Garage on Slope

[danmor]

I have a 1/2 acre sloped building lot 75' wide for my house and garage. Public gravel road is at the top. Slope is 25% in the build area. Without slope considerations, I'd build a garage in front of and to the right of the house as shown in the sketch. House site could move no further down, but could go 10' either way side to side. 2nd option would be to move the garage down and attach it to the right of the house.

With slope considerations the uphill side of the garage would be 4-8' below grade, so I would enter from the side. I'd have to make a turn around area in front of the house, which doesn't appeal to me. I'd like to minimize the paved area. I would excavate 4' down on the uphill side of the garage site then place and compact the fill on the low side. Or excavate 8' down to avoid having to compact the fill.

It doesn't seem feasible to move the garage down next to the house, since the house would block side access to the garage.

I could move the detached garage south (left) to the opposite front corner of the house, but I'd prefer an unobstructed view of the terrain to the south.

I'd like your thoughts on these and any other options there might be. Site prep for the mono slab for my shop on a level lot is my only site prep experience.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Pluribus]

That's a lot of slope in a very small area. Even putting in a C-shaped driveway starting above the garage in your drawing and circling left/south, then around in front of the house is still going to result in a steep driveway. Fitting a turnaround in will result in a pavement/concrete front yard; I don't know how one gets around that. You'll probably also need some large and expensive retaining walls for all of this.

Moving the garage down to be aside the house would result in even more issues, IMHO. Something I've always found to be bad design is having a steep slope into a garage. It occasionally freezes in our climate, and hitting ice on a steep slope toward a garage is not a good thing.

Hopefully you have stable soils, as I know Whidbey's west side has had some issues. Have you/are you required to to do any geotech analysis? My guess is that this lot was cheap, but I fear that by the time all is said & done, it will end up costing way more than starting with a lot that didn't have this much slope. The county is likely to require engineering for foundations and retaining walls for the driveway, house, and garage. I know someone in Skagit County who ended up with a very expensive foundation, as it required engineering for a foundation stem wall around 8' high.

 

[SGKent]

Since you have built neither, how about talking with your architect first. See what he/she is thinking might work. Also, is this a putzing around and car garage or storage for farming gear. The reason I ask is you may even consider building the house over the garage if all you are doing is parking and putzing around.

 

[danmor]

Thanks, guys

On east side, high bank wf. No geo needed.

Best place for house site is down low. Garage would be for cars and maybe a shop. If I were building up top, I'd consider the garage under the house. Down low it means a longer driveway, but that is a possibility.

 

[Dustball]

From the street, does it slope uphill or downhill to the house?

How about this?

 

[danmor]

Nice, but that's not on a slope. Slopes down to the house. Would consider under the house as mentioned in the last post. That would require a long C or S drive, though :-(

 

[SGKent]

Nice, but that's not on a slope

I suspect it was and the land was terraced.

View media item 102151

 

[Pluribus]

Might be worth buying a 100' or 150' tape, some stakes, string, and some paint to lay it all out on the ground to see if it makes sense. A transit/builder's level and a rod would help, as would a clinometer. I've found that what I visualize is a lot different than what actual measurement are on the ground.

As someone above mentioned, an architect could have some ideas and might be worth their weight in gold on a challenging site like this. Might even save you money or prevent a mistake or two.

 

[danmor]

Roger that, thanks!

 

[ard]

Do you have a budget?



Consider that the space OVER a garage is $50 per square foot cheaper to build on than the same space on dirt. (ie you already have a foundation.)

Id put an (office, spare room, bonus room, guest room) over the garage.
Id put in a large retaining wall out to the street, running at a diagonal across your lot, to allow a driveway to sweep down. Place the driveway on the side of the lot (so left of your gargage.

You could have half or more of the garage 'below grade' so the resulting elevation view from the street of the house+garage would probably look better on that narrow lot. Not sure of views, but view from space over the garge might be better.

Designer/architect is a good idea. Talk to people. Dont have to spend a ton. Yes, many will be $$$ but not all. and, like most things in life, you DON'T necessarily get what you pay for.



GL

Oh, 1000% agree on getting a tape, level, etc. Draw your own detailed isocontour map. Get 20 copies at kinkos, and go to town with sketches. Screw computer programs, IMO

 

[Toolfool]

Where are you on Whidbey ? I moved from Langley this past year. Are you building this yourself ? Or working with a GC ?

 

[danmor]

Anglers Haven Drive next to Deception Pass State Park. Gonna do as much of it as I can, want and afford. Only building experience is my shop and airplane. Airplane won an award, shot didn't, hehe!

 

[danmor]

Numbers actually turned out better than expected. If I put the back end of the garage, as in the sketch, 5' from the property line. Driveway would come down from the right corner going all the way diagonally across the lot. The 150 degree corner would have an 18' radius ending with a 15' straight section directly in front of the garage. 14% slope throughout.