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Garage Placement

David LeBaron

When adding a garage to a floorplan, where is the most convenient spot to put it?

 
Nov 19, 20 1:36 pm
Almosthip

Where you have access to the street and a driveway.

Nov 19, 20 1:38 pm  · 
1  · 
Non Sequitur

With reasonable access to a public street.  Placing it at the same level as the street is also recommended.

Next question.

Nov 19, 20 1:39 pm  · 
 · 
Almosthip

Slightly higher would be prefered. you know so water will drain away.

Nov 19, 20 1:40 pm  · 
1  · 
Non Sequitur

Oh, is that why civil is always upset with my drawings?

Nov 19, 20 1:41 pm  · 
 · 
Almosthip

I t could be, or maybe your showing your slope arrow in the wrong direction

Nov 19, 20 1:52 pm  · 
 · 
Non Sequitur

I don't use arrows. I prefer a thumbs up or thumbs down to indicate slopes.

Nov 19, 20 2:03 pm  · 
2  · 
apscoradiales

Show some spot elevations.

Nov 19, 20 4:24 pm  · 
 · 
citizen

Spot elevations are very important, yes.


Nov 22, 20 6:03 pm  · 
1  · 

Also good to put it where you have an entrance into the house.

Nov 19, 20 1:39 pm  · 
 · 
tduds

The most convenient spot for a garage is rarely the best spot.

See: snout houses.

Nov 19, 20 1:54 pm  · 
1  · 
tduds

A professor in grad school summed it up perfectly, if not a little pessimistically: "The average American wants to fall out of their bed into their shower, and fall out of their car into their kitchen. "

Nov 19, 20 1:55 pm  · 
1  · 

TIL the term "snout houses." I try to convince my wife that homes can be built without the garage as the thing that occupies the street frontage, but all of her living experience indicates otherwise. In our price range and location, she's probably more correct than I am.

Nov 19, 20 2:13 pm  · 
 · 
Non Sequitur

My parent's late 80s suburban detached 4bed home in which I grew up certainly fit the description of snout house. The house we purchased 5years ago does not have a garage at all... just a 4 car long private driveway to the side.

Nov 19, 20 2:21 pm  · 
 · 

All of the homes we've purchased over the years have been snout houses (mid to late 80's suburban developments). Her parents' house is a snout house (mid 80's suburban development). My parents' house (early 80's rural 1-acre lot) didn't have a garage until they added one two or three years after I moved out. It's definitely the dominant feature on the house for size (dad's a mechanic and wanted a big garage), but not in linear street frontage. It is also set back from the face of the house so it's an "innie" snout if anything.

Nov 19, 20 2:36 pm  · 
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atelier nobody

I generally agree that snout houses are icky, but there are conditions where they work, like the steep canyons where I grew up.

Nov 19, 20 3:05 pm  · 
3  · 
apscoradiales

OK, I'll ask...what the hell is a "snout" house?

Nov 19, 20 4:26 pm  · 
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tduds

I actually like that style of semi-sunken detached (usually detached) carriage house. You see it a lot around Portland & most of the houses still have a usable yard & visible front porch / entry. Not like the post-war suburb style that prioritizes car entry over human entry.

Nov 19, 20 4:26 pm  · 
1  · 
atelier nobody

apscoradialeshttps://bfy.tw/PiBa

Nov 19, 20 5:23 pm  · 
1  · 
apscoradiales

Never heard that term before...

Nov 19, 20 5:47 pm  · 
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Neither had some of the rest of us. We were all able to google it ourselves.

Nov 19, 20 5:54 pm  · 
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tduds

My garage is around the side of the house and at the basement level. We have a concrete patio on top of it that I insist on calling "the loggia" because I'm a snob.

Nov 19, 20 6:19 pm  · 
1  · 
Jay1122

I want to say under ground is the best location. But then this random internet image reminds me why you need to think twice.

Nov 19, 20 2:45 pm  · 
2  · 
Non Sequitur

I thought Jeeps had roll cages? Either it's a shitty cage or a really well engineered overhang.

Nov 19, 20 2:50 pm  · 
 · 
tduds

It's a roll cage not a squish cage.

Nov 19, 20 3:36 pm  · 
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SneakyPete

and it keeps you alive, not the car

Nov 19, 20 6:15 pm  · 
 · 
citizen

Jay's excellent image pretty much screams for a caption contest.

"Honey, I'm ho...gkgkgkrrrrr."   [Ok, not my best work. You try.]

Nov 22, 20 6:12 pm  · 
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Garage placement:

Best ally (side or rear)

second best back of the yard detached with a skinny drive on one side of the house so the garage can double as a yard party pavilion/work shop when you have need for it.

then there is the front, it would be nice if it wasn't the dominant feature of the street view but sometimes there is no other option in car dominated suburban developments or places with restrictive covenants, in this case if you have the budget make it separate doors instead of  one big wide 2 car door.

Over and OUT

Peter N


Nov 19, 20 8:40 pm  · 
2  · 
whistler

Always test the location and access based on carrying a bag of groceries / beer / wine.  I don't make it difficult otherwise you'll have complaints.

Nov 20, 20 1:46 pm  · 
 · 
Volunteer

All garages aren't ugly. Lady architect, too!


Nov 25, 20 7:31 am  · 
 ·  2
Non Sequitur

That's so... wrong. Steeple? Fake dormer windows? Squat stone arch?

Nov 25, 20 8:46 am  · 
2  · 
apscoradiales

Nice stone, though.

Nov 25, 20 9:17 am  · 
 · 
Volunteer

Well, it's a five bay garage. The other two bays are at 90 degrees at either end. And that is not a steeple, it is a cupola. And the style of the arch was taken from a stone horse barn already on the property. And I don't believe the cupolas are fake, either, given the height difference between the main structure and the appendages.

Nov 25, 20 9:21 am  · 
 · 
Non Sequitur

This is a garage:

I know a few here might get this

Abris temporaires: vague de colère à Val-des-Monts | Gatineau | Actualités  | Le Droit - Gatineau, Ottawa

Nov 25, 20 8:45 am  · 
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apscoradiales

Some Montreal areas are full of these. Some parts of the city ban them...lazy bastards, empty your garage of junk, and park the car inside it! They're really god-awful ugly and visually spoil the neighbourhood.

Nov 25, 20 9:14 am  · 
1  · 
Non Sequitur

^This guy gets it. They are not permitted in Ottawa, but obviously, it's not an enforced bylaw. We call them garage gatineau.

Nov 25, 20 9:24 am  · 
1  · 
senjohnblutarsky

Early on, I was adamant I wouldn't have an attached garage.  Ultimately, the wife won out and I have one.  But, I placed it so it's a west wind buffer, turned the front of it into our "front porch" and put the doors on the back.  Anyone driving up is presented with the front of our house, a porch, and a full side elevation before they ever see a garage door. 

But then I also live 600 feet off of a dirt road and had plenty of space to play with.

Sometimes, you're just limited by site and access and you have to locate it where it's functional. Our higher notions about aesthetics get trumped in this situation. 

Nov 25, 20 8:50 am  · 
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