Building a home gym in south Boulder County... wtb a house

I'm looking to buy a house in southern Boulder County.  I've been a professor at CU for 20 years, but mostly just rented small-ish apartments.  I know the area fairly well, but not as well as many of you most likely do.

I want to buy a house such that I can have a home gym that includes a Kilter Board, maybe a Moon Board, a spray wall, some hangboards, pullup bar and rings, and a few other core workout thingies. The problem is that the Kilter Board requires a 15.5' ceiling and virtually zero homes around here have a garage with ceilings that high.  ( cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0…)

So this leads me to believe I'd need to build a free-standing structure in the back yard of whatever home I purchase. But this adds complexity, including the provision of heating/cooling, air flow, insulation, electricity, proper permitting, and finding a place zoned for such additions.  I currently live in Superior (just SE of Boulder) which is a great area and perfect for my kids' bus route to Monarch HS, but I somehow doubt the zoning here allows me to build a structure in the backyard.

The people I know in CO with nice home gyms live in other places where they're able to build; one guy lives in Evergreen, another in rural Golden.  Suggestions?!

Or just rebuild the garage so it IS tall enough. (Instead of a separate out building). 

Look up Garth Sundem on mp. He has experience with this and is always happy to share knowledge.

Go talk to an architect that does residential work. 

Sean Peter wrote: Or just rebuild the garage so it IS tall enough. (Instead of a separate out building). 

Zoning regulations will limit the height of the house and any accessory buildings. 

While you probably don't want to spend this much, the trick Movement used for both Denver and Boulder gyms is to excavate some to get a higher ceiling. You might look for a house that's built on a hill, with a walkout basement. If the house would allow the removal of a section of floor, you could get the clearance you need. It's possible that a house with a normal basement could be modified this way too, but then all the equipment has to be installed below grade, which seems a bit problematic. Any architect can tell you that all you need to solve this problem is money.

Maximum height for all accessory buildings, structures and uses 20' (from 9-7-1. - Schedule of Form and Bulk Standards)
Setbacks vary by zone - 5' min for some residential
Must also meet the "Side Yard Bulk Plane" - so you can't go 20' up, 5' from the property line, most likely.

Read the code, if you can't figure it out, call the Planning/Zoning department and ask. Know what zone your proposed home is in, though. They can't answer questions that are overly broad.

edit: scratch all that and use it as an example if the City and County of Boulder have separate municipal codes (just re-read and saw 'Boulder County' - the above is from the City's webpage, below is County)

https://www.bouldercounty.org/property-and-land/land-use/planning/land-use-code/   
3. Maximum building height a. Residential structures: (i) On subdivided land with a final plat approved by the County prior to August 29, 1994, 35 feet unless a lower height was approved through the platting process. (ii) On any other land, 30 feet unless, through a subdivided land approval or Site Plan Review approval, a lower or higher height is permitted due to the unique characteristics of the particular site; in no event, however, shall any residential structure exceed 35 feet. 

Cities are generally more restrictive than Counties, as you can see. Just a 5min quick search, though. Be sure to spend some time reading and asking Q's yourself. With the right property it should be easily allowable.

Victor K wrote: Any architect can tell you that all you need to solve this problem is money.

I am an architect, and yes, you can build anything you want if you have the money

Let me know when the gym is ready, I'll bring the beers :)

Is this duder for real?

Are you planning on using the free-standing adjustable wall with their frame? It’s your money to spend, but it seems to me that going with 40 degree wall and forgoing the free-standing frame will be a hell of a lot cheaper.
 
one of the gyms I go to is a multi-story apartment building converted to a bouldering gym, so they have bouldering walls on multiple floors. They fit the fixed 40 degree kilterboard and a moonboard into that space... this is the 3rd floor of an appartment building. 

the empty wall space is where the tension holds will go... the moonboard is on the other ride of the room.

They cut the floor mats at an angle near the start of the kickboard, so there is no extra space taken up by 1ft thick mats...

Lena chita wrote: Are you planning on using the free-standing adjustable wall with their frame? It’s your money to spend, but it seems to me that going with 40 degree wall and forgoing the free-standing frame will be a hell of a lot cheaper.
 

Was thinking of putting the board on hinges so it would still be adjustable (with a bit of effort) by hand, but not use their freestanding frame nor install any hydraulics.  As you prob know, the Kilter has problems set for a range of angles and I would assume training at different angles is beneficial.  The problem is that at the less-steep angles, you need quite a bit of ceiling height.  At a fixed 40 degrees, it's much less.  12.7 ft at 40 degrees versus 15.5 ft at 0 degrees.

