1st post- Designing my Garage - advice needed

Last fall my wife and I bought our first house. A fairly new (2001) 3/2.5 brick house with a built in two car garage. The previous owners had a large boat and extended the driveway to provide parking for the boat and the truck to pull it. The extra slab is nice since we've got 3 cars and a motorcycle. So parking everything in the built in garage is a bit tight. The built in also lacks the space around the car to do anything but park and get out.

So I've been authorized by the wife to build a stand alone garage on the extended slab. It's not a huge space, but with careful planning it should be more than sufficient. The additional garage will house my classic car ('68 Volvo 220) a small shop, and a second floor storage/office/library/man space. The other two cars and the motorcycle will fit in the main garage.

To fit with the design of the house I decided an offset ridgeline would be best. It also gave me a nice airy second floor.





The windows in the back corner will be larger and the ladder/steps to the second floor will probably be moved to the other end of the garage to allow me to have a desk that over looks our backyard/creek.

The size is a bit small, 24x19. The 18 will be pushed out another foot so that the inside is 18, despite what the design says right now. There is no more space to spread out, so the foot print is locked in.

I thought I would build it as a first floor, 18x24x10 building, then add in the second floor portion(hoping I can just do two supports for the 24ft open edge). Then I figured I would build the three walls around the second floor. From there I set the ridgeline and set in the rafters, fill in the walls over the one story portion, and then dry it out. Sounds easy enough right...

so here is where I need help. Look at what I've got and provide any constructive criticism. Any suggestions would rock. Any insight regarding the floor of the second floor, the ridgeline, materials would rock.

my first suggestion would be to get wheels and tires for your car... it will ride smoother...

spg said:

my first suggestion would be to get wheels and tires for your car... it will ride smoother...

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Everybody is a comedian

You need to do some structural planning for the second floor. That is a major issue. You should read up on structural framing for the large opening for the door.

If you don't have framing experience, it may be smarter to hire a framing crew. The roof slope looks too steep for an amateur, regardless of how much insurance you have. Water is also going to pour off that roof! Not sure if you could even catch it with gutters.

I would get to a weather tight structure as quickly as possible, and then you can work at your leisure.

Good luck with the project and check back with us for progress reports.

As always, offered only as opinion

spg said:

my first suggestion would be to get wheels and tires for your car... it will ride smoother...

Click to expand...

That is what he needs another garage for All kidding aside, I wouldn't have the roof sloping into the wall like that. How about using a gable style roof perpendicular to the existing roof?

What he is showing is a typical New England salt box design, stretched to make the short roof section even shorter. I don't think that the roof design extends to the existing wall, if that was your concern.

If you are concerned about roof overhangs or soffits, he appears to only be at the schematic design stage.

The additional garage will house my classic car ('68 Volvo 220)

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Since when did a Volvo become a classic?

Just kidding.....

It looks like you have about 8' between the garage and existing house...is that right? That will solve the water drainage problem....but seems like a waste of space....

Setback to existing house will need to be researched, you may have to attach to satisfy your local regulations. This does not mean that you have to have a doorway or anything between buildings but it will mean that roof tie in gets more interesting.

You will have to remove existing slab and pour foundation so don't let the fact that you have concrete where you will have concrete be a limiting factor.

You need to start by finding out what your municipality will let you build. You may not be allowed to build that close to the existing structure, or to the property lines.

Stairs are going to need some more detailing, and they are going to eat up some floor space on you for both floors, no matter what you do.

Overall I like the concept though. You might get away with building the loft without a support post in the middle of the span, but you'll probably have to use floor trusses or a really big glulam beam to make the span work. Probably going to need an architect or engineer to look at those details.

redsky49 said:

Water is also going to pour off that roof! Not sure if you could even catch it with gutters.

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Rain water collection is part of the plan. Civil engineering degree will come in handy designing sheet flow interruption to get the water into gutters.

ddawg16 said:

Since when did a Volvo become a classic?

Just kidding.....

It looks like you have about 8' between the garage and existing house...is that right? That will solve the water drainage problem....but seems like a waste of space....

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We need the space, 7.5' at the front, 9.5' at the rear (the slab is not square to the house) between the house and garage to get to the back yard. The wife is already planning some white picket fence/gate thing.

