Anyway, today I spent a little time in the shop, moved a bunch of stuff that used to be in or around the shop to it’s new home, did some clean up around the properties, put out more flyers about the coming ordinances and now I’m having a cigar on the front porch.
Cigar??? Gosh, I’m jealous! I still have some in the humidor, but my throat can’t handle them anymore. Maybe I’ll bring them to the next meeting. Half of them are Cuban.
On your dream garage. Check out your permit ordinances. From the time you pull the permit, how long can you take to actually get the structure up?
When I built the shed of miracles, with some tight zoning, I didn’t get a permit for a garage. I just did a notice (it wasn’t even a permit) that I was going to do a paved parking area in the rear. The still allowed the driveway back there to be gravel. That’s what I did. I got engineering plans, very inexpensive, and I took a lot of pictures so I wouldn’t have any problem if I decided to build a garage on top of my parking space.
Once the slab was down, I snapped chalk lines in the outline for the 27 foot-long W trusses, and I made them myself. I bought the 2x4s, cut all the pieces, made the plywood plates for the joints, but I didn’t put anything together. No law is broken.
Backing up a step, when I wasn’t looking, somebody put the PVC pipe in the ground under the slab for the bathroom and the slop sink. I never caught them.
When I had the money for the walls, and the plywood roofing, etc., I got a permit for a freestanding “portico/carport.“ I framed the long walls myself on the slab, and had my neighbor help me to flip them over into the yard. I was able to do the smaller end wall and leave it on the slab. Then came the magic.
I got a dozen of my friends from the church group to come over for the “barnraising.” These were not experienced worker folks like you and maybe me. These were store, clerks, accountants, white collar, whatever. But I did make sure at least a couple of the guys knew how to do stuff and swing a hammer. Guys and gals.
I drafted some of the gals to put together food and drink for the “barnraising.“ I had everybody show up at eight in the morning, I was organized, and I put them to work. We had the two side walls standing, and the end wall attached, and put the double cap across all of them in less than two hours.
I supervised the placement of the first three or four trusses, and then I left that to the other guys who knew a little bit, and the rest of the crew. I made sure the end of them were straight down the side that showed. We had all of the trusses placed by 12:30. BTW, some of the gals were involved in all of that.
The more prissy gals put together the picnic lunch. Everybody gorged outsandwiches and salad and hamburgers for an hour. Then I got them all back to work.
Yes, half of them were worn out by that time, but their pride would not let them quit. Again, I started on one corner, showing them how to raise the plywood for the roof, and then I left them alone, and they got all the plywood up on the top except the last piece that had to be cut for the peak.
While they were doing that, with one gal helper, I framed the front wall, which was 90% garage door opening, and 10% wall and header. Got a couple guys and stood that up. It was only about 2 o’clock.
One guy was super detailed oriented, slow, but not really familiar with the carpentry and such. I got him started on the vinyl siding with two gals helping him. By the time we quit, about 7 PM, he had the siding on one side, across the back, and halfway up the other side. Prior to that, we put plywood on the corners, and just foam board down the side sides in the middle of the back. That met the code.
The roof guys had all the plywood up, I went and helped cut the half dozen pieces we needed to make it to the peak with a vent. Before I did that, I got a couple guys who knew what they were doing together with the other guys, and put the tar paper on the roof for under the shingles.
I blew the horn about 615, and I think everybody finished up what they were doing at 7 o’clock. That surprised me, cause I knew 3/4 of them were ready to drop. But they were so psyched that they were building something, that they refused to quit until they got a certain section done.
Then we rolled out the quarter keg, and the steaks, and the rest of the food, and the last thing I did as a Christian was to make sure everybody got home safe. That was actually only about 930, everybody was pooped.
I shingle the roof and finish the siding over the next couple weeks, and closed out the permit for my “portico/carport.”
That was in 1997. If you ask those people today, the best time they had, 2/3 of them will still say the barnraising. It’s nothing like any of them had ever done, and a couple of them still stop by to look at it. Seriously.
I have to admit, that it was 25 foot deep, and 25 foot wide, sort of. I’ll bet you there’s two or three or more inches out of square on virtually everything. But it suits the hell out of me!
BTW, this was the first half of the shed of miracles, and it was like 27 feet wide by 25 feet deep. I added the other 25 feet deep later.
Another one of my brutally long posts, but here’s my point. Yes, it strokes my ego to tell the story, but that is not my intent,I completely offer it as a helping hand here.
Pick out the spot you want for your garage. Make it 5 feet wider and 10 feet deeper then you think you’ll ever need in your entire lifetime. That way you’ll only have to expand it a couple times later.
Check your zoning, see if you could pour the slab without a building permit, dig it out in your “free time,“ and get it ready to pour. When you position it, and you dig it, make sure all the stormwater that comes past it and will come off the roof will go around it and not into it. You can find an engineer buddy to make sure it meets the code, do a sketch and stamp it for probably $250. If that much, you might get it as a favor.
You get the idea on the rest. When you pour the slab, put in some 1 inch or inch and a half PVC conduit elbows that could run into the wall and outside of the slab. Put one on each corner cause you never know what’s coming!
Again, you get the rest of the idea. If you pour the slab, and you have a drawing, and it meets the building standard, you can get the permit for the structure later. You may be able to frame your walls and your trusses without a permit. In some places, you’re not “building,“ until you’re raising it up. Just make sure it meets the code. BTW, mine is 9‘8“ inside. At 10 foot I would’ve had to use two by sixes.
You have to get a few friends to help you here and there, but have the barnraising. People absolutely love to do that stuff: build stuff, help their neighbor, do something they don’t usually do, make sure you pray before during it after, and do it with them.
Enough from my pulpit, as always, my two cents, I hope it helps!
And yes, I’ll come up for the barnraising!
EDIT: i’m happy to help you figure out the placement, and sketch it all up if that helps. I love that kind of stuff.
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