Garage & Car Barn Thread

[Matt Harwood]

44 minutes ago, auburnseeker said:

I had a friend stop by and was discussing my project with him.  He suggested 2 x 8 walls instead of 2 x 6's.  The more I thought about it and priced things out,  it makes alot of sense.  2 inches of more insulation space,  no step to the 8 foot frost wall.  The cost is not quite a third more than 2x6.  In the grand scope of things and then probably padding the 2 x6 wall out later for more insulation,  I think I'm going with 2x8.  They usually are a little better than 2x6 because they have to cut them from wider better lumber.  I think the cost will be around an extra 1000.00 or less. On a total 100G project that's only 1 percent.  Probably well worth it. 

 

I think 2x6 is adequate since most of your heat will be lost through the roof, not the walls--going beyond 2x6s and you're well into diminishing returns. 2x6 will give you plenty of insulation for a wall. Only you can decide if you need to get rid of the step and if the cost is acceptable (remember you'll have to pay for the insulation, too). I think it's overkill--and I'm all about overkill on everything I do.

[auburnseeker]

Actually at the rates things  are going the energy code by the time I get to insulating the garage and heating it will probably require that much insulation.  They seem to up it every year. 

[Amphicar BUYER]

A 2x8 is cut from the same logs that a 2x4 or any dimension are cut. The width has nothing to do with better quality. It's simply math. If the width of the log allows a 2x4, a 2x8 and a 2x2 in the same path, that is what gets cut. Same log.

 

I agree that the 2x8 walls are a zero return investment. Put an extra $1k in insulating the roof (always the most significant heat loss culpret), use spray insulation instead of batting or a more efficient heat system, you will be better off. 

[auburnseeker]

They tend to be better because they are bigger logs for many of the 2 by 8's. I noticed when you buy 2 by 6's or even 2 by 4's they aren't as clean as the 2 x 8's.  You have to specify and often pay for better quality.  I haven't seen that as often with 2 by 8's. We'll see just thinking out loud at this point.   

I'll add plenty insulation to the ceiling and use ceiling fans to keep the heat down.  I'm also using in floor heat.  

[Matt Harwood]

I wouldn't worry about the quality of the framing members too much. Sure, you don't want twisted ones or excessive wane on the edges, but knots and other "defects" are only cosmetic and since it's buried inside the wall, it doesn't matter one bit. Don't pay extra for "premium" framing wood, there's no point. It's got to hold up a wall and if you're using 2x6s, they're so under-stressed that you could probably do 24 inches on center and still hang a car from the ceiling.

 

One thing that I learned when I was building a timberframe home as a contractor is about thermal breaks. If you want an 8-inch thick wall to eliminate the "step" then use 2x4s and stagger them so that every other one is flush to the outside wall and every other one is flush to the inside wall. That way, one set is holding up the outer sheeting while the inside set is holding up the interior finish materials, but neither is touching the other, creating a thermal break. The wall will be eight inches thick but only uses 2x4 studs. Voila! More insulation, less wood, better results. Just check to see if the code is OK with it (should be). The code monkeys may still insist on 16 inches on center for BOTH sets, but I bet they're OK with 24-inches on center for each set (so there's a framing member every 12 inches). That would merit some discussion, but if you truly want the best insulation job possible, that's probably the most effective way and I bet it's quite a bit cheaper than 2x8s. Does that make sense?

 

Here's a photo of it being done--same wall thickness, cheaper wood, more insulation, complete thermal break from the outside.

 

Edited September 9, 2016 by Matt Harwood (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

I will have to check with the architect on that one as the 60 foot clear span will cause some concern with any 2 x 4's in the wall.  I do understand what you are saying and the principal of it.  It does make sense as long as they are happy with the 2 x4's being enough support.  With a pole barn and that span they were talking about 8 x 8 uprights and crazy bracing.   The 70 lb snow load becomes a serious factor in the engineering of it all. 

[auburnseeker]

Ok things have been progressing slowly but they are on course.  I finally have a contract on my second house as well so we started cleaning that out this week.  I put together and wholesaled off a large pile of NOS and used parts really cheap and the guy that picked them up bought some more.  I gave him a crazy good deal.  

