Attaching dream garage to a house

[NES]

Has anybody else attached their dream garage to their house?

The house I would like to have would be a 1 story contemporary house with less than 2,000 sq. ft. The garage would be 42' wide by 52' deep with 12' tall ceilings. On the front would be a 18' wide by 10' tall door on the left side. On the right side would be a 12' wide by 10' tall door. The garage would have heating, ac, utility sink, and a half bathroom. The toys would be my signifigant others daily driver, my daily driver Chevy 1/2 ton crew cab with 4wd, Porsche 911, Baja 25 Outlaw boat, and a Ford 2n tractor. The Ford tractor would be fun to restore take to shows and go on a tractor parade with it. The Porsche a fun fast car I always admired the way it looks. The Baja I actually do own and it's a blast to drive. Now you know why I need a big garage and how nice it would be to have it attached to the house.

 

[Colonial Cobra]

Go for it. You will love having it attached to the house. Mine is not quite as big as your planning, but I already had a detached garage and didn't have the room to go larger.

See build link below.

 

[NES]

Cool thanks, I saw yours on the link that's really cool what you did to the garage. The separate garage looks cool with the dormer windows on it.

 

[bop_pa]

It can certainly be done. Mine is attached and 22 wide by 36 deep with 12 foot ceilings. The trick is to make the garage looked like a planned part of the house that compliments it and does not look like you just attached a large monstrosity to it. My house sits on a bit of a hill so we kept the house/roofline at one level and dropped the floor lower. This allows my ceiling to be 12 foot and drops the driveway approach so it is much flatter. My neighbor has quit the hill, to where one winter his car slipped down the driveway and almost into the lake across the street.

 

[gregtwojeeps]

I love my attached garage but the Mrs. doesn't.

 

[jmiller_2308]

What gregtwojeeps said. It is incredibly convenient to go between the house and the shop when you don't have to go outside (it was -17 here this morning).

And perhaps not as dire as gregtwojeeps says, the wife has gotten to the point that she doesn't look in the garage anymore when she hears loud noises and cussing.

Jeff

 

[Spottty]

Don't do it!
I had a attached garage and all the noise and fumes would get into the house.
Every time I painted or was welding it would stink up the house.
Plus when a good song came on and I cranked it the wife would get pissed.

Now that I have my 4 car detached it's great!

 

[waggie]

Don't do it!
I had a attached garage and all the noise and fumes would get into the house.
Every time I painted or was welding it would stink up the house.
Plus when a good song came on and I cranked it the wife would get pissed.

Now that I have my 4 car detached it's great!

I'm currently building one that's attached (68x27x16). But before the build, I was welding and grinding in the attached garage all the time, and never had any fume leaked into the house at all. I think if you're house is getting fume contamination, then there's other issues at play that needs to be looked at.

I already got rid of the (now ex-) wife, so there's no problem there. I can crank any tune I want. Obviously, i won't be doing "production runs" in my home shop, so there won't be much fume to be speak of, but even for normal (as in, non-welding, and strickly used for parking cars) garage, it's not suppose to leak any car exhaust into the house either.

 

[NES]

I decided the garage should be 6' wider. So instead of 36' it would be 42'. This way I can have all the goodies along the walls and to be able to open the doors to my car without any problems at all. It would give me a little more room to work in which can make a big difference.

 

[Ross/Kzoo]

I love my attached garage but the Mrs. doesn't.

The wife I decided to build another new house next year. The present house we built 22 years ago with a 3 1/2 stall attached garage. When planning the new house the FIRST thing that my wife said was "your workshop and car work will be in a seperate building". I told her it would have to be 3 car "carrage house" and a 2 1/2 car attached garage for the DD's. She said that was fine. She hated to hear the compressor and fumes that sometimes entered the house, that can't be avoided with an attached garage.

