Some things are best hired out.

To build this garage we need to remove trees. Lots of trees. Living in a forest has it's advantages but removing 15 trees for an addition is not among them. Most of the trees need to be removed for fire mitigation. Some are too close to the house or new structure and should be removed to prevent the house or garage from going up in flames WHEN we have a forest fire. (The inspector made the when point very strongly.) 3 of the 15 trees were simply in the way of where we were putting the garage. We started with those.

I have walked the site extensively and was familiar with every tree we would have to take down. The three in question were undoubtedly the biggest. By big I'm talking 80 - 100 year old Ponderosa pines. Their trunks are 18 - 24 inches in diameter. Knowing this I phoned every tree cutting operation in town and got some quotes on cutting these bad boys down. The best number I got was $550 for three trees to come down, be bucked and the slash chipped and left on site. I thought this was a great deal.

Keith did not.

We have a chainsaw. It still has the original safety chain on it. That's what we started with. A safety chain, as I learned, is made in such a way so that it won't cut as deeply or aggressively into the wood. This is safer because it won't cause the chainsaw to buck and possibly kill you. Seems like a good idea. Unfortunately 1/2 way through the initial cut into the first tree we realized the safety chain was just not going to cut it. Literally. Keith, now full of fury as the full realization of what a huge job this was going to be set in, pushed that chain to the limits and felled the first tree. He even managed to take off a few of the limbs before we came to the conclusion we would have to rent a chainsaw with a better chain. Why not just buy a new chain for our chainsaw? Because, naturally we bought a chainsaw from a little operation that has since gone out of business. Home Depot doesn't sell them or parts for them and the only place that does is 45 minutes away. The rental place is comparatively around the corner.

An hour later Keith is back, we've had lunch and begin attack the other two trees. The new chainsaw is amazing and is cutting through the wood like a hot knife through butter. But we only rented it for the day, a Saturday, and the rental place is closed on Sunday. We have to finish the job by 5:30 or we pay two more days on the chainsaw. That simply won't do. So as Keith is bucking up the trunks he is making the pieces longer and longer in an attempt to get them out of the way and still get the trunk bucked in time. In the end we have logs that are 3 feet long, 20 inches in diameter and completely un-liftable.

I was left to roll (yes, roll) 30 massive logs out of the area to be excavated. In the end it took us two days to totally clear the space. On Sunday, Keith pushed our chainsaw to it's limits to get through the little that was left. The last few cuts I felt I should be on hand with a fire extinguisher because there was more smoke than sawdust coming out of the cut.

We also accumulated a massive amount of slash that we have to chip. I know there are companies that come in and chip everything for you but I have a feeling that someone, and I'm not mentioning any names, will think it will be cheaper if we do it ourselves. sigh.

When it rains...

I must find a new way to title my posts. Clearly numbering by day is not going to work with my sporadic postings.
I finally have the building permit approved and in my hand. With Jim's help, I was able to submit drawings that required only the most minute changes from the building department. Things like change R-19 insulation requirements to an R-21. Easy as pie.
Now I admit I dropped the ball a bit with one important detail. The architectural control committee. It was formed in 1970 and the founders are still on the board. It consists of three individuals, one of whom is on an extended vacation. Only last week did I remember I needed to submit stamped drawings to them for their review. I don't know when they will get back to me exactly as to if I can build the garage or not. I did phone this morning and let them know I had some contractors lined up. I realize it was my bad that they got the drawings late but now I'm hoping they could hurry up and give me the green light.
I have an excavator lined up and ready to go. I'm waiting for two concrete numbers back today to decide which contractor I will go with. Both can start next week. I have a framer lined up too. Originally my husband and I thought we would frame it ourselves and, for practice, we started to build a playhouse for the kids. It is a small project and pretty straightforward. We've been doing it for about 6 weeks now and still have a long way to go. I'm thinking that for something the magnitude of the garage and office it would be best to leave it to the professionals.
I'm waiting now on a guy from a roofing company to give me a quote and I'm just waiting for the go ahead from the architectural control committee to order the windows. So far so good.

Amy

Day...unknown at this point

We are still working on it, but doing up the drawings has taken me quite awhile. I have enlisted the help of my friend, Jim, who is an architect. He has given me a few pointers as to what is necessary and what is missing. I believe the drawings are done and now I just need to plot them and have Jim stamp them for the county to review. I have sent out what I have to a few contractors in hopes of getting bids. So far only the excavator has come back with a number.
This could take awhile...

Day 4

I spent day three at home with my son who was sick. Not much progress. In fact, none at all.

I have a friend, Jim, whom I met at the dog park, and he is a licenced architect. He offered to look at our site and give us recommendations regarding soil conditions and a recommended foundation size as well as wet stamp my drawings for the county's approval . This should save us a fair amount of money and time to hire an architect. Plus I like Jim, I think he'll have some good ideas.

Originally we had the garage positioned to come off a 90 degree curve in our driveway. It turns out, after a lot of thought and eyeballing, that the drop in elevation from that curve is quite substantial. To build it that way we would either have a very sloped driveway leading down to the garage door or crazy high foundation walls to raise the garage close to the level of the existing driveway. Neither option is desirable. I don't want water flowing off the driveway and into the garage nor do I want to pay for 8'-0" high foundation walls instead of the 4'-0" that they could be. Our solution is to turn the garage so the garage door lines up more or less parallel to the existing driveway. We have the room to put a Y in farther down the existing drive close to the house and run a new driveway back to the new garage parallel to the drive that is there now. The advantage to this is that the point at which we would connect the old and new drives is already substantially lower than the original connection point and the longer run for the new drive allows for a more gradual slope. We can put the whole garage at a lower starting point thereby saving on the high foundation walls. Yes we have to pour a longer driveway but I think any additional cost for this modification will be made up for in less concrete for the foundation as well as less fill to grade the land around the garage to into the existing landscape.

A drawback to this whole change is that our original layout for the garage office will have to be revamped. Originally we had the office up at the front of the garage. The whole building would be an L shape. In the hollow of the L we would put a patio sitting area that would be visible from the house and have a good view of the yard. By rotating the building we would block the sitting area from the house with the office, turning it into the wind and subjecting the area to a less than desirable view. So we've decided to push the office to the back of the garage. Imagine now a V with the center part facing the house, a beautiful trellised area collecting the south and west sun and sheltered from the wind. I think this will actually look better than the original idea where the sitting area was facing south and east.
I now have to redraw everything I had.
That's my Day 4.

Day 2

I have to arrange for someone to come out and take a look at our property for fire mitigation purposes. For the most part, any trees within 15 feet of the house should be cut down and trees within 30 feet are to be limbed up. Believe it or not, this might be a deal breaker for me. We live in a forest and have probably 100 trees our our 1.4 acres. Still it pains me to cut down even one. Our bit of mountain has wonderfully moss covered outcroppings of granite which are site to behold unto themselves. But when a tree grows from the middle of such an outcropping, with its roots tangling around looking for all the world like the tree is literally holding on to the rock, it is such a cool thing to see. What a shame to cut down those trees. And how to you remove the roots from the rock? So I've been delaying calling about fire mitigation for fear of what I'll hear.

Day 1

Well, my husband and I have decided that we need some more space. He would like an office detached from the house for privacy and we need some more garage spaces. We have a project car that needs it's own space so the kids don't start wandering away with parts. A double detached garage should allow enough room and space to ensure the car remains untouched. Today I go to the county to get more information about, well, everything. More to come...
Amy