02.26.2007---On the 24th,  two masonry guys showed up and did half of the back 36 foot long wall.   On the 26th,  4 masonry guys showed up and finished the walls. They made short work of all of that block in the driveway.  Barely put a dent in the sand pile though.  Sand pile will disappear under the slab I will guess tomorrow.   There will be lots of dirt brought into the walled in area over the next few days.   My guess is that the slab will be poured before Thursday.   Thursday night it will probably rain.  Bad bad rain.  Cannot let the dirt get saturated with rain.  That would be bad for the walls.

 02.23.2007---Foundation was poured yesterday.  Rebar is in place for the CMU walls to start going up.   Lots of cinder block was delivered today along with sand and mortar.   Walls should be built by the end of this weekend,  then comes the process of back filling and compacting the fill dirt before the slab is set and poured.   I will go to get some more pipe and some conduit to be ready for the slab--which should be next week some time.  All is looking and progressing very well.

02.20.2007---Work really started on the 19th.  Lots of dirt was dug out with hand tools.  Most impressive.   Foundation is ready for inspection---whenever DeKalb County gets around to it anyway.  Once that is taken care of,  the rebar can be set and the foundation poured.  After that it will be time for some cinder block walls and some nice vertical rebar in there with filled cells.

02.18.2007---Tomorrow the real work on the garage will begin.  I have shopped the work around and have decided that the best course for me to go is the one using a single contractor to do the concrete/foundation work as well as the exterior shell of the building.  Essentially within a month I should have an exterior finished building.  I will take care of the electrical and plumbing work that I can.  Over the past few days I have been making the stub out sections of the water supply and drains to tie into the existing house plumbing.   These will be added into the foundation when it gets close to that time---Probably within the next week.  I am so looking forward to the garage coming to life.   I will be working most of the time while the work is being done,  but hopefully I will be able to do some work with them where I can.  I can't sit still especially when the weather may be pretty nice over the next couple of weeks.   Once the shell is completed,  I will have to replace the existing driveway for the house and connect the garage to the street.   Still more concrete to go...it never wants to end I tell you.

01.26.2007---Lately I have not done much in way of building the garage.  Over the past few weeks I have managed to clean up some rocks and bricks and other crap that was in various piles in the back yard.   I have also been getting some quotes on building the thing.  From concrete people to do just the grading,  foundation and all things uninteresting to full on contractors that will build the whole thing....at least the finished shell with no interior work being done.   This weekend I should have a couple more quotes on the project to possibly be and maybe a final number on the concrete side by itself.

The quotes I have been getting have been wide and varied.   I am not that comfortable with getting pricing on things that do not come out of a box or have 4 wheels on it.   Some of the people I contacted were so limited in their available time to even quote the job,  I turned them away out of shock.   If the contractor cannot meet me or talk to me in the evenings or on the weekend,  I find it hard to believe they will be able to deliver a finished product on time and within budget.  Bleh.  This sucks.  Hopefully someone will give me some numbers soon that will make me excited about saying...go ahead...start your work.  Most of the numbers I have been getting have been saying....Expensive!...Over Your Budget.   Or they have been saying....We will build it for you,  but we really do not want to,  so if we do,  then we will make lots of money.   I have my limits on how much to spend on this project.  I do not want to put more money into this property than it is worth.  If I put enough in where I break even if I had to sell it,  that is ok.  This is not to be considered a property improvement...although it very well would be an improvement to a car person or someone that wanted a large area to work on whatever indoors.  Most people would never have a garage big enough to hold 4 cars quite easily.  It could hold lots more than that,  but 4 is beyond comprehension for most already so I do not want to scare the hell out of anyone except for the neighbors.

A few weeks ago the county left me a note on the door telling me that I needed to move my car onto a paved surface.  Zoning ordinance for DeKalb County BS.   The place where the car was parked has been used as a parking space for at least 10 years.  Fine up to 60 days in jail and $1000.00.  I called the zoning officer and explained the garage project and he said....ok,  but only until you finish the garage.   It is a good thing the garage may take a few years.  heh.

End Of Blog, Return To Main.