Building a new garage.
 

I recently purchased a new home that sits on 5 plus acres. The house is everything I have ever dreamed of EXCEPT it does not have a garage. I can add either an attached garage or a detached garage.

I ask this question on this forum because I have seen some really great garage pictures and I expect to purchase my FIRST new vette (a C6) very soon. You guys (and gals) really seem to treat your cars like royalty. I, too, want everything to be perfect for it.

What are the pros and cons of detached vs attached garage? Does anyone have any good ideas or suggested dimensions? Any idea what it would cost to build a garage? What are standard dimensions(sqr footage) for a 3 or 4 car garage? How much deeper or wider should I go? I see some of you have lifts in the garage; how high must the ceiling be?

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Just an opinion, I have both an attached and detached. The daily drivers go in the attached and the toys, C6, Harley etc, go in the three car detached. This seems to work for me. :cheers:

Simple: If you can, Do the attached. Seems like money is not an issue with you so bigger IS better (right girls)..PM me..

I don't have a large piece of property, but decided to rip down my old single car attached garage and build a detached one.
I've always had attached, but to me this detached is the best project I could have done for myself. It's like my own little world back there. Rather than hang out in the house, it's my own building to do whatever I want.
I 'm still working on how I want it look, but everything will be centered around my Corvette. It's 24' wide by 35' deep.My wife parks either behind my Vette or along side, I have a big pickup that fits nicely when I want to garage it.
There are a lot of post in this forum with some huge 'garages', barns, workshops. We all do what we can afford or have room to do.
Happy to have what I have. Good Luck :cheers:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...d/100_0165.jpg

[QUOTE=VettesintheRockies]I don't have a large piece of property, but decided to rip down my old single car attached garage and build a detached one.
I've always had attached, but to me this detached is the best project I could have done for myself. It's like my own little world back there. Rather than hang out in the house, it's my own building to do whatever I want.
I 'm still working on how I want it look, but everything will be centered around my Corvette. It's 24' wide by 35' deep.My wife parks either behind my Vette or along side, I have a big pickup that fits nicely when I want to garage it.
There are a lot of post in this forum with some huge 'garages', barns, workshops. We all do what we can afford or have room to do.
Happy to have what I have. Good Luck :cheers:
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You can design an attached garage with your "own" space and still enjoy the luxuries of convienience of closeness, not getting wet and keeeping your property uniform. Attached is the way.

Go to cadnw.com to get garage plans or anything else you want to build. I'm going to tear down my one care garage in a few years so that I can build a 2 car garage to store my cars. I also want a car lift. This way I can park three cars in there in the winter. I would also check with your local city code to see how high your garage could be in your area.

Before I moved to Houston, I was not even aware that in some parts of the country detached garages were common on nice homes. But in Houston, it is very common. I have owned two houses here with detached garages. At first I was really pissed about it, but that's what I found in the houses I liked. (I had owned two previous houses with attached garages).

Now that I have been in houses with detached garages - for the past 24 years, I actually like it better. You don't have to worry about making too much noise for someone in the house to hear, you have less risk if there is a fire in the garage of it getting to the house (although I do have a covered walkway that connects the two), and it is easier to expand or add on to the garage if it is detached. And in my case, I added two window unit air conditioners in my garage. I likely would not have been able to do that in an attached garage.

Attached (in most circumstances) will help in the value of the home more than dettached .. if that matters to you.

And, depending on where you live, a 3-car would be best for same reason.

One thought - if you're going to build a large garage (4 car), it might be problematic to attach it to the house and have it be architechturally compatible. Might detract from the appearance of the house. But whatever you do, don't scrimp on space - tough to add later unless you build a second garage. Back home in TX, mine is an attached 3-car with a matching stand-alone "mini" garage out back for the lawn and yard equipment.

If you like it no arguement. However, as an Architect I will advise for attached:
1. you can design for separate "space" if necessary
2. Sound/noise/fire can also be designed for.
3. Can heat and cool as required and is cheaper then seperate systems
4. Better property value
5. Looks better- please dont even go here.
6. Better security period.
7. Weather- no problem.

I can advise more if necessary..Thanks

Well, if it was my dream garage, I'd have a 6 car garage (3 wide x 2 cars deep) with a separate shop area for the inevitable "mess" (where projects get done) and I'd absolutely make it two stories with three rooms above - one's a bathroom, one's a small bedroom, and the other has a mini-kitchen, big screen TV and pool table. Now that's a garage!

Think about the climate you live in...

As a builder I agree with the posting of the Architect above. In fact I think it would be a good idea for you to hire an architect to design your new garage. Do not just hire someone that builds garages you will end up with junk. We need some more information to give you a better answer to your question. How old are you ? What is the money situation ? What is the climate were you live. The best of both worlds if you have the funds is an attached for the daily drivers and a detached for storage, workshop and a place to get away from the wife when need be.

I should clarify something here. If I were building the house and garage from scratch, that might be a different story. But here in Houston, detached garages are accepted and they don't affect values. In my neighborhood, it's pretty much split between the two, and I live in an upper middle class neighborhood.

