Building a New Garage

[Chigal950]

Hi Folks

I am new here. Hubby and I are building a new 2-car detached garage to replace the 1-car garage we have now.

City of Chicago has a 600 sq foot limit so we are looking at 24x24, 23x26 24x25 and 22x27 garages.

I am having a hard time visualizing which of these is the best use of space, assuming that there will need to be room in front of the cars to walk, we want to be able to pull in our SUV with a hitch-mount bike rack or travel container on it, and we also want to make sure there is plenty of space to really get in out and around the cars. Sigh. I know the "real" answer is to move out of Chicago. But absent that....do you have any suggestions such as "good" software or websites I could use to get a better idea of how the free space will really work with our 2 cars in there?

Also, these contractors all want to slap up the same plain-vanilla box for everyone. It's cheap and its Chicago. However I do have a larger than normal yard and I actually use it and enjoy it and want to make sure the garage will look nice. I am going to be putting in a party door and would like some decent-looking windows. Would YOU sign with a contractor that won't or doesn't have the tools to make up a drawing so that I can be assured beforehand where the doors windows etc will be placed and what they will look like? I am not very comfortable with this - they said "oh, we'll just attach your sketch" to the contract. It's not even drawn to scale. Am I making too much of a concern out of it or is this a major red flag. It's Chicago...so maybe it's just asking too much of these guys who do 1000's of them every year.

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.

 

[PAToyota]

Would YOU sign with a contractor that won't or doesn't have the tools to make up a drawing so that I can be assured beforehand where the doors windows etc will be placed and what they will look like?

They should have to submit a full set of plans (including elevations) to the local building department for the building permit - I'd assume that being Chicago and not someplace out in the woods that it would be a requirement... Short version is that I wouldn't sign a contract with anyone that did not provide a full set of plans so that you knew exactly what you were getting.

As for software, I use SketchUp Pro for my preliminary designing - and also for full plans on smaller projects using LayOut. However, there is a free version that would probably give you what you require and it is fairly easy to learn - www.sketchup.com

The other advantage is that they have a "warehouse" of models that others have created so you can likely find models of your vehicles (or something close), tools, storage, and such to move around to figure out sizes.

 

[bluesman2a]

I use Punch software. They have a decent drag and drop design interface. If you have a yard and want an idea of the looks, they also have an integrated landscape design package so you can see how it fits your whole environment, add trees and "age" the landscape to see what it all looks like when mature.

http://www.punchsoftware.com
Here are a couple of examples I threw together for my project:

 

[eagleray3437]

Just had a 24x26 garage built in the 'burbs. Expedition fits in with alot of room behind it for work bench, cabinets & stuff. Used an 18' wide door with the service door on the same face & its nice to have the wide door. a 23x26 will put you just under 600 sq. I have a gable roof with a 12/12 pitch & a loft that has lots of storage room. Don't know what sort of height restrictions chicago has though in your case. Had a great experience & a fair price with the builder i used out of elmhurst.

 

[JMURiz]

I'd go with a 22x26 if I had the choice, even numbers typically have less waste material than going with something like a 22x27...if that smidge of extra cost doesn't bother you why not go for the 27' deep though.

Should be plenty big, mine is 22x24 and is good enough (couldn't build bigger in my county) for 2 cars and 2 motorcycles and a workbench.

 

[flesburg]

Go to a web sight with address of www.cadsmith.com/garages.htm and you will see several sets of plans for different types and styles of garages.

I recently built a new detached and made sure that it has some "style" to it, and that it looks like it belongs with the house. It has a loft with a big dormer on the back. It will give us a very useful hobby room for a reasonable amount of additional money instead of just wasted attic space. With a 12/12 pitch on a 24x25 garage and a 25 foot wide dormer on the back, you can probably gain a usable upstairs room 16'x25' with a 7 1/2 or 8 foot ceiling. Put some real time in studying plans available on the internet. Google search garage plans. In the long run you will be glad you did some serious planning.
Then you might want to select a builder who does homes, rather than someone who only builds those little 24x24 city garages that you see all over Chicago.

Good luck with it.

 

[boiler7904]

I'd talk to your Neighborhood Residential Permit Center and see what the requirements are for a set of drawings for a permit. There's a good chance that you'll have to work with an architect to meet the city's standards. Most contractors can't design - it's not their specialty. Personally, I'd never trust a contractor to do the design work for a project unless they had credentials and a portfolio to prove that they can handle design.

