Duker
Well-known member
I hope everyone won’t mind me littering the GJ with one more “Garage Build” thread. I had been debating whether or not to start a separate thread but after seeing so many great responses and suggestions that other GJ’ers made to folks during their garage builds I thought it wouldn’t hurt to get some collective wisdom or experiences from other members who happened to stop in… so with that…Welcome to my Garage Build.
In starting a thread I am not smart or [insert any other adjective here] enough to think of a clever name with a cool double entendre like Jack Olsen’s “12 Gauge Garage” or Ryan’s “The Atomic Shop” but fortunately for me I didn’t have to be as during this last GJ Secret Santa gift exchange I was lucky to receive the following sign from Glen aka “Creativecars.” Glen made this awesome sign to hang in my garage and thus Duker’s Barndominium thread had a name!
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This has been a long journey getting to this stage and I won’t bore you with the details of how I got to this point, but lets just say this concept has been rolling around in what little brain functioning I have left for more than a decade.
Stage 1: Find some property…
For the last few years, my wife and I have been casually searching for some land that would serve as our weekend retreat and perhaps turn into our retirement home. The goal was to find a piece of property that was 1.) Close enough to drive to for the weekend with the goal of being under an hour and half one way. 2.) Would have enough land for animals (i.e. horses, cattle, goats, dogs, deer) or whatever else my wife dreamed up. 3.) Have water, i.e. tank, stream, etc. and 4.) Would be big enough to build a workshop (yes the last one was mine.)
In October of last year we closed on 18 acres an hour from my driveway to the property front gate. The back of our property has a river that runs out to Lake Livingston, which is the second largest lake in Texas. The river, which is navigable by boat, is a 5-minute boat or Jet Ski ride to the main body of the lake.
Stage 2: Clearing Land…
Since we closed on the property we have been under-brushing and clearing the land to determine where we wanted to build. Fortunately about half the land was under-brushed before we purchased it but much of the trees and debris had been pushed against the fence lines. After about two weeks of trying to manually pull or lift dead trees out to cut them I said this is “nuts” and went and bought my first tractor. I grew up in the country and rode my friend's families combines etc for summer jobs but this was MY first tractor and I have to say I am rather fond of driving it! My wife says I have big “**** eating grin” her words not mine when trolling around the property.
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I originally went to buy a Kubota tractor but my experience with the dealer was lets say... less than enjoyable and I ended up going with a friend's recommendation of the Branson and so far I have been very happy with the tractor.
Of course when you buy a tractor you have to buy some implements and the first were a box blade and a shredder. I purchased these from Everything Attachments - hokey Youtube videos but they make so damn nice implements.
Here are some shots of the property. We have a timber exemption and since we needed to clear some pines from the property we brought in a crew to clear out some of the really wooded areas and these guys are amazing.
I guess you would call this a skid steer but it would drag the trees over to the cherry picker to load onto the truck.
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The track hoe would come in and dig out the stumps almost as fast as the guys could clear the trees.
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Clearing dead trees and stumps down by the river.
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Most of the clearing is done and the grass seeding we did has come through this spring.
This is looking back from the river toward front of the property.
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This is the view from the back right edge looking back toward the left corner.
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This is looking back the other way from left corner to the right corner. The property is a slight pie shape with the small end being the water front.
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This view is the middle of the waterfront looking at our neighbor across the river.
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Another view of the river.
View media item 84307
In starting a thread I am not smart or [insert any other adjective here] enough to think of a clever name with a cool double entendre like Jack Olsen’s “12 Gauge Garage” or Ryan’s “The Atomic Shop” but fortunately for me I didn’t have to be as during this last GJ Secret Santa gift exchange I was lucky to receive the following sign from Glen aka “Creativecars.” Glen made this awesome sign to hang in my garage and thus Duker’s Barndominium thread had a name!
View media item 84309
This has been a long journey getting to this stage and I won’t bore you with the details of how I got to this point, but lets just say this concept has been rolling around in what little brain functioning I have left for more than a decade.
Stage 1: Find some property…
For the last few years, my wife and I have been casually searching for some land that would serve as our weekend retreat and perhaps turn into our retirement home. The goal was to find a piece of property that was 1.) Close enough to drive to for the weekend with the goal of being under an hour and half one way. 2.) Would have enough land for animals (i.e. horses, cattle, goats, dogs, deer) or whatever else my wife dreamed up. 3.) Have water, i.e. tank, stream, etc. and 4.) Would be big enough to build a workshop (yes the last one was mine.)
In October of last year we closed on 18 acres an hour from my driveway to the property front gate. The back of our property has a river that runs out to Lake Livingston, which is the second largest lake in Texas. The river, which is navigable by boat, is a 5-minute boat or Jet Ski ride to the main body of the lake.
Stage 2: Clearing Land…
Since we closed on the property we have been under-brushing and clearing the land to determine where we wanted to build. Fortunately about half the land was under-brushed before we purchased it but much of the trees and debris had been pushed against the fence lines. After about two weeks of trying to manually pull or lift dead trees out to cut them I said this is “nuts” and went and bought my first tractor. I grew up in the country and rode my friend's families combines etc for summer jobs but this was MY first tractor and I have to say I am rather fond of driving it! My wife says I have big “**** eating grin” her words not mine when trolling around the property.
View media item 84310
I originally went to buy a Kubota tractor but my experience with the dealer was lets say... less than enjoyable and I ended up going with a friend's recommendation of the Branson and so far I have been very happy with the tractor.
Of course when you buy a tractor you have to buy some implements and the first were a box blade and a shredder. I purchased these from Everything Attachments - hokey Youtube videos but they make so damn nice implements.
Here are some shots of the property. We have a timber exemption and since we needed to clear some pines from the property we brought in a crew to clear out some of the really wooded areas and these guys are amazing.
I guess you would call this a skid steer but it would drag the trees over to the cherry picker to load onto the truck.
View media item 84097
The track hoe would come in and dig out the stumps almost as fast as the guys could clear the trees.
View media item 84303
View media item 84093
Clearing dead trees and stumps down by the river.
View media item 84302
Most of the clearing is done and the grass seeding we did has come through this spring.
This is looking back from the river toward front of the property.
View media item 84306
This is the view from the back right edge looking back toward the left corner.
View media item 84308
This is looking back the other way from left corner to the right corner. The property is a slight pie shape with the small end being the water front.
View media item 84305
This view is the middle of the waterfront looking at our neighbor across the river.
View media item 84311
Another view of the river.
View media item 84307
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. This will be fun to watch, congrats and good luck!