 

[JoeFin]

For those of us that Design parts in our underware then throw on our pants and load it into a CNC - attached garage/work shops are a mandatory requirement

However - invest in some good floor mats so you can wipe your shoes off before coming back in the house

 

[vartz04]

I couldn't do the attached garage thing. I like the fact that the wife has to put shoes and a coat on to come bother me in the garage.

 

[Trochu]

I personally prefer detached. I've got little kids that go to bed early and running a saw/grinder/compressor/etc. would not go over well. As I've got kids, most of the time I spend out there is when they are sleeping.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

I love my attached garage but the Mrs. doesn't.

Don't do it!
I had a attached garage and all the noise and fumes would get into the house.
Every time I painted or was welding it would stink up the house.
Plus when a good song came on and I cranked it the wife would get pissed.

Now that I have my 4 car detached it's great!

I personally prefer detached. I've got little kids that go to bed early and running a saw/grinder/compressor/etc. would not go over well. As I've got kids, most of the time I spend out there is when they are sleeping.

All correct, ESPECIALLY the scheduling around kids thing.
In terms of fumes, Its not so much leakage from the walls or sealing such as that, its when you open the dang door. I know when I was welding, cutting, painting, etc.. I would often run into the house to go take a dump via the door IN the garage, fumes would blow/**** right into the house and I'd catch hell. So I had to mentally tell myself (locked door) to go out and around front.

Noise...Momma was trying to watch her shows, do her work, or get some sleep. I had a radio in my garage but could barely hear it 90% of the time because it was either deal with a loud/angry wife or not be able to hear my radio.

Long story short, attached garages are excellent for parking cars and doing paperwork. I wouldn't ever consider buying a house or building a house with a shop being attached.

 

[Ross/Kzoo]

All correct, ESPECIALLY the scheduling around kids thing.
In terms of fumes, Its not so much leakage from the walls or sealing such as that, its when you open the dang door. I know when I was welding, cutting, painting, etc.. I would often run into the house to go take a dump via the door IN the garage, fumes would blow/**** right into the house and I'd catch hell. So I had to mentally tell myself (locked door) to go out and around front.

Noise...Momma was trying to watch her shows, do her work, or get some sleep. I had a radio in my garage but could barely hear it 90% of the time because it was either deal with a loud/angry wife or not be able to hear my radio.

Long story short, attached garages are excellent for parking cars and doing paperwork. I wouldn't ever consider buying a house or building a house with a shop being attached.

You nailed it!

 

[NES]

The reason I wanted it attached is that I don't have to deal with regulations nor having to have an enormous yard at all.

 

[Slednut]

I have a 56x26 attached garage. I have no problems with fumes, the rule is you don't open the door to the house. The garage has a man door that leads onto the patio which has a slider into the house. I have carpet that leads to the bench so I can go out without having to put my shoes or coat on to do something or retrieve a tool, even when there's snow on the ground.

The garage receives some heat from the house that usually would escape to the outdoors. It never gets below freezing even when its single digit temps outside. It's nice to go out and fix, repair something and not have to stand in a 10 degree building or wait for a heater to warm the place up.

I have a detached 20x20 were I do all wood working and cutting so the sawdust is never a problem in the attached garage. It is cold in there during the winter.

I would like to have a large detached but I live in the city limits on a larger city lot but there is no room.

 

[WVBrady]

I couldn't do the attached garage thing. I like the fact that the wife has to put shoes and a coat on to come bother me in the garage.

That reminds me of a guy who said that, fortunately, his wife always lets the door slam when she goes out of the house, so he can always find something in the garage to look busy with.

 

[NES]

I would like to add that I'm not looking to really weld nor grind. Pretty much just tinkering on the toys. Whether a maintaining part or having to take things apart and put it back together with better parts.

 

[Ck1]

3 stall attached for daily drivers and kids toys. 40x60 detached shop for working on stuff. Before I had the shop, I had to be careful of fumes and keep the noise down. The propane heater and rattle can paint would fume the house up if the door was opened even for a second. The shop is 40 feet from the house so it's not too far away.

 

[Bogan_of_Oz]

the noise issue is easy, insulation , i have no real option other than an attached im planning for 2014 construction.

