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Ever considered living in your shop?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by powmia, Jan 17, 2013.

  1. e-tek
    Joined: Dec 19, 2007
    Posts: 424

    e-tek
    Member
    from SK, Canada

    Obviously it's many guys dream!
     
  2. Basicly live in the garage now. Just use the house for sleeping and taking a dump.
    Wanted....housekeeper
     
  3. Grumpy
    Joined: Jan 28, 2003
    Posts: 2,570

    Grumpy
    Member
    from NE Ohio

    Wow...
    exactly what my wife wants to do too!

    Theres a 1920s brick firehouse not far from us that recently sold. The people are living above and cars in truck bays.
    My wife is crazy jealous..
     
  4. manyolcars
    Joined: Mar 30, 2001
    Posts: 9,370

    manyolcars

    Wanted....housekeeper, must be blonde with skinny legs :)
     
  5. Let’s look at this from another angle. I own a small office building in Los Angeles (real small, about 600 square feet). When I lease it I include a statement from the renter of the intended usage. It might say “…to operate a retail book store”. I also include a statement that the building is not to be used for living. If a tenant violates these I could, and probably should, throw them out. If I knew a tenant was living there and did nothing about it and there was a fire where someone was injured or killed I would be out on a limb and there would be a lawyer with a chain saw. The building meets the building code and is safe for a retail book store but not as a living quarters. There are not adequate fire exits. There are not smoke or CO alarms. There is only cold and not hot water. The building is not insulated. There is not a 3 foot wide space between the building and the property line. There could be (but not in my case) bars on the windows without quick releases. There are not windows of the required size and height off of the floor (yes, there is a code) to exit in case of ta fire. There is not an approved and properly vented heater. …and the list goes on.

    Charlie Stephens
     
  6. manyolcars
    Joined: Mar 30, 2001
    Posts: 9,370

    manyolcars

    We OWN our buildings. Dont want to rent from you :)
     
  7. Based on what I said, would you rent your building to someone else that wanted to live there? I am sure you could get away with a lot more in Texas but I live in Los Angeles with a lot of hungry lawyers. A well intended thing might easily backfire.

    Charlie Stephens
     
  8. Blue One
    Joined: Feb 6, 2010
    Posts: 11,488

    Blue One
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Alberta

    Or let's not and leave it at that. :p
     
  9. Post Apocalyptic Kustoms
    Joined: Oct 21, 2012
    Posts: 479

    Post Apocalyptic Kustoms
    BANNED
    from Outside

    I would live in my shop in a heartbeat if I had one. Now that my "insignificant other" has been gone for 6 months I actually enjoy being in my house though. Imagine that. I have hubcaps on the wall, drag slicks in the living room, model cars everywhere and my new "shop" is my basement now. Life is good without women.
     
  10. wheelnut46
    Joined: Nov 11, 2002
    Posts: 132

    wheelnut46
    Member
    from RI, USA

    If I was single that's what I'd do. Just roll a camper inside for sleeping and have space for the trucks, bikes and tractors indoors where me and the dog can keep watch.
    In a perfect world it has an outdoor log furnace and a lift.
     
  11. manyolcars
    Joined: Mar 30, 2001
    Posts: 9,370

    manyolcars

    I have a travel trailer but extremely low ceilings, tiny walkway, etc. I think I would much prefer making a real living space.
     
  12. slammed
    Joined: Jun 10, 2004
    Posts: 8,150

    slammed
    Member

    This property of yours is not a shop/garage like the OP asked. Yes. yes libel,libel libel code. code, code ect.
     
  13. mgtstumpy
    Joined: Jul 20, 2006
    Posts: 9,230

    mgtstumpy
    Member

    A friend lived in his shop after he added a kitchen and bedroom. He ended up getting divorced as he was never home and burned the candle at both ends by working excessively long hours as he was self employed. He bought acreage, built a bigger shed and remarried. He now doesn't have far to go before he is home. Lots of beer in the fridge now.
     
