Undersized 2-Car: Looking for Ideas

[Mziggy16]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm trying to figure out the best use of our current space. Before I get to the specific questions, here's the setup:

Survey of the back part of the yard is below. A few things have changed:

• The "Stucco Shed" has been mercifully demo'd and that space is occupied by a tie wall holding mulch and a playground.
• A new shed was built stick-by-stick behind the garage.

The issues:

• The garage is tight for two cars. It's really about 19'W x 21'L on the interior.
• It can be annoying to have tools in the shed and walk all the way from the side door in the garage to the shed to get a screwdriver.
• Eventually I plan to have a 3rd car to wrench on and will need tool storage/space + access
• The concrete drive was done cheaply (as was the undersized garage), so instead of pouring the drive the width of the garage it begins narrow (~1 car width) at the street and then widens. My favorite thing is when I come home from work and my in laws are blocking me from getting in the garage.
  
  Some initial ideas:
• Put in a door and steps off the back of the garage leading to the shed...easier access, but less wall storage space for cabinets, shelving, etc. We could also bump out the back of the garage a little bit.
• Fill in the blanks on the concrete drive and take it all the way to the east property line, almost making it 3-cars wide - better for in law visits and if we need a car to live in the driveway to accommodate a 3rd car.

Questions / Request:

• Ideas to maximize the garage space - Cabinets, shelving, overhead storage, etc. - Open to all thoughts here.
• Thoughts on heating the space - Currently no insulation anywhere. Also a fairly low ceiling that is partially used for storage.
• More creative ideas - For example, what if I dozed the garage and shed and re-built an optimized structure (highly unlikely, but understanding the ideal space might spark some new thinking for me)
• General thoughts, comments, feedback etc.

Thanks!

-Mike

 

[d.mcfarland]

Pulling your cars in that far really seems to take all the space in the back of the garage away.

Use those rafters for storage.

Walls and overhead is going to be your quickest and cheapest ways to create useable space.

 

[Mziggy16]

Pulling your cars in that far really seems to take all the space in the back of the garage away.

Use those rafters for storage.

Walls and overhead is going to be your quickest and cheapest ways to create useable space.

Yeah, we do pull in quite a bit, but if we don't pull in that far we can't get stuff out of our trunks and/or navigate the back of the garage with kids. Just about everything is off of the floor right now.

 

[d.mcfarland]

Ok, maybe you should start by telling us what you do in your garage.

No offense meant by this, but there are no tools in that garage. You're asking about maximizing space, but why? 2 cars fit as does the storage bins in there. Right?

To clarify, if you want to make that garage into a space for a hobby car, you need to get the storage stuff out of there and the tools swapped in their place.

 

[dawgee]

build shelves over the garage doors like a loft

 

[Mziggy16]

No offense taken

You're right on all fronts...it works now, but I'm looking for thoughts as this thing evolves to accommodate a hobby car. Tools are currently in the shed and basement.

Ok, maybe you should start by telling us what you do in your garage.

No offense meant by this, but there are no tools in that garage. You're asking about maximizing space, but why? 2 cars fit as does the storage bins in there. Right?

To clarify, if you want to make that garage into a space for a hobby car, you need to get the storage stuff out of there and the tools swapped in their place.

 

[crewchief888]

i feel your pain
my garage is about the same size, with a single lane driveway, but i dont have a shed.

once snow starts to fly, i clear out enough space for the wife to park her car, tools and my harley stay inside. s-10 blazer mud truck gets parked out in back of the garage, my truck gets parked in the street along with my service truck.

with her car and the blazer both inside i literally couldnt open the drawers of my toolboxes. all woodworking type stuff is in the basement....

garage is like 2 tons of sh*t in a 1/2 ton truck.....

 

[RoyBell]

1) I don't understand why the back half of your garage appears to be 2 feet above grade?

2) I personally would bulldoze and start over

3) Go wider. You can add onto your driveway to get into a third bay. It looks like you would have to take down a very large tree though which isn't good.

4) Go deeper. You built that nice shed in the worst possible place

 

[bczygan]

The VERY FIRST thing to do when you look to buy a property, is to carefully examine the zoning rules that apply to it. If you already own it, then do this double quick. Find the authority having jurisdiction for zoning of your location. Find your zoning on the map (Often online) and look up the restrictions for that zoning.

This tells you all the things you may and may not do. It gives height, area, setback and coverage limitations. Your buildings may already exceed these limitations, but be grandfathered, and if demolished, could not be rebuilt with as much freedom.

The most important thing in planning your built environment, is to very clearly define the uses you have. These functions will then help you layout the physical spaces needed to accommodate them.

There are lots of things you can do to modify the existing built environment to accommodate multiple uses. First thing is to make a list. And this should be a list for the entire lot and buildings.

Parking?

Storage

Play area?

Shop? What kinds? Automotive repair or projects?

Yard equipment?

Kids bikes?

Sports equipment?

Etc. Etc.

Bill

 

[MikeF2316]

There's a million ideas here. OK, probably not quite a million.

 

[bczygan]

For now, can you just tell the in-laws to park on the street?

To have a project bay, one DD has to go. You could widen the narrow part of the drive for parking space, buy may not be allowed to widen the approach into the street.