The Volvo is the last of a body style originating in the early 50's, a body style modeled by Volvo off american cars from the 30's-40's. Not classic, but nothing like modern.

kwb said:

Setback..

You will have to remove existing slab and pour foundation so don't let the fact that you have concrete where you will have concrete be a limiting factor.

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I will look into this for sure. We already will have to re-route our electric drop. Neighbors all have unattached garages/guest houses ~ as close or closer.

As for concrete, the previous owner was a structural engineer who had the 12" slab layed with 2 layers of oversized rebar. It's structural and I've got the design plans around here some place.

elvee said:

Stairs are going to need some more detailing, and they are going to eat up some floor space on you for both floors, no matter what you do.
.

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I figured the stairs will have to get figured out. I hate to lose the floor space though. Maybe a pull down ladder.

Keep the insight coming. I found a friend who is going to have the framing designer at his company do a framing plan for me. Sweet.

Will it snow there? Accumulation between the buildings will create high drifts and will be a bear to remove.

redsky49 said:

What he is showing is a typical New England salt box design, stretched to make the short roof section even shorter. I don't think that the roof design extends to the existing wall, if that was your concern....

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My mistake. They are not attached but perhaps should be? This might even relieve some bylaw/code issues. The garage has to fit in aesthetically too which can sometimes be a bigger challenge than making it fully functional.

Depending on location just because the slab is a full 12" doesn't make it suitable for a foundation. It is however way overkill for a driveway, but like most things more isn't always better. IF it is thickened at the edges (to about 2') then it may be able to be used as a floating slab design. Freeze depth is big part of this.

I should say I am in central TX, we have three inches of soil then limestone bedrock. Even if we were to freeze it wouldn't matter. We also get no snow here, so no worries there.

The existing driveway is actually set on bedrock, a highly competent limestone.

nevermind the snow then, lol. Don't skimp on gutters, though.

I did the opposite. I built my new house next my old garage.

I'm out in the country, but our local town has an ordinance for garage height restrictions. The way around that is to attach it to the house. One slab, though now bigger=one taxable structure, and allows the same height. Might be worded differently in your codes, but something to possibley look into. My .02

Nice plans mattlikesbikes. Great idea on the loft overlooking the shop.

From your measurements, it appears you are planning on an 8' wide garage door. You may want to think about going with a 9 footer. Bikes and a Volvo are okay with 8' of width, but in the future, if you (or future purchaser) decide to play with a boat or cycle trailer at 102" wide, there'll be problems.

Steps? Yes. Pull down ladder? No, unless you find a heavy heavy duty variation of a fire escape.... you know, like the one Richard Gere pulls down at the end of Pretty Woman to go up and smooch with Julia Roberts after he pulled up in the stretch limo hanging out of the moonroof like some drunken prom kid....

sammerdog said:

Nice plans mattlikesbikes. Great idea on the loft overlooking the shop.

From your measurements, it appears you are planning on an 8' wide garage door. You may want to think about going with a 9 footer. Bikes and a Volvo are okay with 8' of width, but in the future, if you (or future purchaser) decide to play with a boat or cycle trailer at 102" wide, there'll be problems.

Steps? Yes. Pull down ladder? No, unless you find a heavy heavy duty variation of a fire escape.... you know, like the one Richard Gere pulls down at the end of Pretty Woman to go up and smooch with Julia Roberts after he pulled up in the stretch limo hanging out of the moonroof like some drunken prom kid....

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Re-drew it with a 9'x7' door. I actually think we will go with either a roll door or open out doors, rather than a classic garage door.

Calling the city today to start talking about code and permit requirements.

havi said:

n...but our local town has an ordinance for garage height restrictions. The way around that is to attach it to the house. ...

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Same here. That is exactly what I was referring to.

You might consider an 8' high door, with the taller SUV vehicles of today. You might own a full size van one day.

RJ

I guess I don't see it.

You've gone to a lot of trouble to add the loft space. Without the access granted by a good stairway (like a 4-foot wide, standard stairway) the upstairs is going to be hard to use for anything but long-term-storage.

Even if you had access, it's going to be a narrow room with low ceilings and limited utility.

