Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Looking for a little garage advice please...We're working with an architect on a house design and I don't know what to do about the garage. The house is going to be in the city on a 72 foot by 140 lot, so we are a little crammed for space and we don't want the garage to overpower the house. So, we are planning building a double deep "2 car" garage (22 ft wide by 40 ft deep). The first 2 bays, closest to the doors, will be for my wife's and my daily cars. The rear bays will be for 2 collector cars on a lift and my tools etc. My concern is will the moisture brought into the garage from the daily cars (snow in winter etc.) affect the collector cars and if so, should I consider putting up another wall and garage door inside the garage to section off the collector cars? Or should I use some other method of protection in the winter(car bags, bubbles etc)? Any thoughts from your experiences? Thanks https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

[ QUOTE ]
Any thoughts from your experiences? Thanks https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Buy the lot next door, Mark, and build a big boy garage https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...iggthumpup.gif

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

I live your problem every day...my solution was to keep the everyday cars outside.....now go fight with the wife !!!It's tough on a city lot to even get the 40 ft length....I imagine a wall with another garage door would work but that would probably add more money to the project that you could spend on parts ! The moisture will get everywhere without some type of curtain..plus you will be re-heating your garage every time you open it to pull in the driver..

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

That's too funny Steve https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/haha.gif. We did buy the lot next door last year and just sold it on thursday. We had planned on building on both lots but needed to cash in some stock options to do so. However, after reviewing the situation again, we decided it was better to leave the options alone and build a house that will suffice for the next ten years or so. If everything goes as planned there will be more than enough cash in 10 years to build a "big boy garage" to rival some of the best on the site! Heck, I might even be able to lease you a little space. Thanks for the advice!!!

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

We do that now Belair and if I want to stay married the next house has to have a parking space for the wife!

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

First off, if you have the space why not build it a little wider than 22 ft? If you have the room? You will not be sorry. I hate a narrow space when trying to open a cardoor next to another car inside.

Now for the garage. There are people here that build a third seperate single car size garage on the front just to house their yard equipment and other toys/clutter.

This looks nice from the street. There are only 2 Garage doors visable and one is just smaller than the other two. I am talking about a two car 16' and a single car 10ft wide doors.

You then make the single 10 ft. one pass through into the back yard side of your house with another single door on the otherside. This would leave your everyday garage in a totally different room and the mosture and prying eyes would not be a factor.

You could also put single car size OH door on the back inside wall. This could lead to the other side of the house and open to the backyard and still not be seen from the street when closed. You could use the sinle to keep your lawn mower or whatever in the front and move it when you need to get a car out.

This would keep your valuable cars totally seprated and safely out of view from the street when you were working on them. You could then have a big concrete pad at least 30ft wide in the backyard to turn them on and into another 2 car garage say at 90 deg to the outlet and with a OH door for a storage area where you could put them up on Lifts if you wanted.

If you build a totally seperate 2 car storage for your playthings like this, the advantage of the extra pad could be used for Famly dinners or a place for the kids/grandkids to play on. I know if I was doing it I would put a huge Carport type cover on it. I love to work outside on my cars with out the hot sun on me. It is so nice to have lots of room to open the cars doors and not have to worry about hitting another car.

You would also have a second single wide place to park a car in the pass through into the backyard. That way you have even more space and still have a normal looking house from the street.

I hope I am explaining this clear enough. It is easier to envision in my head than to explain. I doubt that it would hurt your resale value as someone could always convert the rear 2 car garage to a game room or hobby shop.

I don't know about where you live but here they don't look at garage space as taxable living areas, so they are not taxed nearly as high on your home taxes. It also leaves less to mow if you are one of those that do that yourself.

That way you will have even more space just for detailing. If you have two lifts then you will hate to work on them on the lifts when you are wanting to detail them.

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

boy does this hit close to home, I built my house previous to marriage with a six car garage, 3 front, 3 rear. 35x40 so I went extra wide and it still wasn't enough to keep her and kids away from my cars and toys so I kicked her car out and that worked for a while but kids and toys still are clashing so I am building a new garage that is 50x70 and putting my sister who is recently divorced in a small apartment with only external access in a corner of the building. She is going to pay rent and I figure it will be paid for in 3-4 years.. oh, and yes it will be tall enough for a lift.. yeah!!!!! you have to be creative and find a way to protect your toys right!

make it as big as you can because that couple of grand becomes 10 fold when you decide to bust walls out later..

good luck!

