New garage project

[tuip]

Long long time lurker but I don't think I ever posted. Looks like for me the stars finally are aligned and I can start the process of my 34x26 garage / shop this summer. Pending some permit stuff (living in a rural area with some strict environmental rules might throw in a curveball) building should start end of July/August.

Even though I have nearly 4 acres of property .. the amount of flat land is limited and the attached photo shows where the garage will be. I have to stay away about 50ft from the hillside to the left. Under the cover is a 1969 Land Rover IIa which is going to be my father son project.

Lots to learn for me as I'm planning to do quite a bit myself (electrical, paint etc).

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Welcome, and thanks for deciding to share your build with us! Those are the same dimensions as my garage. Will yours be a tandem 2 stall, or a 3 stall?

 

[tuip]

It will be a 3 bay .. so one 16x8 and one 9x8 door. The bay for the 9x8 will be dedicated for the father son project with the slab prepped for a small lift to be installed in the long run. Considering cost I'm trying to see where I can save now but not be blocked from doing something later.

The wife demanded a fixed stairs going up with room trusses with the option to install dormers in the long run as well. Our main issue is lack of storage in the existing house so with that it should be solved. Right now the main 2 items are permits (since I'm on septic the Dept of Health needs to approve the location of the garage and the setback of the steep slope that is on my property). The septic permit, even though I won't hook up water/waste, will take 4-6 weeks but with some luck we can start building in the dry time of the year.

So much to learn still though as I need to figure out lights, flooring (paint/epoxy), electrical etc. The two attached pics show the property from the backyard as well as the mini Land Rover I build for my son a few years ago. It is actually strong enough for me to drive in it as well

 

[Mr. Roboto]

WOW, gorgeous view! I would not mind waking up to that every morning.

 

[upndown]

WOW, beautiful location! Looking forward io your build.

Oh and welcome!

 

[clutch93]

That is an IMPRESSIVE view!! Sort of reminds me of that movie Dante's Peak, hope your mountain isn't a sleeping volcano! Seriously though, I would love to come home to a beautiful landscape like that everyday. Very cool little land rover as well, did you use an existing power wheels and mod it or build that from scratch?

 

[tuip]

Thanks. The view is actually considered a native american legend "Legend of Moon" of which you can read the story here. If you look carefully you can actually see the head and torso of a person who is lying on his back

 

[tuip]

That is an IMPRESSIVE view!! Sort of reminds me of that movie Dante's Peak, hope your mountain isn't a sleeping volcano! Seriously though, I would love to come home to a beautiful landscape like that everyday. Very cool little land rover as well, did you use an existing power wheels and mod it or build that from scratch?

I work from home every day and that is the view from my desk. What the view doesn't show is that there is a fairly big waterfall coming from the top which drops about 1000-1500ft or so down. I don't see the entire falls but probably about 800ft. This is truly an epic location to live .. I'm still only a 45 minute drive from the airport if I need to fly out for business .. although driving 5 miles to the grocery store can get tiring sometimes

Regarding the car .. I built it from scratch (although I used some plans from Toylander.com. It is powered by a 24v electric golfcart transaxle and has fully functioning lights. It will run a few miles on a charge.

 

[Methius]

Regarding the car .. I built it from scratch (although I used some plans from Toylander.com. It is powered by a 24v electric golfcart transaxle and has fully functioning lights. It will run a few miles on a charge.

Just checked our their site, did you fabricate everything and just buy the plans? Looks like an awesome post-garage completion for me and my son.

 

[tuip]

I just bought the plans. It is a little tricky to get the right parts for the scale (like tires, lights and such) but it is doable. A lot of the running gear is go kart stuff.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Simply spectacular view, looking forward to following your progress.

 

[Sunbimmer]

I've said it before on this board, I think you guys are so lucky to live in such a beautiful country. Truly spectacular very jealous

 

[tuip]

I've said it before on this board, I think you guys are so lucky to live in such a beautiful country. Truly spectacular very jealous

You should move ... I did the same as I grew up in a small town called Volendam which you Dutch people sure know about

 

[bczygan]

I know you hate being stuck out there in WA, especially the specific location you are in.

