Expert: Dan Griffin - 12/7/2007

Question
I have a ranch home on a crawl space, the garage is seperated from the home by a 6' wide breezeway. I'd like to, for starters, get rid of the wooden gate that serves as the entrance into the breezeway and install a wall and door to make it look more like part of the house from the front.

Do I build the wall/doorway with 2x4's and put that right onto the concrete breezeway? Wouldn't that be likely to rot as it gets wet or will it be okay?

Any tips for getting started with this would be appreciated

Answer
As a kid, we had a breezeway going to the garage.  My dad decided the wind howled trough too hard and wanted to close in just the north facing side of the breezeway.  He (we) framed in an exterior door and a window and applied siding on the exterior to match the house.  It's still there today.  I don't remember ours ever getting wet.  The siding extended down over the edge of the slab to prevent water from that direction.  You can use a redwood (heart grade) or treated sill that is much better about surviving getting wet.  The vertical studs probably don't need to be treated.  Make sure to use fasteners approved for use with the new pressure treated material.