Recent content by trirod

I've had an architect draw up plans to add a 2 car garage to our house (with the idea that I turn our existing garage into a workshop for me). What I really would like is for a GC to take care of the main structure (foundations, framing, roofing), and I would deal with the siding, electrical...

I think "justify" was the wrong word for me to use in the title of this thread. I can certainly justify (to myself) spending a good sum of money to make this house more livable for me. I am planning to get carried out of here feet first, and I spend a lot of time at home, so why not spend some...

Here is the left side of the driveway, as requested by some folks. It would be possible to put a separate building there - its a slope but not as severe as at the back. Can’t cut down those two maple trees at the front though - they’re my best sap producers!

That is just a wooded area on a slope. It's a possibility. There would still need to be some excavation and retaining walls built, but it's not as high/steep as the current plan. it wasn't my first choice since having an attached place makes it easier just to go in and out for short periods...

Here are the drawings we had prepared that shows the dimensions and how it should all fit together.

I’ve gotten 6 quotes so far. 2 were much higher, 2 were about the same and one was quite a bit cheaper. However that builder now decided he doesn’t have time to do the project, since he just lost his right hand guy, so it may be he underestimated and decided other work he had was more...

No plans on moving since the house meets a lot of needs and wants, other than shop space, that are hard to find - especially since prices have gone crazy since we bought 6 years ago. The shop would mostly be a hobby and I agree it is a lot of money for that. It does save us some money by being...

Here are a couple of photos to help visualize this. The obvious answer might be to convert the existing garage to a shop and add a new 2 car garage on the driveway in front of the existing garage. The reason I didn't initially go for that is that our well is in the way (you can see it next to...

So for some additional information, it will primarily be a woodworking shop (table saw, band saw, belt sander etc.). My current project is building cabinets for my home office, so that is the kind of thing it would get used for. I do all of the maintenance on our cars (3 aging Saabs), so that...

It wouldn’t be that easy to build a standalone shop. We have an acre but a lot of that is steep unbuildable land. I liked the idea of building into the hillside since being mostly underground would keep the temperature pretty steady in there, and not having to go outside in a Michigan winter is...

Currently my "shop" is half of our double garage, which means our daily drivers sit outside and my wife's convertible, which sits in the other garage stall, gets covered in sawdust constantly. I have had plans drawn up to build a shop, which is attached to the current house/garage and is about...

This is mine. I go through about 2 rows each winter. Mostly oak and maple which is in abundant supply around here (Northern Michigan)

It wouldn’t give me free shipping either, which takes it back up close to Amazon’s price. I was going to order one from Amazon and now I’m bummed at missing out on what looked like a great deal.

I never thought about that option - that could be a great idea. Thanks!

That would be my first preference but there's nowhere else on the property that a shed would go very easily (very steep lot), unfortunately.