I've been pretty lucky so far with my neighbours. The old lady that used to live next to me was never around so she never complained, the guy on the other side had some cars and motorcycles so we would talk once in a while and he loved the exhaust sound of my Pace Car. Now I have 2 new sets of neighbours so I'll be the one doing the complaining! Actually, we all have parties once in a while so nobody complains, even the people behind me have some good parties. The people who would complain would be the guys on the golf course across the street trying to tee off while I was revving the old Flowmaster! You should see the looks on their faces when I was working on the car. The supercharger made it even louder and I know you could hear it halfway across the golf course. Man, I miss having a rumbling V8 to drive every day.

 

all these stories and my family keeps asking me why i am looking for a place out of the township/city...lol
i am looking around the southern part of hunterdon county and the northern part of mercer county. i figure if i can find soem back woods little house with soem space around it i will eb better off.

later
tim

 

That's one of the joys of owning a house! I've been arguing with this couple who rent out part of my next door neighbors house since I moved in. It's a long story but they were some major losers, I was so happy this summer that they finally moved out, I was practically doing cartwheels around the yard when I heard the news

 

Congrats man! Looks like the guy is "p.m.sn" And wait untill he sees all the F-bods one day parked at your block for a bbq! I wonder what he would say then.
Oh, did I mention I just got a daily driver! My fishing bud! A 91 Blazer, it will be my work and fishing toy. I could finaly have my Z put away in the garage for the 1st time this winter.

 

LOL, you guys are just too darn funny! I read this and almost peed myself laughing. But thats exactly what I'm gonna do. Once everything is in place I'm gonna have a "small" group of F-buds over to check it out. Its not my fault if every one of you brings a few beers. And if I just happen to slip and fall, and drop a few burgers right onto the grill on the way down then it really isnt a "party" is it..

I am glad that it went thru with no problems, but that guy being a jerk is just going to force me to do everything "by the book". Cause I know hes going to be sitting around waiting. I was going to upgrade the electric to the house and then wire the garage my self. But now, can still do it myself but I will just have to get permits for it and have all the work inspected. Smae thing for the deck I want to build. Thats an easy 2 weekend job if I build it myeslf with a few friends, but now it will require me to get a permit. If I do it on the side, I know that jerk will call and the township.

Anyway, I too have plans for a daily driver. This car will be off the road probably by spring. Then its time to get serious. You guys want to see a fast LT1... I hope to add mine to the growing list of "sick" F-bods. But I cant reveil my plans, its top secret.

 

Newbie, nice site. I had to chime in on this topic.

Two years ago, we put a addition on our newly purchased house. In doing so, I added a second car garage. It's attached to the house and put me within 2.5 feet on my neighbors property line. He house was another 20 feet past that, so I wasn't building on top of their house. So I had to get a variance. Everyone within 200 was cool except guess who? Well you would have thought I was invading Poland, listening to this guy at the hearing. In the end he had no valid points. The only thing I had to do was point my down spouts towards the street. He claimed if I point them towards his house, it would floor his basement. His house is 22.5 feet away, and about 1 foot higher, uphill and he thinks my run off will go uphill to his basement. So I said OK, No problem. We still don't speak to this day, but I love my house. People?

 

Lar's SS.. welcome to the board! Almost all of the local people post here and its always a ton of fun. Hope to see more of ya in the future.

I think some people just want to be a pain... my house is almost 100ft from this jerks house... and we have no rear neighbors. My house backs up to a creek behind the woods. So he has no reason to bitch other than him just having nothing better to do. Glad to hear things worked out for you. I did a little reaserch when I found out about him. It seems that if I had to get a variance that he has to have a legitiment reason to not sign. He cant just say no because he doesnt want to see it. Its my property and I am free to do what I want with it as long as it doesnt interfear with him phisically. If I had to get one and he didnt sign... I can go to the township zoning board meeting and he has to show up and tell why. Not just because "I dont like him". If thats all he had, then I would get the permit anyway. Your neighbor had a legitimet concern... even if he was a morron and couldnt see that water wont run up hill.

