Who's living in their garage?

[Creative Fab]

I used the search feature but it was not much help in finding threads on living space inside these fine garages and shops.

Currently in the planning stages for our new garage/apartment. Have toured one such building in southern MI but would like to talk to a few more folks who have been there done that.

Sounds silly but we are planning around our 40' motorhome as we spend a lot of time camping and want to be able to spend most of the year in it. Michigan winters being what they are it is our plan to do so inside from Nov - March or so. Hence a new chapter in our lives, we sold our house last summer and purchased 11 acres in which to build our new digs. The land currently has a new 38x28x11 building that I am using for my fabricating business, which is working out famously.

With that being said, if you or anyone you know of is using their garagemahal in such a manner I would be more than happy to be filled in on details that you may have missed, really glad you did, or really wished you would not have done. We are looking at 40x80x16 with one end being living space, 20x40 and with the 16' ceiling adding a 2nd story if you will.

We have this blank canvas and it is both exciting and intimidating at the same time, don't want to screw this one up. I'm 47 and I get one shot to get this right as I am not playing the real estate game ever again lol.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[tomroblee]

I never owned one, but have considered the idea. We have friends/neighbors who converted about half of a similar sized "barn" into a two story living area. (They summer in Indiana and take their motor home to Florida for a long winter).

The good features of their place is a good sized porch wrapped around the front corner of their living area side. They also have a second floor balcony off their bedroom.

Although not quite "living in a garage", there are a number of condos where the main feature is a garage large enough to house a motor home. Here in Indiana they seem to sell to retired folks who winter in southern states. The living areas are single story apartments built on the side of the garages. The single story living area seem to be popular with folks who have reached the age where their feet and legs don't handle stairs as well as they once did. Having the living area to the side seems to provide more flexibility in taking advantage of the natural light, views, breezes, etc.

 

[kevin206]

I would love to live in a garage! I know several people that have built rooms or small apartments in their garages for various reasons. I suppose your individual needs would have to be considered. It sounds like a smaller, well-insulated apt. would be in order for you. A ground floor apt. with a storage loft above could work well. If you don't mind climbing stairs constantly, an upstairs apt. could provide a scenic view out your window. I would really want some good garage ventilation in that scenario...just in case.

Personally, I like lots of open space. I would love to live in a big garage with polished concrete floors, floor drains, big overhead garage doors with windows....Spring cleaning would be so easy if you could raise up the doors and drag in a garden hose!

 

[rayday]

I lived in an airstream in side my shop for awhile be fore that I sleep on a couch in my office for a while divorce can really **** !

 

[zmotorsports]

Lord knows it seems like it at times.

Mike.

 

[skyking]

Only when my wife is pissed !!

 

[slowzuki]

We have a vertical wall built as a fire separation between our shop and living space with lots of 5/8 type x drywall and overstuffed fiberglass batt. Been there 5 years. If I did it again I would do detached but close enough to share services such as power water sewer.

The problem is with multiple people ie wife and kid there is no air compressor or grinder noise allowed after 9 pm. I'm a night person so this *****.

Tempted to add resiliant channel and even more drywall layers to help the problem.

 

[skyking]

When my wife and I were living on the road there were a lot of these .Many were neighbor hoods that you could buy into. We were in a 40' Vogue coach with a m/c and dakota 4 dr. towed . We loved it .My wife thinks she would still like to do it .But I am entrenched here at the airport .

 

[NUTTSGT]

You might want to check out Luke's build.

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=226535&highlight=harn

 

[APEowner]

That sounds like a cool idea but having had both attached and detached garages I can say without reservation that (at least for me) a working shop and living quarters should not be in the same building.

Shop smells are the biggest issue but grinding dust, metal chips and sawdust will make there way into the living quarters as well. In addition, if I ever have the misfortune of burning down my shop I want to be able to go home and cry about it.

 

[Creative Fab]

All very good reads and advice. We are looking at bringing a single story off the side as well, pricing of the building as a whole will determine this. As for grinding dust, fumes etc I have the 38x28x11 building that we are currently finishing and using as our "dirty" space. Having said that we will do some work in the big building, ie restoring travel trailers. But that will be mostly the assembly.