I have already built a second pile for another guy that wants to come up.  We have done a ton of cleaning and sorting and I'm keeping very little except for some smalls and parts for my cars. 

I heard back and the architect has the plans done.  They are getting the engineers stamp as we speak.  I should have those to submit for my building permit beginning of the week.

On the home front I have been cutting alot of trees.  It's amazing how many trees are in that 60 by 72 foot area.  Not real big in Diameter around 16 inches or so but those suckers are tall.  A few are around 2 foot.  A couple are bigger but they may stay as they aren't in the garage area.   I dropped a very large poplar that once it went down I discovered was over 70 foot tall.  Alot of the trees in their are 70 foot or more.   Takes alot of room to drop one when your building area is only 72 foot.  i'm going to cut 10 foot clear on the one side .  The other is backed by a utility rite of way that is clear cut, so there won 't ever be any trees on that side and the ends are going to be cleared probably 60 foot in the front and 20-30 in the back.  Should have plenty of room to get around the building to build. 

I have a ton of brush to chip.  I'm even looking at picking up a dump trailer for behind the tractor to move the dirt around.  It would be nice to load the trailer with the excavator then go dump it.   Sorry for the dark photos.  I work until dark then have to quit.  I'm already missing those long spring/ summer days where you could work until 9 PM. 

You can see the corner stakes in the one photo.  

The first two photos are of the lot I sold and the one I just started today. 

[alsancle]

I noticed the short days too all of a sudden.   That came quick.  I love the fall in New England but the awesome weather for 4-8 weeks does not make the following 12-15 worth it.

 

Are you building racks for all of your inventory?  How do you keep track of it?

[auburnseeker]

In my current shop.  Most of it was just crammed in heaps of boxes and I knew where most of it was based on a chronological order of how far back it was.  I'm actually pretty lucky and have a good memory for where most stuff was.  Important stuff I'm currently selling on feebay was concentrated on a set of parts shelves.  Most of the rest was stuff I still had to get to.   I do have a 28 foot tractor trailer body that I lined both sides inside with shelving.  Stuff was boxed and labeled in their to some degree. The problem with car parts is how random they are.  Especially when you deal with all makes from about 1930-1980 ish.  Some stuff boxes nicely and you can put it in boxes , but you end up with all kinds of trim, that doesn't fit in anything and stuff like generators that you only want 3 or 4 at most in a box.  My stuff is so random organization is almost more of a dream than reality. 

The move does have the advantage of seriously culling my inventory back to the small stuff I seem to have the most luck selling.  

In the new shop,  I'm hoping to build a loft on part of one side for parts and some shelving. 

[Hudsy Wudsy]

While four or six square feet of window costs more than the same area of bare wall, it might be wise in some cases to consider windows in your plans. First of all, they can be obscured by using opaque glass, opaque film or simply back painted white. My thought here is that by having some windows you might make the appearance of the building somewhat more attractive (or less offensive) to neighbors and maybe one day increase it's value to the next potential property owner. Windows, of course, can be a security issue and in some locations I'm sure that they can be a liability. I can understand that tempered glass and security grilles may just make the whole idea more hassle than it's worth for some.

[Robert G. Smits]

I may have missed it but have you taken soil cores for analysis prior to engineering your foundation/floor?  Be sure your cement contractor knows what your floor plans are.  Your floor finish needs to not be super smooth if you plan to epoxy it.  I build my 60 by 100 building two years ago and didn't inform the cement contractor that I planned to epoxy it.  It ended up too smooth requiring about 16 hours of diamond grinding prior to applying the epoxy.  If you plan to epoxy, check with a company called Epoxy Coat.  Excellent product and help.  My lowest commercial quote was 25K.  I did it myself for less than 3K.  Garagejournal.com has great advice and videos.  I would agree with Matt, if you are going to spend extra money on insulation put it in the roof.  I have 12 inches in mine.  Just my TCW.  BOB SMITS

[auburnseeker]

