Building a home with 2 separate attached garages

[AaronTTRS]

I'm getting ready to build a new home and am looking to see if anyone here has done a house with two separate garages with both attached. I'm thinking something like a circle driveway with main home entrance doors in the center and a 3 car garage (probably 3 single doors each) on each side. One would be my everyday garage with the other for rarely driven classic cars. It's my hope to hold 6 cars total.

If you've done anything like this please let me know how you like it. Any pics would be appreciated. I want to get some ideas together before going to interview home builders.

Here is my current garage which is how I envision the everyday garage looking- http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=192785

Thanks for any help,
Aaron

 

[GRN96WS6]

This member is i believe its along the lines of what you're asking maybe.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=252563

 

[finn]

I recall seeing a bunch of them in Havasu Az, but that's a Hot Rod town.

Resale will probably **** if the double garage isn't common in your area.

 

[zxttfan]

Another option with garages in the front:

http://oldpalmgolfclub.com/wp-content/files_mf/opgc2110webfloorp_bentley_pdf71.pdf

No affiliation with the builder

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

I've seen a few plans that match that description-

The problem; having both garages enter into a common area of the house- without an excessive amount of "wasted space".

When there is an "excessive" amount of vehicles- regardless of how/when they're driven I think the best course of action is either:

an attached garage for the daily driver(s), and a separate garage for the collectibles. The separate garage could be a separate building, or could be part of the basement.

I was involved with the design of a "Georgian" style southern home. The kind that has a wrap around porch with the two story columns all around. Though the front and sides had the appearance of a home that was built on a raised foundation. It was actually on a full basement with 10' walls. The backside had a ramp style entry to a 10' garage door. The space was capable of holding approximately 12 cars- and still be able to DRIVE them out.

 

[AaronTTRS]

Thanks guys!

Kwerks house/garages are crazy awesome!

My wife is worried about resale a bit in case someone else thinks its a crazy setup. We are in South Bend Indiana so not the craziest area for this kind of thing.

Separating the toy garage might be a good option possibly too.

 

[yeldogt]

Around me most of the second garages are separate buildings.

Normally they have either an entertainment space or guest suite above. I would never build without one even if I idd not outfit it as it would be impossible to build after the fact. They add value where the second attached would only appeal to a specialized buyer

 

[RossABQ]

I think it would be far cheaper and more aesthetic to make the attached 3-car twice as deep.

 

[rsanter]

There are a number of tract houses around here configured like that but with two, two car garages
One has access direct into the kitchen side of the house
The other is off of the hallway on the bedroom side

You could adapt the idea to a three car configuration no problem

Bob

 

[Playwme]

On the resale front, try to design one of the garages in a way that it can be converted to a large games room/rumpus/studio. Put in good sized windows at the back , maybe even some bifold doors leading to a patio area, and frame your door openings in a way that windows or paneling can easily be inserted later on. If you wanted to go all out, put in floor and wall plumbing to allow for an ensuite and kitchenette. It may make a nice apartment for someone to be able to have an elderly parent living with them down the track.

 

[rsanter]

Here is an idea...
I had a similar concept one time where I wanted to build a display garage for my cars. It was going to be like a regular garage but I was going to install large French doors instead of garage door. They will seal the dirt out better plus I was going to have a nice floor and all so I could take the cars out and use the room for a big party or something like that if I ever wanted to. You could opt to put a separate heating and cooling unit for temp control for the cars as well as for you if you use it for something.
You can open all the doors and have friends come and go as they please for the event without traipsing through the house.
Plus the next owner can use it for whatever they want.

Bob

 

[Voi]

I got to tour a house many years ago that had a neat garage setup. It was an L shaped garage with each side having a two car garage door.

The owner had a few classic cars on dollies in the dead space formed by the L.

Hope this makes sense. Circular driveway like you mentioned and this shape worked well with this design.

I've noticed that this property now has a fairly small but tall detached garage next to the attached garage. I can only assume he built the largest structure the city would allow and has a lift in there to make room for yet another car.

 

[bob15]

Make at least one attached.

I hate having to bring groceries or anything for that matter, in during a rain storm (especially when they are the downpours that always occur when pulling into the driveway). Or if you want to do something in the garage during a snow or rain, you aren't needing to walk through the elements to get to the garage.

