cheap idea for first garage

[old_biker]

I am poor, so this has to be on a major almost non existant budget. I have got the tin for siding, & roofing for helping a friend, but I will need to buy the wood, & will buy with tax refund.

how would a person best install this on a hill side? I do not have a level spot anywhere, & roughly I am guessing I have close to 15' of drop in about 24 feet. so what would be the best method to keep it level? on stilts? 6x6 beams into the ground? 12" cinder blocks tied together with rebar installed in center with cement? I am debating on either a 12X24, or 16X24 building, just for working on my own vehicles, & I need room to work & put tool in & get stuff out of my house.

I am rural, I dont need to worry about permits.

my house sits on the peak of a mountain, it was bulldozed, to semi level a spot to put a house on & rest is steep, & the area I want to build is about the most level, unless I go down bottom of ravine, then it really is level, but cant get a vehicle there. I cant afford a bull dozer, nor can I afford to bring in dump truck loads of dirt, gravel.

also any truck delivering cant back up driveway as its too steep unless it has been dry for a few weeks, & if rained recently I have to hike part way to house.

 

[Lippyp]

Depending on what you want to pout in it could you live with a wooden floor? Lots of older barns were built into hillsides with a wooden floor, a friend of mine over in France has a barn that was built in 1780 and her neighbour still backs his lrge modern tractor in to deliver he firewood onto the upper wooden floor.

You'll need some big *** beams across and lots of poles into the ground to sit them on and then some good thick planks. Trouble is it might end up as pricey as getting a bulldozer in to level a spot out unless you have your own trees you can fell to use.

 

[old_biker]

plenty of trees, but body not able to convert to lumber, lots of huge trees, but my body isnt able to consider that as an option. getting it cut wasnt viable, either, as the few people I called wanted thousands to cut, plus wanted my trees. my front yard is horrible, proximity to house, & power lines for examples. & down mountain slope, have to be hauled out.

I was planning a wood floor, any welding would be done in driveway, I am just tiired of working on gravel, rock & uneven terrain to do anything.

in my head I was thinking if I used lots of cinder blocks every 4 feet, on individual cement pads, tied together & filled with cement?

I was also thinking of 2 main beams 6X8 for runners & frame rest in 2X8? for most part heaviest vehicle will be a S10 truck, or Jeep Cherokee, & mostly for working on my old air cooled VW. right now I am working on the engine for my VW in the enclosed back of my Cherokee, just to have a place to work, & the S10 needs a heater core when I get a nicer day. thats why I want a small shop, & a kerosene space heater & a few lights and a fan in summer & I will be good.

 

[tommudd]

No reason you couldn't use cinder block to build up with, pour concrete below frost line ( if you have to worry about that ) for the footers. Build up with block like you said every 4 foot across the side and also in between width wise as well . Would hold up.
Good friend still uses an old shop that his Grandfather built about the same way only it uses sandstone blocks. Wood floor etc, pot belly stove in the corner
I'd go 16 X 24 just for the little extra room. In the next year or so I'll be building something similar down home to work out of part time. Amish will be supplying some of the beams and flooring

 

[old_biker]

No reason you couldn't use cinder block to build up with, pour concrete below frost line ( if you have to worry about that ) for the footers. Build up with block like you said every 4 foot across the side and also in between width wise as well . Would hold up.
Good friend still uses an old shop that his Grandfather built about the same way only it uses sandstone blocks. Wood floor etc, pot belly stove in the corner
I'd go 16 X 24 just for the little extra room. In the next year or so I'll be building something similar down home to work out of part time. Amish will be supplying some of the beams and flooring

every 4 foot front to back & side to side, is what my thoughts were, just was unsure if would work for what I wanted to do. & 16 is the width I am really wanting, I have the tools & equipment, probably better than many shops, but no shop, I had alot stored in my friends shop I helped at but he closed down due to economy, & I need a place at my house. right now I have stuff inside my house, under porch, in a couple junked vehicles & outside covered with tarps.

 

[Playwme]

Am I reading right? A 15 foot drop over a distance of 24 feet?

That's a hell of a terrain to work on, especially with no budget.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Rent a skidsteer and Start Digging. Then Dig some more.