If you do make additional modifications to add a stairway it's going to cut into your useful floorspace upstairs and downstairs.

To me, a single story garage with a standard pitch roof and a 10-12 foot ceiling height would have WAY more utility for less money. You could put in a taller overhead door and have plenty of room for a vehicle lift if you want one in the future (and really...who doesn't want a lift in the future?)

Also...the other guys are right. Even in my po-dunk town they have set back limits on this sort of thing. I had to either attach my garage or leave 10-feet between it and the house. Anything in the middle would have required a variance. You'll have to check with your town or county and see what the rules are. Some of the other structures your neighbors have may be grandfathered or required variances. And one more little thing...having an engineering degree is not a substitute for construction experience. Sometimes one of us engineers has to be a little humble and ask the highschool educated dude with 15-years in the trades for a little help on how to build something.

Of course, if you have an engineering degree AND several years experience in building houses and garages, then I appologize.

Phil

I like the idea of thinking outside of the box...one idea would be an exterior stairway in the area between the new structure and the existing garage...wouldn't that work?

IF you needed to attach it to the current structure the stairwell would be in the perfect spot to connect with an overhead cover etc.

HoosierBuddy said:

I guess I don't see it.

You've gone to a lot of trouble to add the loft space. Without the access granted by a good stairway (like a 4-foot wide, standard stairway) the upstairs is going to be hard to use for anything but long-term-storage.

Even if you had access, it's going to be a narrow room with low ceilings and limited utility.

If you do make additional modifications to add a stairway it's going to cut into your useful floorspace upstairs and downstairs.

To me, a single story garage with a standard pitch roof and a 10-12 foot ceiling height would have WAY more utility for less money. You could put in a taller overhead door and have plenty of room for a vehicle lift if you want one in the future (and really...who doesn't want a lift in the future?)

Also...the other guys are right. Even in my po-dunk town they have set back limits on this sort of thing. I had to either attach my garage or leave 10-feet between it and the house. Anything in the middle would have required a variance. You'll have to check with your town or county and see what the rules are. Some of the other structures your neighbors have may be grandfathered or required variances. And one more little thing...having an engineering degree is not a substitute for construction experience. Sometimes one of us engineers has to be a little humble and ask the highschool educated dude with 15-years in the trades for a little help on how to build something.

Of course, if you have an engineering degree AND several years experience in building houses and garages, then I appologize.

Phil

Click to expand...

Phil- good insight. The point of the loft though is storage. I'll throw a desk and chair up there sure, but in the age or wireless it's not like I'm confined to working there. I've got lots of parts, engines, transmissions, wheels, etc which I don't wanna store in my work space. The lofted second floor area is going to be large enough for a 3' deep row of storage shelves all covered in parts. Then 5ft of walking room. The open air of the loft should cover the narrow feeling, plus the ceiling is 6ft on the edge but climbs up quickly. I'll install a small winch to help with getting the extra engine and ****** upstairs.

I looked at doing a steep pitch roof with a center channel gabled attic, but that seemed more like what are describing, small, narrow, hard to access.

I've got the ball rolling on figuring out set-back. If need be I'll add a connecting roof for some portion of the space between the two walls.

And I never put out that having an engineering degree, or two, gave me any more than papers on the wall. I did say that it would give me some insight on getting rainwater into gutters even on steep slopes. I'm part of the DIY generation, always looking for interesting ways to solve new problems

JMURiz said:

I like the idea of thinking outside of the box...one idea would be an exterior stairway in the area between the new structure and the existing garage...wouldn't that work?

IF you needed to attach it to the current structure the stairwell would be in the perfect spot to connect with an overhead cover etc.

Click to expand...

Between the two buildings might be tight, but around the back could work. I can't add any more foundation, but I could get away with putting a stairwell up there.

The roofline and loft areas were all taken from a building I worked in a few years ago. We had a really great pull through garage with an open air loft off the side. The loft had pull-apart floors, which let you see what folks work doing below you. The only access to the second floor was to ride the crane up or take the ladder up. The best way down was a commando slide down the ladder.

Keep the info coming. One thing I have been toying with is moving the door to the other side, putting the car under the loft. This would give me a 10ft ceiling over the car, rather than the 8ft (and climbing).