Backyard shelter house instead of auxiliary garage. Dumb idea?

[HoosierBuddy]

Background:

I'm early 60's. Wife is 4 years younger. Current plan is to live where we do now until we can't.

I currently have 5 garage bays divided between an attached 3 car and a detached barn that has 2 bays.

Bays are all full. 2 daily drivers. A 2nd Gen Tacoma that's my "forever truck" and an early mustang convertible I've owned for over half it's life (and half of mine too). Last bay is for mowers, bike and a kayak.

So, I'm out of room and don't think I can get rid of any of my cars, unless it would be my wife's daily, and she probably wouldn't take that well.

I've got this idea stuck in my head of a Slab on grade post and beam structure that looks more like a shelter house than it does a garage. I'm thinking closed ends with man doors on the gable ends and glass overhead doors for walls down both sides. Like commercial doors I see on fire stations. Just glass. Basically you could hit a buttons on 6 door operators and the walls would pull up out of the way.

Kind of like God's Carport, I guess.

Use would be to store a compact tractor/loader in one bay, an additional vehicle in one bay, and no plans for the 3rd bay at this time.

It would sit in my backyard without any driveway. I might install those honeycomb deals that allow for a grass drive without ruts. But nothing back there would be driven too regularly anyway.

For parties or events the tractor and vehicle get moved out and tables and folding chairs set up. Maybe one end includes a built in pizza oven and a grill.

Final thought of overthinking this...arrange the building properly on the lot for southern roof exposure and the entire roof is solar panels for a grid-tie solar system.

OTHER THAN COST (LOL) any reason this wouldn't be great?

 

[Steve W.]

Sounds good to me.

Need help putting it up in mid-June?

(Will be in Bedford for a long weekend.)

.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Sounds good to me.

Need help putting it up in mid-June?

(Will be in Bedford for a long weekend.)

.

Lucky you! They're getting a WaWa and a Del Taco. Already got Walmart and Culvers. The "Stone City" is a happening place!

 

[Stuart in MN]

There's a guy in Edmonton Alberta on YouTube, his channel is called Curiosity Incorporated. He buys and sells antiques, collectibles, and old cars and motorcycles for a living. Anyway, a year or two ago he built a structure in his back yard that sounds like what you're describing. It's nominally a pool house for the adjacent swimming pool but also has a glass panel garage door and enough open space inside to accommodate a car, along with a kitchen area and a bathroom. If you go to his channel and search back through older videos you can find the build series.

 

[nadogail]

If you can afford to build it then why not.

If you have to ask the price; you probably can’t afford it.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Curiosity Incorporated

Stuart,

Any chance you can narrow it down to a video? That guy has a huge channel. Not sure where to look.

If you don't know...don't worry about it. Just thought if you did it would save me some (hours) of looking.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I can't be the only one that has considered this.....but struggling to find any. Someone on etsy is selling plans for a post and beam carport.
This is as close as I can find to what I'm considering. 3 bays are turned 90 degrees to this though with overhead doors in the front and back of each bay. This would need to be about 50% longer from end-to-end for my idea to work.

 

[mike93lx]

Sounds cool. If you do it post frame, you can put doors wherever you want.

Have you priced out glass garage doors, though?

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Sounds cool. If you do it post frame, you can put doors wherever you want.

Have you priced out glass garage doors, though?

I have not. I'm positive to buy 6 of them would be 5 figures though.

Step 1 is probably to buy the compact tractor.

Also 5 figures.

Good news...I mentioned this to my wife and she loves the idea. She's a keeper!

 

[Stuart in MN]

Stuart,

Any chance you can narrow it down to a video? That guy has a huge channel. Not sure where to look.

If you don't know...don't worry about it. Just thought if you did it would save me some (hours) of looking.

This should be the play list for his build: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHs6JH9ueComDGqDsjhQqMBZfZm-3edXA

 

[mike93lx]

I have not. I'm positive to buy 6 of them would be 5 figures though.

Step 1 is probably to buy the compact tractor.

Also 5 figures.

Good news...I mentioned this to my wife and she loves the idea. She's a keeper!

I bet you'll be knocking on the 5 figure door at 2-3 of them.

 

[Jeff C]

I bet you'll be knocking on the 5 figure door at 2-3 of them.

I can see one all glass door installed with an opener hitting 5 figures.

 

[CraigStu]

I think it's a great idea. A neighbor 3 houses ago used his standard 2 car garage similarly. Fully finished the inside, installed a standard kitchen style base cabinet w/ a sink in the back of one bay where their shortest car parked. He used to have Maryland crab eating parties and similar events. Garage door open in good weather and closed when it was cool. Your idea seems to me to be a logical extension of his idea and I love it.