You can bump out the side or back of the garage for more shop space for tools and equipment. Zoning will govern how much.

Want a lift? redo the roof structure. Think of the structure as a box. You can cut out the sides and top and modify them.

Some places, you can build right on the property line if you are fire resistant.


Bill

 

[dougf]

I have the same sized garage. Wife parks outside with me and my project is inside. Just the way it is. She has the house, I have the garage, not a big deal to park outside in my opinion.

 

[a52-830]

how about building out the front of the garage until it is as close to the street as you can get it (the town might have rules about this), or at least as far out as the wide part of the driveway.

then, add triangles to the side of the narrow part of the driveway to connect the wide part directly to the street. i assume that the reason it is single width at that point was that your curb cut was only allowed to be that wide.

maybe there was a single car driveway, and they added the garage without screwing with the existing driveway.

 

[crewchief888]

No offense taken

You're right on all fronts...it works now, but I'm looking for thoughts as this thing evolves to accommodate a hobby car. Tools are currently in the shed and basement.

i would be moving whats already in the garage to the shed, move automotive type tools to the garage.

 

[Jamie V]

Right now you have bikes, a wagon, plastic bins with balls and stuff all in the garage. With a garage that size your not going to be able to park 2 cars, and work on a third plus store the family's possessions and then have all your tools. You need to figure out the priority of the garage.

My shed has all my lawn equipment in it. My garage has all my tools and project vehicle in it. The bikes (power wheels) and pogo sticks are in another shed. I park both our daily drivers outside in the driveway. (You can't have it all)

Right away I think I'd back those cars up in your garage so you can just walk behind them to open the door. Then along the side walls you can put a shelf the whole length just above the window level. Have the shelf hang down from the rafters so there aren't any braces in your way. That will give you a ton of storage to get the stuff off the back wall. Then bring your tools from the shed in the garage and put the bikes, wagon, etc in the shed.

 

[Mziggy16]

1) I don't understand why the back half of your garage appears to be 2 feet above grade?

2) I personally would bulldoze and start over

3) Go wider. You can add onto your driveway to get into a third bay. It looks like you would have to take down a very large tree though which isn't good.

4) Go deeper. You built that nice shed in the worst possible place

1: The yard slopes, so the front is roughly even with grade and the back is above grade. The person who did the garage clearly did it the cheapest possible way, which is demonstrated by the not-quite-complete driveway pour, 1 outlet in the garage (not code), cheap doors, etc. Typical old house stuff...buy the character and fix 100 years of hit-and-miss work...the garage was a miss.

2 & 3: Definitely options, but I'll probably avoid dozing it since this may not be a forever home (likely 10 years though)

4: The shed can be moved pretty easily, so location was appropriate, but if I want to bump out the back of the garage I can move it elsewhere.

For now, can you just tell the in-laws to park on the street?

To have a project bay, one DD has to go. You could widen the narrow part of the drive for parking space, buy may not be allowed to widen the approach into the street.

You can bump out the side or back of the garage for more shop space for tools and equipment. Zoning will govern how much.

Want a lift? redo the roof structure. Think of the structure as a box. You can cut out the sides and top and modify them.

Some places, you can build right on the property line if you are fire resistant.


Bill

Bill - Thanks for the feedback! Couple of thoughts/questions:

The in-laws...haha, they always play dumb "I thought you'd be home later"...but that's the least of my concerns anyway, just an annoyance.

Agree that one of the DD's would be a driveway car, so I'm on board with that. As for re-doing the roof structure, can you give me a little more detail on the level of work/effort that would go into that?

Right now you have bikes, a wagon, plastic bins with balls and stuff all in the garage. With a garage that size your not going to be able to park 2 cars, and work on a third plus store the family's possessions and then have all your tools. You need to figure out the priority of the garage.

My shed has all my lawn equipment in it. My garage has all my tools and project vehicle in it. The bikes (power wheels) and pogo sticks are in another shed. I park both our daily drivers outside in the driveway. (You can't have it all)

Right away I think I'd back those cars up in your garage so you can just walk behind them to open the door. Then along the side walls you can put a shelf the whole length just above the window level. Have the shelf hang down from the rafters so there aren't any braces in your way. That will give you a ton of storage to get the stuff off the back wall. Then bring your tools from the shed in the garage and put the bikes, wagon, etc in the shed.

Jamie - thanks! I agree that step one is probably a re-thinking of the organization. I like the shelves from the rafters. I may look into that along the side of the garage and then do cabinets and maybe pegboard along the back for garage-appropriate tools. Maybe a fold-down workbench as well.

 

[RoyBell]

I have all our "sports" stuff in those storage benches outside. It helps getting them out of the garage and stops the kids from making a mess.

 

[thickhead]

1) 3) Go wider. You can add onto your driveway to get into a third bay. It looks like you would have to take down a very large tree though which isn't good.

^
This.
I would add a bay if I needed the space that badly.

 

[gfmucci]

Subject to required front yard setback requirements, would there be room for a carport? I'm thinking of a single or double width carport perpendicular and the the left of the front of the garage. There appears to be ample room to the left of the garage for a circular drive and a "drive thru" carport. I for one wouldn't mind the compromise of a carport for a usable garage for my shop/hobbies/man cave.