A buddy of mine (yes single) came into some money and built a nice 2 story pole barn style shop with a concrete floor. He built a 1500 sq ft apt on the second story that was the ultimate bachelor pad. Very posh and even had a big deck overlooking 10 acres of land. All of his work tables and tools were under the apartment so half the place was wide open. A lift on one end and room for several cars in the frt. Too much booze, too many women and the economy ended up causing him to lose the place though. Man that sucked.
My dream is to get an old Firehouse, turn the upstairs into a loft and turn the downstairs into a garage...!
the economy forced me to move into my shop 3 years ago, still here, now with girlfriend,(she thinks it's neat) saves money,am ready to "remodel" the up stairs and built a better shower, now able to save $$$ and live nice. RD
I've posted here on the same subject in another thread. I said I would never do it on the basis of experience as a welder. Doing welding work or body work, anything that creates lots of dust and dirt will put dust and dirt in places you wouldn't dream about. Especially welding and cutting and grinding. A brown film of dust everywhere. Somewhat like smoking which can even make the toothpaste inside the tube smell like an old ashtray I think you could do it if you did the dirty work outside in a detached space, a lean to on the side or back of the building for instance.
Not really, but my wife's considered makin' me move in there many a time. Just this morning, as a matter of fact!
A friend of mine used to live in his dads garage, put the bed next to his dads truck. Every morning when his dad left for work he'd get a blast of exhaust in his face!!
Another option is to buy an acreage. that is what I did, bought some land in the county, had it zoned and fenced. All the privacy that one would want- all the room one would want, my dogs run free, I can shoot firearms, now have 400 old cars, etc. It's great, never have to worry about making noise, etc. It's less than 10 minutes into town. I ended up selling my home and moving there because the house simply turned into a place to sleep and shower but, always needed something. I would rather put time into my hobby and making house repairs. To each their own but, I think the ideal situation is to have an acreage that is fenced and do what you want. It is so nice to have more than enough room than I will even need. Now even have a second acreage and have done the same as the first. It cab be very affordable to do.
That's what I was looking to do before I got married...... There was a show back in the 80's called "Spencer for Hire" he lived in an old Firehouse in Boston and drove a Mustang fastback. I always thought it was very cool. I'd keep the pole to slide down when I went to work in the morning! Too many cars now, it would have to be a bigger Firehouse!
I always thought a 1 bedroom 1 bathroom 6 car garage home would be perfect, but she had other ideas. Maybe if I'm lucky someday she will realize that since I spend most of my time in the garage anyway we should sell the house and make it happen. I would even let her have one of the stalls for her crap and that stupid Prius my cars blow blue smoke on....
Any old camper , or RV that you could put inside with the premise of restoring, will get you past all the nay sayers....gray water to the floor drain....
I had a motor home in a 15,000 sf shop. never lived there but spent many nights. nice for cooking a quick meal and back to work.
The wife tells me and my friends that she's going to kick my ass out of the house and I'll have to live in the garage/shop. I don't think she understands that this wouldn't be a bad thing.
My buddy has a big shop for his landscaping business... the previous owner had a small kitchen on the floor level with a living area and a bedroom on the upper area....place is cold all the time and it's a shithole... still it would have possibilities....
We live in our house/shop, whatever I decide to call it that day. 1400 sq of shop and a little more living area. It really is no different than the new house my folks had in town with an attached garage. Our laundry, bath, kitchen and office are on the first floor with the shop while the loft is more of a great room with two bedrooms.
The best one I ever saw was a huge carriage house in New Jersey. Living quarters up stairs with the ground floor housing a full collection of every body style of the 1931 Springfield built Rolls Royce.
lived in an house with a big yard full of cars, an absentee landlord (the best kind) and a small garage for 10 years, then the landlord sold the place and I moved into an apartment. my bedroom looked like the tool room at a workplace, only with a bed and dresser in there. had crap in storage all over the place, and couldn't work on anything. did that for 3 years and had enough. I knew some people who lived in thier shops at a certain complex in town, I figured out the cost to build a room, install a shower, stove and all the crap you need to eat and sleep and decided I would buy a motorhome for the shower, stove, fridge and a place to watch TV and sleep. later I built an 8x10 room that could be moved to another place or sold should I ever move, got most of my collection of good old junk and computer and a couch in there. the benifit of the motorhome paid off about 3 months after I moved in, the city came by and inspected all the units in my complex and tossed a bunch of people out. on inspection day I parked my motorhome on the street and there was no evidence of anyone living there, if I had built a room with a shower and kitchen and all that I'd have been history and all the money spent would have gone right down the crapper. another good reason to do the motorhome thing is when you paint or whatever I can sleep outside and not breath all the fumes. built a bunch of crap in there and still haven't put the car together that was my whole reason for doing it in the first place..
I'm doing it right now, will be 2 years this July. Kinda got forced into it by way of home foreclosure but have been happy ever since. Started with the camper thing but it got a little too cozy after about 4 months. I'll tell you this, if your going to build your "office" in the shop build it like you'd build an outside wall. Get exterior doors the whole nine yards and you'll never have problems with welding/grinding dust in your "office". Also a pizza oven and a microwave can pretty much replace everything in a kitchen.
Also a pizza oven and a microwave can pretty much replace everything in a kitchen guess you could do your dishes inthe parts washer.
I raised two sons, no wife. None of us liked washing dishes. It didnt take long for the oldest kid to suggest we hide all the dishes except 3 forks, 3 spoons and use paper plates. Life was good
seriously, Whats wrong with showering in non potable water??? Please respond It would be like swimming in the creek and no one sees anything wrong with that.
Non potable water is considered waste water,,which may or may not contain bacteria that is harmful. HRP
Hahah! I work in Palo Alto. I'll climb out of a utility trench and people will look at me like I'm the creature from the black lagoon! Having lived in a shop for a little while, I will agree that it is tough on the dating scene. Well, not really tough to get action. However, there is only a certain caliber of women that will go for it. Very tough when you meet someone you'd like to get serious with. Oh and when the crackheads find out you're always there, it gets interesting. They will try and bring you crackhead gifts ( expired baked goods, thrown out by local business. Promotional CD's , cases of breath mints taken from the back of a 7-11) Then, a day will come when they need something from you, and they act like you owe them! Industrial areas around here are magnets for scummy activity and scummy people. That's what ruined it for me. I stopped opening the door and then it became a depressing cave.
I have a creek that is fed by a spring and run off from the forest. What would be needed to make the water safe for bathing?
You are likely to get a negative response from the local authorities and in compliance with all things 'legal', the answer will be no. So, don't ask. Other than that, so long as you are willing to put up with and work around any and all discomforts and issues, who really cares. Obviously, you will want to avoid 'cabin-fever' - make sure you do interact with other human beings, then have at it and have some fun. Cheers.
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