Retaining wall / garage build

[Bart]

Wow, the shop is looking awesome. Congrats on the progress.

 

[N-Smooth]

Anything you would've done differently now that it's been completed for a while?

I'm looking hard at doing a 20x24ish size shop in my backyard and I'm stressing out! The place is new so I've been getting concrete bids for the side-yard but I just keep going back to the idea of doing a shop in the back corner before I commit to a bunch of $ in concrete that will have to be torn out.

Did your contractor do all the legwork for you? My current struggle is all of the permit/city approval, HOA approval and just trying to be smart about planning for the future. I have a 7.5' PUE&DE easement on the back line and 5' on the side- even though there are no utilities there and never will be. When it comes to sheds, West Jordan City says cool, build what you want but just know it will have to be moved if there's an issue. Anything over 200 sq ft they just say NOPE. Ugh. I guess I need to research doing a vacation of easement but WJC isn't being very helpful.

The other struggle is the HOA says max overall height is 12' which is ridiculous. I'm trying to get an exception while the HOA is still "young" but we'll see. It's just hard to get a decent wall height while keeping a good pitch for snow load. First world problems, I know.

 

[Gravy]

Nate. I'm a low total height + 21'x22' and it's too small.
Cubic feet is important.

 

[N-Smooth]

Nate. I'm a low total height + 21'x22' and it's too small.
Cubic feet is important.

I know it’s going to bug me but if I can get 20x24 with an 8’ wall I think I still want it. I’ve even wondered about scissor trusses to open up a little space in the middle for the opener. I dunno…

Really, bumping it to 14’ tall with a 10’ wall would be ideal for sure

 

[Vonski]

Everyone ‘should’ be able to build a shop on their property if they choose, but the reality is that even the most generous HOA reps and neighbors (even if claiming to be supportive) will want to keep this from happening. If you were able to get approval and build, any neighbor sensitive to noise, smell, light (welding with door up), etc. that complains will have the HOA siding with them. Neighbors come and go, but that one neighbor to make things miserable is gonna present themselves sooner or later. I’d love nothing more than you to prove this theory/prediction wrong, but every shop/HOA story I’ve heard ends with a homeowner so under the radar of the HOA, that they no longer can use their shop and ultimately move. Having that said, there’s gotta be some exceptions to the rule in regards to this type of situation, and maybe this could be one them. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Pike2350]

Anything you would've done differently now that it's been completed for a while?

I'm looking hard at doing a 20x24ish size shop in my backyard and I'm stressing out! The place is new so I've been getting concrete bids for the side-yard but I just keep going back to the idea of doing a shop in the back corner before I commit to a bunch of $ in concrete that will have to be torn out.

Did your contractor do all the legwork for you? My current struggle is all of the permit/city approval, HOA approval and just trying to be smart about planning for the future. I have a 7.5' PUE&DE easement on the back line and 5' on the side- even though there are no utilities there and never will be. When it comes to sheds, West Jordan City says cool, build what you want but just know it will have to be moved if there's an issue. Anything over 200 sq ft they just say NOPE. Ugh. I guess I need to research doing a vacation of easement but WJC isn't being very helpful.

The other struggle is the HOA says max overall height is 12' which is ridiculous. I'm trying to get an exception while the HOA is still "young" but we'll see. It's just hard to get a decent wall height while keeping a good pitch for snow load. First world problems, I know.

As always, there are a few things I would've done differently.

1) like you I have easements on both the back and the side of my garage (5' on both) While I honestly don't mind the easement, I wish I would've had the retaining wall tucked much further back to the actual property line. As it is now, the east side of my garage is on an angled property line...so I had to set the 5' from the front corner....which means about 7' on the back corner. The guy doing the excavating and wall build didn't go back as far as I wanted, but it was a good deal, so I kind of just deal with it....but I ended up with 2' of clearance at the front of the garage and 4' or so on the back. This makes the side less than ideal for storage. If they hadn't put about a 3' planting area on the top of the wall, I could've had more storage area, that was easier to access all around. 5' easement would've been kind of nice in that regard because it would've given me flat storage space if they had tucked the wall as closer to the property. The easement in your case, if you poured concrete would give you nice storage outside the shop for things that may not need to inside. a lean to roof over it that could be removed if required could keep it at least covered (build this after you get everything passed off lol)

2) I wish I would've gone bigger. I know this is a standard statement. I ended up on 24x26. It allows me to fit my truck, and will fit a crew cab long bed in it, without any storage in the front of the truck....but I do wish I would've gone to a 26x26. This would've made the side walls better for storage while allowing to park in. Since this is a "shop" for you, I don't think that is as a big deal for you.