 

[rieferman]

In many areas, a breezeway counts as "attached". Growing up, we had a 12x12 covered breezeway between the garage and the house. All the noise, mess and fumes were effectively separated, but it was still convenient to run in to use the bathroom or bring in groceries. Plus, the breezeway made for a nice balanced look and had fewer complicated roof tie ins and valleys. Just something to consider.

 

[ScaldedDog]

I attached a 1000sf 3 stall bay with shop to the in home 2 bay garage with a short hallway. I love it, and have zero issues with noise or fumes. It looks nice on the outside, too.

Mark

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[Mustangmike66]

I attached my 30X40 to the house. I have not installed a door from the garage to the house yet and really like it that way. The keeps the wife from opening the door and checking up on me or transferring junk into my play area. I know she would open the door and throw sh*t on the garage floor. I'm pretty safe out there during winter because she hates the cold.

As far as fumes, I installed a nice exhaust fan. The noise levels are not a problem. I attached directly to the siding. I installed furring strips on the siding before the sheetrock to create a series of dead air pockets. These pockets deaden sound.

 

[MScott]

My 28x38 is attached to my house, but I did not include a direct entrance to the house. I have two man-doors, one on the outside corner near the doors, the other at the side rear that leads onto my back deck. I did this for two reasons. First, to avoid fumes getting into the living space and second, as a security measure. I have heard too many stories of thieves backing a truck in through the garage doors, closing them and then cleaning out the house. This way, at least they have to take everything through two sets of outside doors.

 

[kbs2244]

I come down on the side of an attached garage for DD convenience but a detached shop because of noise and smells.

But if you are sure you want a house/shop of those relative sizes check out the PICs on some of the steel building sites.

They often show big buildings with a smaller attached “office.”
That will give you some ideas on how such a large/small combination can look.

 

[metalhead140]

Interesting discussion. We've only had detached garages in the past, and I'm really looking forward to the convenience of the attached at our new place, particularly being able to wander out at any time to do 10 minutes of tinkering, without having to go outside. Also the easy access to get and return tools. Having said that, I do hope to have a detached area for machining and other similar dirty/noisy type work in the future.

 

[nolimits76]

I really like my uncle's setup. He built a 3 story house on a hill side. When you approach from the front, the house looks like a 2 story. There is a semi-circle drive with car port type area for people to park near the main entry doors.

To the side is another drive that goes down the hill and allows access to his main garage/shop area (ground level). The garage spans the entire width and depth of the main (second) level part of the house. He has a bathroom down stairs, full electric, etc. No heating and cooling systems are required because the way it's built into the hill it naturally heats and cools its self -- this is uber awesome! Literally I have experienced it being 100+ outside and step inside the that garage and it feels like an a/c is running.

There is another set of stairs going from the main (second) level to the third level. That level is currently unfinished, but has has been framed out in case he needs/wants more space.

He's a car nut and has it filled with toys and projects. Noise and fumes aren't a problem for him. We never discussed but I presume he sealed things good and put in sound dampening between the floors.

So to answer your question -- if you can design the right space I like attached. But most spaces I would probably prefer a detached area if I needed to work on serious projects.

 

[HoosierMark]

I am building a new house with attached 3 car for DD. I also have a 20 x 40 basement garage. I wanted it for tinkering in the winter, washing cars, things like that. I am concerned about fumes but was also concerned about winter access. I plan on putting a detached building up for the fumes, storgage, etc in the next year or two. But the idea of having a nice area in the basement to mess around in and not needing to go outside was really important. The house is not finished yet but boy have I already mentally enjoyed the basement garage!

 

[bczygan]

A transitional room, between the house proper, and the garage/shop, will solve the problems of an attached and also keep an inside route to the workspace.

Think enclosed breezeway, Florida room or utility/mud room. Even some pantry or storage space can create a buffer between purely house and workshop.
Put the parking bays closest to the house with the shop area furthest away. Separate them with walls.