Hello Guys. New to the forum. I'm a retired Air Force and commercial pilot. Still do some business flying. In fact, just rolled in from a 5 day Turks and Caicos trip. Wife got to join me. Some gorgeous water. Anyway, I digress. My wife and I decided to move out to North Carolina from Colorado. Love the greenery. We live on the lake but, our lot is too small to build a nice garage. I have a car collection and tired of paying the crazy storage fees. I've looked and it seem impossible to buy a piece of property and build a metal garage on it. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Thanks, Grizz
North Carolina Garage
- Thread starter ualgrizz
- Start date
firebirdparts
Well-known member
There are empty buildings everywhere, but I shudder to think what the owners want for them. I never try to actually buy one. When a big store closes around here, the building will usually stand empty, no revenue at all, not one penny, for about 20 years. Seems unwise but again, I haven't tried to buy one.
Jay, north part of Lake Norman. I'm even looking in South Carolina. Not a big collection...9 cars. The problem is the requirement of a residential building. Most counites require there a livable structure on the property unless it is commercial. Just wondering if anyone else has crossed that bridge. Maybe throw out some ideas.
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
Have you looked into car condominiums? If I read the maps correctly Lake Norman isn't that far from Charlotte and there must be a few of them in that area. For that matter, North Carolina is home base for a ton of race car teams and associated fab shops, and it seems like those guys are always moving into new facilities and leaving older, smaller ones behind.
Yes, When I built my shop (Cabarrus County), the Permit person told me to rename it a "Barn" because a barn could be either a Primary or Secondary building.
Shops, Garages, etc., are only secondary buildings.
Plan was (and is) to add a house, but the shop needed to go in first.
CombatNinja
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2013
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Couple of questions: what is your location and how big is this car collection?
andyvh1959
Well-known member
"Not a big collection, nine cars." Heh, like my "not so big" motorcycle collection, now at 12.
Any chance of buying property across the road from your home, if available? Build kind of a "duplex" where one side is all car storage and the other side is a VRBO kind of place?
Any chance of buying property across the road from your home, if available? Build kind of a "duplex" where one side is all car storage and the other side is a VRBO kind of place?
PirateTurner
Well-known member
I live in an Executive Air Park. My hanger is my woodworking shop. I don't fly. Some empty lots available. I'm SC near Augusta GA. PM me if you want to move further south and build a hangdomenium
ALinCarolina
Well-known member
When I built my shop in Union county there had to be a residence on the property, couldn't just build a shop or barn by itself. Even though it was the piece of property next to my house. I added an apartment above the woodshop portion. It was more expense but it worked out since my son moved in there. If you are going to spend any time working on the vehicles and it will not just be strictly storage you are going to want a bathroom anyway. Then that means a septic system. Then you are at the point of just needing to add a kitchenette type thing. Then there is your residence.
Except "Residences" have a lot more codes than "barns".
MushCreek
Well-known member
I'm in Greenville County, SC, and they didn't have any problem with me building the barn first. We have 9 acres and are zoned agricultural. Maybe that makes a difference? I had the idea to finish and live in the loft, but my wife wanted a for-real house. I built the barn first and built the house while living in the barn. Every town/county/state has different rules. Here, it takes 5 acres to be zoned agricultural; 6 if you are going to have a dwelling as well. Our property wasn't ag when we bought it, but it was able to be changed. On the plus side, the taxes on ag property are dirt cheap (pun intended). We pay $9 a year per acre of undeveloped land. Of course, we pay a good deal more than that on the house.
ALinCarolina
Well-known member
Yep NJay, I agree. But they wouldn't let me just have a secondary building. I think an option would have been to combine the acreage the house is on with the land next door but I am now glad I have a living space above the shop. It may be where I end up living if we downsize and sell the house. 
I guess I got lucky that I am in Cabarrus county.Yep NJay, I agree. But they wouldn't let me just have a secondary building. I think an option would have been to combine the acreage the house is on with the land next door but I am now glad I have a living space above the shop. It may be where I end up living if we downsize and sell the house.
Now I need to get started on the house before my wife sends me to the "barn" to love.
mrbill55
Well-known member
Grizz,
I'll try to assist as best I can with the limited information you have provided so far, is the home you now own on Lake Norman a ranch home, two story, split level, or ??? How is it situated on the property? What is your lot size and elevation front to back, and side to side? I ask as with lake front homes and lots on Lake Norman being of varying sizes, anywhere from 60x150 to 20+ acres, when you say your lot is too small to build a garage, is it the actual size of the lot that is too small, or the restrictions that you need to deal with? As an idea, perhaps building a smaller footprint and a higher ceiling height to allow for lifts would be the better choice. Same goes with attaching it to your existing home vs a stand alone structure. Finally, depending on your existing footprint, and style of home, think about using your existing garage footprint as the basis for an expansion to accommodate your wants and needs. On the more radical side, if you have enough elevation changes to make it work, digging under your homes existing footprint and building a new basement style garage and foundation might also work, I have a friend in the northeast who spent a year doing just this instead of moving his family out of a house that had been in his family for 100+ years. You can review what we did last year to accommodate our 7 cars and 1 car trailer by clicking on the link in my sig below. Feel like taking a trip two hours south on RT85 to Greenville, SC, PM me and we will be happy to show you the results up close and in person.
Bill S.