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Yeah, I meant to add that you can never build it big enought or tall enough. When you have small kids then you have a totally different problem also to contend with.

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

I have a 3 bay on the house, and also built a 72'X 30' off to the side with an exterior design that compliments my main house. I built it to look like a ranch with peaks and brick exterior. You gotta have the additional space, besides most collector car insurance companies frown on Collector cars stored with your regular cars.

Good luck.

Phil

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Thanks for all of the replies guys. I agree wholeheartedly that bigger is definitely better when it comes to garages, however we live in the city so land is very expensive. A standard 72 ft by 135 ft lot is $160,000 add another $150/sq ft or more for the house and you can see that this becomes a very expensive project. Also, this is a somewhat exclusive street so having a huge garage just isn't going to fit in. When the kids are older we plan on moving further into the burbs or buying an old home on a nice lot in the city and tearing the house down. For now, I need to live with a 3-4 car garage. Thanks again,

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

You are getting some great ideas.I think you will be able to come up with a good solution from all the ideas.I am fortunate to have had plenty of space due to the fact I live slightly in the country.I had a 22X42 detached garage but it is pretty old and not what I needed to keep the finished cars in.so my GREAT Son in law that he is built me a really nice 24X40 all metal fully insulated building next to the garage.Now I wish I had designed it even larger than I originaly did.He also added a 24X24 carport on the front which is great to park the everyday drivers under.Now I just use the old garage for working on the as the wife calls it "JUNK CAR'S".She has not grasped the concept of CLASSIC CAR'S YET!But like most women, she will one day come around to my way of thinking hopefully!In all honesty I have one of the sweetest and most understanding Women in the world as my Wife and Partner.If not for her there is no telling where I would be.Probably living under a bridge or maybe a tent somewhere.I have always believed the saying it takes a Wonderful Woman to bring out the best in a Man.Keep getting ideas on the design of the garage and you and the wife pick the one that best fit's your needs but keep the need to expand in the future in mind.

Bobby Dodson

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Zedder,

The timing for this discussion couldn't be better for me. When my wife and I bought our current home 6 years ago I thought that moving from a 1 car detached to a 3 1/2 attached would be all I ever needed.

Then we started accumulating lawn tractors, snowblowers, tillers, etc... Now my garage floor looks more like a collection point for leaves, grass and dirt than a quality garage/workshop.

This morning the excavator showed up and started digging for our new 30'x40.5' workshop. The new deal will give my wife and kids the current garage for everything that collects dirt and the new facility for the collectibles. Yes, Listening to alot of you guys has inspired us to build it with 10' inside walls so we can accommodate a lift.

We live in one of those "deed restricted" (anal retentive) subdivisions, so the planning,lobbying and approvals have taken about 8 months to get wrapped up. But, I'm sure it will all be worth while in the end.

Build it is large as you can tastefully can and you will be in good shape. Adding hydronic heat in the floor may also be a plus since you're blessed with fine northern weather like myself. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/scholar.gif

Good luck!

Blair

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

I was out in a nice neighborhood and saw three houses that are a good example of what I was trying to convey to you about the two different size doors and took these pic's for you to think about. If you use the smaller door for your collector cars and make it deep and about 16' wide you could have more room with out making the place look too bad from the front.

Pic 1 of 3

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

2 of 3

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

3 of 3. I like this one the best. But you may not like any of them. Hope this puts you to thinking about what you could do and get away with. Remember! Garage space is nowhere near as expensive as living space and if you do it from the start you just might get a real deal on the whole thing.

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Alright Larry,how did you get those Pictures?
Didn't the restraining orders specifically state 1000ft.? https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/tongue.gif

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Mark, last year I built a attached 36x46 garage, its true they are never big enough so no matter how big you build it if you are a true gear head there isnt enough room. In the summer only my muscle cars in the garage but in the winter I have to jamm them in there so we can put our two every day cars in . I hate scraping windows and getting in a cold car the only person that hates it more is my wife if you know what I mean. I havent noticed any problem with moisture I keep the garage heated to 65 all winter.

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

I measured carefully! Honest I did.

Now how many times does it take to make up 1,000 ft using a 25 ft tape?

Actually on pic two a lady came out to the mail box and I rolled down the window and asked her if they were seperate or connected inside and she was happy to explain that they were seperate and she liked them that way.

If a guy had a narrow lot you could use the smaller one to go deeper than just for one car on one side of the house and park 3 or even 4 cars end to end and still not have a problem with the neighbors. I would bet that it would resell better that way too. It would be a great idea to use it on the north side of the house as a buffer to hold down cold north winds in the winter. You would not have to heat that area as warm as the rest of the house and having a dead air space like that will help on the heating bills.