So I'll do you a favor and trade you even for my place here in scenic Detroit. We have plenty of open land as houses are being demolished at a rapid rate. And you won't even have to build a garage. Just buy the vacant ones on the block and use their garages.

What's that big old grey/green thing behind your house in the photo? Probably a landslide waiting to happen, so I'm probably saving your life....

We've been to Lake Sammamish, but didn't get up to Snoqualmie Pass. Gorgeous country. My brother lived most of his life in Everett.

 

[tuip]

Small victory since the county has agreed that I can build within 25 ft of the slope on the property giving me adequate breathing room.

Secondly .. I'm toying around with the idea of keeping the garage off the grid and use solar for energy generation. Anyone ever attempted this ?

 

[jwhcars]

Beautiful view, I'm looking forward to following your build.
Mini rover is really nice. Show us pics of daddy's Rover.....we like pics.

 

[matt_i]

Secondly .. I'm toying around with the idea of keeping the garage off the grid and use solar for energy generation. Anyone ever attempted this ?

For lighting only, probably OK. If you've ever watched the old geared energy-use meters spin when you strike an arc, probably no welding with solar as the only input.

I have a feeling the storage bank and power-flow hardware are going to be expensive, even if the panels were free.

 

[tuip]

I can do pictures Here are my 3 cars ... the blue one is a 1969 Land Rover Series 2a .. it redefines 'slow' .. I have never driven a car that terrified me more at 60mph than this thing.

The Range Rover is a 1995 model. The last year of the classics which is outfitted with a fairly rare TWR body kit. Don't know the total number but estimates are that there are less than 20 or so in the USA. That makes it one of the more rare cars around. Love the thing .. it will never be for sale.

The last one is a Discovery 2 .. kid hauler. Worst piece of junk on the planet. The only reason I'm keeping it is because I'm trying to run it into the ground. It does have 225k miles on the clock so it is surprising it got that far

 

[tuip]

So after 6 weeks waiting the septic review got approved. 600 dollars down the drain to tell me that the new garage is not going to impact the existing septic tank .. duh. Next up is waiting for paperwork to show up and then pull the building permit. Looks like we could build and get the roof on during the dry season which is a big plus here in the PNW.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Progress at last, luv your plans.

 

[tuip]

Thanks. Nothing too fancy right now. The wife insisted on fixed stairs which required the steeper pitched roofline and while we were at it we ensured that we could add dormers on top later on.

I was originally planning to epoxy or paint the floor but I keep reading horror stories about this so I think I'm just going to leave it bare. With 3 land rovers the floor will get stained anyways.

 

[tuip]

Progress. The county was nice to me and took the big bag of money and offered an over the counter permit instead of the 11-13 week wait. Picked up the approved permit yesterday and scrambled a little bit to get a crew in to take down a few maple trees that were not doing to well and would need to come down sooner than later. Having the area open and cleared out made their job easy and on the plus side .. I have a few years worth of firewood now which kinda offsets the cost of the crew coming in.

The county required a few changes to the plans which included 2 additional 4 ft interior walls to help with lateral protection in case of earthquakes. With some luck the work starts this week on the foundation.

This means I have to start planning a lot of other things as well like lighting ..

 

[tuip]

Progress .. crew came in on Friday and started working on the form and is digging the foundation part. Lots of rock in the ground so they are using a jackhammer. I'll be digging the trench for power so a jackhammer is probably the way to go for me as well.

Slab should be poured this coming Friday

 

[tuip]

Lots of progress the last 3 weeks ... mostly a 2 man crew and these guys don't muck around. Trusses are in .. 2nd floor and stairs installed and with a little luck we can get roofing on before the rain starts next week.

The framing inspection should also happen Friday or Monday which then allows the siding to be put on. I've put the trench in for the conduit and running power to the garage from the main house and am slowly running where all the electrical stuff needs to go in my mind.