3) I wish I would've stuck with the storage trusses in the attic style, as I had imagined. This was a miscommunication on my end and I just assumed it was how they would be. The storage in the attic is very nice, but the webbing limits it a little bit.

4) I wish I would've setup a mini split for the heat/AC instead of a gas fired heater. The gas fired heater works, but it takes up a little bit of storage when it comes to height, and I don't have any form of cooling for summer.

Overall I'm very happy with the garage. It is not only a garage and somewhat of a workspace for me (still setting up things, so I'm not using it too much yet) It is also a hangout space for my wife and I and adult friends. We've had game nights out there and it was awesome. The GC handled everything except the permit. I took care of that myself because I may have been building it myself. His subs were decent, but not great. His electrician has caused me a few issues that I haven't gotten responses on. The electrical was signed off, but he didn't install the flashing under the shingles, and the rubber gasket cracked and blew off the roof.

AS for your situation. 12' height isn't horrible. It's not ideal....but depending on what you want out there, scissor trusts would help with ceiling height. I believe my garage, at 24' wide and a 5/12 pitch is 14' to the peak with 8" stem wall. Granted, I think petitioning to the HOA to allow a variance would help...but I think 10' walls and a 4/12 pitch will put you at 15' or so...so it's not drastic. Maybe you could dig down the yard a little first, to reduce the overall visible height from the street/neighbors. The higher walls would likely be more beneficial if you made the garage longer so it could be an RV parking for someone in the future. Otherwise, I think, while nice, with scissor trusts, you could likely have a lift in the middle and not have issues if that's what you are going for. Or, better yet, build a mechanics pit in floor to not have to deal with the height.

 

[Pike2350]

Since I haven't updated this for a long time, I'm now mostly done with the inside, but still playing with workbench setup and storage arrangement. I will post updates as it went.

After the painting was done, I started installing the cabinets. These are standard kitchen cabinets I got through work for a decent deal.

Then I started to fill it up so I could work on tearing down the single car garage/carport.

I don't do nearly the work most here do, so my compressor it very basic and small (6 gal pancake) I still wanted it mounted out of the way, so I put a shelf above the cabinet next to the door. The plug in the ceiling is on a switch so I don't need it going off and running when it's not needed. I added some drawer liner between the shelf and the cabinet to keep it from vibrating it loose. I then ran a heavy duty rubber hose down along the door track and have it pop out at a height that is comfortable to connect to. I may add more lines to the garage at some point, but for now this works.

 

[Pike2350]

with the garage "done" it was time to start tearing out the single car garage/carport. There was some more site work I had to do in the form of dirt removal and a nasty 70's planter

I borrowed my wife's uncles skid steer for this again. Here is the view from the new garage towards the street after I removed the extra dirt.

Next was to begin cutting back the patio cover. This will eventually get torn off and an addition/kitchen remodel will go off the back of the house, so I wasn't too concerned about how it looked.

After this I began dismantling the walls of the single garage. In the span of 2 weekends I went from this

to this

Next was to dig footings for new metal beams that would carry the carport. This way there would be no posts in the driveway to maneuver around. You can see in the upper picture, the shovel against the house. This is where I started. I apparently deleted the photos. My father-in-law came with a crew and put in the new posts and beams. Now, I have clear span from house to fence.

After that, concrete was to start (this was in early Nov). We are having a patio poured on the west side of the garage to hang out on. I had to reroute sprinklers and such as well as trench for a gas line to the garage. You can see the trench for gas line in the upper right of the 2nd pic.

 

[Pike2350]

Concrete was poured. Honestly, not the best job, but not bad.

I ran the gas line to the garage and have a riser that will be on the patio for a gas fire pit.

Here's how it sits now. It works well, but as mentioned above, there are a few things I would do differently....but overall, I'm very happy and everyone in the neighborhood has complimented me on it and ALL love the beams.

