Hello from Middle Earth

[ranchero7]

Hey - I live in Central Colorado. Just took a picture of my garage in progress and thought I would share. I've been a lurker for quite awhile now.

The garage is 22*30 1.5 story. It has 8' doors and 9' ceilings. Would like to have gone wider but setbacks would have been too small. Upstairs is a bit smaller because the dormer walls are set in a bit. Upstairs is built like a small apartment, but will be used as office/guest space.

Heat will be radiant with solar thermal preheater fed by 4 4'*8' panels. Haven't decided on backup heat yet. Would go natural gas, but we think we're going to have lots of excess power from the 4.1kwh PV system installed this year. I'll wait to see how winter goes and then make a decision about that.
Thanks for all the great tips so far!
Steve

 

[wantedabiggergarage]

Middle Earth? Shouldn't this be more of a monolithic dome aka a hobbit hole?

 

[Sweet Old Bill]

Your garage and office space look like you have done a great job of using the space that CC&R's allow. The craftsman look should hold its appeal too.

 

[ranchero7]

Middle Earth? Shouldn't this be more of a monolithic dome aka a hobbit hole?

In Colorado, people talk about the "Front Range" - east of the Continental Divide and the "Western Slope" - west of the divide. The bulk of the population of the Front Range is in the cities Denver/Boulder/CS/and Ft Collins. So "Front Rangers" = city folk.

I live in Chaffee County, which is technically on the east side of the divide, so we're technically in the front range, but we're world's apart in terms of attitudes - more western-slope like. Thus, middle earth.

This is Middle Earth:
above Salida

Cottonwood Pass

 

[ranchero7]

Your garage and office space look like you have done a great job of using the space that CC&R's allow. The craftsman look should hold its appeal too.

Thanks Bill - we tried hard to think about what we really needed and how to fit that in with the existing structure, a 900 square foot victorian-like structure built in 1904. Unfortunately, the victorian has been "upgraded" with stucco on some parts and aluminum siding on the rest. One of the compromises we made is about height. The ridge of the house is about 19 feet high and the garage dominates at 23. We wanted a 12/12 roof pitch to match the house and needed 9' of ceiling height downstairs - that inevitably led to the height of the structure.

We'll eventually remodel the house to enlarge it to about 1500 square feet by going out a and up a bit to gain a half story. That will bring the house to the height of the garage and to the size of most of the other houses on the block. Right now we have the largest lot and the smallest house on the block.

 

[SoDakSooner]

Wow, looks great, similar in size to mine, but looks much nicer. Mine is very basic compared to that one.

I take it you are a mtn biker by the pic. My favorite hobby at this point(actually the last 6 or 7 years). Try and make it out west at some point every year, but usually end up in SD in the black hills.

 

[sammerdog]

Beautiful garage, beautiful scenery!

Will the front get finished with cedar siding, or are you going to stucco / aluminum side it to match the house?

....woulda, coulda, shoulda... in hindsight, I wish we would have prepped our area above the garage as you have for future office or guest room.

 

[ranchero7]

It will be corrugated steel (non-galvanized) on the bottom and cedar shakes on the top. Sorry so late to respond!

Just about to order the steel. Just finished plumbing and should have elec rough in a a few weeks. Slow progress because we're paying cash. Get a paycheck and head to the lumberyard you know.

 

[Alf Torp]

Nice Vanagon!

Got a crew cab version of it, see my signature