ordered new garage this weekend

[XLR8]

You guys are making me jealous with this talk about garages! :L Hopefully one day I can have one at my place too... just have to keep dreaming and planning for now.

HD, I'm interested in this ABC stone you put down... 12.5 tons for $328??? What is ABC stone and do you have an idea what that is in cubic yards?

I'd love to see pictures of your driveway when you can post them.

Jane Ann

 

[JJS]

Got the garage door up. My next project is getting elec to the building. I was home this past President's Day weekend and met with the power company and my elec. contractor. Anyway I look at it, it is going to be a little expensive. To run the power from my house means replacing my current 200 amp service with at least a 500 amp service panel to compensate for the voltage drop. The power company wants about $2500 to run underground service from the pole to the building. I could save a little by doing overhead wire but that means planting poles in my pastures. I don't like that idea because I have to mow around them with the tractor. Tractors and power poles don't mix when the operator has had one too many. The tractor ends up losing. To do the elec. work in the building is going to be around another $1500-$2000.

I did get my drive and apron done. I used ABC stone and now that it has packed it looks really nice and it is really hard. I used 12.5 tons of the stuff and the cost was $328. Way cheaper than concrete and asphalt. The great thing about the ABC is that if I need more I can order it and spread it with the tractor. Plus i get to play with the tractor and frontend loader. I'll have to get some new pics now that the ABC is down. I've driven the vettes over it a couple of times and so far no issues.

After (when) I get power I guess it will be tool shopping time. I'll have to make sure I drag the wife along as I tool shop so she gets a dose of what I have to go through when I go shopping with her:L.

How are you making out with yours?



H.D.

Wow, 500A? That's a lot of current. This garage must be huge, HD!
Sounds like underground is the only way to go. It's a lot of $$ but in just a couple of years you'll look at it as money well spent. -John

 

[Heavy Duty]

You guys are making me jealous with this talk about garages! :L Hopefully one day I can have one at my place too... just have to keep dreaming and planning for now.

HD, I'm interested in this ABC stone you put down... 12.5 tons for $328??? What is ABC stone and do you have an idea what that is in cubic yards?

I'd love to see pictures of your driveway when you can post them.

Jane Ann

Jane, the ABC is like a crushed stone/gravel like material. I think in some places they call it aggregate. It is really easy to spread and level if you have or can get a tractor with a front loader and a box blade. I have one and I Looovvvveee any excuse to play with it. Once this stuff packs down and it has been rained on a couple of times it gets really hard. Not as hard as concrete or asphalt but hard enough that it makes it a little difficult to work with later.

As far as the cubic yards. I think the truck was a 12 (or 15) yard dump truck. All I know is that it was a huge, tandem axle truck. If you look at my last pics of my building you'll see that I had one hell-of-a low spot. It held water and was taking days to dry. Filling it in with sand just created more mud. I had used the ABC a couple of years ago for some low spots in my drive way. So far it has done it's job very well and I haven't had anymore problems with the low spots. I do grade it about once a year. The place i got mine from sales the ABC by the ton. Mine was ~$27.00 per ton. It sure bets the price of concrete and asphalt and you don't have to do any grading unless you want to do some rough grading and then cover with about 3" of ABC. The ABC at the front of my building is about 6" deep. That is because I drive my truck and vettes over it. So I wanted it extra thick. Driving the cars and trucks over it helps pack the stuff. Since it is porous, the water filters through or runs off.

I'll take a couple of pics next time I go home.


H.D.

 

[Heavy Duty]

Wow, 500A? That's a lot of current. This garage must be huge, HD!
Sounds like underground is the only way to go. It's a lot of $$ but in just a couple of years you'll look at it as money well spent. -John

Hello John,
Yea. The 500 amps would be needed since it would be powering both the house and garage and to compensate for the voltage/amperage drop from the house to the garage. My elec. contractor (and my brother) told me that if i went with 400 amp service (200 for the house and 200 for the garage) that I would only have 150 amps at the garage panel. Its about 200 feet from the house service panel to the garage. So to get the 200 amps at the garage I would need a 500 amp service. That would put me with a little over 200 amps at the garage. So with the cost of a new panel, re-wiring the house to handle the upgrade, and all of the other little surprises that would go along with that plan, it looks like it is going to be cheaper to let the power company do an underground line drop to the building. The power company will make sure that 200 amps shows up at the building.But that also comes with its own little bag of surprises. But those are much easier to work around. I don't think the lady of the house would be too happy being without power for a couple of weeks:bash .

