I apologize *in advance* for the post, since I don’t want to offend any sensibilities.
We have a very deep, but narrow lot in the chicago burbs (60 x 300), and hope to use that depth to its advantage. We’re considering a teardown/ new construction project, so it’s a blank slate.
To accomodate a 3 car garage (on a narrow lot), we’re thinking about having only one garage door/ entrance to the street, but have the cars parked once inside the garage at an angle (sorta like you’d find at a grocery store or mall) to minimize the width of the garage on the lot. The cars would enter the garage via a common one car garage door and then once in, turn leftward to park.
Some rough numbers run like this: I’ve allotted for my camry 9 ft width and 19 ft length. If it’s parked at a 30 angle, the 19ft effectively becomes 16.5ft. Compounding it x3, I have now 27ft (9×3) in depth and a width of 25.5ft (16.5 + 9ft for garage opening). Since I’m parking the cars at a 30 degree angle, I also have to account for the distance from left corner of the garage to the left bummer of the first parked car (9.5ft). So, with rough measurements, I’m looking at 36.5ft in depth and 25.5ft in width.
Yes, unconventional, but given my lot, I’m trying to really use what the lot gives me (depth over width). Also, I’d hate to see the entire front lot swallowed up by a standard 3 car garage. Additionally, I’d like to think I can have the garage closer to the street than the house itself, so that the garage depth of 36.5 doesn’t necessarily intrude into the house.
The alternative might be to sideload the garage (better unobtrusiveness), but then it’s a garage depth of 24ft, plus the drive itself (prob 10ft) as well as the angled drive to get into the garage. Simply adding the 10ft drive and the garage depth gives me 34ft, more than half of the lot (to say nothing of local setback rules!)
Any insight more than appreciated.
Thanks
watty
Replies
I'm thinking that after you pulled the cars in at an angle you'd have a hard time backing them out. I suppose you could draw it out on paper to scale, get some Hot Wheels cars, and see how everything looks.
Could you run the driveway right past the house and put the garage in the back yard? Then you'd have most of the width of the lot for the house, minus the driveway, and the garage would be totally hidden from the street.
Another thought is to have a garage two cars wide by two cars deep...you'd have to pull out one car to get to the one parked behind it, but if the third car is seldom used that may not be a problem.
There was another garage / driveway question here last week. The best advice I saw was to get some cones and work it out at full scale.
What's on the other end of that 300' lot? If it's an alley or a street, would it make sense to think about a one way drive through garage?
What about a partially sunken garage out front? Sink it 4 ft and then put in a central drive which descends spreads out to 3 doors. You could either put part of the house over it or use the space for a deck. Major issue might be drainage depending on where the sewer line is placed below grade.
I like the idea since the visual impact is less and I still have the 3 car garage. But is this a safe idea in the snowbelt (chicagoland) where ice could be a problem? While I live here now, I grew up in South Texas where snow is only something followed by the word, "cone."
In addition, what about always have to walkup or walkdown to get something? Yes, it's a *minor* inconvenience, but I suspect that with small kids and stroller (soon our situation), that'll get old soon.
Thanks,
watty
Watty,
A lot of the auto repair shops in my area are set up that way. However, most of them are at least 30 ft wide. I would suggest finding a large parking lot that is not used on Sundays and layout your proposed garage with some chalk. Take a couple of your cars and see how it works. Depending on the angle you want to put the cars at, I am betting you will need at least 25 ft width, which is already bigger than most 2 car garages.
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
I think Stuart hit it right on the head. Backing out of diagonally parked spaces INSIDE a structure could be challenging. ESPECIALLY for women or teenagers. (Neither of which seem to take to backing stuff up)
The other disadvantage to the diagonal parking idea is that you can't put anything in the "interior driveway" where you back out of the garage.
I think suggestion of 2 cars wide by 2 deep sounds good.
If you have access from the side, I saw a 3 car garage that might work for you. There was a 16' door on the end of the garage for 2 cars to park. And there was a 9' door on the side for a third vehicle. It was pulled crosswise in front of the other 2 vehicles.
Ambiguous headline: SQUAD HELPS DOG BITE VICTIM
RE: 3 car garage you saw..
Could you send a jpg of it? I'm not sure I understand the config/ set up. Is it an "L" shaped thing with the 2 cars on the long side of the "L" and the 3rd car in the short side of the "L"?
Thanks in advance,
watty
I don't have the print for that particular house anymore, and don't recall if the house was even built. So there's no way I can post a picture.
Maybe a better description would help:
The garage was something like 28' X36', as I recall. Let's say the 16' door was on the south wall. (One of the 28' long walls)
Then on the west side of the garage (in a 36' wall) they stuck in a 9' door. The door was roughly 24' from the south west corner. The vehicle that came in the 9' door was parked crosswise in front of the vehicles that used the 16' door.
Does that make any more sense?Ambiguous headline: TWO SOVIET SHIPS COLLIDE, ONE DIES
got it now.
Brilliant plan, and might just work here.
Thanks,
watty
Isn't the apparent width of the camry (parallel to the long
side of the garage) (9/(cos 30) = 10.4?
Steve
I'm pretty sure the dimensions are right. Here is the triangle I'm looking at.
30-60-90 triangle with 19ft being the hypoth; 16.5ft (actually 16.45) being the side opp the 60 angle and 9.5ft being the side opp the 30 angle.
If the cars enter the garage, then pull leftward into their spaces, this triangle would be the deadspace bwt the wall containing the garagedoor and the parking space closest to the garagedoor.
If the 2nd and 3rd cars follow the same scheme (ie 30 angle relationship, making them parallel to each other), the width of camry (or other car) should not change.
If I've messed up the calculations still, pls set me straight.
Thanks,
watty