Home goals.

 

 

I'm really happy you made sure to render the trash cans so we can get a feel for overall scale.

 

I think 2 big ass structures joined by JUST that little breezeway looks a little odd. If you go this route can you raise the roof to the 2nd level and
make it an enclosed walkway and entry into the bachelor suite to enter the home from into the 2nd floor if you feel like it?
At this point, do what makes you happy, not what costs the least or has the least zoning or keep or doesn't keep a gate in the yard.
You're pretty well surrounded by woods so I wouldn't worry about losing a little of the footprint into the yard...you can regain that later
and put your tractor to use at the same time.

 

Bachelor Suite

Some people have his/hers vanities, towels, stuff like that.
Colts gets his/hers houses

 

I was too lazy to walk outside and measure mine and found that someone had already created the exact design in the SketchUp catalog. Wanted to figure out how much of a path I would have the tractor to drive through with those under the breezeway roof. The tractor is 56in wide at the widest point. I am leaning towards making it 11 or 12ft after doing some more looking at things in the yard since that will be my new gate to the backyard to take large things back there. I need to make sure the tractor with the loader on it can make that turn without hitting anything. At the narrowest point, I have 6.5ft right now with a 10ft span.

 

You could technically make an enclosed walkway. When I was talking with the builder about doing something like that with the original design months ago he stated it would add 30-35k to the build to do that. I honestly don't mind the look of the small attached roof. I do think it needs a little bit more pitch in that roof and I think maybe pushing the building away from the house a little further might make it look a little better as well.

Yeah, losing the grass I would lose isn't a huge deal. Honestly, it doesn't grow great in that area anyway. I was more not wanting to lose the woods for the dogs but I think I will extend the fence forward more in the side yard behind the garage to increase the size of it.

 

I like the roof. A breezeway would look weird imo.

 

Another thing I have been thinking about is I think the walk under the connecting roof needs to be pavers instead of concrete for easier access since my utilities come under there. It will already probably be a bad enough design that utilities are going to have to go under ground under the garage a good bit of the way they already travel. Both gas and electric.

edit: Fudge. A quick google search says that is not possible so my entire gas line and electric feed service will most likely need to be moved. It can be put under a driveway but not under a structure. So it will need to come under my driveway and under below the breezeway roof. Both electric and gas hookups are on that side of the house.

 

Relocate the garbage cans so you can get the tractor thru no problem without extending the breezeway. They will be kind of an eyesore when the bachelor pad is built.

 

Honestly it's almost sounding like you're better off finding some land to build your dream house/garage on. You're already building another house, essentially.

 

I will build a small wall to hide the cans from the front view. I am less worried about the tractor where the trash cans are and more about the turn I need to make into the breezeway where the air conditioners are. I need to get those into SketchUp still but its pouring out right now so can't take the measurements. Also need to start laying out the driveway to better visualize things.

Unfortunately, there is no way I would find a lot like this size or larger any closer to town. I am 5-10min away from almost anything I want in the area while still having a 1.38 acre lot. I also have a 1.2 mile commute to work when I have to go into the office which right now is once a week. My company says we will never go back to full schedules but I for one am not fully sold on their statement on that right now.

If I didn't love my location and wooded lot what you are saying would be a no brainer. However, almost all the lots around here anymore that are large people just leveled all the trees. You can find ones with trees still but then I am 18-20 min or more from most things or they are charging you like 200k for a 2.5 acre wooded lot or more.

Lastly, part of my existing driveway might have to be torn up already to make the slopes work with the new garage to moving the utilities might not be all that much work. I will have to see what the gas company would charge but the electrical company already told me that pulling a new line to upgrade me from 200amp to 400amp service is free even if they have to pull it a different path.

 

For reference, my neighbor had to have a gas line moved in their backyard, as it was run through the middle of the yard, and they're putting in a pool.
IIRC, it was only a couple hundred $ for that, but didn't involve any concrete demo.

My boss, similarly, had to have a gas line moved for his pool, and had a similar price.

The house we have an offer on, has a ton of mature trees. Might need a bit of cleanup in the front, but they're nearly privacy coverage around the property.

 

That is good to hear. As long as it is not a couple thousand I think it will be well worth it.

 

Might want to look into how they define "structure". They may state that it means underneath a foundation. If your breezway is nothing more than a "hat", then there's no foundation and therefore no issue running under it. You may also be able to run it through the "hat" as well since that is considered part of the main structure because of the roof line thing. Put a hinged panel in the middle for access in case you need to go back in there for something and call it good.