Anyway i look at it it is going to be costly. But I'm like you in that it will cost right now but several years from now i'll be glad i did it.

OK John, we got to start beating the drums for spring. My casting arm is start to twitch:L.


H.D.

 

[Heavy Duty]

Once the walls and roof were up (remember, all in one day) I've only built benches and put up a couple of scrounged wall cabinets. Done a couple of projects in there. The best part is youcan leave your tools out and "forget" about the mess for a while. Then when Im bored I can go and straighten up. WHich I need to do now

Jeremy

I know what you mean by leaving the tools out. And I'm not the one leaving them out. Not to mention that when I got home the other weekend I had furry critters (cats) sleeping in the garage on my car drying towelsad. The lady of the house and i had a long talk about the reason I built the garage. NO CATS and NO ONE screwing with my tools. The cats have the hay barn to sleep in. And if you use the tools, put them back where you found them. I don't know if i got through to her but since she always knows when I come home i bet there will be a garage inspection before i get home next time:L.


H.D.

 

[2002 topless]

HD

Price for power service does not seem out of line. In 2000 ran 400 amp service to my new building and backfed the house with 200 amp service. By running the service to the new building I have a 400 amp breaker and a 200 amp panel in the same box so no loss of current. Only the house has a loss but only need 150 amp at house. Cost was over $5000.00 but all lines are underground.

 

[Heavy Duty]

HD

Price for power service does not seem out of line. In 2000 ran 400 amp service to my new building and backfed the house with 200 amp service. By running the service to the new building I have a 400 amp breaker and a 200 amp panel in the same box so no loss of current. Only the house has a loss but only need 150 amp at house. Cost was over $5000.00 but all lines are underground.

Interesting. I had not thought about backfeeding the house. I'll run that one by my guys to see what they think.

Thanks for the tip.

H.D.

 

[Heavy Duty]

You guys are making me jealous with this talk about garages! :L Hopefully one day I can have one at my place too... just have to keep dreaming and planning for now.

HD, I'm interested in this ABC stone you put down... 12.5 tons for $328??? What is ABC stone and do you have an idea what that is in cubic yards?

I'd love to see pictures of your driveway when you can post them.

Jane Ann

Jane,
here are a few pics of the building with the ABC in front of it.

If you look at this pic

It is a vast improvement. As you can see this stuff gets hard.



H.D.

 

[JJS]

I had a chance last night to get over to the house I'm buying, and to take another look at the garage. The old lady that owned the house had the garage put on about 10 years ago, and it still looks very new. The floor is more or less stain free, but there's now insullation - it just wasn't finished, which is fine by me. I can finish it off whenever time allows, and I'll know where all the electricals are. In time I want to finish it up and put a gas heater in there. I also want to do the floor in a style similar to the one in my avatar (floor of the guy I bought the car from), but for now I'm just going to purchase a "clean park garage mat" from Mid-America.

I'm really getting psyched about the new garage, and the nice weather we've been having. I can't wait to get the car out of storage and into its new home. This'll be the first time I'll be able to park the car at home and drive it whenever I feel like it. I've had to store it since I got it, and it was always so far away that I only drove it on "nice" weekends, and sometimes it was just such a pain that I wouldn't even bother to go get it. This is going to be a great year! -John

 

[Heavy Duty]

I had a chance last night to get over to the house I'm buying, and to take another look at the garage. The old lady that owned the house had the garage put on about 10 years ago, and it still looks very new. The floor is more or less stain free, but there's now insullation - it just wasn't finished, which is fine by me. I can finish it off whenever time allows, and I'll know where all the electricals are. In time I want to finish it up and put a gas heater in there. I also want to do the floor in a style similar to the one in my avatar (floor of the guy I bought the car from), but for now I'm just going to purchase a "clean park garage mat" from Mid-America.

