I would make a mock-up of the garage by drawing lines in some dirt somewhere, and stick a pylon where the post is and walk through the "garage", and park in it and see what it feels like.

I'm pretty ignorant of these things, but our garage is 40' long and they are not requiring a support post. The garage has 12' ceilings with a loft on both long sides. Is there living space above your garage? This makes me wonder why we don't have one.

Yes, there is living space above. Our gameroom comes out to about the point where the post is and covers the entire utility room (so why no post required over there, I wonder??). And there is attic space in front of the post.

we just broke ground yesterday and have the frame around the future slab done. They are filling that with dirt and leveling it out now. I guess we could go out there and try to visualize exactly where the post will be, but I'm pretty good at doing that from just looking at the plan and my gut tells me it will be in my way, making parking and general loading/unloading of my car more of a hassle than it would be otherwise.

Does anyone know... when the engineeer says a support post needs to be "right here", is there any wiggle room? If it could be moved a bit more to the left or preferably ~4' to the right to be out of the door path that would be better, but I don't know if it would serve its support purpose as well in either of those places... and we'd still have the issue of it taking ~2' of space from our parking area.

I've got these questions and more out to our builder & engineer, just wanted to get more opinions on the matter. Any suggestions??

We have a 3 car garage with a playroom above and no support post. I agree - totally in your way and also shortens your garage to the point it may not even be usable unless you drive a very small car (I am getting around 18 feet from door to post but I can't read the numbers very well). We have a 20' deep garage now and it is very shallow - I would consider that the minimum.

There is absolutely a way around this post. Not sure what it is but I have been in plenty of 3 car garages with playrooms above and they don't have posts.

I have never seen a post in a three car garage and I have been in numerous ones. Not an engineer here but ask the engineer why a steel beam can be located in that area instead of a post. The beam would have to span the entire width of the garage. More costly but no post.

The engineer appears to be trying to save the cost of a large transfer beam. Ask the engineer what that additional cost might be.

There appears to be enough room for a normal full sized car but if your vehicle is longer than 16 ft you might have a problem.

"I have never seen a post in a three car garage and I have been in numerous ones. "

It all depends on how much money you want to spend on the framing.

Ask about a larger (taller) steel beam if you really want to avoid the post.

The design loads from the structure determine what size steel (and wood framing) is required.
A steel beam holding up just the floor directly above can be smaller than a beam holding up the floor and weight bearing walls in a house.

Are you tight on your budget? Because I agree that it's probably being done as a cost saving measure. Steel beams aren't inexpensive. However, I'd get rid of a different upgrade first before I'd let them put a post in my garage. And, it (the garage) is already too small, as was mentioned above.

In other words, you'll find if you throw enough money at it, most of your problems will go away. This is true throughout the construction process. I hope you have plenty in your contingency fund!

The more I think about it and read feedback here, that post has to go. The question becomes, who pays for it?? We contracted with a well-known builder (company, not individual) in our area with a good reputation. We settled on a price for them to build our house (set price, not per sf, with an allowance for upgrades). They have built countless houses in our area w/3 car garages and living spaces above and I've never seen a post in any of their garages... granted most of their 3 car garages are tandem. Still, shouldn't this have been discovered before we broke ground? Aren't they the experts that should have known this could be an issue?

I am going to send an email to our rep today and tell them that the post has to go and they need to figure out how to make it work. We'll argue the money issue if/when it comes up, which I'm sure it will.

Any additional feedback is welcome. I'd even be open to moving the post to the right where it would be between the 2 car and one car garages. I'm guessing that would require a beam from the left garage wall to the post, but maybe that wouldn't be as costly.

is the engineer working for your contractor or did you pay the engineer and is contracted through you? Was the post on your original plans or something that was just added after you APPROVED the plans?

Either way, chances are you are paying for getting rid of the post. You should have some cost savings that can be applied toward the price of the steel. For instance you do not need the post, the post footer pad and connections, as well as the original beams above the post. However a newer larger beam might require additional install fees, such as requiring a lift or crane if they do not have one on site.

The engineer works for (or was contracted by) our builder. We approved the plan and they broke ground and then our builder tells us the engineer is requiring a post in that location. We have told our builder that they need to come up with an alternative solution. I'm waiting for a response from them before arguing the cost issue. IMO, this is something that should have been forseen by the builder and not something that we should have to foot the bill for.

I totally agree with your call here. It has to be gone.

Any engineer that specs a post in a garage would make me question his ability on the rest of the house as well.

Reminds me of watching the home renovation shows where a couple wants to finish a basement that has 6 or 8 poles in it all 6 or 8 feet apart. Who builds that, and even more importantly, who buys it from them with the intention of turning it into a finished basement? LOL

I know this is super old, what was the result here? my engineer is calling the same due to having such a large span in my 3 car garage

You should start a new thread since the old one is not at all helpful.

Also, no one can advise you without floor plans, preferably structural plans.

Rest assured that money can solve any structural problem.

One of the builders we talked to for our new build charges $4000 to remove the post and replace with a load bearing beam. So it is definitely possible. If there is living space above the garage you’ll need some sort of support. We have a post in our current garage but it’s in between the double and triple doors in a logical spot.

"You should start a new thread since the old one is not at all helpful."

RES2:

I disagree. I reread the thread; it's as relevant as it was a decade ago. Had you done so, you would have known that your "Rest assured that money can solve any structural problem." remark was nearly a repition of LiveWireOak and brickeyee. Their and your excellent advice hasn't been changed by time.

Sofa color selection advice needs a new thread; structural not so much.

The solution/result and it's associated cost of the original thread has nothing to do with anybody else's situation. In the original thread there was never any detailed discussion or drawings showing the upper floors or roof and why their column needed to be there, and what alternatives could have happened. Surely your layout can not match exactly what the original thread's layout was, especially since the original layout is unknown. The OP's solution probably involved longer, deeper beams, a girder, rearranging of the upstairs footprint, or something else that was very specific to the layout, the design direction desired, and location for cost.

Well im being told i need a post because they dont make an lvl long enough.

For the resurrected new OP @Mark H: Yes you need a column there. Your LVLs are extremely deep at 24" because of the layout of the floor above and that they are acting as girders (beams that have other beams framing into them). You would have to go to excruciating expense, detailing, and erecting with steel to eliminate that column. When structure (and cost) is a concern, usually accounting for the structure initially in design, rather than a backhanded afterthought approach, is the better way to accomplish any project.

Mark H - Is there a compelling reason for your garage to be at an angle?

Space the house is almost 100’ in length. Also, it was a front losd garage and we changed it to a side load much easier switch for the base plans