Not exactly a garage but......

[Elpad]

I’m a week away from retirement and decided to expand my side yard to accommodate my enclosed car trailer and my small motorhome. Started this project about 3 weeks ago. Finally I will have the toys all together and the two car garage will accommodate both of the Buicks. Space was of the essence, my house sits In a corner lot and elevated about 4’ from street level so retaining wall was required. Now to avoid female tensions, landscaping and decor must blend the architecture design.

should have decided to retire a little later cause this sound like more work for me. Not a chance for those that told me that I would get bored . Like I said, not exactly a garage but all this is Buick related!

Edited July 25, 2020 by Elpad (see edit history)

[Elpad]

Site

[Elpad]

Another site view, the only place to grow space on my property. From house 🏠 footing to street level is 4’. The two car garage is on the other front side of the Home

[Elpad]

Backhoe arrival

[Elpad]

so excavation begins

[Elpad]

[trimacar]

That looks like an interesting project....is there a specification from setback from the sidewalk, or can you go all the way up to it?  The pictures sure make it look like a tight fit...great objective though!

[Elpad]

34 minutes ago, trimacar said:

That looks like an interesting project....is there a specification from setback from the sidewalk, or can you go all the way up to it?  The pictures sure make it look like a tight fit...great objective though!

Setback to sidewalk is only one foot since is not living space. The space is tight but it will serve the purpose. I can always double up as an interior yard/patio area. 

[Elpad]

[Elpad]

It took a total of 8 dump trucks to haul aggregate away  from job site, mostly good clean coral rock fill.

[Elpad]

[edinmass]

Looks good, and nothing better than having everything in one place........something I have yet to achieve.

[Elpad]

Slope is gone. Street level achieved 

Edited July 26, 2020 by Elpad (see edit history)

[edinmass]

With a four foot grade shift, make sure you don’t drag your trailer every time you back it in. Depending on the trailer and tow vehicle, it will most likely drag without a very long ramp.

[Elpad]

The parking space will be within the enclosed area besides the house. A 6’ wall by the sidewalk and a 4’ retaining wall has already been built but there are limits in posting recent pictures on the thread. So terrain will be flat for vehicle traffic. This will be more like a driveway but for permitting purposes, building codes do not permit a driveway approach from the street due to corner property.

plans call for “Concrete Fence Wall”

[Elpad]

Footing excavation 

[JohnD1956]

Do I have this right? It sounds like you are making a parking area as opposed to an enclosed garage? And if so won't it be a bit more inconvenient in times of bad weather events?

[edinmass]

If you sign in and out, your 9.77 MB lock out will remove itself. Resizing photos is a pain in the axx. It’s my one complaint about this site.

[Elpad]

2 hours ago, JohnD1956 said:

Do I have this right? It sounds like you are making a parking area as opposed to an enclosed garage? And if so won't it be a bit more inconvenient in times of bad weather events?

I have a two car garage on the other side of the house. You are right is just a parking space for the 24’ enclosed car trailer and a 23’ mini motorhome. As far as weather, here in South Florida, lots of rain and thunderstorms during the summer and plenty of sunshine. I will be installing a detached, self standing “car port” at least 12’ high to house the RV. The trailer would not be covered. The trick is hiding a 12’ height structure from street view due to county ordinances, no RV parking on residential area. That’s where the landscaping magic will come into place. Wish me luck guys.

Al

Edited July 26, 2020 by Elpad (see edit history)

[Elpad]

Main water line needs to be relocated

[Elpad]

Smaller trench for water pipe. Plumber relocating and making connections 

[Elpad]

Sprinkler system water well had to be capped. Miami seats in a natural aquifer system, I had well water about 13’. I would not have much St. Agustin grass or lawn to irrigate anymore 

[trimacar]

That’s funny, water at 13 feet.  We live on a small hill in a very rocky area, our water well is right at 600 feet deep....

[auburnseeker]

9 minutes ago, trimacar said:

That’s funny, water at 13 feet.  We live on a small hill in a very rocky area, our water well is right at 600 feet deep....

