I forgot to mention that the house also has 12 foot side walls. The major difference will be the pitch of the roof on the garage. The garage roof will be a 12/12 pitch which will be steeper than the house which we think is an 8/12 pitch? Also forgot to say that the garage will be 20x24 with the 20 foot width being the end with the garage door. I sure forgot a lot, didn't I?

I don't think it will overpower the house, if it isn't the same size as the house. Being a smaller structure, I think the difference in roof elevation will be fine. Also, I am assuming that the garage will not be hot pink, but something more compatible with the color of the house...

I enjoyed looking at your yard too.

Janie

Janie, thank you! heehee..no, NOT hot pink. In fact we plan to paint the house this year as well. The areas that are sided (now flesh colored) will be painted a soft green, with the trim being a straw color and the third/highlight color will be a terracotta/brick color.

Thank you also for expressing your thoughts that it would not over power the house. I sure hope not. I had thought it would be ok, but after several others commented that they thought we were "going overboard" and that it was "too big" and that the balcony was "overkill" I was really having a panic attack. Especially as we have saved and planned for so long. We look forward to having it finished and being able to sit on the balcony and look out over the patio and garden room.

However, I should say this too. If any of you think it is "overkill" or "too big - tall" or "overboard" PLEASE tell me now. I can take it!! It can still be changed. However in a few weeks it will be too late to change! :-(
Marylu

I'm assuming you have an experienced and reputable builder. If that's the case, trust his instincts.

Using similar posts on the balcony as what's on the house will tie it all together nicely.

It looks like a great addition to me!

Are you planning to paint your brick?

Yes, we have seen projects he has built as well as spoken with others he has done work for. All good. Also he has owned and worked on older homes and is empathetic to our desire to build somewhat period appropriate. The one thing I did not like in the original picture/plan was that the balcony support posts looked too heavy. He also thought that going with posts that echoed our house porch posts would help tie the look together.

No, no plans to paint the brick. Only the sided additions to the home will be painted and then all trim work on the house. My personal feelings are that it would be a crime to paint the brick, even though there are areas that do not look pristine. But I guess that is to be expected from a 140 year old home? :-)

Mary Lu, I say move forward. I think every thing you have planned is going to be really great!

MeMo

I say onward! I don't think with only the peak of the roof being a bit higher, the new building will not overpower your house. I suspect you will be so happy with the new space and being able to park everything inside, even if it did, you wouldn't care!

I agree with the others - it is so much smaller that it won't overpowering. Honestly, the only thing that bugs me is the asymmetry of the balcony - I keep wanting it to either extend the entire length, or have the same gap at each end. I like supports to look heavy enough to do their job, personally.

If I have this figured right, the peak of your garage will be 22 ft above grade. Your house roof pitch is less, but the house is probably wider, so the house peak may be close to the same height. If it were me, I would try to shoot for having the peaks at the same height, even if I had to go to a 10/12 pitch on the garage. That would lose 1.7 ft of height.

Still, even if you go with the current plan, I don't think the garage will look crazy tall compared to the house. I've seen 1.5 story garages with 1 story houses that I thought looked fine.

ThinMan

ThinMan

memo and gldno1, thanks for the vote of confidence. Yes, we will be very glad to get the storage and stuff "out of sight"!

irene, we are actually building it a little different than the picture shows on that side. We are planning to have a stairway on the outside up to the balcony. To eliminate one long stairway and the room it would take, we will be doing a partial stair going toward the little shed, then a landing and then the remainder of the stair in the oposite direction leading into the far end of the balcony. Does that make sense? Also we are thinking of moving the dormer closer to the front end of the garage, which would be off center, but as the small shed will be at the far end of the garage, the dormer would end up centered between the shed and the porch on the house. Again, does this make sense visually to you?

Thinman, yes, the house is considerably wider. We had considered the 10/12 pitch too and drew it up both ways. In fact DH is going to measure the height of the peak of the house this weekend to see what it actually is. Your calculations were almost the same as what the builder gave us. Our thoughts were the additional 1 1/2 +/- feet of total peak height was not that important, but the headroom at the side was. With the steeper pitch, we would not have to cut the inside stairway up to the second floor quite as short with the landing and turning the final part of stairway for head room.
{{gwi:667882}}

I hear you about the stairway, Mary Lu. The stairway in yours looks exactly like one I built in a garage with a 12/12 roof pitch. My head clearance at the top of the stairs was a little bit close there, and that garage was 24 feet wide, though with only nine foot walls. It sounds to me like you've thought this through from all angles.

ThinMan

Ah - I like that change. That makes sense to me!

irene, thanks. I wasn't sure if I was explaining it very well. I don't have that change drawn up on paper yet, just in my mind. :-) I have talked to the builder about it and he thought it was doable. In fact he suggested that moving the dormer from the center location and moving it closer to the corner would be better as it would make the wall stronger.

Thinman, meant to reply to you also, but hit the submit when I meant to hit the preview button. Thanks for telling me that there was head clearance in your garage at the top of the stair. I was concerned about that. We are trying to think everything through, but just worry that we may miss something. Which would mean having an "over the top" garage as well as an upper floor that was not easily accessible. :-)

Also, as I said in the subject line, the yard is changing. Over the past several days, we have found out that not only will we have to have all utilities buried to the house, as they are currently overhead and run directly over where the garage will be built, I found out last night that we will have to move the gas line as well. It runs directly under where the garage will be built. So we will have trenches dug all over the place. Even under the patio! Another area of patio a brick walkway will be torn up for the electric/utilities as well. I will have to dig up rose bushes, and lilies, iris, peonies, and a few others I can't think of right now. So for a while our yard will really be a mess and a pot ghetto!

I have a feeling that by the end of next week (we are on vacation all week to work on this) I will be one aching mess.

I really like the style of your proposed garage. The verandah/balcony with pillars is very cute. I might have missed something tho as you said you were going with a 1 1/2 story, and that pic is of a 1 3/4 story I believe. The 1 1/2 story would not be as tall and might be the better option. I think if I were planning this for my property I would not make the garage taller than the house. I don't believe the difference in roof pitch will matter as they will be seen from different views.

I like your new color scheme.

Keep your eye on the final picture and you will get thru this! It will be a wonderful addition to your property. :-)