There’s snow business like snow business…
on February 21, 2013 at 1:27 PMHere’s a sample of what the current snowfall in my neck of the woods looks like:
Josh enjoys the view out of the office window overlooking our driveway. For those wondering how we can be above the driveway but on the first floor, we have an old house (circa 1917, I think). The driveway is a few feet below the front yard’s “ground level,” and it slopes further, leading into the garage, which is actually under the room this photo was taken in. Lest anyone think that a luxury, even if you had a car in 1917, you’d have to drive down a narrow stone-lined hill into the enclosure and then turn to the left before parking if you actually wanted room enough between you and the rock foundation to be able to open your door. In short, if I had the money, I’d probably just fill it in and level the remaining driveway.
Where was I? Oh, right. Kid. Snow. Cute, eh?
That has got to be even more fun in the snow…
The house I grew up in had, when we bought it, a garage that was level with the basement. One had to drive down a significant hill to get into the garage, which mostly served to help drain the yard into the basement. There was “porch”, or rather a large flat area with a railing, above the garage and level with the first floor.
Even if one wall hadn’t started bowing from 3 decades of being constantly wet, I think Dad would have torn that thing down. He had a real foundation poured in its place, with a set of concrete stairs up to ground level, and used sand and gravel to fill in over the old driveway to create a new parking area at ground level. Then built an additional room where the “porch” had been.
I can’t imagine what possessed people to think a below-ground-level garage was a good idea, especially on a piece of land where bodies of water formed in heavy rain, and the basement floor had been poured on bedrock.