not tearing down the garage, nor increasing the footprint, it was grandfathered in despite its location six feet from the side property line. I'd already purchased 25 feet depth of property from the neighbor behind us, to give us space entirely around the building. And we'd added the rest of a 7 foot privacy fence across that new "back forty" space as well. This week, they added the double walled Lexan panels to the eastern exposure of the building. DH ordered two portable heat pumps to both heat and cool it, since that will be the wintertime home for my more tropical plants in big tubs on casters.

If you are interested in the process we've gone through getting this far, I have an album of over 100 photos so far, on Webshots. Look for the Garage Redo or Remodel at the top of the list of albums for Casa Del Sol. I never thought we'd get this far, to be honest. Our contractor is doing a great job of turning this old sow's ear into something close to a silk purse...comparatively speaking, of course.

I am looking forward to using the 480 sq feet on the main floor, and the 160 sq feet in the loft...even though some of it is way under the eaves. That will be my new personal private space. We are calling it our Irish Teahouse. It will resemble an Irish cottage in shape.