 

[AaronTTRS]

Thanks for the ideas.

My biggest fear is building an awesome house and having bad resale opportunity due to the two attached garages.

For sure one of the 3 car garages will be attached no matter what. It snows here and is way to cold not to.

I had not really though about going 2 cars deep but that's certainly an option. I'll search the garages, I'm sure there's good pics of those in there.

Sounds like the majority like one 3 car attached (i.e.- normal house) and one separate but right there.

 

[onewheat]

A couple houses ago, I had a 26 x 26 at one end of the house and a 30 x 40 2-story at the other end of the house. It was a nice setup. It was great to be able to go into either garage without having to go outside. The garage space is what brought us to the house - you don't often find 1800 sq ft of garage in a subdivision. When we sold it, the garage is what attracted the buyers to our house. It may have turned some people away from the house, but it definitely did NOT kill resale.

The new place, I did (almost) mirror image garages but with one detached.

Aesthetically, I prefer the detached one but operationally, the attached was pretty convenient. I don't think it will kill the resale of anything. Your buyers will be the guys like us looking for garage space.

 

[My Old Tools]

I have a 3 car plus a one car, both attached. The driveway comes straight into the one car (boat) garage, and turns 90 degrees left into the 3 car.

We looked at one a few years ago that had two 3 car garages facing each other and separated by a double drive port a cache.

 

[Krash Kadillak]

IMO, designing a house where pretty much all you see on the front are a bunch of garage doors, is wrong. You want it to look like a house, not a big garage. If you have enough of a budget to plan for a total of 6 cars in a garage, do it right and design it so that it doesn't show all the doors to the front face.

Can you do a walk-out basement on the bottom? If so, you could incorporate some or all of the garage space on the basement level in the back of the house, with an access driveway along the side.

My sister and her husb. just bought a new house in Fort Collins, Co. with a 3-car, but the garage doors are facing the right edge of the property, not the front.

 

[rsanter]

If you are going to have two garages and both are going to be close enough to attach to the house then attach it to the house. Even if you just use a basic unconditioned hallway.

Check with your insurance, but a garage attached to the house, the insurance will offer full coverage to the contents. Not attached it will be an ' out building' and the contents will only be covered for 10% of the total coverage.
Ask your insurance guy for the details

Bob

 

[QwikKotaTx]

A couple houses ago, I had a 26 x 26 at one end of the house and a 30 x 40 2-story at the other end of the house. It was a nice setup. It was great to be able to go into either garage without having to go outside. The garage space is what brought us to the house - you don't often find 1800 sq ft of garage in a subdivision. When we sold it, the garage is what attracted the buyers to our house. It may have turned some people away from the house, but it definitely did NOT kill resale.

The new place, I did (almost) mirror image garages but with one detached.

Aesthetically, I prefer the detached one but operationally, the attached was pretty convenient. I don't think it will kill the resale of anything. Your buyers will be the guys like us looking for garage space.

Anyway you could fix your links/attachments? Sounds interesting.

 

[yeldogt]

If you are going to have two garages and both are going to be close enough to attach to the house then attach it to the house. Even if you just use a basic unconditioned hallway.

Check with your insurance, but a garage attached to the house, the insurance will offer full coverage to the contents. Not attached it will be an ' out building' and the contents will only be covered for 10% of the total coverage.
Ask your insurance guy for the details

Bob

Contents are contents -- it does not matter where you have them. A garage not attached to your house would be covered under "other permanent structures" on some policies this is given a value at 10% of the limit. So a 300k policy would cover 300k house with 150k contents and 30k OPS. All you do is raise the OPS limit to whatever is needed .. very cheap

Many don't have enough OPS if you have a nice garage.

 

[JimD1]

I have a two car garage used for our two convertibles plus a 14x28 single car garage that is my woodworking shop. When it gets more organized I hope to be able to park my SUV in there when not making sawdust. There is no inside entrance to the shop garage. There is a garage door at one end and a outside door at the other. My wife didn't want the path for sawdust to exist from shop to inside the house (directly). So it is two separate garages (solid wall separating them) but from outside it is a 16 foot door for the 2 car and a 9 foot door for the one car (that are the same style so they match). It looks like a more typical connected garage. The wall separating the two garages used to be the end of the house so it is load bearing and leaving it in place avoided structural issues too.