 

[Codyboy]

I have not. I'm positive to buy 6 of them would be 5 figures though.

Step 1 is probably to buy the compact tractor.

Also 5 figures.

Good news...I mentioned this to my wife and she loves the idea. She's a keeper!

For 6 of them I think you'd easily be in the 6 figure range.

 

[CraigStu]

I like the glass door idea but they sure are many $. I wonder if you can get standard garage doors w/ more than one window panel. I wonder if multiple sliding glass doors could work.

 

[larry4406]

What about the roll-up canvas side panels with clear insert windows?

Several restaurants here have them at the outdoor seating locations so they can be used year round.

 

[mike93lx]

Send it on the glass doors. It'll look great

 

[jblnut]

I think it’s a fantastic idea. All of it. Seriously it’d be a really neat space !!

 

[larry_g]

Don't discount some big sliding or folding glass doors. They may be a viable option.

lg

 

[CraigStu]

What about the roll-up canvas side panels with clear insert windows?

Several restaurants here have them at the outdoor seating locations so they can be used year round.

We used to live just off the Chesapeake Bay and many of the crab restaurants on the waterfront did this. It worked great.

 

[BombShelter]

Don't forget your helicopter!

A Custom Barn Fit for a Helicopter | The Barn Yard

The interior of this 5,185 sq. ft. custom timber frame barn is not your typical hangar for a helicopter. Massive Douglas fir timbers, white shiplap walls, and a tall glass overhead door create an impressive backdrop for this Robinson R44 four seat helicopter. The barn has a “sling brace” timber...

www.barnyard.com

 

[gahrajmahal]

We live next door to Cincinnati’s wealthiest neighborhood. Our son went to the school there. We have to drive through it to get most places so we see all their McMansion and real mansion homes. One we pass on the way to brush drop off has a two stall, all glass garage with each stall having a vehicle lift. So, the owner can store four vehicles in those bays. He keeps several Porsche race cars in there.

On another exit road for us someone has a nice helicopter garage too, just not glass like shown above. Occasionally I have seen the copter in the driveway either getting ready for a departure, or having arrived earlier.

If you have a liking for touring historical mansions, you will see there are many versions of the type of buildings you desire. Since you will have to look at any building from your home, why not make it visually pleasant to look at. I’d get with an architect and design something that could use standard size patio door panels and just set them in pressure treated frames. Space them so you could use standard cedar posts or skin them with cedar panels. A few home made wood brackets and other embellishments will age and disguise your “garage / storage shed” as a cottage in the garden. A nice gravel path would allow driving your stored vehicles in and out while making it more quaint than pavement.

Here is an example of some PVC trellises I made for over our French doors. Adding embellishments like this will make your new build into a dual purpose hangout.

 

[Hooked]

What a fantastic idea. I hope you take the leap and make this happen.

All this one needs is the glass doors.

211 Avenue A, Dickinson, TX 77539 - HAR.com

Explore 211 Avenue A in Dickinson. This 2,854 square feet home offers 3 beds and 2 baths in the San Leon subdivision located in Galveston County.

www.har.com

 

[dcg9381]

I can see one all glass door installed with an opener hitting 5 figures.

I just had a single 14x14 insulated panel door put in, given turn key and a nice opener. It was 5-figures, but "consumer" price.

I think the 5-year old "glass garage door" on my office was about $6k (without install), that was 5 years ago and it's single car small.

I regret neither. I regretted doing roll-up doors at the shop. 2 more to go.

I'm early 60's. Wife is 4 years younger. Current plan is to live where we do now until we can't.

Final thought of overthinking this...arrange the building properly on the lot for southern roof exposure and the entire roof is solar panels for a grid-tie solar system.

You're 60. What's the point of doing solar? Might check that payback time period. I get it if it's a battery or off grid backup system. I get it that for some people it's "just because". Not being critical.

 

[Mainiac Mat]

Sounds hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

But hey, whatever floats your boat.

 

[My Old Tools]

So $300k to park a SCUT. Whatever....

 

[mschoo92]

Background:

I'm early 60's. Wife is 4 years younger. Current plan is to live where we do now until we can't.

I currently have 5 garage bays divided between an attached 3 car and a detached barn that has 2 bays.

Bays are all full. 2 daily drivers. A 2nd Gen Tacoma that's my "forever truck" and an early mustang convertible I've owned for over half it's life (and half of mine too). Last bay is for mowers, bike and a kayak.

So, I'm out of room and don't think I can get rid of any of my cars, unless it would be my wife's daily, and she probably wouldn't take that well.

I've got this idea stuck in my head of a Slab on grade post and beam structure that looks more like a shelter house than it does a garage. I'm thinking closed ends with man doors on the gable ends and glass overhead doors for walls down both sides. Like commercial doors I see on fire stations. Just glass. Basically you could hit a buttons on 6 door operators and the walls would pull up out of the way.