 

Just out of curiosity, about how much would it cost to have a very basic detached 2 car garage built? Im house shopping and having a hard time finding a house with a garage in my price range. =(

 

Pole buildings are very cheap. I decided to go this route because of the price and their simple desgin. They allow you to build them just about any way you want. The company I am dealing with is running a special right now for a 24x32x10 for $6500. That's built on your property for $6500. It does not include the floor. To have someone pour the floor for you your looking at $2500. Do it yourself and you can do it for half that. My building started with the special. I added a 16x9 door in the front, a moved the included 9x8 door to the back. Moved the included walk in door to the left side. I added in 1' overhangs off of the eve and gable sides, and shortened it by 2'. Total price is about $8000. Once its up I have to do the floor myself, and I am going to do the electric also. But that will require me to upgrade the electric to the house too. When its all said and done, I'm looking at 10K. But thats still a LOT less than a conventional stick frame building.

BTW, you will have a real hard time finding a house around here with a garage. If its attached to the house its most likley too small to work in, and the house is way over priced. If its a detached garage, its not for sale. I went thru the same thing... took me a long time to find just a decent house. When I found this one.. I jumped on it and decided to build the garage myself. Personally I think thats the better option cause you can build it the way you want it, not the way some other guy wanted it before he sold the house.

 

Thanks for the welcome!

Your correct, people can't just say "no, I don't like it". I was thinking this guy was going to shoot me down. So I did the same thing and talked to township board members and they filled me in on the details of the do's and don'ts of zoning.

It's also funny how us car guys pick houses based on the size of the garage. I'm guilty too. The wife calls to say, " honey, I found a great new house" and my first question is " Does it have a garage?" "How big?" I'm just thankful she puts up with it. My focus came more around to the details of house, so that's why I just built the best think I could for my needs.

Hope to see all you local guys around the area!

Lar

 

Brian, thats awesome! Thats a big relief to me because I think I will start considering houses without garages, as long as the lot is big enough.

What is the main difference between the pole structures and the stick frame, is there any downside to it? Any buliders that you would recommend?

Im sick of working on my car in my townhouse parking lot! And I think my neighbors are too!

 

Guilty as well. When we had our house built we paid to have the garage extended 4' to the front and 4' to the side. Now I can get all my tools in it, 2 cars and still move around fairly comfortably. I'm glad she puts up w/ me as well. I let her do anything she wants inside the house.

Later,


Steve.

 

You might want to try talking to this guy. A neighbor who is a jerk can make your life hell. It's often easier to prevent trouble than to deal with it after it starts.

Rich Krause

 

I hear ya rich... I dont want to have neighbors that dont like me but what can I do? He aparently doesnt want to talk to me at all. I'm always te one who waves and wat not, but then he imediately runs in to the house so he wont have to talk to me. Personally I dont care if he wont be a friendly neighbor, but running around to the other neighbors and telling them that I wont build on my land cause he doesnt want it is just rediculious. I will try the nice way first... I always try to flatter people with kindness first, but I have a feeling its not gonna work with this guy. I plan to send him a christmas card... we'll see if he lightens up a bit. If not then I will just work around him. Thw first week I was here I talked to him... and I was the one who started the conversation. Since then I have yet to speak with him. That was back in April.


I too am guilty of looking for a house like that. I found several houses that I liked but no garage, or no room to build one or to park my trailer. Or I found one with an awsome garage, but the house was a mess. Or I just ran across crap properties. It took me months, and months to find something suitable. This place was great excapt no garage. But the room to build one is here, so I bought it.


Conventional stick frame is basically just like a house is built. They build walls from 2x4's and frame it out. Plywood and siding ect... A pole barn is just that. The main supports are 4x6 pressure treated timbers set into the ground by 3-4 feet. set them 8ft apart. Then they lay perlins allong the sides and the metal goes up. Its actually metal sides and a metal roof. The roof trusses are per fab and are just set on top. They are hot in the summer and cold in the winter. But I have no problem with heat, and a 225,000 BTU propane heater for the winter. Fire it up and that place will be warm in no time. It wont stay long without the walls being insulated but propane is cheap. Once its up and I have all the electric run, I will insulate and drywall it inside.

Here is the basic desgin of a pole building: http://www.pioneerpolebuildings.com/...nicalinfo.html

That is also the company building mine, goto their home page and check out some of the stuff avalible and all the things you can do with a PB.

 

You know, you're pouring a concrete floor anyway....

Hey, you're from Jersey. Do I really have to spell this out for you?