Lessons in patience to me

[ckessel]

My garage finally got permitted recently. We have been after this for almost a year. It was 2 months just in the permit area, another 2 or so with various studies. Soil study I get, need to know about compaction capability. The dumb one was an "Archaeological Study". What a farce! Had to pay over 2 grand just to have someone walk around the area looking for evidence of artifacts and then go through old data to see if anything was found when they put the roads in. The hoops people have to jump through! I'm glad we're not closer to the water otherwise the coastal commission, surf riders and other commie troika's would be wanting to line their pockets as well. Anyway... The new pad will be 1198 sq ft. It will marry up to the side of the house. Part of the existing deck was taken down, will be put back on after as part of the roof, for the low section, will be a deck extension which will give us more deck area. Yea! The tall section, where my lift will be, will have a pop up which will mimic the roof line of the house plus help out as a wind block. It does get breezy sometimes. Once we got the ok, the big pine tree out front went bye bye last week. My wife and I had already cleared out the landscape items away from the area, cut down bushes etc. This week, they got the pad ready for the foundation boys. Hopefully that happens next week. The "low" side of the garage will be around 10' on the inside and the tall one will be around 18?, Have to check again. Anyway, I'll have enough height to have my truck on the lift at full extension. We already picked up some LED lights at Costco. Nice units, programmable for output/time and motion sensitive. I'm really looking forward to getting it done as I have not touched my car for 2 years now as I had stopped working on it due to getting packed to move. Its been sitting in front of the existing garage, packed with excess house stuff, tools, compressor, safes etc. Most of that will go to the new pad and my honey will have that one all to herself. Most of my equipment/supplies/parts etc are in a 28' enclosed trailer that I bought just for that. The trailer will get emptied then sold. Anyone want a 28' enclosed Pace trailer w/winch and upgraded tires and wheels? When the garage gets done, I'll work only 3-4 days a week at Old Soul and work on my own ride plus see if I can make some dough from home.

 

[69L48Z27]

Looks like a great project! They never go as fast as you would like them to.

 

[Mike67]

Congrats! Sounds like you've been out through the ringer with all of the regs...

 

[Big Bad Dad]

Wow! It takes you guys two years and thousands of dollars just to get a building permit for a garage?? WTF!!

 

[ckessel]

Welcome to the peoples republic of California! The closer you get to the ocean or popular areas, the more hoops you have to jump through. All good now though.

 

[moparedtn]

Wow! It takes you guys two years and thousands of dollars just to get a building permit for a garage?? WTF!!

Agree. Out here in the real world, we just buy the materials and have at it.
Of course, it helps not to live in a heavily populated area, too.
I've done my time in subdivisions, thanks...

Damn, I don't miss over-regulated world at all.

 

[ckessel]

Part of the delay was getting the lots married as one with the county. We had one skinny and one normal with different tax id's on them. We were able to get them put together as one lot since there would be no residence on the other which would have meant water and sewer hook ups. If that were the case, it would be empty like many others around here due to water moratoriums. Since its a garage, its a relative breeze. The lot change with the county took around 3 months I believe. We did not give them any information about the intended use as we thought it may not help us. The permit process was supposed to me 20 working days, ended up being 2 months. I would love to be in a position to give some payback to the county people when they need goods or service. "Your oil change will take me a month to do as I have to do studies on engineering and where your parts were sourced. Oh by the way, there will be further delays since I'll be going to a training session in Hawaii for two weeks." Dontcha wish?

 

[Kern Dog]

Life is often simpler and better withOUT the Government reaching in to help.

 

[BB BELLA]

there not helping ,there collecting. and creating some overpayed jobs!
I can understand some of it in areas of hurricanes or heavy snow load making building safe.
My new peeve is required soil samples done for screw in piles! the engineer/inventor originally found if you have to put x amount of torque on the pile and they were sunk below frost line they would hold and stay put,making them cost efficient. now the township here is requiring soil sampling added to the cost,making them only beneficial in places you can't get excavating equipment in easily!

 

[ckessel]

They got the footings dug this week. The first one to get poured will be the one that connects to the existing foundation. There is some bar dowled into the foundation and epoxied in. One of the inspectors, who is a local and a car guy too, stopped by to do the inspection so it can be filled up monday afternoon. From there, the rest of the foundation will get formed, rebarred, then filled too. With just the footings dug, I'm getting a better perspective now for the size. Its going to be nice to get the height too for lots of vertical storage on the deep side plus space for my lift on the short side.

 

[BB BELLA]

the hoe operator certainly has talent, nice job!

 

[ckessel]

Plus its nice and easy when you only have compacted sand to move.

 

[69a100]

Soil study I get, need to know about compaction capability. The dumb one was an "Archaeological Study".

Plus its nice and easy when you only have compacted sand to move.

Wait! You had to have a soil compaction study done just to find out that it's nothing but compacted sand? Are you kidding me? How much did that crap set you back? I pity the fool that stays in that God forsaken place!!

 

[ckessel]

Yup, we're on a big sand dune. Pretty much anywhere in the PRC, you have to get the test done so that your compaction parameters can get figured out. Seismic requirements. They went down almost 10' to make sure there were no voids then brought it back in with compaction and wetting to firm it up. All is good now. Foundation gets started this week with the one that marries to the side of the house being poured tomorrow. The rest happen after and slab too. When it was marked in paint, it did not look as big. Now that footings are dug, its like wow!.

 

[ckessel]

The crew has been getting the forms together. This week, more will get done. It'll be neat to see the crete get poured in. Getting closer!

 

[1 Wild R/T]

WAIT!!!! STOP EVERYTHING!!!! Is that a Purple Horned Toad in photo 3?

Just kidding get back to work... And never speak of Purple Horned Toads again....

“Da shits not funny man.....”

 

[ckessel]

Too true!

 

[ckessel]

The steel is getting layed out. Soon, some mud will get poured in. They are also going to put some take off Ram tow hooks in the foundation for me. I'll be able to use those as pull points for winching stuff in. Thats them hanging from the vertical bars.

 

[Richard Cranium]

the hoe operator certainly has talent, nice job!

Manipulating a ho can be entertaining.

 

[Richard Cranium]

My garage finally got permitted recently. We have been after this for almost a year. It was 2 months just in the permit area, another 2 or so with various studies. Soil study I get, need to know about compaction capability. The dumb one was an "Archaeological Study". What a farce! Had to pay over 2 grand just to have someone walk around the area looking for evidence of artifacts and then go through old data to see if anything was found when they put the roads in. The hoops people have to jump through! I'm glad we're not closer to the water otherwise the coastal commission, surf riders and other commie troika's would be wanting to line their pockets as well.

I feel your pain. We too have had to jump through hoops to build our new barn/garage (first to tear down an old unsafe barn) and deal with the bureaucracy of town government. All it does is just add time and costs lots of money. And at the end, all the government red tape accomplishes nothing.

The new garage looks great. Keep us updated!