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.