Kind of like God's Carport, I guess.

Use would be to store a compact tractor/loader in one bay, an additional vehicle in one bay, and no plans for the 3rd bay at this time.

It would sit in my backyard without any driveway. I might install those honeycomb deals that allow for a grass drive without ruts. But nothing back there would be driven too regularly anyway.

For parties or events the tractor and vehicle get moved out and tables and folding chairs set up. Maybe one end includes a built in pizza oven and a grill.

Final thought of overthinking this...arrange the building properly on the lot for southern roof exposure and the entire roof is solar panels for a grid-tie solar system.

OTHER THAN COST (LOL) any reason this wouldn't be great?

Did you get any further along with this idea? I've been looking at/considering something like this (albeit much smaller) for my property, like you I've had a hard time finding many examples so I'm definitely interested to see what you decide to do.

Obsessed Garage on youtube has a video where he has a wash bay connected to a carport, not exactly what you're looking for but I think some inspiration could be found there. There is also a member on here who had a garage extension added and put either french doors or something comparable facing his patio, it looked beautiful - unfortunately I'm forgetting the thread but if I remember I'll edit this and post it here.

Another thought regarding cost, would you need glass doors on the full wall both sides? Not sure what the layout would be relative to your property but even having one side being windows or being constructed open but with some kind of storm window-esque inserts could give a similar open feel and reduce costs a bit.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Did you get any further along with this idea? I've been looking at/considering something like this (albeit much smaller) for my property, like you I've had a hard time finding many examples so I'm definitely interested to see what you decide to do.

Obsessed Garage on youtube has a video where he has a wash bay connected to a carport, not exactly what you're looking for but I think some inspiration could be found there. There is also a member on here who had a garage extension added and put either french doors or something comparable facing his patio, it looked beautiful - unfortunately I'm forgetting the thread but if I remember I'll edit this and post it here.

Another thought regarding cost, would you need glass doors on the full wall both sides? Not sure what the layout would be relative to your property but even having one side being windows or being constructed open but with some kind of storm window-esque inserts could give a similar open feel and reduce costs a bit.

Very weird that this thread got resurrected today as my wife and I have discussed this twice in the last 2 days.

To answer your question though: No. It hasn't gone any further.

I did run some calculations on the solar roof idea, and it seems to be a non-starter as the break even is more than 20 years.

The discussions we've had the last couple of days was "Ditch the solar idea" and "She still thinks the project is a good idea". But, as close as I am to retirement (less than 2 years....maybe a lot less), I feel like I need to wait until then to start this as I'll be able to give it the attention it deserves.

My mom and dad lived there entire lives without needing more than a small 2 car garage. I can't figure out how do make do with 5 bays. It's possible the problem is NOT "not enough garage bays". The problem may be ME.

 

[kbuhagiar]

My mom and dad lived there entire lives without needing more than a small 2 car garage. I can't figure out how do make do with 5 bays. It's possible the problem is NOT "not enough garage bays". The problem may be ME.

I'll only say this: Don't give up on the dream.

 

[mschoo92]

Very weird that this thread got resurrected today as my wife and I have discussed this twice in the last 2 days.

To answer your question though: No. It hasn't gone any further.

That is a funny coincidence!

My mom and dad lived there entire lives without needing more than a small 2 car garage. I can't figure out how do make do with 5 bays. It's possible the problem is NOT "not enough garage bays". The problem may be ME.

5 bays is definitely more space than I could even imagine having, seeing as now I have zero. With that said, maybe it could be useful to approach this as an outdoor entertainment area first (open carport/gazebo) then if/when funds and time allow look into closing it in as mentioned. I’ll second what was said above in saying don’t give up the dream!

 

[Smilodon]

Don't forget your helicopter!

A Custom Barn Fit for a Helicopter | The Barn Yard

The interior of this 5,185 sq. ft. custom timber frame barn is not your typical hangar for a helicopter. Massive Douglas fir timbers, white shiplap walls, and a tall glass overhead door create an impressive backdrop for this Robinson R44 four seat helicopter. The barn has a “sling brace” timber...

www.barnyard.com

Seems like I'd be tough to fly it through that door (I guess if you timed it *just right*). Not to mention blowing all the cushions off of the couch!

I'd love to have a space like that. I think I could afford one of those trusses if I saved up... A starter kit?

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Seems like I'd be tough to fly it through that door (I guess if you timed it *just right*). Not to mention blowing all the cushions off of the couch!

I'd love to have a space like that. I think I could afford one of those trusses if I saved up... A starter kit?

Our church has beams similar in our 1992 sanctuary addition. This isn't it, but same type of thing. Glulam.