I have a workshop ramp! (Plus, landscaping plans and driveway progress)

Let me back up a second. If you remember, I had my workshop built 14 feet away from the edge of the garage, and although my garage is a concrete slab sitting directly on the ground, my workshop was built about 14 inches off the ground.

So I needed a ramp for easy access and was weighing the decision of whether to build a wood ramp or pour a concrete ramp. Matt preferred the concrete ramp, and that’s how this whole thing (driveway and all) got going. While the concrete man was here to measure and give us an estimate for the ramp, I asked him to measure and give me an estimate for the driveway as well, thinking that might be something we could finally do next year. But the estimate was so good that we decided to do it all at once… NOW.

The concrete workers arrived last Friday, a work day ahead of schedule, and began building the structures. First, they built the frame for the ramp…

And then they started down the driveway, starting at the back and moving toward the street. On the first day, they finished the ramp form, finished the forms for the first two sections of the driveway, and started the third section.

The third section has a small curve. They just started this section on the first day, but they did not finish it because they needed the concrete truck to have space to reach those first two sections.

So bright and early yesterday morning, the concrete truck showed up to pour the ramp…

And the first two sections of the driveway…

As soon as they were poured, two of the guys finished the framing and rebar for the third and fourth sections, while one guy worked on the poured sections until they were set and finished with a brush finish.

At the end of the day yesterday, the ramp and the first two sections of the driveway were finished and almost completely set (enough to walk on), the next two sections were completely framed and ready for concrete, and a third section was started but not completely framed.

And of course, before the concrete fully set, I had to make my mark.

Here’s a look at the progress about an hour before they left yesterday.

This morning, they arrived early and removed the forms from the ramp. It looks so good!

And then the concrete truck showed up again for another pour. I thought they were only going to do two sections again, but they did the first two and then it took about 30 minutes to finish the frame and rebar for the third section and pour those as well.

So at the end of today, that will be five entrance sections plus the finished ramp, and you’ll have six more entrance sections left.

I had to share this photo. See my sweet stray kitten sitting at the end of the driveway? He’s not quite sure what to think about all this. My neighbors and I have decided to call him Tigre. Now he’s like the neighborhood cat. I think many of us care for it and feed it. I would love to bring him inside and make him our cat, but so far, Cooper won’t have any of that. I keep hoping he’ll calm down a bit around the cat, but he’s just not good with cats (he tolerates Felicity most of the time). For now, the cat has to stay outside.

So, starting today, all the sections that meet the garage will be finished.

But they still have a long way to go. It’s already a lot of cement and they haven’t reached the side of the house yet.

Concrete originally suggested making the ramp much wider, connecting the corner of the garage to the corner of the workshop on the foreground side in the image below, and then on the other side, connecting the corner of the garage to the edge . of the workshop door, and then into the remaining space, pouring the concrete so that it slopes toward the driveway.

So what I want to do first is put some skirting around the building so you can’t see underneath it.

Then I want to put a two foot perimeter of gravel around the building to give it a very clean look. I still don’t know what kind of border I’ll use. I haven’t gotten that far in my planning yet. And then on top of the gravel I can place some potted plants. And then in the areas on either side of the ramp, I may plant some bushes or something just to soften all this concrete.

So, with that plan in mind, I asked them to leave a two-foot perimeter behind the shop.

I planned it from the beginning, so I’m glad it worked out. My workshop is only 18 feet wide and the garage is 20 feet wide, so I asked them to build the workshop so that the front (i.e. the side with the front door) lines up with the other edge of the garage , which leaves that two foot gap on this back side with the driveway aligned with this edge of the garage.

I have no idea if that made sense. But all that to say, I planned it that way because I have a very clear vision in my head of what this will all look like when it’s finished. And then my planned walkway/walking track around the backyard will be right at the end of the driveway and will head toward the back fence of our property.

You can see from the landscape plan that I’m following the plan for the most part. But I hadn’t realized in the plan that I would need a ramp to get to the workshop. So when I realized that, I didn’t see any need to wrap the concrete all the way to the other side of the shop. There is no need for that amount of concrete when gravel or other landscaping material will work just fine and will probably look better. But you can see how the walking path leaves the back of the driveway to the right of the raised flower beds.

So I’m following the plan for the most part, but there will be some changes and adjustments along the way. But I plan to keep that two-foot gravel perimeter around the entire shop, and it will probably also extend along the back edge of the driveway with a break in the gravel perimeter for the walking path.

And then I have to decide what to do on this side of the driveway. The landscape plan did not contemplate any space on this side, so I am alone.