Garage Design Feedback

[jk96]

When we built our home we moved the garage to the walkout basement for cost cutting reasons. We designed the house with the intention of added a main level garage in the future. Even though we are several years out from adding the garage I am having the plans done now so that I can go ahead and get the siding purchased to match the house while it's still available. Instead of designing myself I am letting the drafter who designed the timber frame for the home handle it. Here is the initial design that we are looking at. This is the first draft that came back to us and I'm wondering on input from others, especially in regards to size.

View attachment Garage - Sketches option1.pdf

A couple of notes on the plans.
- Looks like 10' wide doors. I would probably change one to 12' wide.
- Would want to widen enough to put a walk-through door on the front of the garage.
- Open or closed breezeway? I kind of like the idea of just an open covered breezeway between the garage and house but not sure how the wife would like this, especially in the winter.
- Breezeway as designed seems to be much wider than needed as I don't really have any plans for its use at the moment
- If doing a closed breezeway does anyone have one that they get any use out of? Just having a hard time thinking of how I would utilize this space.
- Minimum depth you would make your garage if you could do it over?
- Pic of the front of the house. Garage will tie into the left wing.

Timber Frame Outside Front

Any thoughts or input is appreciated. I know I can probably never have too much space but also don't want the garage to overwhelm the house. I'm sure several that read this have seen the thread but here's a link to our build if anyone that has not is interested. Thanks in advance. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...imber-frame-hybrid-home-owner.html?highlight=

Jeremy

 

[DT86]

Daft pic didn't work.

 

[KennyG]

Without knowing your lot arrangement, can you turn the garage 90 degrees so you don't see the doors in the front view of the house? A three car garage is going to make a significant (and to my mind, negative) impact on the appearance of the house.

 

[jk96]

Daft pic didn't work.

Converted to jpeg

 

[jk96]

Without knowing your lot arrangement, can you turn the garage 90 degrees so you don't see the doors in the front view of the house? A three car garage is going to make a significant (and to my mind, negative) impact on the appearance of the house.

We have plenty of room on this side of the house to change the layout as needed.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I hate 10 foot wide doors in a garage. You cant get a truck into one without folding in the mirrors. I would put in one 12' door on the end furthest from the house, add a mandoor on the end closest to the house and then put in one extra wide door on the remaining opening. I think you can get up to a 20 Foot wide standard garage door.

 

[KennyG]

I hate 10 foot wide doors in a garage. You cant get a truck into one without folding in the mirrors.

Are you talking about 10 foot doors or the standard 9 foot wide doors used on 90% of the single door garages today? An F150 with standard mirrors is 8 feet wide and with trailer mirrors it's just under 9 feet wide.

 

[PHPaul]

I've always wanted to build an enclosed breezeway between my house and my garage. Haven't managed to fit it into the budget/approved honeydo list yet.

The obvious advantage is staying dry/warm while getting to the car in any weather.

My ideal would be mostly glass so it could double as a green house/plant nursery.

 

[EddieWalker]

I agree that a 12 foot wide door would be better. My shop is 24 wide and 30 feet deep. My extra cab long bed F150 fits in it easy through my ten foot door. If I had it to do over, I would go for a wider door. I've backed my trailer loaded with sacks of concrete into there when a storm was coming and it's a little tight.

I think you need more width just so you can open your doors and not hit the walls. Will you have any storage along the walls? Shelves or a bench of some kind? You will need room for that and at least three feet of empty space from the side of your car. I would think five feet would be the very minimum from the edge of the door the to outside wall.

Same thing with depth. What will you want to have on the walls, how much room in front of the bumper will you have? Especially at the stairs? Do you want to be able to get into the trunk of the car to unload groceries when it's raining outside? If it was me, I would measure my vehicles and at at least 3 feet to the back, six feet to the front and six feet to the outside and probably 4 feet at the least between cars.

The walk through door should swing the other way and not block the stairs when opening it.

I have a 12 foot wide porch and when it storms, there is a for foot area in the middle of it that remains dry when it storms. If you are going to have an open walkway, 16 feet sounds about right if you want to stay dry walking out to the garage during a storm.

How wide are the stairs and will you be able to carry a sofa or a refrigerator or a box frame for a bed up them and into the room?

Looking at your front image of the design, I wonder if garage doors are what you want to see when looking at the front of your house? If given a choice, I always prefer to have the doors off to the side of the house and not the main feature out front.

Are three garage bays enough? Your truck, her car and a UTV? Any other vehicles?

