2 Hour DIY Summer Garage

It needs a few tweaks, but for less than $100 CDN$ ($75 USD$), you too can work away from the UV4 to UV8 sunrays!

Material list:

1 pcs.: cheap white tarp ($55 CDN$) 20' X 28'
10 pcs.: 10 foot long X 1/2" ID PVC electrical conduit ($28 CDN$)
2 pcs.: 12 foot long X 2" X 8" SPF lumber (Spruce, Pine, Fir) I had some extra ones that I bought used at 20 cents a foot. $4.80 cents for the pair.
10 pcs. : twine or 5 long boot laces cut in 2 - 18" or longer
2 pcs. 1/4" nylon or polyesther ropes (used to hold the ends like a guy wire on a tent.

Procedure:
Count the rope holes on the 20' foot length. There should be one hole every 3 feet. You'll have 1 or 2 extra holes.

The PVC conduit inserts into the end of the other. One end is 1-1/8" diam. the other is 7/8". Starting at 6" from one end, mark the holes every 3 feet apart. On the first board, drill 5 1-1/8" holes. The other board gets 5 7/8" holes, spaced 3 feet apart starting at 6" from one end.

Next, drill 1/4" or 5/16" holes to pass the twine or bootlace through, they will tie down the tarp to the boards. I drilled them about 1.5" from the edge, between the larger hole and the edge. Insert the cut laces.

Insert the flanged end of the conduit into the board with the 1-1/8" holes.
Insert all 5.
Insert the second 5 conduits over the mounted one.
It should look like this:


If I hadn't worked with the car in place it would have taken less time.

It ended up like this:


I still have to install the two guy/tension ropes at either end, and I haven't decided what to do with the extra tarp. Roll it up and tie it down, probably. I need it for other uses during my renos, but I fry in this intense sunlight. From inside, you see like daylight without sunglare. No shadows.

 

Hey looks great I'll have to come over and check it out.
I spent most of my time under the car today, where it's cool and shady.
Got attacked my my first mosquito of the season.
It was really big!

 

Yeah, they feed them steroids here! Do they give Airmiles?

 

Norm, this is one of the cooler ideas I have seen in a long time. Thanks for the info and DIY play by play.

 

Thanks! I'll get to try it out today. The tarp size and color are important. The white will deflect a lot of the rays. If you used 2 smaller pieces the rain drizzle, wind and dew would get on the car. With the longer length I can close it up overnight (in a safer neighbourhood) or keep dry on a rainy day. AND I can wax it out of the sunlight! Only took 15 minutes to take it down and probably the same to put it up.

It's wide enough underneath to open the car doors and get around. I'm happy with it, so far. I'll figure out the guy ropes today. I might add one more pair of the conduit tubes at the top of the curve to hold them apart, underneath them. All depends if they move. I didn't want to make any tie-down holes to keep the rain out. I think you could make it a double-wide with an extra length of conduit and still keep the height. I'm 5' 8" and there's still headroom for a 6-footer without ducking. If the wind rises, I can just put a couple concrete blocks on the boards. The holes are snug-fit, but each manufacturer might use a different OD, but the wood will swell and hold them snug enough for a 20 MPH wind. We often get to 50 MPH.

EDIT: If it does fall down, the thing is all plastic and lightweight that it shouldn't hurt anything.

 

I wish I could find a set of those rubber mini-bricks. I had hours of fun with those, when I was a grasshopper . Anyway this little plastic quonset hut snaps together the same way.

 

It has a 20 MPH wind limit without putting loops taped to the tarp under the conduit, and bricks on the boards. Above that the tunnel lifts up, especially if the tarp isn't open at both ends. The wind just lifts the tarp, not the bases. It's fine under that. I figured a way to install a separator bar between the hoops. Using a 1-1/4" diam. length of PVC, I can drill out the 7/8" holes and pass the tube through up to the joint flange. The tarp won't tear (no hardware, and maybe use duct tape on the tarp to hold some tie-down twine to loop around the hoop conduits.

Still experimenting. Once I get it right, I might get some snap buttons and use contact cement to make the loops more permanent. Refining on the cheap. I figure 2 loops on each hoop side (10' conduit length) would do the job. Just want to keep it in place, not floating and flapping.

 

Show Off!

Norman that is great now I can make my own garage.

 

Boy, you've got small skeeters compared to here. Blackhawk (a rural area also known as Portages or Wisconsin's Alabama) is where I live and we are known for 3 things, looking like the bayou, hillbillies, and mosquitoes like no other!

 

I thought Wisconsin was known for great beer too?

 

Yes, we are. I'm talking about my little area of Blackhawk Park, not my hometown of Milwaukee.

 

So your area is named after black skitters as big as hawks!! Tough way to get airmiles.

 

Yeah, hey. I've seen 'em so bad that you can't hardly see from the fender to the carb while working on a vehicle.

 

And he sings Fly me to the moon as they carry him away.

 

The little black flies were out last evening. Kept my mouth shut! Too much protein!