The main point to my post was to point out the positives to a detached garage. I realize that in some parts of the country it could be a totally different story. As I said, when I moved to Houston, it was a very foreign concept that I was not happy about.

But very few people down here complain about detached garages. The other reason may be that we don't have basements (none at all in Houston due to the water table), so for many people, a garage serves as a junk room.

:iagree:
A detached garage (only) is the same as no garage when you park the car and go to the house in the rain/snow. Do an attached. You can add the detached one later.

I just visited a fellow club member's house and garage. He has a 4 car attached garage and a 12 car detached garage with a lift. Talk about an impressive setup!!!

I recently built a 36 wide by 30 deep 3 stall detached 2 1/2 story barn/garage. I love it. It's like my own private world out there. For years I had a three stall attached. We just bought a lakefront home with 3 acres and I was able to build my dream barn. I much prefer the detached. These dimensions allow room for the 3 Vettes with plenty of room to spare for gas pumps and work areas and other decorative items. Put a TV and stereo in and you're all set. Good luck with your project. The house has a two stall attached as well, so that was not an issue for me. If you position the attached close to the house weather will not be too much of an issue

Attached garages tend to have two draw backs... (1) can dominate the architecture of the house and eyes focus on the large doors of the garage as opposed to the flow of the house of the house itself and (2) garages always have a fire potential so having it detached is a bonus. I always like the concept of the house and detached garage creating a 'courtyard' that defines a semi secluded owners area. Also being detached you can create a covered walkway that can be architecturally fun. With that all said my garage is attached...here in Reston Va the designs for houses are heavily controlled by an ARB and the house simply had to have an attached garage..if I were to build again detached it would be.

Things to consider for the garage... either a floor pit for working on the car or a lift area...can be like a low rise lift like I have>>>
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/phot...2_1_2_-med.jpg

or a pole lift... need to allow for electric for either (dedicated min 20 amp circuit), air compressor with lines and quick connectors, LIGHTS LIGHTS LIGHTS... additional electric (110v duplex) on ALL walls and couple in ceiling,
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/phot...h_lift-med.jpg
pop area for your cabinets and work bench... my choice here>>
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/phot...2_1_2_-med.jpg

HVAC and maybe water/waste, area for a refrig and bar (just kidding on bar but have been in some garages that have bar, spa etc...a long with a couple Ferraris and Saleen 7 parked in it... Anyway my garage is a simple two car type with a popped out area as seen in the pic above. My design approach is from the Bauhaus school.. functionality to form and think in those terms...unfortunately I was not able to design the garage (the interior of the house I did so since the ARB can not touch interiors) so I did the best I could with the space handed to me. Anyway you will get varying opinions but always glad to provide more details if you wish...garages are great fun to design and play with :thumbs:

oOOPS...EDIT...forgot couple things.. floor...if you paint go with the high end systems such as UCoatIt and not the local Home Depot floor paint..better yet tile. You should check with your local building code officials concerning code requirements...some areas now, due to fire potential in garages, are requiring extensive fire separation beyond the old 1 hour rating..fire separation can get expensive. Also might talk to your house insurance carrier and see about rates for attached vs detached.
Michael

As I stated above, it's what you can afford and the space you have to work with. In my case, no room to extend the existing, a ranch with a one car. Had to demo it, and build as big as I could and still leave room for a back yard. I also have a srorage shed 12x16 on the other side of the house for 'junk'.
You can't just make a statement (well I guess you can) that just building a garage is junk. We do what we can. Everybody's situation is different. My detached garage works perfect for me, I don't wear a suit and don't worry about a little rain walking to the house. :)

I want to thank everyone for their responses. It was extremely helpful.

Can the debate of whether to build an attached/detached garage boil down to whether or not you want to pull into the garage and shelter yourself from inclimate weather?

My old home was small with a small 2 car garage that was full of bicycles, outside toys, pool toys and two Harleys. We primarily used it as a way to 'enter' the house. Pull up, hit the button to open the garage, park in the driveway, kick off your shoes and enter the house.

I do see the benefit of having the detached garage so that I can be in my 'own world' away from the kids and the wife!

To some of you architects and builders, what would the difference in cost be? I would expect an attached one may be more because of the need to fit the new garage 'into' the house and line up the new and existing roof lines.

I know I can check the exact dimensions of the vette but how wide would you recommend for each car port? What length to give you enough room? As I said before, my old 2 car was (I believe) only 20 X 20 and just for fun I tried to get my two cars in. Boy was it tight!

Thanks again for all the great posts, suggestions and ideas!

I went from no garage to 1200 sq. ft. (I live out in the woods on 50 acres and no neighbors.) I went with a detached partly because it allowed me to frame it pole barn style and that alone saved me tons of money. With a 40' width, 24' depth and a 20' wide by 12' deep bumpout in the rear a traditional foundation would almost have been a waste. There are 2 18'x8' tall doors in the front. A regular foundation would have only had any real weight on the 2 short 10' rear walls and 3 posts on the front wall. The rear bumpout actually hangs over a downhill slope, a HD wood floor and sits on 3 posts in the rear. I have a hatch with a pit on that bumpout. It sure makes oil changes and other jobs easier.