Survey, Permitting, Foundation
After obtaining HOA approval I began the process of shoe-horning this workshop into the backyard. I wanted to build it as large as I could fit within the restrictions of the side lot-line setback (7 1/2′ from the property line.) I went to the architect and we decided on a 22′ x 24′ workshop but when I measured from the fence to the house, things didn’t align! I ended up having to have the lot line surveyed and discovered that the shared fence with my neighbor was 18″ to 2′ on his property! All these years, almost 37, I have been using that much of his property on my side of the fence. Obviously, we had to measure from the property line, now properly staked out, and not from the fence. Problem 1 solved!
With the architect’s drawings in hand I began the permitting process; was I in for an eye opening experience! As the Homeowner building his own building, I was unfamiliar with the County’s Building Permit process… beginning with the fact that there is no permit category for a workshop. There was so much confusion in the beginning, and so much conflicting information from the County, that I had to contact my County Commissioner who ‘went to bat’ for me and got me to the right people that could help me. As I just said, tithe first problem was there was not a category for a workshop; the closest they had was a shed. A garage? No, no driveways or vehicle parking. An accessory dwelling? Nope, no plumbing and no one will be residing there. So I’m building a shed! I submitted all the requisite paperwork, and payed my money, and after getting denied the first time, I paid some more money and received my building permit. I was official to begin!
After getting 3 bids I found my concrete guy online through Angi, Triston with KCS Concrete out of Middleburg. He and his crew could not have been nicer to work with, and most important, that foundation slab is square, flat, and level. I posted photos of the foundation work in the Gallery 1 Page here on the website. I was slightly shocked to see them get here the first day with nothing but their shovels and begin site prep and digging the footings by hand. They were steady, and dedicated, and honestly seemed to enjoy their work. Great guys.
Because of the elevation changes from the back left corner of the slab near the fence to the front right corner near the house, it was a little tricky getting things just right so as to tie into the house and still keep the required landing size and the step riser heights to code; KCS got it done. As part of the overall job he will come back when I’m ready and cut out the brick under the window to the house (that I’m replacing with a door) and fill in the gap between the exterior landing and the house slab where the brick was. I’m saving to post about that until the very end. (I’m dreading taking a reciprocating saw to that window and cutting it out.) I can hardly wait to share that experience with you!
This is the first of what will be a series of blogs about the building of my Taj Mashop. I plan to break it up into smaller parts and galleries. This first one obviously gets us started with the plans, permits, and foundation poured. In the next post and set of photos we begin the framing. Come back for that one and you can see it rise above the slab and actually begin to look like a workshop! Until next time… thanks for reading and following along!
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