 

[Kev442]

FWIW, my garage is 3 wide double deep. One double width door and one standard width. The house looks completely normal from the road, but when I go to sell, I fully expect my garage to make the house more marketable, not necessarily more valuable.

 

[AaronTTRS]

Kev442, any pics?

 

[onewheat]

Anyway you could fix your links/attachments? Sounds interesting.

Can you not see the photos? They show (for me) in my post and your quote of my post.

 

[BigE]

Around me, it's common for nicer homes to have a main level garage for the dailies and a basement garage for "storage". A friend of mine's family had one such house. The driveway went up the middle of the yard and split at a fountain at the front of the house. The left side went around to the main level garage. The right side followed a symmetric path but as it approached the house, it dropped down to basement level. The basement had two doors: one side was 2 cars deep. The other was 3 cars deep.

 

[Zeke]

Whatever works. I'd maybe not have both open to the front.

 

[My Old Tools]

Our 3 car opens on the end of the house, the one car is set back and faces the street. The shop is set behind that with the door facing the street as well.

 

[QwikKotaTx]

Can you not see the photos? They show (for me) in my post and your quote of my post.

For some reason, no. I only have avatars turned off so they should be showing as other posts do. Not a big deal, just sounded interesting. Thanks.

 

[Neighbor]

I think this one has all the information you're looking for:
"new home under construction with 7 car garage"


http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=229469

I'm getting ready to build a new home and am looking to see if anyone here has done a house with two separate garages with both attached.

 

[Kev442]

Kev442, any pics?

I tried to fit the neighborhood when I built. The house to the left in this picture is a 4 or 5 bedroom 2 story saltbox and the house to the right is a 2 story with the third stall offset 6' deeper as was/is all the rage. I decided to forgo the offset and take the extra 6' for myself inside. The garage is 44' or 48' feet deep, I can't remember which right now. Google has added a wrinkle that does not exist.

 

[Mongo68]

I always thought a house with the car garage isnt visible from the street, like on the side would be great. The toy garage/ shop is underground and HUGE, side or separate drive maybe?... I would assume it would have to be the right type of lot, but then space could be fairly large...
C'mon lottery or rich relative!

 

[onewheat]

For some reason, no. I only have avatars turned off so they should be showing as other posts do. Not a big deal, just sounded interesting. Thanks.

Let me know if you can't see these.

 

[fourjeepin]

Around me, it's common for nicer homes to have a main level garage for the dailies and a basement garage for "storage". .

I'm not sure if the terrain where the OP lives supports this, but this was my first thought. Some parts of the country it is prohibitively expensive to dig a basement, then there are parts (like Birmingham) that about have to have a basement due to the hills.

 

[AaronTTRS]

Let me know if you can't see these.

That seperate building like your looks great that could really work for me, thanks!

Now to find loft pics....

Aaron

 

[wyo george]

Mine is a little different, but I like the layout alot, especially being able to walk out to my shop without putting on snow boots in the winter. Here's a google Earth image from about 5 years ago.

 

[dontlifttoshift]

Bumping an old thread to see if anyone has any more input.

Thanks!!

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

I would really think about the 3 car wide/2 car deep layout. You still get a 6 car garage, without things looking like a bus company garage.

Think about setting it up so there is access to the rear section, from a "public" part of the house ( as opposed to a bedroom ). Then, when you sell, if the new owner doesn't want a 6 car garage ( what sick individual HE must be ) he could convert it to bar, pool room, AV room, etc.



.

 

[IndyGarage]

I looked at a house with a 3 car upper, with an identical floor space 3 car lower below it. It was clear span with no posts. No idea how it was engineered.

It also had a third 3 car lower next to the other one in the basement level, for a total of 9 spaces. You drove around back to get to the lower 6 spaces.

 

[yeldogt]

While I'm not a believer in building for resale .. unless it's your last house ... be careful. I laughed seeing my response earlier in this thread from a few years ago. In my area the McManson are dead .. very few people want them -- and at least a typical McMansion is living space (mostly). Very few people are going to want a massive houses that's "air" -- what are you going to do with all that garage space?

The whole McMansion look is already dated -- it's unbelievable how much money has been lost on them.

At least with a separate building it has other possibilities.