 

[NorTracNY]

I am thinking that either you should keep the walkway open or add two doors. You are creating a VERY large garage that you'll have to walk around to get to the other side of the house from the outside. Unless you're talking about a heated garage I don't see the short walk outside from house to garage being an issue of the cold. What is going to be above the garage? If it's living space then maybe the walkway being closed makes more sense.

 

[DT86]

The rear door opening against the stairs seems like a bad idea.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

My shop is 24X32 and I had a 16' door installed and have never regretted it for a minute. I do regret not installing a garage door opener though. The big door creates an illusion, if nothing more, of having more working space when it's open.

As for the breezeway, the greenhouse sound like a good idea; however I would suggest that you consider turning one half of it into a cedar lined closet. Our garage had a little extra room on the East wall, so I built a closet/storage area that really comes in handy. We store our Winter clothes there in the Summer, and somehow they have grown to occupy the space provided and more. Of course you could do what I did and build the closet into the garage. The closet and shelves were built with doors, so it doesn't give the appearance of an open shelf area and doesn't lend a cluttered appearance...we have plenty of that in the rest of the garage!

 

[fordmantpw]

Personally, I like the like of 10' doors better than the larger ones, but that's just me. We have 10' wide by 7'-6" tall on ours and my Super Duty with the towing mirrors slid out fit just fine.

I second the thought of moving the man door in the back away from the steps a bit. At least give yourself enough room to swing the door all the way open in front of the steps, or just swing it the other way.

 

[dodge man]

I like the option 1 the best, it has more usable space. A bigger door might be nice but it depends on what you want to do with the garage. Is it just going to be for parking cars or are you going to use it as a shop? If you are going to use it as a shop, will you wish you had a lift in it some day? My shop is 30 wide and 28 feet deep, its a pretty good size for 2 vehicles with room for tools on one side and storage and a work bench across the back. My only problem is I wish I had built it taller so I could have a lift.

 

[95XL883]

- If doing a closed breezeway does anyone have one that they get any use out of? Just having a hard time thinking of how I would utilize this space.
Jeremy

I grew up in a house with a breezeway that was enclosed during the initial construction. It was one of the most used rooms in the house. The front and back of the room was all windows which made it very light and felt very open. It was a game room, a TV room, a gathering room, a room that could be used without having to worry about a little bit of dirt. (My mom had seven kids. Dad traveled a lot. The house was immaculate but the enclosed breezeway was the one room where if something got spilled it wasn't a big deal, if the dog was a little dirty it was not a big deal. We were all very comfortable in that room. The two architectural items that made that room were the front and back windows walls and that it was between the kitchen and the garage. It was big enough that we could use it without disrupting the flow of people to and from the garage and kitchen. If your plan were mine, I would seriously want to enclose it. Hope this helps.

P.S. The house is gorgeous. Well done!

 

[Will_C]

I have plans for a house I hope to build next spring. It has a mudroom extending from the house into the garage. I plan on a bathroom with a shower, washer/dryer, and storage shelves located on there. It will be a perfect place to change clothes and wash up before going into the house.
I am sure a breezeway could serve the same purpose.

Will

 

[aczlan]

The rear door opening against the stairs seems like a bad idea.

I can tell you from experience that it is a very bad idea. We did that in an addition and it made it a royal pain to get anything in and right upstairs. It also makes a quick exit down the stairs and outside impossible.

Aaron Z

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

Like Will C said, the framed in breezeway would make a great mud room. Also, like someone else said make sure there is enough room to be able to open car doors plus room for shelves, kids bikes maybe a freezer or whatever may end up in there. Our two car can only fit one car because of all the stuff e have in our garage. Two cars would fit in mine if I didn't keep anything in there except the cars.

 

[jk96]

Thanks everyone for the comments so far. Its a big help. I can see the breezeway being used as a mudroom as many have suggested. The door to the main house leads to a short hallway with the laundry room on the right of the hallway so makes sense. I have a two car garage currently in the walkout end of the basement on the right side of the house so this is where bikes, 4wheelers, tools, etc would most likely go and not in the garage addition. I agree with some about not seeing the garage doors on the front of the house but have also seen some designs that looked really sharp. Turning it 90 degrees to move the doors seems odd to me as it makes it really wide in comparison to the home. I'll have to give it a thought. I have a 1 ton dually so the need for at least one 12 foot door is there. Noted on the door and stairs. This was the first plan that came in so I had not even noticed that yet. Thanks.

 

[LD1]

A 1-ton dually don't justify 12' doors IMO.

I had 9' doors on my old shop. Pulled my dually and 9' plow In there all the time. 10' would have seemed like a walk in the park.

12' is certainly nicer, but certainly not a need.