Both buildings will be heated with a wood boiler using in floor tubing so essentially the entire structure will be considered, in my mind anyway, living space. Even with a 2x6 wall separating the spaces we want it to feel like we live in the entire thing. So these are the items we have figured out, so reading others experiences will help solidify the plan. Typing from my phone...***** lol

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

 

[Creative Fab]

You might want to check out Luke's build.

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=226535&highlight=harn

Pretty much what we are thinking, thank for the link!

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

 

[NUTTSGT]

Pretty much what we are thinking, thank for the link!

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

No problem. If you have any questions PM Luke, I'm sure he'll be happy to answer them.

 

[jmlcolorado]

I went with a buddy to inspect and purchase a motorcycle for him.
Guys gave us an address located in an industrial side of Denver.
When we showed up, a bunch of guys were hanging out outside the big shop building.
They took us inside and what I saw was nothing short of AWESOME!
Three or four of them pitched in to buy the place.
The main level was all open, project motorcycles in their "living room".
Not chop shop style, but very neatly organized.
Each process had its location. General Maintnence and building was done in the living room. They had a dirty room where welding, painting, or other messy work was done.
The kitchen was off the living room and was wide open to everything.

They had built a loft above the kitchen where they slept. No stairs to access, rather ladders, and a fireman's pole to get down. This was likely used for other forms of entertainment as well

By the sounds of the story, it seems very bachelor like, but the reality was it was very clean, and professional looking.
To be honest, I was envious of their setup.

 

[Southernbuild]

As a single guy, I seriously consider from time to time, building a 30 x 50 with a 600sqft apartment on one end... If I can find the right land, I'll probably do it, leaving room to place a "real" house on the lot in the future if I ever need to.

 

[Creative Fab]

Consumers Energy is coming out today to figure out our power plan, running the current shop off temp pole right now. I guess this is the beginning, now if we can get the 3' of snow to melt so we can get to gettin, need a perk test soon!

This forum is going to be very valuable, thanks for all the input!

 

[sberry]

I lived in my shop 12-14 years. It was super convenient.

 

[twertsy]

While I don't live in my shop, I DO have two closed off rooms upstairs with bed/couch/chair/TV. Also have full shower in the shop so if she gets too annoying, I have the option!

 

[59'trump]

I'm divorced with a young daughter. Since then I've seriously considered selling the house (which I got to keep since it was upside down) If I move into an industrial type garage/warehouse building, I could easily build in an apartment and easily suit all my needs. The issue I will always have is the cost of living near Chicago. There is no such thing as affordable rent or sale prices for such a space in any reasonable areas close to that city. If anyone knows of a space, please let me know!

 

[kj_mustang]

I will be living in mine shortly when it is finished. You can see my build thread in my signature. I need to take some new pictures to add to it. The spray foam was just completed.

 

[Shoester]

Search the web for "barndominium", you'll find tons of great info. These are pretty common throughout Texas.

A friend of mine just finished building a 900SF apartment inside of a 40x80 shop. The entire living space is on the second story, and he parks his truck underneath the apartment. The rest of the area is where he stores his equipment (tends to 25 cow/calf pairs when he's not working)

 

[Creative Fab]

This is just one I found searching "barndominium"

http://www.reichardtconstruction.com/barndogallery.asp

Really great stuff, thanks for the heads up!!!

 

[sberry]

Mine is above my office. That is an early pic.

 

[Chaz]

Here's my home/shop. There's a lot to consider before you make a move like this, but we love it here.

 

[drewski]

Listed for sale here in middle Tn. on craigslist. Looks to be a really nice build.

http://nashville.craigslist.org/reb/4297542103.html

 

[MonoxieChild]

The issue I will always have is the cost of living near Chicago. There is no such thing as affordable rent or sale prices for such a space in any reasonable areas close to that city. If anyone knows of a space, please let me know!

Commute. Rockford is an hour away from the city, and has some insanely low prices. Just bought a 2500sq ft all brick 1930's house with beveled and etched glass throughout, no updating or work needed, with a oversized 3 car garage, and a separate 2 car garage. All for less then $125k. And its even in one of the top neighborhoods in the city. Ive met more neighbors at my new house in the last month, then i ever met at my old house that i lived in previously for 11 years!

