No WAY that'd be big enough for all the crap you keep. :) An aircaft hanger maybe.... :)

VG, I see what looks like brick pillars (not the correct architectural term... can't think of it right now) in that first photo... one at the right corner and another one between 6 and 7 feet away to the left.

It would cost you significant dinero to have those removed (and replaced with something as strong but narrower) so as to give more room to put a wider door, and if my guess on that measurement is correct, you probably wouldn't want to try to pull in that tight of a doorway, anyway. I don't know how wide a P-car is.

It looks like you have a similar situation going on in the second photo... looks like a pillar next to that doorway with about the same 6-7 feet from there to the left edge of that pillar to the right, which is the same as the one on the left of the first photo.

Are you totally against a free-standing post and roof carport just out from the deck, spanning the width of that pavement so you could put two vehicles there side-by-side? Or is the point to have it enclosed for security and/or other reasons?

Build a garage off the back of the house and extend your deck over it.

Check with your insurance agent to see how much an attached garage will raise your rates. Might ask if a fire rated door or no door to the house will help the lower rates.

Consider three small doors or a two plus one combination.

An oversized door, 20 or 22 foot should also be able to come by.

The plan drawing shows a problem of just pulling in three cars. 18 foot doors are more common now than the old standard 16 footers.

If going with a single door perhaps offsetting it to one side will get you a real shop area.

Thank you guys so much for your thoughts. I think I need to get a builder over there to have a look and discuss the options. No, I am not opposed the idea of starting with the under-deck space - enlarging the deck, etc. - I do like those ideas. Confining the garage to the current basement space would be very tight, and strictly for "storage" of the car(s). As long as I'm going to be kicking up some dust, I'd prefer to come out with some actual usable garage work space if possible. This area is already partly paved, and we wouldn't lose much at all of our existing patch of green space to build the garage off the deck/house here.

More to come in the next few days....

Birmingham, AL builder recommendations welcomed!

It is tough to see from the pictures, but the grout/mortar in the walls seems 'crumbly'. Next time you are there, try to push a screwdriver (or car key if you don't want to be obvious) into the cement to check strength.

A garage under living space is going to need to have a fire-rated seperation between the garage and living spaces. This would typically mean fire-rated sheetrock on ceiling and walls between the garage and living space.

More stuff I did not know about!

We're meeting our inspector out there tomorrow, and with any luck, I'll have lined up a building contractor to meet us out there after the inspection. Between the two, I hope to come away with some ideas about what would be involved in each of the options given what we have to work with in terms of house, basement, yard, zoning & building requirements, budget, etc.

It was a good thing I arranged to meet the construction contractor (to talk about garage options) at the "new" house while the inspector was there. The garage is on the back burner for now until some more critical issues are addressed.

dad911: I did learn that the crumbling you saw is indeed some buckling of the curtain wall in that spot - and there are other places. It's not load-bearing, but because of foundation & moisture issues, it's likely to be a big mess unless it's repaired.

We did briefly discuss garage ideas.

• Going under the house is not a viable option (would require digging down 4-5 feet to accommodate building code clearances for power & plumbing running thru there, etc.).
• Attached garage - also not a good option. No room to either side, and if straight off the back we would lose most of the deck - and two back windows would have to be replaced with smaller ones.
• Detached garage - A 2-car detached garage, placed to accommodate the required turn-in radius (strangely, per local zoning laws) would take up most of our little patch of green space. Too little room back there. A detached 1-car garage could work.
• Attached Carport (under the deck) - The space under the deck could be made into a double carport, extended a bit to accommodate the cars' length with some room - and with cover over the stairs up to the entrance to the house.
• Detached carport - we could put a pad with a double carport over it in the far back of the grassy area.

Of these, I'm leaning toward the attached carport idea for the short term, as it's the only option that gives us shelter from parking into the house. And the cost is pretty reasonable. Then I could do a 1 car detached garage later - or sooner, depending how some other things work out in the interim.