We live at the bottom of a very big hill.  well close to the bottom and our well too is 600 feet deep.  If it were any deeper I would swear we were pulling right out of Lake George.

[dship]

I'm literally 1/4 mile from an ocean bay (about 10 miles south of Boston).  House sits on a slight slope toward the ocean, sea level probably 35 feet.  Am on city water but I wanted a well for watering my plants.  Had to drill down 400 feet to hit fresh water.  Even at that depth, water pressure is only at around 10 to 12 psi. 

[Elpad]

House seats on what is call the Biscayne Aquifer in Miami/ Dade County. You can find shallow water  in most of the city and suburbs. Water is suitable for irrigation and that’s what I drilled the well for many years ago. You can go deeper for better quality.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscayne_Aquifer

[Elpad]

Pure coral rock, looks like I will have to replace some sections of the sidewalk.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Elpad (see edit history)

[Elpad]

[Elpad]

Re-bar delivery

[GARY F]

Great job. I enjoy watching these projects. Keep the pics coming.

[Elpad]

Footing rebar installation.

[Barney Eaton]

I live at 960 above sea level on the edge of the Texas Hill Country (rocks).........no one in their right mine would try and drill a well, fortunately I have city water.

My wife had an aunt that lived on Merritt Island FL and the neighbors went together and had a well drilled at the intersection of 4 lots... it is a flowing well, probably not very deep,  but no pump, just turn on the valve and water your lawn.

[trimacar]

Very interesting reading on the aquifer, thanks.

 

So, from the one picture showing the curved sidewalk, am I to assume you have to drive over the sidewalk to park vehicles?  If so, will sidewalk support the weight?

 

With such a liquid ground, so to speak, wonder why construction isn’t like in New Orleans and some other Louisiana areas, have to drive piling to support house and garage,

[edinmass]

4 hours ago, trimacar said:

Very interesting reading on the aquifer, thanks.

 

So, from the one picture showing the curved sidewalk, am I to assume you have to drive over the sidewalk to park vehicles?  If so, will sidewalk support the weight?

 

With such a liquid ground, so to speak, wonder why construction isn’t like in New Orleans and some other Louisiana areas, have to drive piling to support house and garage,

 

 

Dave, if I read the thread right....it's a "bootleg" parking spot. The side yard changes are ok........but no new curb cut due to the corner and one already in place........a common rule in the 48 lower states. Properly executed he will be fine. I did the same at a property up north. Not allowed to expand my parking lot........so I dug up the grass, put down bank gravel, then crushed stone...........it was landscaping........NOT a parking lot. The fact that 20 cars a day parked there was something I couldn't control. You gotta know the game if you want to beat city hall. I the above case......I would wait a month or two before I parked anything there. And I would get a certificate of completion from the city also............once the project is done, they can't comment on the parking issue, unless there are side yard regulations for parking........which are also very common in many areas. I that event, I would call the project a handicap ramp for my visiting mother in law........thus making all construction zoning exempt.............but then you need stamped plans. Ask me about the helicopter landing pad and hanger I designed and built for a friend in a town that didn't have bylaws covering helipads.............worked great........and three weeks later they had rules preventing them. His car collection looked great in the hanger.......only extra cost was a wind sock! Just got to keep ahead of the curve...........😀

Edited July 28, 2020 by edinmass (see edit history)

[trimacar]

That’s fun stuff, Ed, particularly the helicopter pad!

 

I visited the late Earl Snodgrass out in Los Angelos, he was a big collector of early cars.  He asked if I wanted to go out back and see the cars.  I looked out the window and only saw a tennis court.

 

He said zoning wouldn’t let him build a garage, but he could build a tennis court.  The tennis court had large concrete columns supporting it, an quite a bit of space around the columns...and that’s where the cars were, a hidden underground garage!

[Elpad]

22 hours ago, Barney Eaton said:

I live at 960 above sea level on the edge of the Texas Hill Country (rocks).........no one in their right mine would try and drill a well, fortunately I have city water.

