The Silver Buick wants a garage.

[TheSilverBuick]

I can take the back road, only about 5 to 8 miles of highway 6 and doesn't go through town at all. I can take a dirt road from highway 6 outside of town and go right to my backyard

Rotate the tires, each one weighs 6,000lbs, not including the chains put on the front tires :o

[milner351]

Randal - do you have access to any more "normal" sized loaders?

I mean what's the fun of using that big monster - it would only take a few of those huge bucket fulls to do the whole job!

[BBR]

Here's a *rough* sketch of what I was thinking. I would think any of your cut banks are going to need some sort of retaining wall, why not kill two birds with one wall. lol The green being a reinforced cinder block wall or something.



Of course I would not undertake such a project unless I was 100% committed to living in Ely for many years. Ever thought about moving to a different house with less relief and more space? OR building a shop on a lot somewhere else in town?

[TheSilverBuick]

I'm going to rent a Cat 420E backhoe, it should be more than sufficient to do the work. May take two days pending the final volume numbers.

On another front, I was kinda down on the cost of concrete and thinking it was going to be a project killer, then this morning I realized my volume math was wrong, and with a 6" slab at the rate the local concrete company billed the mine (which general consensus thinks they gouged the mine) will cost me around $7000. The back of my mind is preparing for being ok with $10,000 in concrete, so anything less is alright wit me. I'll work the final details later.

On another note, just picked up my welder from the UPS depot, it's in my posession out in the Jeep


BBR, that is HUGE! That's practically a 75x50 building! :D

[BBR]

haha It's actually a 40x60 with a 1' retaining wall and 10' drive. Like I said, it's rough.

[TheSilverBuick]

haha It's actually a 40x60 with a 1' retaining wall and 10' drive. Like I said, it's rough.

With my extreme ramp in my picture, it's like a 75ft long ramp 10ft wide on a 60x100ft wide lot. :D

Of course I would not undertake such a project unless I was 100% committed to living in Ely for many years. Ever thought about moving to a different house with less relief and more space? OR building a shop on a lot somewhere else in town?

I figure it this way. I, don't really ever plan to sell the house at this point, and may do like Milner351, and rent the house and keep stuff in the shop when I leave Ely some day, unless the right price is offered for the house. Also, so far the last appraisal I had done was when the market was down and it appraised $20k over what I purchased the place for. So if I sink $25k into it, figure I can at least get that back if I sell the house. Or, people loose way more than $25k in depreciation of new cars and trucks on a regular basis, and I currently can "afford" to not recover the $25k especially if I get use of the building after it's built. That of course is assuming the market completely tanks below the price I paid for the house and shop. Plausible and I just won't sell it. Another 12 years and it'll be paid off, or sooner.

As for moving around town. I've looked at the housing market a few times over the last few years and the only options are; Pay $125,000 more than my house's value for a house with a shop further from work and likely out off a dirt road (winter will suck every year, imo). Or pay roughly what I did for my house for a flat piece of ground with a modular home on it, still down a dirt road and still needs a shop built. I think I can landscape and build a shop for less than $125k and keep my desired location (I really like where I live in town), or not live on a dirt road (and be closer to work) and just pay a grand or two to landscape the land.

[SuperBuickGuy]

I wonder what it would cost to make the entire building out of cinder block? Since you're already at half the size of the shop being cinder block, perhaps it wouldn't be that expensive to just continue it - the benefit would be ease to keep the temperature warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

[Hillbilly]

I've been reading your thread and thought I would give my 2 cents. I am afraid you are overestimating the capabilities of your backhoe. I dig for a living and it takes me approximately 8 hours to dig a hole for a 1500 sq ft house 7 ft deep (roughly 390 cu yds), with a 320 Caterpillar trackhoe with a 1.25 cu yd bucket. My cycle time is roughly 5 scoops per minute, that is in good clean dirt. I am willing to bet that you run into rock not far below the native surface. I would agree with the other guys on here who have suggested using reinforced walls and building into the hillside. I would try to adjust my elevations so there was an equal amount of cut and fill.

[TheSilverBuick]

Thanks for your input! I defiantely will be finding the sweet spot elevation so cuts and fills balance out (probably with a buffer of more cut than fill).

The 420E loader bucket is around 1.25 cu.ft. Which I'll be doing most the dirt moving with. I definately won't be achieving the 5 scoops per minute though. I don't have a final cut/fill volume yet, but is looking like roughly 500 cu. yds. Less deep I have to go the less I have to move. Reality will prove it one way or another, but I think there is significant fill on the up slope part, or rather the current surface has only been there since 1955 and the native surface is possibly several feet below current surface. As for digging, I do have access to equipment operators that have plenty of experience plucking at hard rock (we're hard rock miners!). Plus I have one guy that has plenty of experience building drill ramps and level drill pads with a 420 backhoe here at work.

Looking at the early volumes I'm thinking you may be right on it possibly being a two day affair. Thanks again for your input!

[mopar57]

I love this thread, so many good guys giving good advice and great opinions! Fun reading!