 

[N-Smooth]

Everyone ‘should’ be able to build a shop on their property if they choose, but the reality is that even the most generous HOA reps and neighbors (even if claiming to be supportive) will want to keep this from happening. If you were able to get approval and build, any neighbor sensitive to noise, smell, light (welding with door up), etc. that complains will have the HOA siding with them. Neighbors come and go, but that one neighbor to make things miserable is gonna present themselves sooner or later. I’d love nothing more than you to prove this theory/prediction wrong, but every shop/HOA story I’ve heard ends with a homeowner so under the radar of the HOA, that they no longer can use their shop and ultimately move. Having that said, there’s gotta be some exceptions to the rule in regards to this type of situation, and maybe this could be one them. 🤷‍♂️

I'm not trying to be sneaky with the HOA at all and I'm hoping that makes the difference. Really the only issue I have with them is the height but I can also make 12' work if I have to. Otherwise I plan to conform to the rules about making the exterior of the shop match the house and everything. I mean I WANT it to be nice, just like I want the whole neighborhood to be nice. Another plus is that it's a new neighborhood and so far all of the neighbors I've met intend to be here for a long time and at least 2 more of them want shops too

One of them wants one to do a VR golf setup but I'm trying not to hold that against him lol

 

[N-Smooth]

As always, there are a few things I would've done differently.

1) like you I have easements on both the back and the side of my garage (5' on both) While I honestly don't mind the easement, I wish I would've had the retaining wall tucked much further back to the actual property line. As it is now, the east side of my garage is on an angled property line...so I had to set the 5' from the front corner....which means about 7' on the back corner. The guy doing the excavating and wall build didn't go back as far as I wanted, but it was a good deal, so I kind of just deal with it....but I ended up with 2' of clearance at the front of the garage and 4' or so on the back. This makes the side less than ideal for storage. If they hadn't put about a 3' planting area on the top of the wall, I could've had more storage area, that was easier to access all around. 5' easement would've been kind of nice in that regard because it would've given me flat storage space if they had tucked the wall as closer to the property. The easement in your case, if you poured concrete would give you nice storage outside the shop for things that may not need to inside. a lean to roof over it that could be removed if required could keep it at least covered (build this after you get everything passed off lol)

2) I wish I would've gone bigger. I know this is a standard statement. I ended up on 24x26. It allows me to fit my truck, and will fit a crew cab long bed in it, without any storage in the front of the truck....but I do wish I would've gone to a 26x26. This would've made the side walls better for storage while allowing to park in. Since this is a "shop" for you, I don't think that is as a big deal for you.

3) I wish I would've stuck with the storage trusses in the attic style, as I had imagined. This was a miscommunication on my end and I just assumed it was how they would be. The storage in the attic is very nice, but the webbing limits it a little bit.

4) I wish I would've setup a mini split for the heat/AC instead of a gas fired heater. The gas fired heater works, but it takes up a little bit of storage when it comes to height, and I don't have any form of cooling for summer.

Overall I'm very happy with the garage. It is not only a garage and somewhat of a workspace for me (still setting up things, so I'm not using it too much yet) It is also a hangout space for my wife and I and adult friends. We've had game nights out there and it was awesome. The GC handled everything except the permit. I took care of that myself because I may have been building it myself. His subs were decent, but not great. His electrician has caused me a few issues that I haven't gotten responses on. The electrical was signed off, but he didn't install the flashing under the shingles, and the rubber gasket cracked and blew off the roof.

AS for your situation. 12' height isn't horrible. It's not ideal....but depending on what you want out there, scissor trusts would help with ceiling height. I believe my garage, at 24' wide and a 5/12 pitch is 14' to the peak with 8" stem wall. Granted, I think petitioning to the HOA to allow a variance would help...but I think 10' walls and a 4/12 pitch will put you at 15' or so...so it's not drastic. Maybe you could dig down the yard a little first, to reduce the overall visible height from the street/neighbors. The higher walls would likely be more beneficial if you made the garage longer so it could be an RV parking for someone in the future. Otherwise, I think, while nice, with scissor trusts, you could likely have a lift in the middle and not have issues if that's what you are going for. Or, better yet, build a mechanics pit in floor to not have to deal with the height.

This is all great input and I really appreciate it. I don't know that it will actually be where I do fabrication- I think I'll just use the 3-car for that. I really just want somewhere (covered) to park stuff. My truck doesn't fit in the main garage so it would be cool if I could put it in the back garage when I feel like it. 24x26 should work for me and my wife doesn't seem to mind that every time I bring up the shop it's increased in size lol

I going to run power and gas out there for sure. I like the idea of heat and possibly cooling and I would like to do a natural gas firepit next to it anyways.


Your finished product looks great. Glad to hear your neighbors like it cause they should!