I'm still torn between canned lights and tube lights .. the upstairs will get canned lights for space issue. I found a great spot to install the compressor since there is a nice open space under the stairs. I'll insulate it and hook it up to a switch and will run an airline to the ceiling between the bays. So much to still figure out though *sigh*

 

[tuip]

Looks like we ran out of runway when it comes to rain .. the rain is coming this weekend so hopefully we can keep most stuff dry. The roof is on both sides but we don't have the roof shingles on yet

 

[1/2 Cup]

Coming along nicely, many thanks for the update.

 

[tuip]

Most of the sheeting is on now .. too bad we got over an inch of rain in the past 24 hours and stuff got wet. With some luck the rains dissipate soon. The roofers arrive on Monday to get started which should take 4 days or so. Starting to order electrical bits and pieces to get the wiring project started.

Wife is happy with the space she is getting .. and I'm a happy camper that I'm getting 1/3 of the garage for dedicated workshop space. Happy wife .. happy life.

 

[tuip]

We are getting close. Doors are in and with some luck I can paint this thing this weekend before the weather turns to our 6 months of fall here in the PNW. When that is done I'll have plenty of time to actually do all of the electrical and finish work inside over the fall/winter/spring

 

[1/2 Cup]

Looking great.

 

[tuip]

Today was paint day .. but I think I am running out of time before the rains start

 

[Pluribus]

Nice build and great location! I love that whole Fall City-Snoqualmie-North Bend corridor. What I don't miss is King County and all the extortionately expensive flaming hoops they make you jump through; I bailed for Skagit County. Was over in your neck of the woods on Friday while hiking Little Si though. Hope the break in the weather this week allowed you to finish painting before the rain fell again today.

 

[tuip]

Nice build and great location! I love that whole Fall City-Snoqualmie-North Bend corridor. What I don't miss is King County and all the extortionately expensive flaming hoops they make you jump through; I bailed for Skagit County. Was over in your neck of the woods on Friday while hiking Little Si though. Hope the break in the weather this week allowed you to finish painting before the rain fell again today.

Yeah .. this county is not easy but I have gone through worse abroad. I had once go to city hall to get approval on the type of brick and how it was going to get laid for my front wall of my house and after that get a full blue print (the real deal blue print) by an architect for a balcony fence which got signed off on by the mayor in a town hall hearing.

So dealing with King County is bad but not too bad. They are having issues with earthquake stuff right now and there was confusion between 2 inspectors. Ugh. Since it is raining I am starting with electrical today.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[upndown]

Man!! Your roofers must have been hanging on for dear life, kinda like a cat not making it to the top of a cardboard box.

Once again beautiful spot and build.

 

[tuip]

It was a single guy doing the roofing and he took his time not to fall off ... didn't do work because of high winds for a few days. I need one more day of decent weather to get the outside painting done ... although for the top part I'm just going to rent a cherry picker instead of risking my life on a ladder.

 

[Jmasishin]

looking great!!!

 

[tuip]

I am making progress on the electrical ... finished most of the wiring upstairs. I did receive a quote for a mini split system with units for both upstairs and downstairs but at 12k installed that seems a bit steep. How hard is it to install these things yourself as else I'm going back to my original plan of simple electric convection units

 

[tuip]

Getting closer to dry wall stage. I had an electrician do the final hookup at the main panel in the house (found out I actually have 400A service to the house .. yippeee) so no issue with power there.

The main areas left to do are some lights in the stairs going to the upstairs and I need to fabricate a quick scaffolding to do so instead of trying to kill myself hanging over railings. On the advice of a friend I'm adding one additional 220V circuit to the workbench area in case I ever want to have a full legal power amateur radio amplifier. The antennas are far away from anyone to be an issue there.

On the outside .. we decided it was time to clear all the trees in the front of the garage/driveway after in the last storm a big branch snapped of a big maple and nearly missed my neighbors house. I hate maple trees anyways and these were sick. On the plus side .. plenty of space for the Ms to get her vegetable garden and several cords of wood for the next few winters as well to stay warm.

 

[tuip]

Electrical got approved this week with compliments from the inspector. Guess I paid attention in class after all. Framing inspection is Monday (had to reschedule today due to a conflict)

I enabled one electrical circuit in the garage .. felt good to be able to turn a few quick lights on.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Congratulations on the electrical approval.

 

[jwhcars]

It's good to see that you are getting close to completion.