I'm really getting psyched about the new garage, and the nice weather we've been having. I can't wait to get the car out of storage and into its new home. This'll be the first time I'll be able to park the car at home and drive it whenever I feel like it. I've had to store it since I got it, and it was always so far away that I only drove it on "nice" weekends, and sometimes it was just such a pain that I wouldn't even bother to go get it. This is going to be a great year! -John

John as we say in the Army.....Whoooaaaa. Nothing like having all of the ducks home.

I know the deal about not having the vette at the house. I have to suffer through that when I bring one up here. The storage site I use is about 10 miles away. But it does beat parking in the parking lot at my apartment complex.

Sounds like finishing the garage is going to be a good winter project. For heat I bought a wood stove to go into mine from a yard sell. Paid $50 bucks for it. During hurricane season I always have at least one tree that gets blown down. So that will be my source for wood to burn.

The wife knows where to find me when I'm home....in the garage either wrenching on something or polishing something. The last time I was home it was the truck's turn to get the treatment.

Did you get the polisher yet?



H.D.

 

[JJS]

John as we say in the Army.....Whoooaaaa. Nothing like having all of the ducks home.

I know the deal about not having the vette at the house. I have to suffer through that when I bring one up here. The storage site I use is about 10 miles away. But it does beat parking in the parking lot at my apartment complex.

Sounds like finishing the garage is going to be a good winter project. For heat I bought a wood stove to go into mine from a yard sell. Paid $50 bucks for it. During hurricane season I always have at least one tree that gets blown down. So that will be my source for wood to burn.

The wife knows where to find me when I'm home....in the garage either wrenching on something or polishing something. The last time I was home it was the truck's turn to get the treatment.

Did you get the polisher yet?



H.D.

H.D.
Yes, I got the polisher, and I want to thank you for the pointer. I got it at a very reasonable price too - it was on sale when you gave me the pointer. You're going to have to show me how to use it after one of our fishing excursions though. A good friend of mine out in AZ has the same polisher and he told me to be VERY carefull with it. He said it can damage the finish on my car very easily.

Don't know how often we'll be able to get out fishing this year, but we'll definitely get out as often as my "new" project (house) allows. I have to paint the exterior this year, and later this Fall I want to bring in some loom(you've probably never heard of loom - it's rich soil), fill in the backyard which is mostly gravel and full of plants and flowers, then save the basement and garage for a winter project. The exterior of the house has cedar shakes - the large variety - which are a pain in the arse to paint. I'm not looking forward to it, but I want to do it right (once) the first time.

As for the car, I stored it in Holden the first two years, and in Auburn last year. It seemed like almost every time I wanted to take the car out it would either look like it was going to rain, or I'd have a chore where I'd need one of the Jeeps later in the day. It made it such a pain to go get the car that I'd sometimes go 2-3 weeks without driving it. The driving season is short enough around here as it is, so it really s*cked not being able to take the car out. I've put so few miles on it that the guy I store the car with (he restores corvettes to "like new" condition), and the people at his shop give me sh*t about it every year. In any event, I can't wait to have that garage! -John

 

[Scott Winebarger]

Interesting. I had not thought about backfeeding the house. I'll run that one by my guys to see what they think.

Thanks for the tip.

H.D.

Hey HD , not to stir up anything but I hate to see people ripped off, I have been an Electrician/ Electrical contractor for over 25 years. If the wire is sized right , there is no voltage drop in a 200 ft run either way . if you need any technical assistance or have any questions feel free to pm or email me

 

[Heavy Duty]

Hey HD , not to stir up anything but I hate to see people ripped off, I have been an Electrician/ Electrical contractor for over 25 years. If the wire is sized right , there is no voltage drop in a 200 ft run either way . if you need any technical assistance or have any questions feel free to pm or email me

Thanks cj. I did get good news the other day. The power company wanted me (or my contractor) to fill out a load sheet. They use the load sheet to calculate the amount of elec. you will use over a 2 year time span. They then subtract that from their cost of providing service and I pay the difference for them to run the line to my meter base. Well, the power company guy i was dealing with kept telling me to make sure I put everything i may use in the future (hint..hint). So I made sure that i listed everything from a skillsaw to a hottub. He came back and told me that there would be no charge for the power company to run elec. to the building. So all have to pay is the contractor.