  14. manyolcars
    Joined: Mar 30, 2001
    Posts: 9,370

    manyolcars

    Heres the model for the front of my shop. Remove a few things, add a 10 gallon visible pump and a old dead flat tire Model A sedan out front, a Hardware sign above the porch...
     

    Attached Files:

  15. unkamort
    Joined: Sep 8, 2006
    Posts: 1,014

    unkamort
    Member

     
  16. 73RR
    Joined: Jan 29, 2007
    Posts: 7,327

    73RR
    Member


    If you decide to use a lift of this type you will need a very substanial foundation under it. It will not simply be bolted to the floor as the two-post styles are and even they need more than some skinny rat slab.


    As to the original conversation, because the economy sucks, the metal building industry is also hurting. There are some fantastic deals to be had if you can write a check, already have the land and the zoning is secured.
    .
     
  17. Ned Ludd
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 5,297

    Ned Ludd
    Member

    What is the world coming to? Europe in general and Italy in particular has a huge history of combining industrial and residential uses. It was the basic predominant type of urban building for over a millenium.

    [​IMG]
    Ca' D'Oro in Venice. The ground floor was originally built as a warehouse for import/export goods; the upper floors are quite an ostentatious dwelling.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    The Rows in Chester, England. The ground floors of the houses were originally storage or workshops, with retail on the level above, served by a continuous walkway that connects the houses, with multi-storey dwellings over. There had originally been occasional bridges linking the two sides of the street.

    [​IMG]
    Hanseatic brick Gothic in Poland: more business on the ground floor, living above.

    [​IMG]
    Colonnaded houses in Prague, with a continuous public walkway at ground level.

    I wonder how much of that is because it isn't the norm. Perhaps if most people worked where they lived they'd develop a sort of sense of decorum about this and a consequent respect for other people's hours - not to mention respect for the dignity of physical labour. And if integrated living and working were the norm, one might expect ways to develop to draw boundaries, through things like how workshops interface with living spaces, how entrances work, etc.

    Someone mentioned that living and working in the same place can become quite isolating, but I think this is also due to it being the exception rather than the rule. If I lived in a street in which each of my neighbours had a business of some kind operating in their home, I can imagine that I'd spend a lot of time in my neighbours' shops. It's an age-old and quite natural way of sociality.

    I think it's a cultural thing. We've got the same thing here, but stairs don't seem to bother the Dutch, even when elderly:
    [​IMG]

    I think part of the trick is not having to climb several storeys in one go very often. If you live in an apartment on the third (G+3) floor, you have to climb three storeys to get to your space. If you live on in a multi-storey house with living spaces on G+1, you climb one storey to get to the kitchen and can pause, have something to drink, open the mail, check the HAMB, etc. before climbing to the bedrooms above.

    One can write a book about a good-reasons-and-real-reasons analysis of building codes and zoning, and it'd have quite a lot of cui bono? about it. Suffice it to say that certain vested interests benefit from urban fabric being shaped in a way that doesn't really work for the people who live in it, and a whole rambling edifice of legislation exists to keep it that way. How do you think Wal-mart happened?

    My own aspiration is to a tall, narrow house along the abovementioned medieval lines, with commercial/light industrial only on the ground floor, and a comfortable three-bedroom home over a further two storeys. I've already built the 3-4-car garage. The City's new planning scheme kicks in in March, and that will allow me to build the structure legally. I'd just have to call the workshop a lounge or something, because they're not really budging on land use - doubtless for the abovementioned good-reasons-and-real-reasons.
     
  18. V4F
    Joined: Aug 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,391

    V4F
    Member
    from middle ca.

    ifn i had the money , damn right i would live in my garage !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     
  19. 73RR
    Joined: Jan 29, 2007
    Posts: 7,327

    73RR
    Member

    Ned, you have some beautiful buildings in your post, obviously nothing like that in the states.