 

[tinkergeek]

If you build up - second story or build into a hill - have a plan in the event of an accident. If a household member suddenly has broken ankles, hip, whatever, it will be tough to get them up and down for doctor appointments. Learned this the hard way but had just moved into a single story home. Single story turned out to be a life saver for the next 2-3 months.

One alternative would be to build the apartment and a storage loft on the second floor. Several shops on GJ have lifts or other rigging to move heavy items into storage. Build a wide door between storage loft and apartment and you'd have it covered.

 

[Krusty]

I once visited a guy near San Diego who had a home and sign shop that was right across the street from the fence between Mexico and the US. He needed some help with his sign making equipment so he invited me to have dinner with him and his wife and I'd sort out the equipment. We pulled up to a big Butler Building (maybe Butler?, it was a steel shed anyhow) he unlocked the padlock and we entered a little barren dirt yard with gnomes and gewgaws and plastic flowers. Behind them sat a nice 3 bedroom one story house surrounded by trucks, sheet metal brakes, and various signs and pieces of iron. He had lived in the house for 30 years, but there was so much theft and vandalism that he finally just built a big pre-fab steel shed over the house and lot. His wife was inside, making dinner, happy as can be.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Most cities/towns will not allow it. Of course that doesn't stop too many people !

The biggest problem would be separating the garage space from the living space. Of you don't, heating/cooling the living space will be a problem plus dust/dirt from what ever work you are doing will get over everything.

Living on a cold concrete floor is not very comfortable.

 

[dlcwent]

I'm in mine from 6 am till about 5 pm does that count as living in it?

 

[Creative Fab]

Here's my home/shop. There's a lot to consider before you make a move like this, but we love it here.

Nice!!!

 

[Creative Fab]

Listed for sale here in middle Tn. on craigslist. Looks to be a really nice build.

http://nashville.craigslist.org/reb/4297542103.html

Very cool!

 

[Creative Fab]

This is a building that we originally were going to purchase. Signed a purchase agreement on it contingent to selling our house. This 50x100x18 barn on 30 acres had been on the market for almost a year, of course once we worked out a deal and signed, someone came in and ready laid down some cash.

We had agreed on a fantastic price of $120.000, they had $160 in the building alone. Needless to say we were heartbroken, but only for a short time and a week later we sold our house and purchased 11 acres where we will now build another cool building. This property came with a 38x28x11 new building which we finished the interior and are using for our fab business.

 

[CudaChick1968]

With 75-92 hour weeks this time of the year, I FEEL LIKE I'm living in my garage ......... C'mon spring!!!!!!!

 

[PugetDude]

Google:

RV Ports
Hangar Homes

for good ideas, floor plans, etc...

 

[GarageWarrior]

Last year a neighbor at my industrial unit lived insides his 800sqft woodworking shop. He put in a stand-up shower and had a bed at the mezzanine level - saved on appartment rent, but air quality was really terrible, I could hear him coughing all the time and he was a young guy.

 

[DekeT]

Do you live in Jerome Township?

 

[Creative Fab]

Do you live in Jerome Township?

Yup, why?

 

[Creative Fab]

Google:

RV Ports
Hangar Homes

for good ideas, floor plans, etc...

I googled barndominium 3 days ago, still haven't made it through all of them. Then I went to Morton Buildings website, I will not sleep for the next month making my way through all the sweet buildings I am seeing.

This is going to be harder than first thought lol

 

[DekeT]

Yup, why?

Jerome township has some restrictions on land use. You mentioned you had 11 acres, a fabrication shop in an existing building, and you planned on building another accessory type building. A quick glance through the zoning looks like you may have some roadblocks. I hope you have your ducks in a row before you spend a few hundred grand.

Accessory Buildings
113 A supplementary building or any structure on the same lot or parcel of
114 land as the main building. Any structure greater than 120 sq. ft. is considered
115 an accessory building. Such use shall not include any accessory building for a
116 dwelling.