Appartment Garage

[Fordrat31]

Hello my name is Mike. Over the past few months I have been in the process of buying what you see here. I have a huge passion for traditional style hot rods and I needed a place to store/work on them. The building was used as an ice cream manufacturing plant a number of years ago before the business closed.

I bought the 7000 sq/ft building with the intention of using the warehouse as a shop, and transforming the office area into an appartment. With a 3 phase, 600 amp service I dont think I will ever run out of power!

It still needs alot of work before I can move in but I feel it has alot of potential! Whatcha think?!

 

[Fordrat31]

Few more pics;

 

[RbrtAWhyt]

Awesome space! I figure you're going to need that fork lift...

 

[jwhcars]

Lots of room and have a good time setting it up to meet your needs.

Are they still planning on building a race track in Palmer?

 

[Fordrat31]

Lots of room and have a good time setting it up to meet your needs.

Are they still planning on building a race track in Palmer?

I havent heard any more talk of the track. Big talk now is a casino coming to town....

 

[red92s]

Good luck. Nice space.

I used to work in East Longmeadow.

 

[wormwood]

Now THAT'S some elbow room.

good luck with the 'rods.

 

[Jpfreak33]

Very cool idea! when will work on the living space start?? I cant wait to see what you come up with, I have always thought about doing the same thing

 

[Fordrat31]

Very cool idea! when will work on the living space start?? I cant wait to see what you come up with, I have always thought about doing the same thing

I hope to start construction on the living space with in the next month. A new bathroom will be the first project on the list. Since the building was not preciously equipped with a shower a few cuts in the floor will be needed to accomodate the piping.

 

[HOTFR8]

Nice place. Thanks for posting the photos.

 

[gumbudah]

Holy whaa that place is huge! Seems maybe kind interesting layout. Seems also a bit more toward the extreme end of the garage world. I like it.

 

[Chateau Slate 66]

Cool idea. If I was single, I would be all over that type of plan. I look forward to seeing what you do with the place. Good luck! Looks like you have a good building to start with.

 

[floridaguy]

Do they have zoning issues with turning a commercial property into a residential? I have seen this before and always wondered. In your case the apartment would be clearly visible from the street side. The garage area is awesome, that could be a dream garage.

 

[y20dth]

I love it

I can only dream of something like this. Do you need an apprentice
Did i mention I've got a license for that forklift

Are you planning on doing this commercially, or is it just a hobby?

 

[Chateau Slate 66]

I have a similar question... Do you pay homestead taxes or commercial?

 

[RattytatTom]

I suppose you bought this for "the right price". Considering what I fear my 50 x 100 building will cost, I may have to re-think breaking ground.
Zoning would be the only other question.

 

[Fordrat31]

Do they have zoning issues with turning a commercial property into a residential? I have seen this before and always wondered. In your case the apartment would be clearly visible from the street side. The garage area is awesome, that could be a dream garage.

Here is where it gets tricky. I am NOT changing the zoning from commercial to residential. If I were to do that it would dramaticaly reduce the resale value of the building.

Right now the building is zoned for commercial neighborhood business. There are residential homes on either side of the property. Before I put any money down on the building, I went to the town hall and asked if they saw any problems with me living there, their answer was no. I believe the large factor behind this answer was the location of the propetry.

As far as insurance and taxes, I pay the standard commercial rates. I have been trying to convince the electric company to charge me as if it was a residential home... but its kinda hard to to pull the wool over their eyes with a 3 phase 600 amp service! hahah

 

[Fordrat31]

I suppose you bought this for "the right price". Considering what I fear my 50 x 100 building will cost, I may have to re-think breaking ground.
Zoning would be the only other question.

The building was absolutly the "right price"! Starting from scratch is always great becasue you end up with excatly what you are looking for, but that comes at a price!


This property met me needs by about 80%. That was close enough for me!

This was also the first piece of property I have ever bought. I am 22 years old and just graduated college last June. (luckly I got a great job)

 

[selohssa]

This was also the first piece of property I have ever bought. I am 22 years old

That is great. 22 years old and a shop like that.

 

[Craftman]

wow 22 I bet youve been driving around drifting in the lift! lol

 

[milkovich]

Man am I jealous! I tried to do this but I couldn't get a mortgage for a commercial property so I'm assuming you paid cash and stole the building.

I almost pulled it off when I found a building about that size for 20k but the flatroof needed replaced and I was quoted another 25-30k for it. Those bastards are NOT cheap.

You're livin' the dream my friend!

 

[Mustanger]

Wow...great space and a perfect age to live the life of Riley...oh to be 22 again (of course I was to broke to pay attention!!)

 

[Bib Overalls]

Apartment? What apartment? Just a little place for the night watchman.

 

[Britwrench]

Apartment? What apartment? Just a little place for the night watchman.

"caretaker apartment" works too.

 

[Fordrat31]

Well it has officaly been way too long since I have updated this. The building is coming along well, just slow and steady.

One of the first projects I decided to take on was to convert, what use to be a flash freezer into a full blown media room. I have always dreamed of having a room dedicated souly to watching Tv! The freezer was a perfect fit. The room was completly linned in foam sheeting (approx. 10" thick) including the celing. I decided that the only foam I would remove would be that from the celing, the reason behind this was because that foam was starting to sag and with it out of the way I would have way more head room. I wanted to leave the foam on the walls for better sound quality. Three days later and a full 20 yard dumpster I had the foam from just the ceiling removed!

Once the room was gutted I framed around the foam with metal studs, then coverd the studs with 1/2" plywood. Then I found some cheap carpet from the Home Depot, and covered the plywood with it. (The carpet would also help with sounds quality)

Now the next question I asked myself was, "Whats a threater room with out stadium seating????" Haha so I made a 10" rasised platform for the rear seats to sit on.

