Design dilemas, window placement and overall house size

10 years ago

We'd like to place a home office over the attached garage. Is it possible for the 2nd floor bedrooms to have windows on the side of the house that attaches to the garage? It will be a 3-car garage, it's 26x30'.

Also, is it better to design a house that is 32' as opposed to 30'8"? As far as cost goes? I assume it's better to snip it down to 30' instead, but am wondering how waste is figured in and utilized.

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Comments (3)

mushcreek
10 years ago
It is possible to have windows on the garage side if the the garage roof is low enough to allow for sensible window placement. When the side elevations are sketched out, it will be obvious whether it will work or not.

As for dimensions, and working in multiples of 4', I have found that it doesn't make all that much difference in the overall scheme of things. The worst case would be to a bit over a multiple of 4. I always go a bit under to allow for building errors. If you went exactly 32', and they screwed up and it came out 32' 2", you'd have a problem. Also, tongue & groove floor decking, such as Advantech is 47-1/2", not 48. I didn't know that when I built my barn to 28' wide, and had to waste a whole row of sheets, as a 3" strip won't work on a structural floor diaphragm. The safest thing to do would be to go about 31' 6", which would allow for minimum waste, but a margin of safety.

All that being said, once you get inside, all of that careful dimensioning is for naught, as the interior dimensions won't be nice neat multiples of 4.

You can drive yourself nuts trying to save a few hundred dollars worth of materials. Our house is 33' 4" X 43' 4", because I worked in standard units for ICF. I didn't generate all that much waste, and found uses for much of it. If someone else is doing the building, they'll just keep filling the dumpster. Labor is a lot more expensive than materials. Designing a house with a simple shape and moderate roof pitch will go a lot further towards saving money.
Annie Deighnaugh
10 years ago
Of course, it should go without saying that the smaller the house, not only will building costs be a tad lower, but the ongoing costs will be lower...less to heat and cool, insure, pay taxes on, furnish, maintain....
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lethargo
Original Author
10 years ago
We're at 30'5" on our width, and of course would love just *a smidge* more space. But we're wondering if we should trim those 5" or leave it as is.. It is helpful to consider building errors and leave a little wiggle room, thank you MushCreek. Yes, Annie is will be less to maintain, thank you.

We have started working the side elavations and have started to see where the windows can be placed.