How far are is your house from your shop? Is it a shop for farting around or is it your business? I just stumbled across a vacant three bay shop (former gas station) in a small town 56 km (35 miles) from my house, almost all highway miles. It is going for a song. I am pretty sure it includes the land. What would you do? How far is too far from home?

I would think it's all personal preference. I tend to be a person that will work on my rig for 2 hours, then do something else for 2 hours, then go back to the rig for a few more hours. If you like to plug away for a half day straight, then it sounds great. Of course if it is a really great deal then how can you say no?

About 100' :smokin:

Little over 100' from the house. Far enough that noise doesn't bother people up there and also far enough that people think twice about walking down to bother me. Still close enough that I can head out there for just a few hours without spending twenty minutes just to get there.

A professional shop would be a different matter. I'd say it could be further away if you were going to drive there and spend the whole day working.

it's on the other side of the house. :)

http://english.icx.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=&SearchURL=%3fMode%3d0%26Page%3d1%26vs%3d2%26rlt%3d %26cp%3d%26pt%3d0%26mp%3d0-0-0%26mrt%3d-1-0-0%26o%3dA%26of%3d1%26ps%3d50%26db%3d0%26ld%3d0%26m fs%3d%26mxfs%3d%26mls%3d%26mxls%3d%26lsu%3d2%26brd %3d%26lid%3d%26ptgid%3d2%26aid%3d5382%26MapURL%3d% 253fAreaID%253d6444&Mode=0&PropertyID=3466910

Well I talked to the realtor, got some more information and drove out by myself to take a look at the building. Apparently an environmental assesment was done but no cleanup was ever done. The tanks are still in the ground. Who knows what the cost of the site remediation would be. :eek: Also when I looked at the building it has structural issues and being concrete block construction there is no way to fix them. I think I'm going to pass. Too bad though because it is a 10,500 sq ft downtown lot. Would have made a great shop for next to nothing.
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I still like the shop out back here....even with the cranky neighbours!

How far are is your house from your shop?

That would have been a sweet shop.

Our attached garage is my shop; so it's about 4 inches from the house. :flipoff2:

The detached 30x30 is about 35' off the back patio.


Since the tanks are still in the ground stay far far away. My pop owned a petroleum distirbution biz for many years and when it comes to underground tanks and piping...you don't want anything to do with it. Thus the inexpensive price.

make them clean up the tanks as a subject

Apparently an environmental assesment was done but no cleanup was ever done. The tanks are still in the ground. Who knows what the cost of the site remediation would be. :eek: Also when I looked at the building it has structural issues and being concrete block construction there is no way to fix them. I think I'm going to pass. Too bad though because it is a 10,500 sq ft downtown lot. Would have made a great shop for next to nothing.
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If you're giving this a second thought...read this article: http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/15655.php You seriously don't want to take on this liability.

I build out commercial space for a living and one of the 20,000 sq ft spaces I was looking at leasing for a client was going cheap...Like $1.65/sq ft in a $2.05/sq ft market! Why so cheap? All five buildings were an old superfund site and the company involved...RocketDyne?...GAVE the land and buildings to any developer who would take on the future liability...even though the site had already been cleaned and approved. Oh, yeah...Wasn't going to put a client in there if it was free.

I've read stories about dry cleaners with leaking tanks having to pay millions in compensatory damages for solvent "plumes" that a single leak can cause.

Yeah...it'd be a cool shop...My dad bought an old closed down Esso station and the land when I was a kid. Did a lot of car work in there...lifts and all! :grinpimp:

My detached 28x35 shop is 5' from my house and still dont go there as much as I should

If you're giving this a second thought...

I pretty much decide that it was a no go as soon as he told me the tanks were in the ground and the cleanup had not been done. I don't want to spend money to clean up someone else's mess(besides, I can't afford to) and I certainly don't want to be on the hook for it either.

20 steps

0.8 miles driving distance-across the street from a former solvent tank farm (somewhere I have pics of the tanks floating out of the ground and the chromatograms of the stuff in the pits). Someday, maybe my landlord will actually give me a price and I'll own it.

Depending upon what was in the tanks and your province's brownfield funding, you might be very surprised to find you could be a hero for cleaning it up and putting into productive use. Back when I was an environmental engineer, I oversaw many tank removals. Some of them aren't very expensive at all. That piece of property might be far more valuable than you thought.

I carry my shop with me everywhere. Its in my head being designed until I can make sure I have the money to finish. :flipoff2:

Our main shop is roughly 250-300 yards away from the house. Just far enough that things at home don't become a distraction and the noise level isn't a problem at the house.

My shop is 20 miles from my house. But it works out well cause my work is just five more miles from my shop :)

Roughly 100' from the house.

"Parts vehicle storage" is about 10 miles from the house... somewhat inconvenient, but managable.

I used to have a job where I could use the shop after hours as much as I wanted. The shop was setup for auto service, machining & fabricating, and auto-wrecking. Even included short-term storage so long as it didn't get in the way of day-to-day business. Longer term pay storage was available too.

I was awesome when I lived 10-15 minutes away. I'd either stay late, or go home for supper and come back. Was there off & on every weekend. Then I moved further away. Took a good 30 minutes now :( I shut down the after-supper 'shift' and was only staying late for 1-2 hours once in a while and sometimes a whole day on the weekend.

No way could I have my shop 56km away from me where I had to provide all the equipment and supplies. :flipoff2:

My detached 28x35 shop is 5' from my house and still dont go there as much as I should

+1

i'm 180 miles round trip from my rig :( its at my dads house only place i can work on it. to poor to rent space here and garage to small to work in. 36 miles would be a dream

my shops are 250' or so............I'd say if you have to worry bout the tanks Do'nt even consider it. :grinpimp:

How many tanks are there? How long were they there? What did they have in them? Extent of plume migration?

How many tanks are there? How long were they there? What did they have in them? Extent of plume migration?

Given it's location and structural problems even if Paul spent 15K on site remediation he would still have more money into it than it was worth.

about 20-25 sec. depending on where I'm in my house

Given it's location and structural problems even if Paul spent 15K on site remediation he would still have more money into it than it was worth.

In the US, there are funds available to do such cleanups. The incentives to cities are often enough to skew otherwise unattractive projects. I've seen several situations where what did not look to be viable became profitable. Many right here in town. Up to and including superfund sites.

about 250 yards from the house. It sits on the back of our 6 acres, and the house is in the middle. I like the seclusion from household doodies:D

In the US, there are funds available to do such cleanups. The incentives to cities are often enough to skew otherwise unattractive projects. I've seen several situations where what did not look to be viable became profitable. Many right here in town. Up to and including superfund sites.

Exactly. Get a copy of the Enviromental Assessment. It may be nothing at all, or it may be big time. I know a guy who basically stole a 3 bay gas station cause the tanks were still in the ground and the Enviro. said it was clean. The former owner didn't want to do the work to remove. He still does business on the site, and still hasn't removed the tanks.

It could be a steal, or it could be a nightmare. But there is alot of Federal Funding available for this.

I split a shop with my old ma, its about 4 miles away from me, but its all city so 15-30 minutes depending on what time I try to go. But its soon to be about 20 miles away, but all highway and on my way to and from work. Hopefully that will help me spend more time in the shop.

Humm...

Now the shops about 15 miles.

Soon to be about 11 feet....


later,

REFLEXX

150 miles. One way. Sometimes you gotta make sacrifices. It works right now for me because it's the best option.

6 mi