Had a rough day here on the project.  My wife went to the planning department to pick up the letter to submit with all my stuff for the building permit.  The same zoning planning official  that said it all looks good and shouldn't need to go to the planning board said wow that same exact size building I proposed looks bigger than the house's dimensions which is 170 foot away through the woods.  The official doesn't know why there would be a problem but just in case I think you should submit it to the planning board. (wouldn't you think if size was ever going to be a concern it would be mentioned before)     Oh jeeze you just missed the deadline for submitting for the October meeting,  so now you can wait and they will review it when they meet the middle of November.  This is ridiculous.  Especially since price chopper is at the foot of my driveway,  You won't be able to see it from the main road,  The side rd or even my Driveway.   In fact the only one that will be able to see it besides airplanes is the neighbor through the woods on the other side of the powerline.    Oh and the neighboring property(a horse farm)  has an indoor riding arena.  I won't tell you how big that is as well as barns.   So in review.  Lets see.  Set back 25 feet front (I have 170 feet)  Side set back to powerline 10 feet by code or superceeding that would be the power company which requires 12 feet  ( I have atleast 52 feet, possibly 62 feet depending on the exact building situation once the excavation proceeds.)  Other end set back 25 feet. ( I believe it's atleast 200 feet to the road if not closer to 300 feet down over a bank as well).  The final side set back 10 feet. (I have atleast 150 feet or more to the driveway. ) Height is well under the 40 foot limit at 31 feet.   I'm building it for now as just an unheated equipment barn.  (that's all I can realistically afford because of the size. ) I'm clear of all flood plains,   Water run off, land management areas.   The official said no one has ever built a storage building larger than their residence since they have worked their so the official wasn't sure if the board would have to approve it or not.   I guess the official  hasn't been on the job real long. Seems almost every farm built has a barn bigger than the house.  Often much larger.  Now I need to figure out where to go.  It's probably going to involve a trip down their myself.

[auburnseeker]

 I  did fortunately wholesale off that entire second lot and another 1/2 size lot on Sunday.  My wife took care of the deal while I cut trees and got busy with the excavator. 

[Mark Shaw]

On 9/9/2016 at 1:52 PM, Matt Harwood said:

I wouldn't worry about the quality of the framing members too much. Sure, you don't want twisted ones or excessive wane on the edges, but knots and other "defects" are only cosmetic and since it's buried inside the wall, it doesn't matter one bit. Don't pay extra for "premium" framing wood, there's no point. It's got to hold up a wall and if you're using 2x6s, they're so under-stressed that you could probably do 24 inches on center and still hang a car from the ceiling.

 

One thing that I learned when I was building a timberframe home as a contractor is about thermal breaks. If you want an 8-inch thick wall to eliminate the "step" then use 2x4s and stagger them so that every other one is flush to the outside wall and every other one is flush to the inside wall. That way, one set is holding up the outer sheeting while the inside set is holding up the interior finish materials, but neither is touching the other, creating a thermal break. The wall will be eight inches thick but only uses 2x4 studs. Voila! More insulation, less wood, better results. Just check to see if the code is OK with it (should be). The code monkeys may still insist on 16 inches on center for BOTH sets, but I bet they're OK with 24-inches on center for each set (so there's a framing member every 12 inches). That would merit some discussion, but if you truly want the best insulation job possible, that's probably the most effective way and I bet it's quite a bit cheaper than 2x8s. Does that make sense?

 

Here's a photo of it being done--same wall thickness, cheaper wood, more insulation, complete thermal break from the outside.

 

This also works as a better sound barrier.

[Luv2Wrench]

Impressive job with the trees, that's a lot of work.  I'm sure the approval stuff will work its way through in time and a couple of years from now it will be a joke... shop bigger than the house.