 

[astroracer]

With no place to build and no money to do it is this really a viable project? Just asking. I would sell or trade the tin for an excavation job to make a level pad to build on. Doing that makes this a viable project. Build from there as you can afford it. First things first and you need to have a level spot to build the structure.
Mark

 

[75gmck25]

If you are going to the trouble to deal with a 15 foot drop over 24 feet, then you can build a two story garage, similar to many of the barns you see in older rural areas. The upper level is accessible from the uphill side and the lower level from downhill. It would give you a shop up on top and a lot of storage underneath. The lower level could even be left unfinished and/or with a gravel floor, but it would still work for storage. The lower level would also be the logical place to put any heating system. Don't waste all that space you are creating underneath your shop.

Where are you located?

Bruce

 

[old_biker]

Am I reading right? A 15 foot drop over a distance of 24 feet?

That's a hell of a terrain to work on, especially with no budget.

yes thats pretty close to correct, if I wanted to go 40' long I would drop alot more, a little over 10 foot farther & it makes almost a 6 foot drop all across my property. the 24' is all I consider being viable, as its gets steeper faster.

1 side of my front yard is a cliff to the road, maybe 40 foot drop in 3 feet, & under 10 feet to road, including the water run off.

someone bulldozed sideways across it & up mountain, leveled a spot on top & put a house, I bought it when I was young & loved the privacy, it has beautiful flat level spot in boottom of ravine in back yard, & goes for a very long distance basically to the top of the next mountain.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Rope - Chainsaw and skidsteer mentioned above. Rent Skid steer for weekend - pickup Friday evening - return Monday morning. Most places you only pay for Saturday cause they're closed on Sunday. Fell trees to act as retaining wall at bottom of area. Now dig and level. Now fell trees at top area to act as retaining wall. It may not last forever, but neither will you.

 

[galute]

15 foot drop in 24 feet? That's over a 2 to 1 slope. You guys are dreaming if you think an amateur operator is going to work a skid steer on that.

 

[Randy in Maine]

I would just buy a shipping container.

 

[xtremek]

Are you good at scrounging? Any old barns that are falling down in the area? No money to me means time to get creative in the procurement area. I like the cinderblock idea for the do-it yourself.

 

[tommudd]

No matter the budget its still a viable project, one step at a time, lot of work done by hand, maybe trading some work or something for the blocks you need etc it can be done. Not everyone can go and hire people and or machinery to do everything. Buildings have been built before in similar places , I say go for it.

 

[joe49]

pictures would be a big help

 

[ducksface]

No matter the budget its still a viable project, one step at a time, lot of work done by hand, maybe trading some work or something for the blocks you need etc it can be done. Not everyone can go and hire people and or machinery to do everything. Buildings have been built before in similar places , I say go for it.

If he's too busted up to work a saw (as he said he was) he's too busted up to do any of this project.

Buy two hf 10x17 tent/garages and call it a day. Put them as level as possible, pile some straw bales along three sides.

$500 max for two including the straw, half that amount for one.
Save up, buy one at a time.

Sell the scrap you have.

 

[Parrothead]

I hope this turns out well, I really do, but this has disaster written all over it.

 

[old_biker]

also it would be doubtful to dig it out, as I mentioned the rock, have hit rock everywhere I have tried to dig. & I doubt my water line is below the frost lines, my gas line from propane tank to house, they hit massive boulders 6 to 8 inches deep, my electric power lines are also burried close to surface, & the telephone lines are close to surface. over 100 foot of 1 side of my driveway is 1 piece of boulder that has been cut down? it was like that when I bought the house. so it would be blasting, or air chisel

as for container, lol, 18 wheeler would not be able to get up my drieway! I had a friend barely get his road tractor off the road for me to do some welding to it. & thats a curve cut into mountain & not the worst curve as driveway swings back & forth to make it passable to get a vehicle to house, otherwise it would be up side of a cliff.

I can run a saw a little bit, maybe an hour or two, & then I will hurt for several days. 10 years ago I could have ran a saw all day long, I do work a full time job, but not strenuous work

I do have experience running tractors when I was alot younger.

 

[thewatusi]

Nothing is impossible, but this sounds impossible. At least without being in the position to spend some serious money.

I'm picturing a haphazardly put together structure collapsing in a few years.

 

[corvair Ed]

Get one of those metal carports put up.they have adjustaable legs, can be put on uneven ground.around here (S.C.) a 18 x20 is about $700.00 . Use blocks for retaining wall and backfill until level. Use your tin to close in sides and back wall. Pour a pad on top, or use wood for floor. Want it bigger ? Get this one up, put another one on the end of this one. Repeat.Cheap ? Yep !