Hot Rods Considering living in an old service station....

I have a couple buddies that put up 100x40 pole buildings divided into living space, shop and a man cave/bar/collectables section and they love it. They have all kinds of old signs, gas pumps etc. inside and out and seem to be happy as a pig in shit. These guys are both out in the country where they don't have to worry about zoning,and or neighbors. As others have mentioned all the rules of the city and epa might bring you more hassles than you would want to put up with. I did talk to a guy at a swap meet that had bought an old Texaco station that was going to be torn down and was moving it to his lot outside of town. It is his plan to make it his home/ hobby shop, sounds like a good plan to me.

 

My grandmother and her family lived in an old gas station on Ackerd st. In Downtown Dallas during WWII. She didn't have fond memories of it.

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How is the insulation in the walls of an old service station and how is the weather where you live?

Charlie Stephens

 

DO IT!!

 

Perfect place for a Grease Monkey...I mean for a single guy with a vintage car and other mechanical interests...IF you get the use of the bays...it could be a win win situation.

Only possible drawbacks...Stairs, possible poor location or area, Bay doors are big windows for the nosy undesirables. hazardous waste exposures ie 1000s of brake jobs worth of dust in every nook and cranny...old building with old materials including asbestoes much like many houses actually...Not trying to alarm just thinking out loud...

 

........................Sounds like a great place. Quiet neighbors and people stop by every Sunday just to give you money!

 

Plans have been passed by town council .

 

After my wife passed away in 2014 I was thinking about buying a commercial building and setting it up for the cars and machine shop. I have a registered business so it would be a good fit. But I'd have to deal with fire inspectors at the least and I'd hate to have it be a bust.

We had a big family living in an industrial park by me, they eventually got busted and had to move. They had sheets hung up as room dividers and ate almost exclusively at 7-11. I do know of a few machine shops with nice bathrooms with showers and break rooms with couches that fold out. I think you could get away with it unless you had a full kitchen set up, the stove seems to be the one thing that gives it away.

 

you could modify a house/shop to look like a gas station and be able to have it exactly how you want it. better insulation, wiring, plumbing, security, etc

 

I lived in a rental warehouse in Miami back in the 70's . It had an office with a bathroom and shower.
It was cheap and my work was right outside of the office. Life was easier back then.
I say go for it. I am looking at buying some land and putting up a metal building with an apartment inside.

 

That's what I'm talking about.

 

Thanks, more things to consider.

 

True and some had pits.

 

I have considered a larger building (pole barn style) and put a cool travel trailer or Airstream at one end with Astroturf and yard chairs,etc... and call it home. That might be the way to go.

 

There's times I thought about living in my garage (it had a one bedroom apartment in it at one time ) but instead I got rid of the troublesome girlfriend..lol
Nothing was disclosed at purchase but I did find what I think was an old fuel oil tank pipe leading underground, which of course was trimmed to floor level and capped with concrete. So like everyone has said make sure it's environmentally good before purchasing.

 

So renting and spending tens of thousands of dollars to fix it up makes sense?

 

Check local ordinances. A guy near me had a lot of gas pumps and signs at his house and the neighbors complained and the city made him remove them because they said they were commercial items in a residential zone.

 

Exhaust fumes getting into living quarters whenever you start up a car.

 

Yeah, I had something like that happen to me. I hung one of those 10” Authorized Buick Service signs off my house. I got a notice to remove it. I tried to argue that more than a sign, it was a decoration, which actually it was. But, you can’t fight city hall.


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Now you're talking!

 

Well a Studio apt is one room with a bathroom. They are popular with bachelors and don't come with an attached garage. The garage could actually be your living room, where you entertain guests. Now let me explain my thinking here.

Most people that come to visit here end up in the garage. Throw an old couch and a chair or two in your garage and you have a living room/garage.

Most service stations have a man's and a lady's room. Convert one to a shower and leave the other and you now have a bathroom.

Now all that is left is a place to sleep and a kitchen which is the office.

I once lived in an old a warehouse and this is pretty much how it worked for me. Well except my bedroom was the second floor and my kitchen was in the back of my garage/living room.

 

WOW...talk about extreme prejudice!

Ray

 

Id be all in! Making it comfortable for you would be the key. Ac, heat, water, and a pillow! What else do ya need? Plus gas runs through our veins anyway so you would feel right at home in no time. A good place to park the ride / rides out of the eliments. Ive always wanted a garage with an attached house, but really no need for the house? Keep us posted after you move in and the progress on how your life improves! Soak it up and live it!

 

Check Zoning regs on the property.

 

LOL zoned business? Just say you're a whore. Problem solved.

 

There are towns along some of the less traveled state roads that are slowly shrinking rather than growing. I imagine that there are "Main Streets" around with more buildings than there are businesses to fill them. The local politics just might be very receptive to the idea of one less eyesore getting fixed up and one addition to the population sign at the city limits. Where I live it's not too hard to find sleepy little, unincorporated towns that are within a 20 mile drive to the big city for shopping, etc.

I'm thinking your plans could be a win/win in a lot of cases. Just start looking. You might be surprised at who has a real estate license and knows every owner of every piece of property and every honorary, volunteer mayor in the county.

 

^^^^^^ X2. Lot to be said and considered in what Shift Wizzard has written just above in post #86.
I've been a hotrodder and a gearhead all of my adult and teen life, and certainly understand the appeal of this idea.
But be sure you get it all OK'ed by the appropriate officials, all of it above board and no trying to hide that you are planning to live there. Because if you try to hide it, sooner or later, somebody's going to rat on you. And I don't think I would want to rent a place, do all the work and expense to get it all just like you want it, and then have a landlord decide to evict you for some obscure reason.
I've been a member of the zoning board here in my hometown, where I have lived all my 80 years, for about 25 years. Got on the board in hopes of retaining some semblance of sanity in a town intent on escaping it's past of a cotton mill town. And I can tell you stories of people trying to get around regulations, even ones that the regs were BS, that spent lots of money and wound up not being able to utilize their own property the way they wanted just because some do gooder didn't like it.

 

When Brenda & I got married we rented a garage apartment,lived upstairs with a 2 car garage down stairs,ideallive space for a single car guy. HRP

 

Nope, It,s not real.