I remember living in a house with the garage on the north and it sure made the house warmer in the winter.
The house I live in now, had the original two car garage O/H door closed in and they made a clubroom out of it and went behind the back wall of the room and built a two car garage 24x32 on a lower level with a staircase walking down into it from the room above.

Of course I am on a wide, almost 1 acre lot on the crest of a hill too, so there was lots of room to run the driveway down to the back of the lot.

Now I am working on plans to build a 4,000 sf two story addition on the back next to the existing two car garage.

I plan on using a metal building contractor to do it and then have it finished on the outside in rock to match the rest of the house. Termites are a real pain in this part of the woods that I live in.

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Thanks for all of the replies guys...I'm taking all suggestions into consideration. Pantera: Thanks for taking the time to take those pics - that was extremely nice of you. Yes, that set-up is pretty popular here also and it is one that we are looking at. Like SSL78 said though, the trick is making sure the garage doesn't look bigger than the house! Nice job on your garage John. I had that same idea of making part of the garage look like the house and parking the cars sideways. Your tree does a great job of hiding that part of the building nicely https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Mark, Hi, here is a little story on my garage. When we were buying our Home we had our Realtor/Buyer Broker put in our offer that we had to have some land behind the house included. Thank GOD that we did make that deal as that is why we are Fortunate to have the big garage in back of my house. It is a Nice Looking garage with a couple of skylights and some brick work. Mark another thing is the Car Capsules, I have them and they work well. Good Luck with your Garage Project, alot of good ideas here. Everything takes ALOT of Time and MONEY, this summer my project is to tile the garage floor.
Take care, Mark

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Hi Mark, Yeah, I would love to have a garage that's 30 x 90 like you, but it's gonna have to wait a few more years https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/smile.gif Land in the area we are moving too is just too expensive to build on two lots, so we decided to sell one and build a home that will suffice for the next 10 years or so and move at that point to something a little further out. Here is a pic of the two lots we own (until April 30th that is...then one of them is sold https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif)

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Here's a shot of the houses directly across from us. You see how a garage that is reallyn big just doesn't fit in with the neigborhood.

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Zedder:

I am glad to see you are utilizing an architect, as this is my profession. I assume your classic cars that you have or will have will not need much work performed on them. The 22'x40' garage size you described earlier is going to be very tight. My parent's garage is of same width, but with side approach to two separate 8 foot wide doors along drive it does not work well.

My 2 cents on this subject would be to make sure the garage had the following:

1. A single garage door for both bays at least 16 feet wide.
2. No interior support posts down middle between car bays. (Again my parent's garage has this due to the garage being part of the basement and there are 2 floors atop it. Single framing members across garage width can be done, but are tyically deeper and thus more expensive.)
3. Tape off a 40'x22' space on concrete and place 4 cars within this area and walk it to determine if this is a space you can be happy with. I do not see you having hardly any workbench/tool space once 4 cars are in-place.
4. You said you were going to have a car lift at rear bay. Make sure you have the height clearance and concrete slab has been designed for this increase loading at car lift attachment points. Also, when considering height clearance remember to take into account in suspended piping or HVAC ductwork.

Well I know I said a lot, but I always try to tell my clients that I am not a mind reader but a problem solver if I trully know the building problem. Try to think through what minimum features/capabilities you want this garage to have (given your constraints) and then build that and you should be happy. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/dunno.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/scholar.gif

Best of luck,

Todd https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/flag.gif

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Hi Todd,

Thanks for your thoughts. Believe me, I have analysed this thing to death! I'm an IE and have it drawn on auto cad with cars, tools, lift etc. all to scale. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/laugh.gif You are right about 4 cars being tight, but I had planned to use only 3 bays for cars and the fourth for my tools, compressor etc. I would definitely build bigger, but the land just won't accomodate any more. So, I either build this or move onto another peice of property - which I just might do. I learned a valuable lesson with this exercise - design the house first and find a piece of property to fit the house - not the reverse https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/scholar.gif Thanks again guys,

Re: Parking Collector cars with Daily Drivers
 

Just thought I would provide an update for those who have helped out with this problem. We've decided to sell the land and look for something else that provides for a side entry gagarge. Then we'll build a garage that allows me to separate the collector cars from the daily drivers. We'll finish the basement in our current house to help tide us over until we find the right lot. Thanks again to all those who provided opinions and pics https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif