itllgrowback
Active member
Apologies because we seem to be getting better weather than the rest of y'all and we probably don't deserve it! Mid-60's today and sunny.
Hi everyone - my name's Mike. I just introduced myself in the Pull Up a Chair thread and then saw this spot for introductions so I'll do it again. Home is Phoenix and after moving around a lot, most of my life, it looks like I've settled down for a while. I was able to buy my 1948 brick house in central Phoenix back in 2010 for $53k when the market was down and put about that much into it to turn it around. All new electrical, buried the overhead service lines, big plumbing problems fixed, opened up some walls and reworked the layout a bit. Really happy with how it turned out.
The lot it sits on is about 9800sf, and was almost completely barren apart from some volunteer African Sumac weed trees and some dead stumps. Over the years, I've planted it out (at least the front half of the lot) and finished the hardscape in front. The back half is an unscratched itch. I have a few fruit trees, but have hesitated planting more until the final plan is worked out and settled.
I am finally moving forward on that plan for the back, which includes a garage shop abutting the alleyway, using the whole available width of the lot, with space in the footprint for a nice sunny reading room and a small guest suite. That leaves enough room for a courtyard/pool/outdoor kitchen area in between the two structures. It'll be a slow process but we're hoping to break ground this spring and maybe have a structure this year. Then we can finish it out over time.
Looking forward to sharing that project with you and getting your input! I'm planning to do it without a GC, and there's some work I can do myself, but plenty I'll hire a crew for - I'll do most of the electrical, and most of the trim work and cabinetry for example, but I'll hire out the earthwork/utilities/slab, hire a framing crew for the build, and probably sub out the plumbing as well. Once it's time for drywall, someone else will get that job.
I've been tinkering all my life for fun, did some gigs as a framer and as an electrician for a few years each when I was younger, but nothing long-term professionally. I do a bit of woodworking, some leatherwork, small fabrication projects, lots of gardening, wrenching on cars, but I get bored doing the same thing for too long so I switch it up a lot. Sometimes that means I spend too much time in-between and that's frustrating. Lifelong struggle, that.
I learned auto mechanics on a VW Thing and later an ugly 3rd-gen Chevy K10 SWB with a 396 and a granny gear. I was pretty involved for some years in the modern Mopar stuff (LX platform) with a 2006 Charger Daytona that was a lot of fun and did some clean gofast mods to that. Nowadays, since 2010, I've been driving an FJ Cruiser as my DD and weekend stomper. This is actually my second one - the first got lost to a river a while back - that's a story for the campfire. This second-go-around has allowed me to take everything I learned from building the first one and from others', and really get it clean and right. I'm really proud of this build and how cleanly everything came together.
I've missed having a forum "home" to share things. The truck build for example, even though there are FJ-specific and offroad forums, I never bothered documenting things there as I went, like I used to do with the LX stuff, and I missed that. When I rebuilt the house, I shared the progress on FB, and that was a good outlet for that, at the time. So, I guess what I'm getting at is that I want to share this shop build here, and I'm looking forward to it! There's so much I still need to learn along the way.
Glad to be here, and looking forward to getting to know you all.
Hi everyone - my name's Mike. I just introduced myself in the Pull Up a Chair thread and then saw this spot for introductions so I'll do it again. Home is Phoenix and after moving around a lot, most of my life, it looks like I've settled down for a while. I was able to buy my 1948 brick house in central Phoenix back in 2010 for $53k when the market was down and put about that much into it to turn it around. All new electrical, buried the overhead service lines, big plumbing problems fixed, opened up some walls and reworked the layout a bit. Really happy with how it turned out.
The lot it sits on is about 9800sf, and was almost completely barren apart from some volunteer African Sumac weed trees and some dead stumps. Over the years, I've planted it out (at least the front half of the lot) and finished the hardscape in front. The back half is an unscratched itch. I have a few fruit trees, but have hesitated planting more until the final plan is worked out and settled.
I am finally moving forward on that plan for the back, which includes a garage shop abutting the alleyway, using the whole available width of the lot, with space in the footprint for a nice sunny reading room and a small guest suite. That leaves enough room for a courtyard/pool/outdoor kitchen area in between the two structures. It'll be a slow process but we're hoping to break ground this spring and maybe have a structure this year. Then we can finish it out over time.
Looking forward to sharing that project with you and getting your input! I'm planning to do it without a GC, and there's some work I can do myself, but plenty I'll hire a crew for - I'll do most of the electrical, and most of the trim work and cabinetry for example, but I'll hire out the earthwork/utilities/slab, hire a framing crew for the build, and probably sub out the plumbing as well. Once it's time for drywall, someone else will get that job.
I've been tinkering all my life for fun, did some gigs as a framer and as an electrician for a few years each when I was younger, but nothing long-term professionally. I do a bit of woodworking, some leatherwork, small fabrication projects, lots of gardening, wrenching on cars, but I get bored doing the same thing for too long so I switch it up a lot. Sometimes that means I spend too much time in-between and that's frustrating. Lifelong struggle, that.
I learned auto mechanics on a VW Thing and later an ugly 3rd-gen Chevy K10 SWB with a 396 and a granny gear. I was pretty involved for some years in the modern Mopar stuff (LX platform) with a 2006 Charger Daytona that was a lot of fun and did some clean gofast mods to that. Nowadays, since 2010, I've been driving an FJ Cruiser as my DD and weekend stomper. This is actually my second one - the first got lost to a river a while back - that's a story for the campfire. This second-go-around has allowed me to take everything I learned from building the first one and from others', and really get it clean and right. I'm really proud of this build and how cleanly everything came together.
I've missed having a forum "home" to share things. The truck build for example, even though there are FJ-specific and offroad forums, I never bothered documenting things there as I went, like I used to do with the LX stuff, and I missed that. When I rebuilt the house, I shared the progress on FB, and that was a good outlet for that, at the time. So, I guess what I'm getting at is that I want to share this shop build here, and I'm looking forward to it! There's so much I still need to learn along the way.
Glad to be here, and looking forward to getting to know you all.