My New Garage

A lot has happened since I last posted nearly 6 months ago. I've moved into my house, I've taken several road trips, I'm becoming more familiar with my new town, and I've started to get accustomed to the routine (or lack thereof) of my job. All of these events (and many more) would have made great fodder for the blogosphere. However, I just got internet access a couple of weeks ago, so I'll try to just update the highlights.

I'll start off by sharing a pictorial of the construction of my new garage. I knew I wanted a garage if I was going to be living in a region where snow and ice are commonplace for 3-4 months out of the year (especially since I have to be at work at 7am many mornings and I did not want to be scraping for 15 minutes in pre-dawn below zero temperatures). Unfortunately, my new home did not originally have a garage. However I was able to remedy this deficit. The whole construction process took about a month. Within a month of its completion, I was able to store my vehicle inside while snow accumulated up to 4 inches outside. Mission accomplished!

Here is my backyard as the foundation is being prepared. Little yard = little yard work!

This concrete truck could barely fit between my neighbor's house and mine. It was quite impressive. It did leave some ruts in both my neighbor's grass and on my asphalt driveway. I was able to smooth out the grass, but my driveway may need to be upgraded come warmer weather.

My electrician ran some conduit under the slab before it was poured. Now my electricity comes to the house underground instead of on dangerously low hanging wires. I was also able to get my cable and phone lines through the conduit, so now I have no wires visibly attached to my house!

The garage begins to take shape...

A view of my future driveway. Note the small amount of space available to put up the garage. The large tree is within 2-3 feet of the garage on the left. My neighbor's yard begins at the grass on the right. It all just barely fits.

The back of the garage ends at the brink of a 3 foot drop off down to the back of my yard. If I moved the front of my garage closer to the house to make it longer, there would be no room to maneuver my car into the garage door opening. My garage is as large as it possibly could be for the site, and yet it works wonderfully.

City codes required that the edge of the roof had to be 2 feet from the property line, hence the eaves being "chopped off" on this side of the garage.

Here is a completed view from my deck. I actually didn't lose too much of my view of the bluffs though you can't tell from this angle.

Here she is! Just in time for winter. I planted spring bulbs all along the south side of the garage to appease my neighbors - over 50 tulips, 40+ daffodils, and several dozen grape hyacinths. Now if I could just keep the squirrels from digging them up...