Garage demolition

Garage Elevation

He did a beautiful job, and then we began the process of getting a variance since our proposed structure exceeded the wall height dimension for our local building codes.  That took some time, since they only reviewed variance applications once a month and the offices are only open during the workday.  Once we submitted all the paperwork around April, Dave and my brother attended the hearing to present it to the zoning board.  Arden and I attended, and we tried our best not to be a distraction. 

Our application was approved, so then we needed to begin lining up our contractor.  My parents and my brother are friends with Chris Ratcliffe of Ratcliffe Builders, so we wanted to get an estimate from him.  The estimate came in at the beginning of August for a bit less than we expected, so we’re going with it.

Demolition.  Dave wanted to hire my brother Jeff and my nephew Nathan to help with the demolition.  Jeff is going back to school this fall, so this set an automatic deadline for us of August 29.  Dave arranged for the dumpster, and set up time with Jeff and Nathan to start demo on August 27, thinking it would take a couple of weekends.

Friday, the 30-yard dumpster arrived in our driveway and Jeff and Nathan arrived in the afternoon to start on “some really easy stuff” while Dave was picking up some supplies.  By the end of  Friday, the doors were off, and all the wood siding.

Demolition begins

Saturday said good-bye to the roof

Roof going

Roof gone

And Sunday saw the end of the garage.  It only took the one weekend, and they completely filled the dumpster.  My nephew learned a good lesson about hard work in the process.  Who knows how long the rest of the project will take, but at least there’s been a big forward leap in progress. 

Final pieces

We made a squirrel family homeless in the process, but at least we can rest easier knowing that the weather is still nice and they have plenty of time to seek alternate accommodations.   I can stop having to clean squirrel poop off my car, and Dave will be able to cruise right into his parking spot instead of having to perform stunt-driver-worthy manuevers to get into the garage while avoiding hitting the house/fence/garage door/garage wall.