I have been a member of this forum for some time and have really enjoyed reading about others' projects. It has been, and continues to be, a great learning experience.
After many years if dreaming about it and planning, I am finally able to start my own shop project. As a result of a recent move from Kansas to just north of Atlanta I now have the space to build. When we moved here we decided that we wanted a minimum of 2 acres out in the country. What we finally found was 4.5 acres of beautiful N Georgia land. The property is roughly pie shaped with the big end facing the street. The house sits over 240 feet back from the street and all of that space is lawn (lots of mowing = large yard tractor). From the house back, it's all heavy woods.
With all that space, building design and decisions should have been easy but it hasn't been. Everything from the house back is not only heavily wooded but the property slopes pretty steadily down to a creek that drops about anther 6 feet or so. Because of that I have no choice but to build in the "front yard"
I looked at every possible location and every possible site but every one of them presents issues. My first choice was in a corner of the front yard near the road but when we went in there with a bobcat to move some dirt around we would up burying it in the soft ground even though it was a tracked machine.
After that experience I was really left with no choice but to build up closer to the house. The pictures below (assuming I can post them correctly) will show the locations and the challenges. Basically I will be building off to the left side of my current garage. The property slopes in two different directions here and I will wind up with about 3' walls to level the site.
As the title suggests the building will be 30' x 48' with 12' side walls. Because of the location, it will need to match the house so it will have brown vinyl siding and a composition roof. It will load along the side through two 18'x9' doors. It will essentially be divided into two sections, one of about 18x21 with a small office and work area behind it with the balance set up as an actual shop space. I will try and post a building layout tomorrow from a different computer.
You may be able to just see in the pictures where the stakes have been set. Unfortunately because if the slope I will need to dig up the entire concrete turnaround you can see in some of the photos and replace it.
Right now the excavator will here by Friday to tear out the concrete and level the site. The concrete crew is supposed to be here the following Tuesday to dig footings. Those will be inspected by an engineer the following day and, if approved we can pour the footings by a week from Wednesday.
After many years if dreaming about it and planning, I am finally able to start my own shop project. As a result of a recent move from Kansas to just north of Atlanta I now have the space to build. When we moved here we decided that we wanted a minimum of 2 acres out in the country. What we finally found was 4.5 acres of beautiful N Georgia land. The property is roughly pie shaped with the big end facing the street. The house sits over 240 feet back from the street and all of that space is lawn (lots of mowing = large yard tractor). From the house back, it's all heavy woods.
With all that space, building design and decisions should have been easy but it hasn't been. Everything from the house back is not only heavily wooded but the property slopes pretty steadily down to a creek that drops about anther 6 feet or so. Because of that I have no choice but to build in the "front yard"
I looked at every possible location and every possible site but every one of them presents issues. My first choice was in a corner of the front yard near the road but when we went in there with a bobcat to move some dirt around we would up burying it in the soft ground even though it was a tracked machine.
After that experience I was really left with no choice but to build up closer to the house. The pictures below (assuming I can post them correctly) will show the locations and the challenges. Basically I will be building off to the left side of my current garage. The property slopes in two different directions here and I will wind up with about 3' walls to level the site.
As the title suggests the building will be 30' x 48' with 12' side walls. Because of the location, it will need to match the house so it will have brown vinyl siding and a composition roof. It will load along the side through two 18'x9' doors. It will essentially be divided into two sections, one of about 18x21 with a small office and work area behind it with the balance set up as an actual shop space. I will try and post a building layout tomorrow from a different computer.
You may be able to just see in the pictures where the stakes have been set. Unfortunately because if the slope I will need to dig up the entire concrete turnaround you can see in some of the photos and replace it.
Right now the excavator will here by Friday to tear out the concrete and level the site. The concrete crew is supposed to be here the following Tuesday to dig footings. Those will be inspected by an engineer the following day and, if approved we can pour the footings by a week from Wednesday.
