26x26 basic garage build

[Lucas156]

Looking for tips, ideas and suggestions on my garage build.

The photo is three pictures of my lot- on the left is the whole lot – The lot is 21,000 sq ft - close to half an acre. Its 76 feet wide at the rear of the property and 195 feet from rear to front on one side and 240 feet from rear to front at the other
The photos on the middle and right are more zoomed in with the proposed building size drawn out in red

I want this to be 26x26 so option 1 is to put it about ten or fifteen feet from the back fence line in the very back of the yard behind the two large trees in the photo. Option 2 is to have it closer to the house/patio but I would have to cut a tree down and I don’t want it to dominate the backyard.

I’ll probably run a new electrical service for it opposed to connecting to the house because the power lines come from the rear of the property. The building has to be 8 feet from the rear and side property lines or 1 foot for every two feet of building height. I can do a monolithic slab per code. Budget is not huge but I would like to do stick built on a slab and I would be doing most of the work myself except for the concrete work.

The two garage doors would face the house. I wish I could have an entrance from the road behind my backyard but that strip of property between is owned by an HOA and is an entrance road to an HOA neighborhood so I doubt that would ever happen.

What would be the minimum reasonable distance between the house and the fence line from the front driveway to the backyard. I would be pulling vehicles from the front to the backyard through here and I have about 12 feet between the house and the fence line. I have pulled my F150 back there on several occasions and it is not bad.

How am I going to get the concrete truck back there or can the truck park on the road behind my house and run a line to the garage? It's about 40 feet from the road to the back fence line and about ten feet from the fence line where the garage would sit.
The last photo is from the backdoor

 

[sierradmax]

I would put a turn-around area in front of the garage otherwise you'll be constantly backing in or out. It looks pretty tight between the patio and the property line.

You could always rent a concrete pump truck for the day. Usually around $500-$750

 

[Pluribus]

From the images, it looks like you're going to need to swing your driveway closer to the fence in front of your house to avoid having the back corner of your house being on the inside of a tight radius corner. Without doing that, it won't be long before someone catches the corner and rips it off, especially if you're going to be going in & out with trailers. Does that 12' between the house and fence include the roof overhang and gutters, or is that just the exterior wall?

Personally, I wouldn't want another entrance on a second road. That opens you up to much more potential theft, especially since the garage door opening would be facing away from the house onto a different street.

Ditto on the turnaround area; looks like you have room for it back there.

 

[IPACA9]

The previous owner of our house had just built the 30x40 building in the back yard. I have an acre lot. My neighbor was just telling me just yesterday that when the guy was having it built the concrete truck got stuck next to the house. They had a train of powered wheelbarrows and powered buggies moving it back there. Must have been A lot of work. The slab is 4 inches thick but has 3 foot footings poured in both bays for lifts and I'm told 3 foot footings as well for the slab. That's a lot of wheelbarrows. The neighbor said it was comedy to watch because they were hustling.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Looking for tips, ideas and suggestions on my garage build.

I’ll probably run a new electrical service for it opposed to connecting to the house because the power lines come from the rear of the property.

You didn't mention where you're located, but be aware that many (probably most) electric utilities don't want to provide more than a single electric service to a residential property. So, check with your local utility before getting too far into your plans.

It may be a situation where you replace the existing service by running a new service to the garage, and then feeding the house from there.

 

[RWorth]

If it were me I'd talk to whoever I had to about a rear entrance on the back road, then turn the garage 90 degrees, and have a curved drive to the doors from the left rear corner of the lot. It would be easier to maintain, cheaper to build, shorter driveway when it comes to paving. There are too many positives to ignore. Are you in snow country? gonna **** if the plow slips sideways going by the house or patio..And if you snow blow you're gonna have cold toes by the time you get that 200' drive done.

Forgot to mention, if it's just for parking your cars, 26x26 is fine, but if you're gonna work on them I'd go 30' deep.

 

[ct03911]

My first input would be try very hard to stretch to a 26x28 (my size) or 28x28.
My current 26x28 would be so much better if at least 2' more each way.
If you have a crew cab or a lift, wider and longer than 26x26 is the way to go.

 

[PhantomEB]

9-10' minimum ceiling no matter what.

Myself I would take out the tree and put closer to the house, more secure, cheaper for utilities plus you keep the back yard more for relaxtion. Just make sure you can weasel a truck back there for the eventual odds and ends.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Build it as big as you can, I have never heard any one say I wish I had built my garage smaller.

 

[wrenchmaster]

My first input would be try very hard to stretch to a 26x28 (my size) or 28x28.
My current 26x28 would be so much better if at least 2' more each way.
If you have a crew cab or a lift, wider and longer than 26x26 is the way to go.

How high is your ceiling?

 

[Lucas156]

I took a pic from my patio. Here I have it marked out in the yard with a couple sticks in 26x26. I could actually go ten feet deeper (26x36) but I would have to do a "real" slab as only up to 721 square feet can have a monolithic slab. I would have to see how much extra it would cost.

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[Lucas156]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions I greatly appreciate it.

Does that 12' between the house and fence include the roof overhang and gutters, or is that just the exterior wall?

Its actually 14.5' between the house and fence. Roof overhang doesn't come into any of that space. But between the corner of the patio and the fence it is 10 feet. I can always move that corner of the patio though.

You didn't mention where you're located, but be aware that many (probably most) electric utilities don't want to provide more than a single electric service to a residential property. So, check with your local utility before getting too far into your plans.

I'll check into that. Located in central Indiana.

If it were me I'd talk to whoever I had to about a rear entrance on the back road, then turn the garage 90 degrees, and have a curved drive to the doors from the left rear corner of the lot. It would be easier to maintain, cheaper to build, shorter driveway when it comes to paving. There are too many positives to ignore. Are you in snow country? gonna **** if the plow slips sideways going by the house or patio..And if you snow blow you're gonna have cold toes by the time you get that 200' drive done.

Forgot to mention, if it's just for parking your cars, 26x26 is fine, but if you're gonna work on them I'd go 30' deep.

I have a garden tractor with tire chains and a snow plow but its not four wheel drive.

9-10' minimum ceiling no matter what.

Myself I would take out the tree and put closer to the house, more secure, cheaper for utilities plus you keep the back yard more for relaxtion. Just make sure you can weasel a truck back there for the eventual odds and ends.

I was thinking about taking out a tree or two any ways. Whats the closest you would want a tall tree like that to a building? I really like the trees but they may need to come down first. Wouldn't want them falling on a new garage.