 

[C Carl]

A long time ago I learned how to do land development in King County , Western Washington. And why not to. 10 years + , one moratorium after another , paying interest on the loans. As each supervisor I finally satisfied moved up to the next bureaucratic rung , along came their replacement , yet one more who figured it was their duty to carve out a pound of my flesh to enhance their resume. At last the current moratorium was lifted coinciding with all other concerns being satisfied. Needing naught but a signature of the supervisor who told me that now HE was moving on up. New sup' spied the bridge on my property crossing Jenkins Creek , which had been serving the existing house since 1936. Now no one had said word one in all 10 years about that bridge. Jenkins Creek roughly paralleled a frontage road maybe 100' away through the woods. Frontage road defined my Western property line and ran parallel to a major 4 lane highway. Creative new  sup' says "yep , yer good to go. Just take out the bridge and I'll sign off !". My land use attorney figured that would take another couple years , what with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers upstream and downstream studies concerning the removal of a stable hydrological element of about 1/2 century duration. Realistic estimate factoring all estimated costs would have taken at least another 1/4 megabuck out of old CC's lonely pocket. Could be even worse if misfortune slapped one or more moratorium on me as time ticked by. Who knows what the NEXT yet sup' could conjure up to move the goalposts out of my reach again ! Go on this way forever ? 1/4 ? 1/3 ? More yet ? 1/2 ? Middle aged Cadillac driver and amateur land developer was not happy ! 

 

WHAT TO DO ????

 

Heavy gravel trucks went back and forth on the frontage road. Loaded at a quarry less than 1/2 mile away. A big pit quarry. Probably could see it from the Moon ! From the Moon ? Hmmmm.............. Bought an aerial pic of the area. (No Gargle Earth back then). Showed the whole scene with proportion of all elements. Enormous scar. Huge highway. Little creek. Humble bridge. Super Lady was delicately brought to realize Jenkins Creek was not a National Park environment . She somehow bought the argument that maybe the bridge could be removed concurrently with environmental restoration of the whole neighborhood , including filling and erasing that crater ! She musta got up on the right side of the bed that day ! Whew ! Said she would agree to leaving the bridge if we did not use it. Had to re-engineer access to the house. Cost me one lot , but I grabbed that supervisors signature along with my hat !

 

You don't even have to pay for a pic these days. It is merely a graphic which might just give a new perspective and catch 'em looking. Probably depends on which side of the bed they get up on. Good luck , brother. If you have a temper , don't show it there !  - Carl

 

 

[Larry Schramm]

5 hours ago, C Carl said:

A long time ago I learned how to do land development in King County , Western Washington. And why not to. 10 years + , one moratorium after another , paying interest on the loans. As each supervisor I finally satisfied moved up to the next bureaucratic rung , along came their replacement , yet one more who figured it was their duty to carve out a pound of my flesh to enhance their resume. At last the current moratorium was lifted coinciding with all other concerns being satisfied. Needing naught but a signature of the supervisor who told me that now HE was moving on up. New sup' spied the bridge on my property crossing Jenkins Creek , which had been serving the existing house since 1936. Now no one had said word one in all 10 years about that bridge. Jenkins Creek roughly paralleled a frontage road maybe 100' away through the woods. Frontage road defined my Western property line and ran parallel to a major 4 lane highway. Creative new  sup' says "yep , yer good to go. Just take out the bridge and I'll sign off !". My land use attorney figured that would take another couple years , what with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers upstream and downstream studies concerning the removal of a stable hydrological element of about 1/2 century duration. Realistic estimate factoring all estimated costs would have taken at least another 1/4 megabuck out of old CC's lonely pocket. Could be even worse if misfortune slapped one or more moratorium on me as time ticked by. Who knows what the NEXT yet sup' could conjure up to move the goalposts out of my reach again ! Go on this way forever ? 1/4 ? 1/3 ? More yet ? 1/2 ? Middle aged Cadillac driver and amateur land developer was not happy ! 

 

WHAT TO DO ????

 

Heavy gravel trucks went back and forth on the frontage road. Loaded at a quarry less than 1/2 mile away. A big pit quarry. Probably could see it from the Moon ! From the Moon ? Hmmmm.............. Bought an aerial pic of the area. (No Gargle Earth back then). Showed the whole scene with proportion of all elements. Enormous scar. Huge highway. Little creek. Humble bridge. Super Lady was delicately brought to realize Jenkins Creek was not a National Park environment . She somehow bought the argument that maybe the bridge could be removed concurrently with environmental restoration of the whole neighborhood , including filling and erasing that crater ! She musta got up on the right side of the bed that day ! Whew ! Said she would agree to leaving the bridge if we did not use it. Had to re-engineer access to the house. Cost me one lot , but I grabbed that supervisors signature along with my hat !

