Well, it's been long enough. Time to build something. We really love the garage/apartment and use it regularly. The smaller living space is very manageable and comfortable for 2 peep's. The guest BR works great. The shop area is perfect. The garage works very well, too. The one thing we really don't have much of is storage. Also, since we brought on the compact tractor, it resides in one of the 2 garage stalls, along with the backhoe attachment. Long range, the tractor and accessories need a new home. So...we decided we need a tractor barn. Some place to put power type toys like tractors and UTV's (maybe someday) and other related stuff. And, since we are going to do this, let's do it right! We created the building site large enough, and located the garage apt to one side, so we could expand off to the other side of the site someday. Some day is here. The plan is another gambrel design structure. 24' x 48' on a concrete slab. Frame walls, gambrel roof trusses, metal roof, plain siding with the option of adding battens later on if we feel it needs "the look". Our excavator has been running in between rain storms, trying pluck trees and push a whole buncha dirt to create not only the access drive, but the proper slope and grade for the foundation. The area where it goes is uphill from the gar/apt and I want to try and keep them at the same elevation for aesthetics. That means clearing back the treeline about 75 feet and then cutting out and re-shaping the hill. It isn't ideal, but we got it shaped to keep rain run-off moving away from the slab. - The opening at the right is the original/existing driveway into the parking area for the gar/apt. The opening on the left is the new access drive (cuts back into the woods and links up with the original drive further back). The flat dirt area between them is the septic field (been a weed field for about 4 years; time to grade and seed as yard). Looking to the left, you can get a feel for the amount of grade drop we needed when we cut into the uphill slope.
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...standing in the new access drive, looking out/down to the new slab zone
