Backstory for those who havent heard it. 2 years ago, burnt out on my job, parents retired south, dad fell ill. Opportunity arose to transfer to new position in my company in the NC plant. Gets me closer to folks, new work challenges and finally gets me the hell out of NJ. But it was a FAST move, 30 days from interview to start so I had to live in an extended stay and SWMBO and I had to forego our usualy 6+ months of hunting the perfect house and find something close which could be made what we want. House is lovely, property (11 acres) is awesome. Garage....doesnt exist. (sad trombone) 2 car carport on the house and a barn so its a start. All my shop equipment and tools were unceremoniously dumped in the barn and its been a cluster ever since. I knew I wouldnt get it right until I built a garage. 2 years of saving and this week we started.
While I will be the first to say I wish it could be bigger, I'll also say its bigger than anything Ive had in the past. 30x50, 12 ft high with a 10x8 and 10x10 roll up door. Work is VERY busy so there's no DIY here, sadly, but I'd rather have it done so I can get back to some projects.
Day 0 - 40 tons of fill dirt, as estimated by the builder was delivered. They do the work but they dont haul dirt so it was on us to find a place (this becomes relevant later)
Day 1 (note these are not necessarily chronological, just days they show up to work) 2 guys show up to level and dig the foundation. I kept waiting for their bobcat or mini excavator to show up, it did not. 2 guys, 2 shovels. Earning their pay.
Unfortunately by noon it was very appearant they underestimated the amount of fill required. Another 20 tons was needed but since they dont haul their own dirt we called all around and the best we could do was next day delivery....sigh. So the day ended there and dirt was delivered the next day (wednesday) Unfortunately they couldnt return to finish the dig until Friday.
Day 2 - Friday came, 8am, 2 guys 2 shovels. But dang they did it. The observant in the group will notice on the left side there is a depression in the floor. The basic floor is poured at 4inches. The depression is 3x15 and will be poured at 10 inches. Somehow I think you all will understand :)
So that's where we sit today, inspectors come monday then we can pour. That is my one gripe. Im in farm country and I guess a lot of people throw these buildings up unpermitted. I'm not willing to take the risk so to get the exact same building but with certified blueprints cost me an extra $3k, plus permit and inspection fees. Still I'll sleep better at night knowing no one is going to eff with me in the future over it.
The builing is very near the power transformer on our property so it will be an easy install to have service to the building. And while our house is on city water we have a good well and a well head 5 ft from the new building so I will run piping from that into the building with a small hot water heater so I can have a wash sink. I plan to drain it to a greywater leech tank.
Once its done then the DIY phases will begin.
1. I will have to do a gravel driveway to it so as long as Im digging that (due to the property size I have a tractor with a front end loader) I'll add a 10 x 50 gravel pad next to the shop for parking the tractor and my trailer. Eventually I'll put a roof over it and then some walls may appear down the road ;)
2. Once the barn is empty I will start to set that up as the fabrication shop with woodworking tools and possibly the metal fab too. Barn is a 30x40 metal pole barn with half the floor in concrete already. It also has a 10x40 lean to off the back. Keeping my options open on this one as we may add some larger farm animals which will need to use the barn.