 

You don't even have to pay for a pic these days. It is merely a graphic which might just give a new perspective and catch 'em looking. Probably depends on which side of the bed they get up on. Good luck , brother. If you have a temper , don't show it there !  - Carl

 

 

 

"I'm from the government and I am here to help you"

[auburnseeker]

Still no luck with the planning person. They still can't come up with one reason why it should go before the board.  Not one printed rule or regulation needs to be reviewed or asked for a variance on.  I also found via google earth areal maps there is a very large boat storage facility further up my road.  It's alot bigger than my project and there are 2 buildings on the property that size.   The persons excuse on the horse farm buildings was that they were classified differently.  Looks like I will be getting a horse then.  Problem solved right?  I only have to keep it for 3 months until the building is up,  then tell them I couldn't afford to keep the horse after building the building.

[auburnseeker]

I wonder if you even have to have the horse to build the barn.  Seems you would want the barn first right?   They couldn't argue with me having a horse.  My neighbor on the other side has a horse as well and has less land.  It would be discriminatory to not let me build a building to house one if I was thinking of getting one.  Time to make the PC crap work for me for a change. 

[auburnseeker]

Some slight progress but only on the home front,  not the legal front.  I cleared a few more of the bigger trees and hangers.  Blocked them up to 16 and stacked them out of the way.  Also clear some stumps and rocks out of the way.  The orange stakes are the garage corners. 

It's alot of work when you are the only one doing it especially while still trying to run my business and clean out my shop. I got the majority of my storage trailer cleaned out.  It was packed full.  It's a 28 foot semi trailer.  Worked a little on my storage unit as well.  That doesn't have nearly as much in it.   Even had time to help a friend move something heavy to his store and got my 32 Ford out the other day to move it out of the storage it was in.  Needed a brake repair on one rear wheel and I was fortunate enough that it all came apart and I was able to salvage the wheel cylinder.   

[auburnseeker]

Still going roundy round with the planning official.  I did just find out my 7 acres is also zoned residential commercial High usage.  Another reason there should be no problem building what  I  want here.  There are several larger businesses on this same strip of RCH zoned area including Price Chopper, 2 gas stations,  a Bank, a Wholesale liquor store,  A large Nursery with a Huge barn, a Model home, A Mcdonald's.  Need I say more.  This is all within Probably a 1/2 square mile.   All of those buildings take up a large percentage of their property.  My project and all existing structures will take up less than 10 percent of my property.  Oh and my property still has alot of trees.  Theirs are all bare,  less an ornamental tree or two. 

[C Carl]

I'm telling you dear brother , IMHO they are just looking at this as the last opportunity to bleed you a bit. Figure a clever , very modest way to throw them a bone. Sometimes it needn't even be monetary. Just let them affix , if not a gold star to their resume , a silver one. That way they can declare victory and............... I don't really know how it is in what is left of the woods in your neck , but when I sit down with them around here , it is usually give them SOMETHING. Cordially and humbly if you can muster up such a disguise. Been there , done that. Anyone in 'seekers vicinity that can pass judgement on my speculation ?  - Carl

[auburnseeker]

If I knew which wheel was sticking I'm not exactly against greasing it to get it to work properly.  

I did make some serious headway in the tree department over the weekend.  My Father came down and dropped a pile of trees.  We cleaned them up then put the last round on the ground for me to clean up.  I should probably stay here and work this week but instead I'm headed to Hershey.  Maybe the break will do me some good.  I can only imagine what my blood pressure has been the past week or so.  

Here are a couple of shots of the progress taken today before I started the last round of clean up. The entire "barn" foot print is now clear as well as probably a 10 foot buffer on the sides and a little more on the length.  Any other trees we need to take down can come down after I get my excavating done and get the current mess under control. 

The photos were taken standing just outside of 3 of the corners. (the fourth one has some serious brush to clean up) You can see the orange topped corner markers in the pictures. 