I have a reasonable budget for this, but zero knowledge/experience and I'm geographically quite restricted due to having kids in HS whom I'm not going to put into a new school just so I can have a home gym. :)

Also, G1 just opened down the street, so maybe I'll just use their Kilter Board and call it a day.

I don't blame you for wanting to stay in the Monarch district!

I think that building a separate gym structure is going to be dependent on the lot size. It's possible that you will be in the Boulder County jurisdiction but more likely one of the small towns like Louisville. A larger lot will make it easier to meet setback, area, open space and solar access requirements. Most of the newer suburban-style developments in that area are small lots that would be too zoning-restricted to build a stand-alone gym. As Victor noted, you could modify an existing house to accommodate a gym, but it would eat up a lot of space in the house.

I would start with a good realtor and have them sort out what might work for you in that area.

This will be a significant project unless you can find something with a big enough space and G1 looks pretty awesome! 

Another alternative is the 8' tension board.  Holds are mega pricey, but at least you'll have a standardized board that can fit in normal spaces.

Hey, I'm an architect who's moving to Denver in the near future, and looking to get into projects like this. Be happy to help out with some code/zoning research and make some drawings if you want.

In an area like Boulder with multiple hella good gyms within 15-20 minutes of any neighborhood, I wouldn't waste money or time building a substantial home facility. I have a small wall in my basement if I need it and gym it or go outdoors as much as possible. As someone in almost exactly the same position (55+, college professor, daughter in middle school), I recommend finding an awesome house that you can afford and do not worry about the climbing part.

John RB wrote:

Was thinking of putting the board on hinges so it would still be adjustable (with a bit of effort) by hand, but not use their freestanding frame nor install any hydraulics.  As you prob know, the Kilter has problems set for a range of angles and I would assume training at different angles is beneficial.  The problem is that at the less-steep angles, you need quite a bit of ceiling height.  At a fixed 40 degrees, it's much less.  12.7 ft at 40 degrees versus 15.5 ft at 0 degrees.

Yes, of course Climbing on terrain of different angles can be beneficial. But I’m thinking cost/benefit. You aren’t going to use a board at less that 20 degrees. You are better off just hang boarding on small crimps, if you have a decent amount of outdoor mileage, and are training for vertical terrain in a home gym...

And even 20 degrees is realistically only beneficial if You are looking for V0-V2, then steeper angles wouldn’t have much for you, in terms of problems you can find in the database. But if you are climbing in the 5.12 range, IMO, you can train on 40 degree wall, supplement with hangboard training for smaller holds, and it would have decent transference into 20 degree angle terrain. But the reverse isn’t true. If you train on 20 degrees, there would be much less of a benefit when you encounter steeper climbing. 

I have a reasonable budget for this, but zero knowledge/experience and I'm geographically quite restricted due to having kids in HS whom I'm not going to put into a new school just so I can have a home gym. :)

My husband and I toyed with the idea of building a tension board in our garage. And decided not to. For reasons outlined above. 

Also, G1 just opened down the street, so maybe I'll just use their Kilter Board and call it a day.

Gee, if you have a gym down the street that has a board... that is a better choice for sure!

Peter Beal wrote: In an area like Boulder with multiple hella good gyms within 15-20 minutes of any neighborhood, I wouldn't waste money or time building a substantial home facility. I have a small wall in my basement if I need it and gym it or go outdoors as much as possible. As someone in almost exactly the same position (55+, college professor, daughter in middle school), I recommend finding an awesome house that you can afford and do not worry about the climbing part.

This makes a ton of sense, actually.  I wanted a home gym at least to guarantee unfettered access, to have after-hours climbing options, and to be able to build simulators for the current project.  But I think I can make do with G1's Kilter and going when they're open. :)

Thanks to David House for sage advice as well.

sandrock wrote:

I am an architect, and yes, you can build anything you want if you have the money

Not really true for the typical wealthy person trying to build in Boulder County.  You’re talking about a different level of wealth.

Hey John, I do a lot of work with building accessory structures in that area. If you are serious about building something, shoot me a message and I can help walk you through parts of the process.

J T wrote:

Not really true for the typical wealthy person trying to build in Boulder County.  You’re talking about a different level of wealth.

I believe they where referring to a wealthy person typical of Boulder County.