My wife had an aunt that lived on Merritt Island FL and the neighbors went together and had a well drilled at the intersection of 4 lots... it is a flowing well, probably not very deep,  but no pump, just turn on the valve and water your lawn.

Went to school at then Schriner Institute in Kerrville, 1973. Plenty of water at nearby Nimitz lake in Ingram. Beautiful country lots of German tradition.

[trimacar]

I went to Camp Stewart in Kerrville, then visited there in the 1980’s to pick up my Cord phaeton from a collector who moved from Houston....

[Elpad]

11 hours ago, edinmass said:

 

 

Dave, if I read the thread right....it's a "bootleg" parking spot. The side yard changes are ok........but no new curb cut due to the corner and one already in place........a common rule in the 48 lower states. Properly executed he will be fine. I did the same at a property up north. Not allowed to expand my parking lot........so I dug up the grass, put down bank gravel, then crushed stone...........it was landscaping........NOT a parking lot. The fact that 20 cars a day parked there was something I couldn't control. You gotta know the game if you want to beat city hall. I the above case......I would wait a month or two before I parked anything there. And I would get a certificate of completion from the city also............once the project is done, they can't comment on the parking issue, unless there are side yard regulations for parking........which are also very common in many areas. I that event, I would call the project a handicap ramp for my visiting mother in law........thus making all construction zoning exempt.............but then you need stamped plans. Ask me about the helicopter landing pad and hanger I designed and built for a friend in a town that didn't have bylaws covering helipads.............worked great........and three weeks later they had rules preventing them. His car collection looked great in the hanger.......only extra cost was a wind sock! Just got to keep ahead of the curve...........😀

Glad I’m exercising some gray matter with this post.. those terms seems that I’m involved in some type of contraband, but all of above comments are somewhat true. When I called the first inspection the county building inspector  asked me what I was doing, I told him I was tying the 1969 home to an fortified wall In case of hurricane. He gave me a weird look but told him I was joking but structural plans called for a 40” wide by 28” deep footing which I thought it was an overkill for a 6’ high wall. He shook his head and told me that I was good and signed the inspection. I later told him that I did not have a yard since the swimming pool took the whole backyard and I wanted patio space and wanted to take full advantage of my property. Then I invited him to the first BBQ on my new yard when finished. He left smiling. The funny part is that plans also called for a 12’ gate that they already approved. Glad that he did no’s ask what was the gate for. Never though of a handicap parking but it wouldn’t have work anyways since a 4 step stairway was also called for to access the pool area. Got of think of something else.

[edinmass]

Nothing is contraband or a grey area..............interestingly in my home town, the bylaw on side yard lists a bunch of things you can do, and goes on to say, anything else not listed is expressly forbidden. When I had the zoning officer over my house, I explained that grass, bushes, trees, picnic tables, dog runs, volley ball nets, snow piles were all prohibited items(Not listed).....as well as wild birds on the grass, cotton tails, frogs, ect. Since they weren’t enforcing all of those items, I couldn’t be selected out for any other thing they decided they didn’t like. They backed down, as they knew I knew how to file in housing court without a lawyer.........just the fee.........when they realize you will push back hard, they are so lazy they will turn a blind eye so they don’t have to do actual work. 

[Elpad]

On 7/28/2020 at 7:32 AM, trimacar said:

Very interesting reading on the aquifer, thanks.

 

So, from the one picture showing the curved sidewalk, am I to assume you have to drive over the sidewalk to park vehicles?  If so, will sidewalk support the weight?

 

With such a liquid ground, so to speak, wonder why construction isn’t like in New Orleans and some other Louisiana areas, have to drive piling to support house and garage,

Sidewalk is 4” poured and so far no cracks on light vehicle traffic, I don’t think I would have a problem since trailer and RV are not used in a daily basis. In the future if it gets damaged, a 6”

replacement would be on order. No pilings needed here, pure coral rock.

Edited July 29, 2020 by Elpad (see edit history)