Then came time to replace the celing. I went with a standard drop ceiling but set it at a forward angle sloping towards the front of the room. This gave some extra head room to the people sitting on the rasied platform. It also gave it a pretty cool look, in my opinion.

I am waiting to do anything with the floor, because I am afraid it will just be destroyed throughout other construstion projects in the building. I also haven't come up with the money to furnish the room yet, thats why the crapy chairs and couch.

The pictures are not the best, sorry.

Mike

 

[Fordrat31]

One more update for tonight, this time the shop. A few months ago I picked up a used two post lift off craigslist. I have just now finally got around to installing it. Alot of thought went into the placement of the lift so that we wouldnt run into problems down the road with not having room to move cars around. It was decided that the center bay would be keeped completly un blocked, so that a car could be moved from the front of the shop to the back at any point. So to gain access to the lift you would drive down the center bay then turn 45 degrees into the left bays. It was also figured in that more lifts would be added in the future, including a 4 post.

 

[robs400]

I envy you man. You have a great setup, especially for being so young. I wish I went that route when I was your age. Hopefully my next property purchase will be something like what you have.

You also are pretty close to me, I live up at the top end of the quabbin, but my best friend just moved down to monson this spring. Nice area down that way.

 

[DMessin]

Excellent, love the place and your plans for it! Looking forward to future posts.

 

[frank_c]

Then I found some cheap carpet from the Home Depot, and covered the plywood with it. (The carpet would also help with sounds quality)

i frequent a home studio forum, and the know-it-alls there don't like carpet on the walls:

Carpet is actually a bad idea for acoustics within an enclosure as it's absorbency peaks at around 2-3kHz & it does nothing for the low frequencies. This will make the acoustics very bad.

For sound proofing, you will need mass. And better yet, a mass - air - mass system.

not sure if you were going for soundproofing or what.

then there's the whole fire hazard argument...

 

[930dreamer]

Very cool setup, what's the electric bill like?

 

[neonnblack]

that cooler would have made a bad *** paint booth, and a loading dock and forklift for easy receiving of parts damn, nice

 

[Fordrat31]

i frequent a home studio forum, and the know-it-alls there don't like carpet on the walls:



not sure if you were going for soundproofing or what.

then there's the whole fire hazard argument...

Hmm I guess I recieved some bad info then! It sure seems like it would be better than just drywall though. What do you think?

 

[Fordrat31]

Very cool setup, what's the electric bill like?

Well right now its fairly cheap becasue I don't currently live there, and won't until the appartment is complete. Right now I pay anywhere between $22-$60 a month. I expect that to go up to $150-$180 once I am moved in and using equiptment.

I really dont want to have a demand charge show up so I am going to be careful for the first few months.

 

[frank_c]

Hmm I guess I recieved some bad info then! It sure seems like it would be better than just drywall though. What do you think?

i've read two layers of drywall, and then i've read two walls with an air space in between...but really, it depends what you want to do, sound-wise. are you keeping outside noise out, or your noise in?

i thought someone had linked to a video of carpet on a wall burning but i couldn't find it over there.

 

[scott37300]

i frequent a home studio forum, and the know-it-alls there don't like carpet on the walls:



not sure if you were going for soundproofing or what.

then there's the whole fire hazard argument...

I'm not an expert on sound proofing by any means but I can't see carpet on the walls being anymore of a fire risk than it being on the floor?

I used to be a union carpenter and put accustical ceilings in a couple of cinema complexes. All the walls had a heavy duty fabric on the walls, almost like a burlap. We also put up sound panels in gymnasiums and other places on the walls. They were just styrofoam panels wrapped in fabric. From what I have seen fabric/carpet is what is used as sound dampner in commercial buildings.

 

[Fordrat31]

I'm not an expert on sound proofing by any means but I can't see carpet on the walls being anymore of a fire risk than it being on the floor?

I used to be a union carpenter and put accustical ceilings in a couple of cinema complexes. All the walls had a heavy duty fabric on the walls, almost like a burlap. We also put up sound panels in gymnasiums and other places on the walls. They were just styrofoam panels wrapped in fabric. From what I have seen fabric/carpet is what is used as sound dampner in commercial buildings.

Thats kinda what I was thinking. I do have special sound celing tiles, they are made of a similiar material that the sound plates you see in indoor swimming pools are.

 

[frank_c]

I'm not an expert on sound proofing by any means but I can't see carpet on the walls being anymore of a fire risk than it being on the floor?

something about the melting nylon dripping down and the fire crawling right up the wall, and the home recording guys claim it's not code/fire rated to use on walls. i'm sure someone here would know.

again, just relaying what i've read elsewhere.

looking around the recording site i see that Berber carpet is certified for use on a wall, but no others. doesn't really say why.

 

[D.J.]

It wouldn't take much to install sprinklers if he wanted too in the ceiling. Also look up the "Station Nightclub" fire for a reference to walls on fire, (soundproofing not carpet , but u'll get the idea) for some shocking video on utube or NIST.org site I believe.
________
UGGS

 

[ironman70]

if you're looking to sound proof the room and make a true home theater, i suggest browsing www.avsforum.com. I frequent the site just so I can dream and plan a future HT. Its a great site and the members are very helpful. Just a thought.

 

[Fordrat31]

Here is another small project that I have completed. We I first bought the building there were large concrete pads that the refridgeration compressors sat on. There were right in the middle of one bay and were just in the way. So I decided to rent a jack hammer and chip them up. Wow is that easier said than done! The hammer I rented was 70 pounds and boy, at the end of the day 70lbs sure seemed like 1000lbs! I also removed some un-needed motor starters and added a nice slop sink. Here are the before and after shots.