temporary garage
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From: cincinnati hamilton
temporary garage
there i was out in the cold again, looked like rain of course , and i was deep into creating new vacume lines/replacing head lights/ and playing with the sliding van door when i began wondering how to make a temporary hood or canopy over my van to get out of the wind/cold/rain., and what other guys have done.
i have a single car garage full of my junk and kids bikes, so pulling the van in is out of the question. last jan. when i put a water pump and radiator on my aerostar i draped plastic around it and wedged it around the garage door opening. i plugged in a little ceramic heater, and it with the sun that came and went kept it tolerable inside, vs. 20 degrees ooutside .
i began to think if i made a light frame out of pvc or something, maybe bolted together or glued i could make a canopy over the work area and not freeze my --- off...? cheaper the better. plastic sheets at home depot etc. any body done it before? any stories? been there?. my mother in-law is visiting for a while, so i'm thinking. its a good time to work on the van.....................................
rick
91 aerostar xl, ext aka "the green bean"
4.0 liter 193 thousand mi. and going...........
i have a single car garage full of my junk and kids bikes, so pulling the van in is out of the question. last jan. when i put a water pump and radiator on my aerostar i draped plastic around it and wedged it around the garage door opening. i plugged in a little ceramic heater, and it with the sun that came and went kept it tolerable inside, vs. 20 degrees ooutside .
i began to think if i made a light frame out of pvc or something, maybe bolted together or glued i could make a canopy over the work area and not freeze my --- off...? cheaper the better. plastic sheets at home depot etc. any body done it before? any stories? been there?. my mother in-law is visiting for a while, so i'm thinking. its a good time to work on the van.....................................
rick91 aerostar xl, ext aka "the green bean"
4.0 liter 193 thousand mi. and going...........
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From: Tottenham Ontario Canada
I built one out of EMT (thin wall conduit). I used 1/2" for the poles and welded up some socket-style knuckles using 3/4" drilled for set screws. At the bottom, the poles socketed into PT 4x4's. I bought a cheapie 30x40 poly tarp and wrapped it up.
I originally built it to paint my utility trailer one rainy autumn. But by the time I was done building it, it was too cold to paint. I ended up leaving it up through the winter. I was pretty diligent about shaking the snow off the roof, but it did have the problem of the tarp puddling at the edges of the roof. The tarp bagged out at these places and a heavy rainstorm when I was out of town for a couple of days did it in. The more water puddled, the deeper the bags became until the water just weighed too much & the poles buckled.
In hindsight, I should have used 3/4" poles and 1" knuckles. I could have poked holes at the low spots to let the water drain, but I thought that kind of defeated the purpose.
The biggest problem I found with it was that it was too time consuming to set up. Otherwise I probably would have taken it down & set it up again to get the painting done in the early spring.
Getting back to the main subject... What I would do instead is buy a poly tarp big enough to do what you did before. Wide enough to span from the front of the garage to halfway down the roof of the van, and long enough to span up, over the width of the van and down to the ground again. Screw some hooks (permanently) into the front of your garage exactly where the grommets are on the tarp. You'll need to mark the tarp to show which way it goes because the grommets are not spaced regularly.
A couple of old rims will weight the tarp down at the side of the van (so you have some working space & can get in the doors). Use bungee cords, rope, cargo straps, etc. to hold the tarp tight to the van. It will still be open under the van, but there really isn't much you can do about it. Starting work with the engine warm will go a long way to keeping things comfy.
Good luck. I know what it's like to work outside in sub-zero temperatures.
Cheers,
Eric
I originally built it to paint my utility trailer one rainy autumn. But by the time I was done building it, it was too cold to paint. I ended up leaving it up through the winter. I was pretty diligent about shaking the snow off the roof, but it did have the problem of the tarp puddling at the edges of the roof. The tarp bagged out at these places and a heavy rainstorm when I was out of town for a couple of days did it in. The more water puddled, the deeper the bags became until the water just weighed too much & the poles buckled.
In hindsight, I should have used 3/4" poles and 1" knuckles. I could have poked holes at the low spots to let the water drain, but I thought that kind of defeated the purpose.
The biggest problem I found with it was that it was too time consuming to set up. Otherwise I probably would have taken it down & set it up again to get the painting done in the early spring.
Getting back to the main subject... What I would do instead is buy a poly tarp big enough to do what you did before. Wide enough to span from the front of the garage to halfway down the roof of the van, and long enough to span up, over the width of the van and down to the ground again. Screw some hooks (permanently) into the front of your garage exactly where the grommets are on the tarp. You'll need to mark the tarp to show which way it goes because the grommets are not spaced regularly.
A couple of old rims will weight the tarp down at the side of the van (so you have some working space & can get in the doors). Use bungee cords, rope, cargo straps, etc. to hold the tarp tight to the van. It will still be open under the van, but there really isn't much you can do about it. Starting work with the engine warm will go a long way to keeping things comfy.
Good luck. I know what it's like to work outside in sub-zero temperatures.
Cheers,
Eric
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Originally posted by eehoepp
Getting back to the main subject... What I would do instead is buy a poly tarp big enough to do what you did before. Wide enough to span from the front of the garage to halfway down the roof of the van, and long enough to span up, over the width of the van and down to the ground again. Screw some hooks (permanently) into the front of your garage exactly where the grommets are on the tarp. You'll need to mark the tarp to show which way it goes because the grommets are not spaced regularly.
A couple of old rims will weight the tarp down at the side of the van (so you have some working space & can get in the doors). Use bungee cords, rope, cargo straps, etc. to hold the tarp tight to the van. It will still be open under the van, but there really isn't much you can do about it. Starting work with the engine warm will go a long way to keeping things comfy.
Good luck. I know what it's like to work outside in sub-zero temperatures.
Cheers,
Eric
Getting back to the main subject... What I would do instead is buy a poly tarp big enough to do what you did before. Wide enough to span from the front of the garage to halfway down the roof of the van, and long enough to span up, over the width of the van and down to the ground again. Screw some hooks (permanently) into the front of your garage exactly where the grommets are on the tarp. You'll need to mark the tarp to show which way it goes because the grommets are not spaced regularly.
A couple of old rims will weight the tarp down at the side of the van (so you have some working space & can get in the doors). Use bungee cords, rope, cargo straps, etc. to hold the tarp tight to the van. It will still be open under the van, but there really isn't much you can do about it. Starting work with the engine warm will go a long way to keeping things comfy.
Good luck. I know what it's like to work outside in sub-zero temperatures.
Cheers,
Eric
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From: cincinnati hamilton
good ideas, i like the pvc pole idea, locking the ends together in a frame., and the hooks on the garage!! good point..i have never found a good tarp. thats why i went with plastic. i know i'll never get into the garage, but a tarp up to it allows use of electric,access to tools and light. i wonder if i built my wife a trellis on one side... then i could fasten into that in bad weather,? it may pass neighbor hood and wife inspection...hmm but then i'd have to paint it.. takes time away from my other hobbies.
still thinking,
rick
still thinking,
rick
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