by "TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
Published 01/09/2017 at 10:31
by "TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
Published 01/09/2017 at 10:31
No Tags
STARS: 11
He lives in a small warehouse. See that unassuming blue door? That leads into his house, a loft apartment built within the confines of an awesome shop. He told me that he likes to work on cars, so he bought a building with space to both work on cars and live.
That roll-up door has a twin on the other side which leads to his back yard. Since the extent of the loft is from the right-side wall to just beyond the two upstairs windows, there’s enough room to park at least four project cars inside. Two fit between the roll-up doors, and two, maybe three more, can be parked to the right of the path between the doors. Just imagine that black truck driving between those posts and through the space. That’s the open space he has inside. I took a few pictures of the interior, but I won’t post them here without his permission.
The best part was the fully restored Suzuki Samurai parked inside. It used to be his mud truck, but he’s had a hard time getting it muddy since the rebuild. He said it all started with repairing a little rust spot on the quarter panel. Now it looks like a brand new vehicle.
Wait, that wasn’t the best part. I figured that this was a great setup for a single guy who likes working on cars. The best part was when he mentioned his wife! He convinced a woman that he was marriage material and that she should move into this space with him! Amazing!
Yeah, I admit that I’m a bit jealous. However, I’m not sure I would want to raise kids in that environment. With a paint and body shop next door, I’m pretty sure the back yard would qualify as a brownfield if tested. Given that there was no evidence of kids in the area, I’m guessing that he doesn’t have any.
I suppose life is a series of compromises....
"BorkBorkBjork" (tbirdlemons)
01/09/2017 at 10:38, STARS: 3
I did something similar a while ago when I was single. I rented a warehouse space in an industrial park and lived in it.
Was about the same price as a 700 sq-ft apartment, but I had 2600 sq-ft of space. about 400 of that was “office” area with a kitchen and full bath, the rest was a massive garage.
Mega illegal, but it saved me a ton of money and let me keep all of my cars.
"random001" (random001)
01/09/2017 at 10:43, STARS: 0
Why mega illegal? because I’ve always wanted to do that...
"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
01/09/2017 at 10:44, STARS: 0
So cool! I bet it would be an awesome environment in which to raise a kid, if you could take the steps to make it safe for her/him. It would be worth the effort for such a rich learning environment.
"BorkBorkBjork" (tbirdlemons)
01/09/2017 at 10:45, STARS: 0
The building is not legal for human occupation.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
01/09/2017 at 10:47, STARS: 0
Safety regulations and fire protection stuff (building codes and all that) are entirely different for commercial vs residential spaces.
"random001" (random001)
01/09/2017 at 10:47, STARS: 0
damn. that’s just sucky.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
01/09/2017 at 10:47, STARS: 4
Plus then you have free labor for cleaning up the shop!
"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
01/09/2017 at 10:49, STARS: 0
Yeah! But then, if the kid’s into working on the cars with you, you also have more help messing it up. Win-win.
"fintail" (fintail)
01/09/2017 at 10:54, STARS: 0
I’ve always liked this idea. If I built a place, ground floor would be garage, and maybe half of that area would have living quarters above it. I am surprised it isn’t more of a thing.
"adamftw" (adamftw)
01/09/2017 at 10:55, STARS: 1
Zoning laws, probably
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
01/09/2017 at 10:55, STARS: 3
My best friend in middle & high school lived on five acres. His dad built a shop big enough to park three semi trucks and their trailers with enough room left over for a full metal shop. Then he opened his own truck repair business.
Guess who was the free labor. Any time my friend and I wanted to go goof off, we were forced to clean up the shop before we could go.
I may sound somewhat bitter about that, but I’m not. His dad also taught me a lot about working on trucks, how to back a trailer, and the basics of welding.
"Milky" (jordanmielke)
01/09/2017 at 11:04, STARS: 1
I need to do something like this in Detroit before all of the cool and cheap places are bought up.
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
01/09/2017 at 11:12, STARS: 0
It isn’t more of a thing because these types of buildings only exist in warehouse/light industrial areas and most women, my wife included, would never agree to live like this. While suburbia is just to the north, to the west and south is an industrial wasteland.
"fintail" (fintail)
01/09/2017 at 11:28, STARS: 2
No wife, happy life? Much of suburbia could be described as a wasteland too :)
Only thing stopping me is affordability - I am not willing to endure a 2+ hour commute each way to be able to buy land and a building to live this dream. Maybe for the better, as I have long imagined having my own junkyard, and that could spiral out of control.
"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
01/09/2017 at 11:41, STARS: 1
Luke Skywalker
: But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!
Uncle Owen
: You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done.
What seems like an imposition at the time is appreciated when you get older, eh?
"Dogapult" (dogapult)
01/09/2017 at 11:42, STARS: 1
My new place (that I’m moving into this week) is a 2-bedroom 1100sq ft ranch above an 1100 sq ft garage. but sadly, it’s not super cheap.
"Dogapult" (dogapult)
01/09/2017 at 11:49, STARS: 0
My new place is in the greater Detroit area. but yeah, it’s hard to find this sort of thing, I think.
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
01/09/2017 at 11:51, STARS: 0
A wasteland of a different sort.
Forget the land and long commute. Just find something close to work in the light-industrial side of town. I did some looking around and found several 6,000+ sq.ft. warehouses for less than I paid for my house. So tempting.
I think I’d really like to find an old firehouse in a nearby small town. The commute would be longer, but with built-in living quarters, it should be fairly inexpensive to covert to residential.
http://weburbanist.com/2014/01/12/hose-to-home-10-reverently-restored-firehouses/
"Milky" (jordanmielke)
01/09/2017 at 11:54, STARS: 1
Something cool always comes up, but its getting pricier or requires work.
Sometimes both.
http://detroit.curbed.com/2016/12/27/14084806/fire-station-for-rent-detroit
"Dogapult" (dogapult)
01/09/2017 at 11:58, STARS: 0
Zoned commercial, though. Don’t know that you’d be able to live there. I looked into that a lot at one point. Eventually I found the place I’m moving to.
"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
01/09/2017 at 12:02, STARS: 1
I have always wanted to do something like this, but more like a house above a shop.
"fintail" (fintail)
01/09/2017 at 12:17, STARS: 0
I’m in metro Seattle, where a 15 mile commute is almost always an hour or more. The area near where I work has no affordable light industrial - it’s all claimed already. Average detached house price in my zipcode is over 1MM now, and the median price in this city is around 750K. Commercial property is just as bad. I’d have go out at least 50 miles. If my job ever evolves into work from home, maybe. A firehouse would be cool - there was one for sale for eons in the small town where my mom lives - could have picked it up for 100K. Dump another 150K into it and be good to go. But, the drive would be 3 hours with luck, and few jobs there to pay the mortgage. Fun dream anyway.
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
01/09/2017 at 12:25, STARS: 0
Aw, dang. When we lived in Houston, both my wife and I commuted an hour and fifteen minutes each direction. The difference was the mileage. I was traveling 85 miles away from Houston, she was going 35 miles toward Houston. She was lucky her commute ended at the loop.
When people around Baton Rouge complain about the traffic, I tell them to go visit Houston for a week.
"fintail" (fintail)
01/09/2017 at 16:31, STARS: 0
Houston driving does have a third worldy charm to it, that’s a thing. TX has lots of idle land just waiting to be developed, not so much around Seattle.