[auburnseeker]

I just got an email back from my planning official.  Wow I had to get the waders out. 

 

"The zoning district is RCH yes. Your proposed building is not associated with an agricultural activity or agricultural use, you had stated it was for storage of vehicles and equipment. See below for agricultural use and agricultural activity definition. Furthermore, agricultural uses are not allowed in the RCH zone, so if you want to go with what your architect is saying, you'd need a use variance (i suggest not doing that). Technically, the use Garage, Private is not allowed in the RCH zone either but we're going to allow it in this case (if you look at the use table, anything with a blank cell means its not allowed in that district - I believe you are reading the table wrong, because everything on the table is either SPR, PAU, or blank which is not allowed). Commercial boat storage and self storage require site plan review in any zoning district that allows those uses, otherwise, it is not allowed.  He is correct that you don't technically fit into the zoning codes parameters that trigger site plan review, I had already mentioned that to you.

 

The reasons I want to send this to the Board are as follows:  Within 300 feet of another municipality boundary, within 350-400 feet of wetlands and within 350 feet of flood zone, within 400 feet of RCM-1 district and within 100 feet of a public utility ROW. These things are triggers for SPR in smaller distances (most commonly 100 feet away for watercourses and 300 feet away from RCM districts), but the proximity still give me some minimal concern. Additionally, the main reason I believe it should go for review is because it is twice the size of your primary (residential) structure, which means it is not, by definition, an accessory structure (Which requires no review). As I told your wife, if you can lower the size of the structure to the size of your house or smaller, no review would be required. 

 

As I mentioned before, if you don't agree with me on this, I can write up a determination for you to appeal, but to be honest that will double or triple your time frame - you'd have to go to the ZBA to appeal my determination (and win) before even getting a permit to build. Unfortunately, your architect/planning board acquaintance "opinions/interpretation" mean little, since he is not the Zoning Administrator for the Town of Lake George (aside from the fact that he misinformed you of some things). I'm sorry this is delaying your project, but next time you are interested in building a 4,000 sf structure, I suggest going to get the permits earlier than a month or two before frost/snowfall. Please let me know if you want me to write you a determination or if you want to move forward with the SPR application."

 

 

 

 

Oh by the way when I went to get the permits and was told it wouldn't need to go to the planning board it was the end of August.  I would have gladly filled out the application to meet with the board then if properly informed to do so at that point.

 

Why it has to go in front of the board because it is within 100 feet of a utility is crazy.  I called the power company directly and they informed me last year before I even started to locate the building that I only need to be 12 feet from the power poles and can actually build on the right away as long as I'm not closer than 12 feet to the pole.  I'm 52 feet from the poles.  

Please remember that the very first thing I told the official when I walked into their office was that I wanted to build a single story 31 foot tall 60 by 72 foot barn/ garage.  The 300 feet to another municipality is really digging as it's really close to the 300 foot mark.  I would have to get the tape back out to get the exact number.  I'm still not sure how that plays in. what does the neighboring town care about what's being done in the neighboring town 300 feet from their boundary that is going to have no impact what so ever to that town. 

 

Maybe I really need that trip to Hershey.  Wow. 

[C Carl]

Please do yourself a great favor and enjoy Hershey to the max. When you get back , the most efficient means forward , which will give you maximum peace of mind (life is too short) , is to hire a land use attorney. Not just ANY , but the smartest , most resourceful in your region. When situations reach this level of complexity , I believe YOU HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE. If you do otherwise and fail , you will kick yourself wherever it is you kick yourself when you do something dumb. I am not an attorney , but many friends come to me when they need one. I use them ALL the time , and have an impressive , successful referral network. Unfortunately , In this case I think I am too far away (Washington State) , to help. Do you have a friend who can recommend the best ? Someone reading this ? Otherwise , what is that pizza place near Hershey ? I can't remember the name. Have you seen me walking the fields with fore and aft pizza boxes displaying a multi-colored wish list ? If space on your pizza box is not yet full : "WANT TO BUY : THE VERY BEST LAND USE ATTORNEY IN/(NEAR) _____________" Hopefully you have a network which will allow you to discard the box without your calligraphy. But I expect if your predicament is not "topic A" , it will not be much lower than "topic C" at Hershey. Just try to enjoy this annual party. Put it in the hands of a "Hired Gun". Courage !  -  Carl

