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Tuesday, September 3, 2024

NEW HOUSE TEASER GARAGE

While 2nd Man had most (but not all, ha) of the choices in the kitchen, I wanted to do a few extra things in the garage part of the house.


Here is our actual architectural drawing.  *Side, note, we'll show various rooms in posts but crop other things out to keep it all a surprise from post to post, ha.  There has to be some mystery as we go along!

We opted for an attached two car garage. Some people build without a garage or have another building on their property for their vehicles.  The builder said it's about 50/50 (with rural properties) as to who does a garage and who doesn't.  We decided we wanted to have the garage attached.  It'll be nice to not have to run across the yard in monsoon rains, it'll keep them close by and safe from hail, etc.  It's a little bigger than a normal 20x20 garage, this one will be about 22x24.  Just nicer to have a bit of space thinking about future cars.  We even measured our current cars to see how well they will fit and they will be perfect, with plenty of room between all four sides.

It will be a "front load" as they call it.  The way our property is shaped, we'd have to reposition the house to make it work and we rather like the idea of the driveway going right toward the garage.  Also, one large garage door instead of two (painted in the white trim color).  That's better, especially being in the country, to have the ability to open one big door and have all that space.  I can back a car out and use it for working on the mower, etc.  This drawing doesn't show lighting (that's on the electrical plan) but of course there are exterior lights on both sides of the garage door.  We'll save that for a posting on the light fixtures we chose.

While the house itself will have a regular attic space with decking and attic access in the hallway inside, with me being the king of holiday decorating (and finding all those bargains after the holidays, ha), I wanted there to be attic access above the garage as well, so I can have more storage space.  Since it was a big empty spot in the attic, we added a second 'attic package' for the garage.  It will be completely decked.  There will be pull-down stairs and lighting.  While this isn't exactly how it will look, we're going for something similar.  Just empty space for storage bins.  I will have almost 500 square feet of storage space!

Let the holiday decorating begin!

I also felt like there should be some natural light in the garage but we've never been a big fan of just having large regular windows in the garage.  A) no one wants to see your garage stuff from outside B) than can be easy to knock over a ladder and break one out and C) it's a security issue (someone can see if you are gone, see what kind of cars you have, tools, machines, etc). 

SO...we are doing this, an upper transom window.  Actually, two of them:

A couple of 2x4 transom windows to let in some light but still be secure.  We are also having them higher up (7 1/2 feet), thinking of the future in case we wanted to put shelves or something along that wall, they can go below the transom windows.  Oh, and they do not open.

We added extra electrical outlets around (two on each wall) you can never have too many places to plug in something.  Vacuum, tools, etc.  We are also future proofing things by having a spot for future electric car charging (it requires special outlets for that).

And this is the plan for the back wall:


It might not look exactly like this, maybe one less cabinet (for another reason at the end of this post) but it'll be similar.  As you can see in the architectural drawing, our water heater will be in the garage just like this and we'll have the back door, both in about the same spot...so that leaves this wall space to do something like this. It would be my dream, ha. We'll work on this after the house is finished and we are moved in and yes, we are going to have a garage refrigerator.  More on that another time in a post about appliances.

You can see on the plan, there is a back door going outside and I really want a Dutch door there.  I have visions of the future when we might have animals that we are trying to keep inside or out and a door like that would be nice to have.  Really, just to be able to open it for a bit of a breeze without having the door all the way open.  But alas, the builder didn't have that optoin and to change it out during the build (even though it's just a door) is much more expensive.  It's something we can just replace later on.

We also opted for a side-mount (or jackscrew/jackshaft) door opener.  We know some of you may be going "a what?"  It looks like this:

It eliminates the need for an overhead mechanism, it's vastly more secure and has some cool features such as battery backup (so it still functions in a power outage) and features a smart phone app connection.

The best part is that it frees up that space overhead and just makes for a clean, unobstructed look.