H.D.

 

[Heavy Duty]

Yes, I got the polisher

Cool. you'll love it once you get the hang of it.

A good friend of mine out in AZ has the same polisher and he told me to be VERY carefull with it.

It will if you hold it in one spot for too long of a time. I use the low speed setting. Also, if you have an older vehicle that you could practice on that would be the way to go before you do the vette. Just make sure the surface is clean and free of any dirt. Any dirt on the car and the polisher will become a sander:W.

Don't know how often we'll be able to get out fishing this year, but we'll definitely get out as often as my "new" project (house) allows.

Not a problem on my part. Besides, since nice weather doesn't hang around as long up here I would be doing the same thing. I do try and get out about 4-5 times during the summer. Anymore than that and I start losing the sense of adventure.


I stored it in Holden the first two years, and in Auburn last year.

The place i use is in Oxford right off of rt 20. Nice place.


H.D.

 

[JJS]

I stored it in Holden the first two years, and in Auburn last year.

The place i use is in Oxford right off of rt 20. Nice place.


H.D.

North Oxford? Fairly new?
That was my first chioce. I went to look at it, got a quote from the girl that gave me the tour, and was all set to rent. When I called back she wasn't in the office, and an operator from the main office picked up. He told me that she must be showing a unit, or doing something that required her to step out, and he asked if he could help me. I told him I was going to rent a unit, and he said:

"You picked just the right time. We're having a special right now where it's only nnn amount per month, and the first month is free if you pay for the full 6 months in advance. She must've told you about that, right?" Ah, nope. She didn't. She told me it was going to cost XXX and never mentioned the "special," or a free month. I told him right over the phone that I had just changed my mind and wasn't interested anymore. Hell, I'm not going to rent from anyone who I "think" might have lied to me.

I don't know if she knew about the "special" or not, but that put a bad taste in my mouth and I had to walk away. It was a shame really, it was such a beautiful place.

I

 

[Heavy Duty]

Yep, that is the place.

I rented from them last year for the first time. I did get the first month free. This past sat, after I bought my new ride, I had to go over and rent again. Got the first 3 months for half-price ($69 bucks). So I paid for 3 months up front. I will probably keep the place until after August. That is when I'll take what ever ride I have up here home for the winter.

The lady seems to be up front everytime I've talked to her. She loves to see the vettes coming in and out of the place.


H.D.

 

[JJS]

The lady (I'm being VERY nice here) seemed "put out" when she gave me the tour. That was probably due to the fact that she had to stop eating for a couple of minutes - it doesn't sound like the same woman. -John

 

[Scott Winebarger]

Thanks cj. I did get good news the other day. The power company wanted me (or my contractor) to fill out a load sheet. They use the load sheet to calculate the amount of elec. you will use over a 2 year time span. They then subtract that from their cost of providing service and I pay the difference for them to run the line to my meter base. Well, the power company guy i was dealing with kept telling me to make sure I put everything i may use in the future (hint..hint). So I made sure that i listed everything from a skillsaw to a hottub. He came back and told me that there would be no charge for the power company to run elec. to the building. So all have to pay is the contractor.


H.D.

That sounds great , If theres anything I can do to help, just yell.

 

[Heavy Duty]

The lady (I'm being VERY nice here) seemed "put out" when she gave me the tour. That was probably due to the fact that she had to stop eating for a couple of minutes - it doesn't sound like the same woman. -John

Now John.....you should know by now that interrupting a female who is stuffing her face is next to trying to take the food away from a hungry dog:L. Very risky business.

If there was a Dodge pickup there it is the same lady. I think sometimes she rides her Harley into work during the spring and summer.


H.D.

 

[Heavy Duty]

That sounds great , If theres anything I can do to help, just yell.

Thanks cj. I think the contractor will do me right since he is wanting to board his horse at my place. I did tell him that i wanted copper wire....no Aluminum.


H.D.