[auburnseeker]

Had a good time at Hershey.  Now it's back to the grind.  I have been working on this in my "spare" time since I got back and have made what I would call decent progress.  When working alone you don't get quite so much done.  I have got most of the mess cleaned up/ Organized.  I just posted an ad on CL to get rid of the boiler type fire wood and have stacked the majority of the logs as well as tidying up all the brush.  Hopefully I'll get to chipping it by this weekend.  I need to get the drive widened a bit then I can get a pulp truck in to haul the logs out.  That will make a huge difference.  Atleast you can see all 4 corners now and walk to them.  Quite a pain to cut through the 4-5 layers of trees and brush 1 foot at a time.  We were running out of time though and didn't really have much choice but to down the remaining ones without cleaning the others up first. 

[alsancle]

Clearing raw land is a crazy amount of work.

[auburnseeker]

The fields that had grown up over the last 20 years in front of our house that we cleared had alot more small brush and 20-25 foot trees,  but few were over 6 inches.  This big stuff is alot more work.   I'm headed out in a few minutes to tackle it again today.  I think I'm finally rounding the bend.  I have a huge mess from the power company to clean up as well.  They cut a few huge 3 foot on the stump, pines down before we purchased the house and left them on the edge of the right away.  They are right along where the side of the garage will be.  I think they may be just rotted enough they unfortunately can't be used for any kind of fire wood. 

Edited October 12, 2016 by auburnseeker (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

Work has been progressing.  I have been chipping a bunch and today was the last 7 hour round to get pretty much all of it done. One of the brush piles was atleast 16 feet long and over 6 foot tall of well stacked limbs up to around 6 inches in diameter.   I've dug a few stumps out as well.  Surprisingly all the boiler camp fire free wood I have put ads for and flyers around town doesn't seem to have any real interest at all.  It's prelimbed and cut to length. One guy came with a trailer to get some (he only needed one load for camp fire wood)  After he tried to back the trailer up to my garage location and didn't even get the truck off the driveway without jack knifing the trailer,  i had him drop the trailer and put it on the hitch of my tractor and backed it right up to the piles then helped him load the trailer piulled it out and pointed it out in the right direction for him to hook to.  It made a tiny dent.  I then had to take his hitch apart and fix the ball that someone put on with the lock washer between the ball and the hitch not on the bottom with the nut which was loose and might have fallen off on his way home.   He was happy.  I told him to spread the word but haven't heard from any one else since.   I'm crossing my fingers for a few more calls. 

Stuff is starting to atleast look manageable now.   It will really look good when I get rid of those logs.   I still may have to get a local guy in to help me get this graded with a small dozer.  I'm running out of time on all fronts.   I really wish it were the beginning of summer.  Then the winter crunch wouldn't be looming over my shoulder every day. 

I also built a whole new pile of wholesale parts for a buyer I have lined up in an effort to clean out my existing shop that is under contract to be sold.  I added a picture of those as well. We managed to clean out a storage unit I had and most of my tractor trailer body as well.  This is lot number 3. 

I've been in the market for an enclosed trailer as well so I have a something to move the contents of the house I have under contract down here in to unload at my leisure  then use to store stuff  I don't need right away from my shop,  not having much luck finding a used one,  I will probably have to suck it up and buy a new one:(   

That chipper is an animal.  Definitely not a homeowner model they sell at home depot.  

[alsancle]

That feels like a tremendous amount of work.  Is all that equipment yours?  I always wanted my own chipper :).

[auburnseeker]

Yes I do own all the equipment.  That's my new car collection,  I liquidated my cars and turned it into equipment to build the garage for my new car collection that  I'll have to start over on. Atleast  I still have a few left.   You need to have a good building to store them in to start with so this is more important.  I have to keep the end goal in mind to keep me motivated.  The garage even if erected this year.  Probably won't have heat for 2 more years.  Unfortunately I'm far from rich so I have to do as much of the work as possible, which will be everything but the concrete and erecting the shell.  I'll have to do the siding, the insulating, inside finishing, electrical, plumbing for the heater etc. 