Our garage will be fully drywalled and painted.  We'll also do something special with the flooring, but that will be saved for a future post as it will be in several areas.

OH, and one last thing...


We made this decision a few days ago at one of our final design appointments; we decided to add a utility sink to the garage, next to the back door!  We figured it would be invaluable for washing just about anything, hands after gardening, fresh fruits and veggies, large pots and pans, rinsing mops, filling buckets, even washing animals, ha.  Who knows!!!

Next time, the back porch!


23 comments:

  1. Very nice, workable plan.
    One thing; you may want to think about having rain gutters.
    We are having some wonderful rain here. The skies have opened up.
    Have a great day and enjoy the rest of the week.

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    1. Thank you! It's exciting! Yep, we have gutters on our list, they are pricing them out...they don't include them because so many people do their own thing. We may do it after the house is finished. We'll see. Thanks!

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    2. A suggestion on gutters. When we had our house reshingled they took down our old ones and put up the all one length gutters instead of using individual sections to where those eventually leak at the seams. The all one length sections of gutters look so much better on the house.
      The gutter people come out with a machine and material and the gutters are made right there on the property.
      It's amazing to see the metal run through the machine and out the other side comes this big, long gutter section.
      They would have hauled our old gutters away but we saved them and put them on our sheds.

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  2. You have some really good ideas going for the garage. Too bad you couldn't swing a 3 car garage, that way you could partition off a shop area separate from the cars. We ended up converting our whole 3 car garage to a wood shop and a ceramic/glass making/ceramics shop. Had to build a carport outside for the cars, but that works almost as well for them as a garage. Important thing is to keep the sun off them. Really like the idea of all that "upstairs" storage. Make sure they don't put a cheapo set of stairs in, they take a lot of abuse over the years. One nice thing would be to add a 4' x 4' hatch somewhere to make it easier to get large items up there. Lots easier to do during construction rather than adding it later. You guys are gonna have a nice place, please keep on with the updates so we can experience the house building with you.

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    1. We thought about it but we had already done so much to the other areas (splurges here and there, more on those in upcoming posts, ha) and we're actually thinking about maybe putting in another building after the house is built. They use a really good stair, we've climbed one and they are very sturdy. Never heard about having a hatch but great idea. I'll bring that up!! Thank you!

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  3. We have an attached garage and would never do it again. After years, it starts to settle and now we have a garage sinking attached to the house which puts pressure on the foundation of the house. It is too expensive for us to fix it (over 40000 for a smaller garage built in 1970) so next time one close to the house with a walkway.

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    1. We thought about it but this builder is one of the few that uses "post tension" slabs which are unique because the load is spread across the entire foundation and is not affected by weight of furniture or vehicles or things like that so far less likelihood of settling shifting cracking. We might build something else later for the cars/mower/whatever else we get. Fingers crossed.

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  4. We have a sink in the garage - so nice for washing filthy things. The dog even got a bath or two in it when she was too filthy to bring in the house for one. Also good choice on the attached garage with storage above. As long as nothing so heavy that they sag the trusses with their long span. I must say, I'm a bit jealous of the storage cabinets - they look so nice! Much better than the mismatched hodge-podge of mostly 2nd hand racks & shelves we have.
    I can understand a separate garage for those who do a lot of work on vehicles. Having the smoke detectors in the house set off by garage activities is not fun (no actual fires thankfully). Otherwise, attached is the way - slogging through rain loaded down with groceries getting soaked is not fun.

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    1. We thought about animals, you never know what we'll have. Heck, 2nd Family has rescued a stray baby goat or two over the years, we might need a goat washing station, ha. I'm excited about the cabinets but they'll come after we move in. Similar but they will match, ha. We can totally relate, our last house garage had a hodgepodge of shelves and an old desk we found, for years, until we had to build a new garage. Oh and they are building for load up there but we literally have no plans for anything heavy just boxes of Christmas and other holiday decorations, etc. We have the barn and shed for the HEAVY stuff, ha.

