Opinion on Garage Placement.

[Corins]

I'll start by saying I'm probably a year at least away from starting my new garage, however I can't seem to decide on a location for it. Right now looking at my house from the street my garage is at the end of my driveway behind the house on the right hand side of the house. It is currently 18' wide x 26' deep, my new one is going to be 24'x38' however if I tear down the one I have now and put the new one up in the same place it will have to be 38' wide x 24' deep with the garage door on the 38' wide wall. If I tear down the one I have now and place it in the back left corner of my lot, behind the house, I can place the garage door facing away from my house and the garage can go 24' wide x 38' deep, and I'll have 19' to be able to turn a vehicle to get it into the garage door.

I guess what I'm asking is what is a better placement for the door? Having it on the 24' wall or the 38' wall. I would prefer to have 2 garage doors on the 38' wall but that isn't possible due to at 24' deep there will only be about 7 feet between my house and the garage, so one door is all it will have.

How would you guys position the garage? In the picture you can see how my current garage is positioned. Currently the garage door is on the 18' wide wall. And don't mind all the snow in front of the garage, its starting to melt and I'm too lazy to shovel it when it will be gone for the most part in a couple weeks. Also the house looks like **** cause I haven't done anything with the outside since I moved in.

Also the lot is 60' wide x 100' deep, its 20' from the street to the house, then the house is 46', 24' deep garage leaves 10' for house to garage and back of garage to back of the lot, have to be 3' from the edge of the lot, so that leaves ~7' for between garage and house.

 

[strnge]

I would go with option 2. However your lot makes it a problem.

I can see from your vehicle tracks that your vehicle takes up most of the width of the driveway. Trying to turn and get in to a garage will be challenging and you will most likely clip a wall if you have 2 doors on the garage. I would also attach the garage to the house just to gain more.

Remember you don't have to line up the garage to the back of the house. You can bump it out towards the yellowish/white house to your left in the pic. You can build a shed or a bump out on the garage on that side next to the house to hold your yard stuff.

I would not go with option 1 due to loosing the useable second parking space.

If you want can you pm me your address and I can google the address and I will post an arial view of what I mean.


Mike

 

[Corins]

Option 1

Option 2 (Red is current garage, that will be gone either way, I just left it there to show location of new garage in comparison to old one)

That's rough as it gets lol.

Red is current garage, purplish is house, black is driveway, blue is step coming off the house (both sides), gray is backyard, green is front/side lawn. Orange would be option 2, that yellowish house in the picture is on the left side, so the "back" of the 38' deep garage would be towards that house, with the side of the garage facing my house and the garage door would be along the wall that the current garage is located, on the wall facing to the right.

If I went with option 2, I don't think I would bother with 2 garage doors, I would just get 1 and go with 14' wide or so to give me more room. Option one the garage would be in place of the current garage and extend into my yard behind the house, meaning the garage door would be on the 38' wall instead of the 24' wall.

And my driveway width is a bit deceiving, I can actually get 2 vehicles side by side except next to the step that comes out of the house.

 

[bczygan]

Option 2 is awful. It's a bad turn and difficult to get out of. More importantly, you use up all of your back yard with paving and building. Rule of thumb is keep the garage as far forward as possible to keep more usable yard space. Second, what are all your requirements? What are your zoning requirements? IE, setbacks, accessory building numbers, sizes, locations, heights etc. How about utility easements, HOA rules and deed restrictions? You may not be able to build that much square footage. Everything starts with zoning.
Also, what is the room layouts in the house and views from in those rooms? Depending on the answers, you might want to add on to the front of the existing garage and add a storage shed in the back left corner of the lot for garden tools, kids toys, bikes and storage. Alternatively, if the room layout supports it you might want the new garage to attach to the right side of the house. We need more info.

Bill
Designer

 

[strnge]

I thought your option 2 would have turned the orange 90 degrees. Do you have the space to do that? I would grab your pic and modify it, but I just bought my MAC and don't know how to use most of the features.

If you can not rotate the orange garage 90 degrees, I would go with option 1 and extend it to the left to the length of the orange option 2 garage. Always go bigger. Think about it. Do you use that space for anything? You you hang out there? Or is it never used?

Mike

 

[ddawg16]

I personally like option 2.....I don't see that turn being tha hard.....and I could see an awning over the front of the garage in the future.....

My main reason for likeing it....people can't see what your doing. When the garage opening faces the street....all is visible for everyone to see. One of the keys to not being a victim is to not let people see what you have.

 

[Stuart in MN]

You don't mention where you're located but you obviously get snow. Having to make that 90 degree turn into the garage will be a big pain in January, plus it will limit where you can pile up the snow when you shovel it.

 

[Corins]

Okay I'll answer as many questions as I can. First off biggest size is 900sqft, which works out to 24x37.5, they will allow me to go to 24x38, or I can go 26x35. However I only have about 30 feet of usable room from the back of the lot to the back of the house, I like to keep that area between the house and garage open to put snow. I'm allowed to go as high as the peak of my house which is around 18'. Accessory buildings/house attachments can't be more then 36% of the lot square footage. So the step built on the side of my house is about 6x10, so that comes off that amount. Can't be in front of the house, have to be 3 feet from any joining lot.

Not much of a view from the 2 rooms at the back of the house, I put the garage in either option and most likely the window will view the garage, right now the view is the back of the garage in the lot behind me. With 24x38 I don't think I will need to have a storage shed, it will mostly be to store my 2 motorcycles, snowmobile, quad and car, my truck will only be in the garage if I'm working on it.

I can't really rotate the garage to have it run down my driveway due to the loss of size, garage would be about 16' wide at the most, while I could go 16x56 the moving of stuff is a hassle. The only use for the backyard now is to grow grass that I have to mow, not my idea of a good time.

With regards to the snow issue, right now the majority of my snow goes onto my front lawn, and I plan to have a quad with a plow by next winter, with either selection there is enough room between the house and garage to plow into the back yard if need be, though most will still go on the front.

I actually like option 1, with the possibility of adding a car port out into the driveway down the line, however I had never thought about doing option 2 and adding an awning over the front where the current garage is now.

The main reason I asked is because I'm sure people will see something I'm not, and I'd prefer that when I do it, I do it right from the start so I don't wish I had done something different after.

 

[bczygan]

A question.......why tear down the existing garage?

 

[nehog]

I'm for #2 as well, you can go head in with a turn, and then back out and turn around without backing down a long driveway, with the inherent risk that someone (child/cat/dog/skunk...) getting behind your car as you are backing. Also more hidden. As to lost space, that other area won't add that much to the usable yard space anyway.

 

[Corins]

A question.......why tear down the existing garage?

Main reason is that when it was built, it was built half assed. It was built cheap as a place to store things, instead of being built to be good.

I could probably just fix it, however the cost difference between fixing and building new isn't going to be much different. The concrete floor is cracked around the walls, some spots have a 2" gap. Windows are garbage, insulation is horrid, wiring is a mess, some of the inside walls have water damage, the roof isn't high enough, its too small. Its easier for me to tear it down, and build new and build to last. I could probably take the garage door off and it won't make a difference in draftiness.