The latest issue of Classic Motorsports has an article on the "dream"
shop and one of them says the first floor is all garage and shop and
second floor living space. This is a custom built house and looks
pretty pricey, but at least the idea has been done. The biggest issue I
see is that most houses have a load bearing wall down the middle, pretty
much under the roof peak. Most houses around here are about 24' wide
and the 12' floor joists for the second floor sit on it. I have a
basement garage and they put a steel I-beam in to increase the
unsupported span and eliminate the post that would have otherwise been
in the middle of the garage to hold up the wooden 2x beam that supports
the floor joists. I suppose this could bone "after the fact" but more
$$$$. An engineer/architect could probably tell what could be done.
The only "foolish" part I see would be the resale value hit, but if you
don't care about that I don't see a problem - except maybe your neighbors.
Ben.....
Ben Zwissler
bjzwissler@gmail.com
Columbus, IN
1966 Triumph TR4A
1973 MG Midget
1980 Triumph TR8
2007 Mazda RX8
2002 Yamaha FZ1
2003 Honda ST1300
On 9/5/2009 4:04 PM, shochschild@att.net wrote:
> I am downsizing and moving sometime in the next 3-6 months or so. I
> am an old single guy, so I can do whatever I want. I am a sculptor,
> metalworker, carpenter, and racer/motorhead, with a race car, 3 other
> cars and 2 motorcycles all currently in project mode.
>
> Rather than my original plan of finding a ~1000 sq foot house and then
> adding a 25'x40' shop in the back, I am considering a new approach,
> inspired by the cheap foreclosure houses that are available in a
> nearby bankrupt development. My hare-brained scheme is to put my shop
> _inside_ a two story, 2000 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath house, taking
> up the 1st floor and garage, and actually living only up on the second
> floor. The houses I am looking at all have attached garages and no
> basements. This is outside of Austin, where the shop would have to be
> air conditioned. Let's not talk about all the legal, insurance,
> building code, HOA, OSHA, FNMA or other issues. Those won't matter
> for a long time, if ever, I don't think. I would be paying cash for
> this house and all these modifications, less than $150k total, no bank
> or mortgage involved.
>
> I am thinking I would only have to make a few structural changes, all
> of which could easily(?) be changed back when I want to sell it:
>
> 1. move the kitchen and and extend it's plumbing/electrical into the
> bedroom above it,
> 2. wall off the front door entry way and stairs leading up to the 2nd
> floor, much as an old 2-family urban house or a students' rental
> house would have.
> 3. remove any inconvenient, non-load bearing, interior walls.
> 4. open up the doorway into the garage to be wide enough to easily
> move materials, tools, and projects in and out through the garage
> and it's garage door.
> 5. widen and convert the sliding glass doors that lead out to the
> back so that they can be opened enough to roll a car in and out
> 6. take up the 1st floor carpet and either epoxy the concrete
> subfloor or lay some kind of tile or whatever.
> 7. add power, air, dust collection, exhaust fans, and all the normal
> shop infrastructure, but this and the floor would have to be done
> anyway in a new shop building
> 8. in one house I looked at, the living room ceiling was high enough
> to have a lift; if I build a shop, it will definitely have a lift,
> but I don't own one now so it is not a firm requirement
>
> What do you think? What have I forgotten? Is this foolish or the
> ultimate lifestyle improvement??? Do you know of anyone else who has a
> similar setup?
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