If you do a google search for "Bungalow garage" or "Craftsman garage" or whatever architectural style you need to match your tastes and current home, you'll end up with all kinds of websites with standard garage designs. Since those are stock plans, the city may or may not accept them for permit. You'll have to check.

As far as the size of your garage, sticking to 2' increments will standardize your building to common materials - concrete forms, concrete block and brick, wood framing and sheathing, drywall, roof trusses, etc. It also reduces the cost somewhat because there is less waste material. I would go with the 24' wide garage (typical truss span) and then go as deep as possible to get everything inside.

Start with the Building Planner on FBI's website. They are a pre-engineered wood building company that does a lot of agricultural and commercial buildings but they also do garages or suburban buildings as they call them. You can do a rough plan for any type of building from the site. I started playing with the website and attached a screenshot of what you can come up with in only a few minutes.

 

[Chigal950]

I looked at the Google Sketch and the FBI Planner. The FBI Planner is exactly what I have been looking for!

For those who do have a 24' garage, are you comfortable that you have plenty of width to open doors and also have items stored on/along the side walls? It looks a little smaller than I'd like ideally. We have a 16" wide with an SUV in it now and we are comfortable. Adding a passat probably is another 6 feet wide and then you need room between the 2 cars. So I am thinking adding 8' to the width may not be "quite" as comfortable as we are now. I am less worried about material waste (sorry) and more worried about comfort and use so I am willing to go with odd sizes.

 

[flesburg]

24' is narrow with 2 full size vehicles. My attached garage is 25' wide and 24' deep. With a suburban and a full size car we can walk around them, but have to move one or the other or both outside to have a "workshop". With 2 small cars, you would have some room for a workbench and some tools. I would go as wide as you can, and no less than 24' deep.

 

[Mazstyle]

24 wide x 25 deep, and offset your door a bit. Thats leaves plenty of room up front for work space.

 

[chuckmnv]

Boiler -
I knew you were something special on here after all my lurking! Thanks for putting up the FBI site; I now have a pretty good floor plan for my proposed garage.
TA,
cm

 

[kbs2244]

Come on!
You are in Chicago!
Go talk to your aldermen!

 

[PanelDeland]

Another point to consider in size is "what are you going to put in it?"Maybe you can build/buy a garden shed for lawn equipment and storage of sports gear,x-mas items etc.Sometimes you just gotta think "outside the box"

 

[boiler7904]

Boiler -
I knew you were something special on here after all my lurking! Thanks for putting up the FBI site; I now have a pretty good floor plan for my proposed garage.
TA,
cm

Thanks.

I work for an architectural firm and try to post up anything that I learn about that would be useful to other members. We deal with FBI from time to time so that's how I found out about the site.

 

[utah997]

Move out of Chicago.

oh wait, that wasn't an option was it?

 

[kbs2244]

Actually, staying in Chicago and getting to know the local Block Chairman and Alderman is the easy way.
All it will cost you is your vote.
You have to understand Chicago politics for this to make sense.
In spite of his image as a "Boss" (like his father) **** Daley is just an someone trying to control a bunch of individual fiefdoms known as wards.
The way the city government is set up an Alderman is a virtual King in his ward.
Nobody is even going to look at a building code variance for a garage if the Alderman says it is OK.
After all, how important are garages, when we have a city to run?

 

[Chigal950]

Actually, staying in Chicago and getting to know the local Block Chairman and Alderman is the easy way.
All it will cost you is your vote.
You have to understand Chicago politics for this to make sense.
In spite of his image as a "Boss" (like his father) **** Daley is just an someone trying to control a bunch of individual fiefdoms known as wards.
The way the city government is set up an Alderman is a virtual King in his ward.
Nobody is even going to look at a building code variance for a garage if the Alderman says it is OK.
After all, how important are garages, when we have a city to run?

Yeah well thanks for your attempt at advice but I do know my Alderman and actually I represent the community on the zoning committee so I can't very well go around breaking all the rules even though it is just a garage. It's not worth the black eye I could get if I request a variance either. So, 600 square feet for me. My beautiful FBI rendition is attached I think this is pretty close to what I want.