Edited October 20, 2016 by auburnseeker (see edit history)

[Amphicar BUYER]

Can you use some of the timber as landscaping? 

[benjamin j]

I have been reading along for a while on this thread and I remember going through the code and zoning issues. So here is how it played out for me I requested all records from local zoning and code enforcement pertaining to building permits. I used the federal freedom of information act to obtain the records.  I read through the records to find who was inspected and who was granted exceptions. What I found was a complete record of who’s buddies got away with anything they wanted and how many were never inspected at all. Code enforcement is NOT governed by local government they are governed by the state. Missing inspections is equal to extortion in the eyes of the state and I found tons of missing inspections. So I got my garage the way I wanted and I will never have an issue with them again.

[auburnseeker]

Even the planning officer said there is no one reason written anywhere in any law that says I can't build what I want to build.  He just feels uncomfortable approving it himself.  Governing by feelings , not by law.  You have to love it. 

Unfortunately with all the logs none of it is usable for ground contact as it will rot.  Most being pine will rot quickly.   I am swapping or having some of the bigger logs sawed for board and baton siding.  That's about the best I can do.  

[mike6024]

On 9/29/2016 at 6:05 PM, auburnseeker said:

I just find out my 7 acres is also zoned residential commercial High usage. 

 Never heard of such a thing. In my world residential and commercial are mutually exclusive. At some point residential and commercial must abut, but individual properties are never zoned both residential and commercial simultaneously. They don't intermix.

[auburnseeker]

That's how they classified it according to their chart.  That's probably the only way they could figure out to allow a price chopper (chain grocery store)  and a bunch of other businesses to spread into the neighboring residential area from the strip of commercial road they occupied.   There is so much blank on the chart,  I don't even think they now how to use it and just figure,  we'll leave it blank and deal with the issue when it's brought up. 

[nick8086]

Someone in town is building a carriage house garage. It will hold 6 cars. The walls are a foot thick...

 

If I have time this week I will take a picture of it..

[auburnseeker]

I've enlisted the help of a contractor to get the dirt work done.  I'm running out of time to get the dirt done if I hope to proceed to the next step and my equipment as nice as it is,  is just a little too small to really get the main area leveled.  They are going to bring in fill, haul all the stumps out and even bring in their own log truck to get rid of the non saw logs which turns out to be most of the pile.  They have a big Dozer so that should really get things going.  They are starting I think tomorrow.  A couple of older gents.  They were highly recommended by a few different old timers in the area.   

I ordered in new insulation for the existing garage, then had to clean one bay all the way back just to get it in.  This is only 66 percent of the order.  I hope I get some of it up before the rest arrives.  I'm tearing out the old insulation and upgrading to Roxul.  The guy couldn't understand why I wanted to use such expensive insulation in a garage.  I had to explain it's not really a garage.  More of my full time year round man cave and I hate to spend money on heat.  Spend it up front and save a bunch in the long run. 

 

Edited November 4, 2016 by auburnseeker
no photos (see edit history)

[padgett]

Think he told you what to do: "Additionally, the main reason I believe it should go for review is because it is twice the size of your primary (residential) structure, which means it is not, by definition, an accessory structure (Which requires no review). As I told your wife, if you can lower the size of the structure to the size of your house or smaller, no review would be required."

 

So you need to either expand the primary structure or build a smaller auxiliary building to start and then maybe a second one. 

 

When I had the back garage built, the zoning department told me that if it was a private garage that size there were many additional requirements that had to be met. However if it was a garage/workshop...

 

This is where a knowledgeable attorney can be worth whatever he charges. Just my opinion.

[auburnseeker]

We'll see where the meeting goes in a few days.  

I hired my architect to represent me at the meeting.  I'm hoping since he also used to be the head of the neighboring planning board if they throw roadblocks up,  he will be able to address them right their and possibly present it in the light they want to see,  where I might be lost in the "correct" terminology that will get things progressing.