Software
Houzz Logo Print
mtvhike

Detached or attached garage

5 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago

I want to have a new garage built and was wondering about the pros and cons as to whether an attached or stand-alone garage would be preferred.

Comments (5)

  • 5 years ago

    Not much info. Most times constraints and lifestyle zeroes in on a clear winner. What do you prefer?

    - conception: will be only garage, addition of 2 bays added to 4 already on house, . . . . many scenarios

    - use: car parking only, storage accessed continually, shop noise and flammables, upstairs if any

    - climate: accessing from outdoors or not

    - privacy: accessing from outdoors or not, footprint on lot

    - security: how far from house

    - house: which coincides with era of design, roof style, adjacencies layout

    - size: zoning regs and comparison to house

    - site: driveway availability/access, elevation change

    - foundation: full, monolithic, frost-protected shallow

    - budget: detached generally cheaper

    mtvhike thanked 3onthetree
  • 4 years ago

    Back to this new garage project, and still trying various options (on paper!), Main con for the attached garage is our lot is very sloped and the only possible location (out of view of the house and near the door) would require massive earth-moving. The main con for stand-alone is that it might be far from the house (not desirable in my snowy, northern NY climate). Again, most locations would require alot of earth-moving and/or tree removal. However, I just came to another, unconventional solution - a long, narrow building with doors at both ends. I'm thinking about 15' x 60'. My existing unpaved driveway actually is a double driveway with a teardrop in front of the house, so I could put the garage where one of the driveways is located and still access both ends. I need to discuss this with the contractor who did both the driveway construction and currently plows the snow.

  • 4 years ago

    In a cold snowy climate, I personally would not be interested in a detached garage. Seems to defeat the purpose.

  • 4 years ago

    So a tandem garage with access on both ends. But it won't be a pull through with cars (3 littles could even fit in 60') so still requires backing out on either end - driveway needs space for backup turnaround or direct to street for backing up. Sounds like an RV or truck with trailer drive-through setup.

  • 4 years ago

    Yes, it would require backing out, just like in a normal garage. The problem was that there is no place to put in a garage more than 15' wide without cutting down some large trees, which we don't want to do. Plenty of turn around room at each end.