      Our rains here are SO intense sometimes (and don't forget tropical storms and hurricanes) we'd rather just keep ourselves dry when coming back from work or the store.

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  5. Well thought out! Very smart to have a sink, you will thank yourselves every time you use it. Love Dutch doors.

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    1. Thank you. Yep, the utility sink was a last minute thought but we figured it would be perfect for coming in from the garden, etc. And yes, want a Dutch door so badly, maybe after we get moved in. While a door is new is the time to have it installed, ha.

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  6. It's exciting to see your plans taking on a more concrete form!

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    1. Thank you, we still have to pinch ourselves that it's really happening. Gosh wait until we have a slab and frame going up!!?! LOL

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  7. Will this have enough elevation to keep rain out. I have seen the yard...lol. Freezer in garage or house? Are you putting any 220s in there. You never know. I ended up having three 220 outlets put in my house. Will Bill still have to sit in the rain and weather? I was sure you would have a three-car garage. I really do like the idea of having doors there that someone cannot look into standing on the ground.

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    1. Yes, the house spot is the highest part of the property and they build up. The guy who did the stakeout also did the survey engineering thing for the four corners of the footprint and they design the slab accordingly. We are having two 220v outlets put in, one on each side of the garage, because electric vehicles that use a level 2 charger plug into 220. And yep, we thought about 3 car but too expensive (like another $25k just for the 3rd car bay). We're going to have a slab poured between the barn and shed at some point and then have a cover put on and that might be Bill's safe spot. We shall see.

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  8. whenever you can, have an outside sink or one in the garage. i use mine every day! this is going to be exciting to watch while it is being built.

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    1. Thought about outside but figured just inside the back garage door would be perfect. It's right by the door going into the house so a good spot coming or going to wash our hands before going inside. Thanks, we'll have SO many posts once they start building, y'all will probably get tired of seeing it, ha.

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  9. Sounds like it is going to be a large garage with plenty of room to store stuff

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    1. We know it's just a garage but we tried to think of everything we could to make it the most useful. Storage is most important for sure.

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  10. It's really coming together!! I don't know if I made the suggestion before (or if you want suggestions) but I'd check with your local EMTs and see what they say for width of one door ... one with a "straight-shot" access ... ie nothing in the way... that is wide enough to get a gurney in & out. We did that in our last house in Tucson and of course in a used double wide mobile home don't have that option now ... but we see all kinds of jiggery trying to get people in or out in our senior park because there is not enough room to get someone out easily to get them to the hospital on a gurney. I'm sure it would cost a bit more, but when the time comes, I bet it would be nice to have. Likewise we had extra blocking put in where hand rails can be installed, especially in bathroom to give plenty of support. In some cases we put in one on one side, but just had blocking put in on the opposite side exact measurements so they can be in place when needed. We currently have what are commonly called "T-bar" grab bars which are nice looking and can be used as in-shower towel bars etc for now... but plenty strong to grab for support when needed. There are more and more nice looking grab bars available that don't make a home look like a nursing home .. I'm sure your contractor has sources for them. Easier now than later!! Good luck.

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    1. Ha, great idea. Would have never thought about that. We do have a straight shot access from the garage into the house (we'd have to move the cars out of course). Front door is kind of a straight shot as well, other than going through the opening on the porch railing (need to check that width). The front door for sure is way bigger than usual so we should be good there. Great suggestion, we are totally going to ask about that.

      And yep, we have added a grab bar in a couple of places for this very reason. Our shower is large and walk in so one is in there too. More on that when we do our bathroom tours, ha. Oh and they do block them and make the 'behind the wall' portion up to code to support full body weight holding on to them.

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  11. So many wonderful features! You both have thought long and hard about how to make everything so functional.

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    1. Are you going to have a fireplace or wood-burning stove? Would be wonderful to provide heat during a power outage.

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