Starting to plan my garage!

[McJaguar]

Hello all! I am new here, and am very impressed that such a community even exists to help people plan their garages!

My wife and I are in the process of closing on our first house. It is on a 7500 SF lot, which in this area is rather large. I would like to build a detached garage in the back yard. However, the yard is rather sloped (approximately 5% grade). I would like to put in a small 20x20 2-car garage (most likely will be used as a 1 car garage + storage).

Here is a rudimentary site plan I made for our lot showing the proposed garage location and the driveway.

Here is a view from the street of the front and side of the house where the driveway would go according to my initial plans.

I know the planning process will take a long time. That's fine, because we also need time to recover from the downpayment on that house.


Where do I even begin the planning process?? Both my wife and I happen to be civil engineers, so hopefully we have a leg up on this stuff. Unfortunately, as I've found out, being a civil engineer is not much help when it comes to practical matters around the house...

I appreciate any and all advice anyone can give. I hope to do much of the work myself and with the help of an army of friends who have volunteered themselves!

Cheers,

Alan

 

[McJaguar]

I guess the first question I have is whether this is the ideal location for the garage. I have set it back a ways from the back of the house in case we want to make a future addition, but not so far that it would be a long uphill walk just to get to the garage (in the rain and such).

I don't want to put it on the right side because that would put the driveway adjacent to the neighbor's driveway, which would give all of us less privacy. Additionally, there are large trees on that side of the property that we would like to preserve.

The other thing I'm wondering is if it's possible (or a good idea) to make a retaining wall that also serves as a structural wall for the garage. Basically based upon the grading, I will need to excavate in order to get a level garage pad. Or I can build part of it on compacted fill material. I am hoping to do brick construction to match the architecture on the house.

What do you guys think?

 

[MScott]

First of all, you should put your location in your profile as this will influence such decisions as depth of footings or foundation, insulation requirements etc. Just the general location is enough. And welcome to GJ.
Secondly, your garage and driveway seem very close to the left side property line. Check into setback requirements.
Thirdly, as you will know if you read much on this site, 20 x20 is way too small. Build it as big as you have room for and/or can afford. It will fill up much more quickly than you would imagine and 20 ft depth is only enough for a small car. A truck will probably not fit and your requirements could change.
Lastly, your idea of a retaining wall is good. With brick construction you are going to need a strong foundation to build on so you are going to have to excavate anyway (to frost level if that is a requirement) so using the fill from the back or higher part of the area to level up the site makes economic sense.

 

[McJaguar]

MScott, thanks for the advice!

I agree 20x20 may be too small in practice (actually, most townhouse garages we looked at were 10x20!!). I wonder if the house will look silly if the garage is bigger than the house itself (the house has a footprint of about 25'x20')!! I also want to avoid usurping the whole yard with the garage since we may be making an addition later at some point, which will reduce the yard further.

There is a little over 11' from the edge of the house to the left property line (as shown). I figured a 9' driveway along the side of the house would leave 2' between the driveway and property line. (I realize this would make it hard to open the doors when parked next to the house, but the intent of the driveway is to provide a path to the rear in this case.) As far as I know there is no setback requirement for driveways in my county. However, a detached garage must be setback 1' from the side and rear property lines.

The driveway on the left side will also be a good opportunity to regrade that area to provide drainage away from the house (right now the sump pump seems to be working on overdrive because water drains towards the house!).

Most houses in this community do not have a garage at all, much less a 2-car garage. I don't really need a 2-car garage. What do you think is better, a small 20x20 2-car garage or an oversized 15x25 1-car garage? I would like to use it for car maintenance and storage and want to put a lift in there! I doubt I would ever have a truck (certainly not one that would require garage storage). My current vehicle I wish to store is a 2007 Jaguar XKR, which measures a little less than 16 feet long.

Where can I read up on brick garage construction methods? And also building a garage into the hillside?

 

[MScott]

MScott, thanks for the advice!

I agree 20x20 may be too small in practice (actually, most townhouse garages we looked at were 10x20!!). I wonder if the house will look silly if the garage is bigger than the house itself (the house has a footprint of about 25'x20')!! I also want to avoid usurping the whole yard with the garage since we may be making an addition later at some point, which will reduce the yard further.

I don't really need a 2-car garage. What do you think is better, a small 20x20 2-car garage or an oversized 15x25 1-car garage? I would like to use it for car maintenance and storage and want to put a lift in there! I doubt I would ever have a truck (certainly not one that would require garage storage). My current vehicle I wish to store is a 2007 Jaguar XKR, which measures a little less than 16 feet long.

Where can I read up on brick garage construction methods? And also building a garage into the hillside?

Personally, I would be inclined to build the garage 24 or 25 feet deep to give yourself room to work in front of the vehicle and/or install a workbench. If you are concerned about the look, the extra length will not be visible from the street and will not require a lot of extra excavation unless you run into rock.
If you intend to install a lift, you will have to plan 12' ceilings unless you use a scissor lift such as a Maxjack.
As to brick construction, I will assume you are building a brick veneer building not a full brick construction. There is a considerable amount of info on Google.
I am no expert although I did build a house a number of years back (30+) that I entirely veneered with stone and it is still standing so I must have done something right.
The most important thing, IMHO, is to realize that stone or brick is very, very heavy so you need a very strong footing/foundation structure. Get some professional help to design the footings using lots of rebar. The structure must be made extra wide to carry both the 2x4 or 2x6 walls as well as the brick. If you intend to do this by yourself, you will have to learn mortar mixing and brick laying so it can be very challenging and time consuming but worth it in the end.

 

[Dividing Creek]

Looks like Arlington or Falls Church. Check on Arlington or FFX's setback requirements for "impervious surface". Some area's don't want concrete or asphalt too close to property lines, others don't care if you can get a letter from your neighbor saying they don't care. I lived in the Annapolis area and anywhere near the water they went nuts with driveway permits.

 

[SPDMETL]

If you're considering an addition to the house, attach your garage in a way that lets you have additional living space above...something about two birds and one stone

 

[McJaguar]

Looks like Arlington or Falls Church. Check on Arlington or FFX's setback requirements for "impervious surface". Some area's don't want concrete or asphalt too close to property lines, others don't care if you can get a letter from your neighbor saying they don't care. I lived in the Annapolis area and anywhere near the water they went nuts with driveway permits.

I will check. But it is typical in Arlington (you guessed it!) to have concrete driveways right up against the property line.

Otherwise, I will have to make it gravel or something! Hey, I kinda like gravel driveways!

By the way, I LOOOVE your collection of Land Rovers!!!!

Here is our current fleet. I want to replace the Hyundai eventually...

 

[McJaguar]

If you're considering an addition to the house, attach your garage in a way that lets you have additional living space above...something about two birds and one stone

Good idea. I considered making it an attached garage. However, there is only 11-12 feet on each side of the house to the property line. For an attached structure, you must maintain 8 foot setback, which would only allow me 4 feet past the current left or right side of the house. For a detached structure, the detached structure must be 8 feet from the main building (the house), but can be within 1 feet of the side and rear property lines.

In order to build a detached garage, it would have to be one of those deals where I pull forward to the rear of the house and then back into the garage (or turn around somehow). Would a rear-facing garage be weird?

I'm trying to find some threads where people designed their garages into a slope. I think I found one where the garage was built 12'+ into the slope. Mine will probably only need to be 4' to 6' below the existing grade. What is the standard design for this?