    In the US there are far too many folks that seem to think that your personal life/business is for them to scrutinize and control, hence, very strict zoning in many liberal cities. Just plain sad...:(

    For some of us living more rural counties the zoning and land use can be a little more flexible but the overlaying health-fire-safety requirements still have to be dealt with. Not neccesarily a bad thing.

    .
     
  20. If you combine business and residence, look at what you cheat them out of, you pay once instead of :
    Property tax x2:
    Utilities x2.
    Utility tax on the tax on tax x 2

    That's why they don't like it. It drops their income by 1/2.
     
  21. gimpyshotrods
    Joined: May 20, 2009
    Posts: 23,994

    gimpyshotrods
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Careful, gentlemen, this thread is approaching the political.
     
  22. Crystal Blue
    Joined: Nov 18, 2008
    Posts: 609

    Crystal Blue
    Member

    Make sure you have insurance also, in case of fire or theft.
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2013
  23. Ned Ludd
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 5,297

    Ned Ludd
    Member

    We've got it quite bad, too. And rural land here is divided among municipalities, and therefore subject to zoning and the rest.

    It's more about maintaining artificial scarcity in productive real estate by ensuring that the real estate owned by regular people is unproductive real estate.

    Not another political word, I promise :)

    The shophouse is a well-known phenomenon in the Far East:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  24. Hardly a reason at all.
    Here in NZ, commercial property tax is different to residential property tax.
    They get what is lost, believe me.
     
  25. That would go for anywhere you live, wouldn't it??:eek:
     
  26. Converting a firehouse is cool, here is one in IA that's a late-model performance shop:

    [​IMG]
     
  27. wsdad
    Joined: Dec 31, 2005
    Posts: 1,259

    wsdad
    Member

    In the OP's ad, it looks like rent is $1390 per month. For that amount, in a Fort Worth, Texas suburb, I can buy a 1500sqft, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house with a double car garage attached - Taxes and Insurance included. Women generally like houses better than warehouses. Down-side is you'd be living in a Fort Worth, Texas suburb. ;)

    Just in case the Craig's list ad times out and goes away, here it is:

    $1390 / 2400ft² - Very nice Warehouse Space - Bathroom - 2 Grade Level doors (Hawkins & Jefferson)

    <SECTION id=userbody><SECTION id=postingbody>We have a 2400sf place about to become availible in our Berkeley Parks location.
    Great for various types of business like distribution or auto mechanic.
    Twograde level rollup doors with access to both sides of the unit.
    Nice bathroom and a shop heater and swamp cooler.
    On site management and maintenance
    M-1 Zoned

    Located at Berkeley Parks near the intersection of Jefferson and Hawkins with easy access with the I-25. We offer competitive incentives for new tenants and flexible leasing. We can work with your budget to get you moved in today!!

    Call Vernon for info/showing (505)xxx-xxxx

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]</SECTION><SECTION class=cltags><!-- START CLTAGS --><!-- CLTAG xstreet0=Hawkins --><!-- CLTAG xstreet1=Jefferson --><!-- CLTAG city=Albuquerque --><!-- CLTAG region=NM -->

    Hawkins at Jefferson <SMALL>(google map) (yahoo map) </SMALL>
    • <!-- CLTAG GeographicArea=Hawkins & Jefferson -->Location: Hawkins & Jefferson
    • it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
    <!-- END CLTAGS --></SECTION>Posting ID: 3519187365
    Posted at: <DATE>2013-01-14, 3:07PM MST</DATE>
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2013
  28. That's true in the States also,HRP
     
  29. you realy dont have a life
    especially if peple come to help
    tried it once and bought a house soon after so i could leave, get away and relax and read:D
     
  30. mustang6147
    Joined: Feb 26, 2010
    Posts: 1,847

    mustang6147
    Member
    from Kent, Ohio

    I booted the ole lady back in 2000. A few years later I met a lady, and she says everyroom in my house is an anex to the garage.

    It is kinda funny, I left a 3/4 combo wrench on the bathroom sink when she was on her way over just for fun.

    To many fumes in the garage for me though.
     

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