No matter what we decide, we want to replace the current wooden hand operated rolling gate at the drive-in entrance with an electric iron gate with remote. Just like the next door neighbors have :) They came over to welcome us while we were there tonight. And to let us know that the entire length of backyard privacy fence that blew almost completely over in the storm winds a few days ago is being repaired by their insurance (it's their fencing). That's good to know!

Not to be a party pooper here, but I choose my house based solely on the ability to add on to the garage and not on how I could kind of add a garage. It's a very modest house, so money was certainly an issue, but it was still doable. Just my two cents.

Also a flat roof on a residential building like would be needed under the deck is far from ideal.

There are other ways around the detached/turn around issues... such as wide doors (16 or 18' wide, don't have to pull straight in) or setting it on an angle.

It looks like we're going back to the drawing board - the inspection on this house revealed some issues that I just don't want to deal with (serious structural probs).

I'm going to be more garage-focused this time around. This is causing some conflict with my husband, but hopefully we'll find something that makes us both happy. This garage would get me off to an awesome garage start! good parking, work, & tool storage...and a 2 car carport outside too.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3566/...9e355f77_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3484/...48ab3416_o.jpg

The trick will be finding a new place and getting everything worked out so we can take possession by the first weekend in May. I close on my current house on Tuesday, and we have 3 weeks to get out - and I have travel for work the last week.....!!!

I'm prepared to store all the crap, board the animals, and get us into temp housing for a while if necessary, but I would really like to avoid that if at all possible. WISH ME LUCK!

Good luck with your search. Hopfully you can find something that will be a good fit for you and your family. The garage photos above look like a nice setup.

Sorry to hear about your house hunting, but I'm glad to see the change in priorities :D

When we were looking for a house we had 4 goals: location for school, price, pool (the wife wanted one and they're free if the house already has one), and room to add on to the existing garage.

Ideally, I would liked to find a three car garage I could expand back into a 6 car garage, but our budget and time constrant limited us.

We found a house with a detached garage with room behind it to make it double deep. We checked the easements to make sure there was room and got a preliminary go ahead from the HOA (there's technically a 3 car limit for our neighborhood).

We had to move the breaker box from the back to the side of the garage, luckily the existing wires reached the new location. Then we moved the pool equipment and started construction. Unfortunately I never think to get pictures the couple days a year when the inside is clean :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1240239586.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1240239603.jpg

It stinks, but barring a miracle, we will be moving into temp. housing for a month or few (and boarding the dogs - SNIFF!!!) until we can find something that works. I am standing firm for a GARAGE.

Not just offstreet parking (not even that guaranteed in the area we're looking). Not just a carport. A GARAGE. Oh, and at least off-street parking for the daily drivers :)

We have expanded our search area to encompass further-out neighborhoods with larger lots & homes with garages like the one above. Too bad they are all UGLY AS HELL. I hate them. I am a spoiled brat, and I want an intown house. With a front porch. AND A GARAGE. They are out there, but not so easy to come by.

We will either find one in this area with a garage, or we will go a little further out where we can get it all for sure. I can't quite see how it could happen in three weeks, but there have been so many unbelievable twists and turns with the buying and selling over the past month, I would not discount any possibility! That said, we're looking for short-term apartments in the same area, and boarding nearby for the critters.

I'm crossing my fingers and toes - yall send good thoughts! You know i'll keep you posted.

I think you will end up better off in the long run if you buy what you want and need in the beginning. There are lots of ways to send money on a house, having to build a garage right off the bat is going to sap your funds.

You get a lot more hou$e per sq ft when it's existing.

Even 6 months in temp housing is better than several years in a house that doesn't work for you.

I bought a house w/ a tiny 1 car garage and am now stuck - no way to expand it - wish I'd thought ahead like you are doing.

I had a buddy who liked to build his own homes, he would always build a big garage first, as he could store his tools and when he & his wife took trips, everything was locked. This was the last house, but he didn't live to finish it:(
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1240335784.jpg
Talking about a porch
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1240336018.jpg


The garage, not as fancy as the one at his other house, but plenty of room.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1240335954.jpg

I have a friend that did the same, garage first. He bought a travel trailer and sat it touching the new building. The door opened into the garage. The trailer was for sleeping and cooking. The garage was the living room, laundry and bath.