 

The current issue is I believe my utilities come down the left side of the driveway. If they come down the right side and under the driveway in front of the existing garage instead this won't be an issue. I do plan for it to be pavers in the breezeway instead of concrete so that in case anything needs to be accessed it is not as bad. That would not be a bad idea to run the utilities through the hat instead of underground. I imagine that would be allowed for electric lines. I wonder if it would be allowed for NG?

 

Spent some more time this weekend working on the drawings. I know it seems trivial with the trash cans and AC units but since I will be using the breezeway as the tractor access to the back yard I need a large enough opening. I might even want it larger to make sure I can take somewhat large items with the tractor through. The electric meter I realized also needed to be put in the drawing. My privacy window for light on the master bathroom is going to receive a lot less light now but at least there isn't any view to worry about.







The window for the main guest bedroom appears it should get the same amount of natural light still even with the garage in place.





I also worked on the driveway layout a bit. Still unsure on this. I had the curve inward before. Then thought it could be an issue for the straight in garage when trying to back into after pulling into the driveway. I flipped that arc around to increase the space and think the layout is a little better. I also increased the breezeway to 12ft in these drawings. I am unsure if it is too big now but the room would be nice to have just in case I wanted to pull a larger trailer into the backyard. Added a wall to hide the trash cans just to see how it works as well. I think I would add one for the AC units as well. The gate I used in generic. I would want one that the double opening part takes up pretty much all of the area from the garage wall to near the trash cans so as to have a wide a path through as possible.

 

 

I'm getting so overwhelmed I'm going to change my vote to buying 2 or 3 more supercars and parking them out on the driveway instead.

 

I'm sure you can run it through the hat, it runs throughout your current house in walls and stuff just fine. Obviously run it by the contractor to make sure it's not violating some code though.

How wide is the opening between the garage and the house? I'd make it at least 13ft to make sure you can carry any larger boards (12ft length) through the space without hitting the sides.

 

It makes me laugh, but there's a house around the corner from me. There's been a red Ferrari (California, I think) that's been there a few weeks.
The Sienna gets parked in the driveway & the Ferrari gets parked in the street

 

The first go around I had it at 10ft. The latest version I have it as 12ft. I worry if it gets to long it will require support posts and defeat the purpose of making it wider. Also concerned if the breezeway is too long it will look weird.

Right now the first 30ft of fence on either side of the house is privacy fence before the split rail starts. With this garage build I would be removing all of that fence on the left side of the house. So I think I should remove it on the right side of the house and replace it with split rail to match. That would lower the height of the fence from the current 6ft section. If I put a 5ft wide gate on that side in place of the current 4ft wide gate I would be able to drive the tractor through the face with the loader and forks on it to move large lumber to the back yard.

I will definitely need to do this when I build my small pergola over the TV cabinet as I will be using 12ft 6x6 cedar posts.

WTF

 

You will hate this design as it will pretty much require all cars to be in a garage so as to not block you from doing a 3pt to get out of the driveway.

 

Span is definitely a concern. Might want to draw it out with a gable on the front (or back or both) to help span the width with a truss in the correct direction. The way you have it drawn now won't be as strong length wise, only depth. Having a gable adds strength in the length direction. Might look weird but it would be functional lol.

 

I primarily went with the design I did for water drainage. I can mock it up with a gable front and back to see what it would look like.

Was also wondering if the same could be achieved by doing 12ft but with 6x6 posts at each end and using 2 - 2x6 to make beams across the span. It would lose me 1ft of space overall but might fix the support issue.

 

Could do a smaller gable that goes half the span or something like that along with a gutter on either side. Posts at either end probably wouldn't do much more than attaching it to the house. I don't think a 2x6 would be sufficient to carry a 12ft span. Could do a laminated wood or metal beam inside the structure to support the load across, that would be the easiest path forward. I'm not sure though, not a structural engineer lol.

 

Can we get a tractor modeled in there to see if it will fit?

Also, for the driveway, instead of the arc why don't you have it angled to the straight.

 

Whoops. I was typing 6x6 posts and carried it into 2x6. Was more thinking of like laminating two 2x10 together. Even two 2x8 might be enough from some of the stuff I have been looking at. Hopefully won't have to go down the metal beam route. Not sure how easy that is going to be to integrate into the existing house wall.

I have tried to find a 3d model in the catalog of my tractor or a similar one just for fun. Can't find anything. Although their search is terrible so its possible there is one.

The tractor will fit with as small as 6ft of space. My shed door opening is only 1in shy of 6ft and it's not that tight of a fit. That said I am driving straight into that and not making any turns. I had 6ft 3 or 4in with the 10ft span. I could probably get away with as little as 10ft 6in. I don't care how tight it is as I am pretty sure I will go the fence route I mentioned above for getting larger items to the backyard. That said I will want to use the breeze way when I am mowing 1-2 times a week. So it is something I can't afford to get wrong for sure.

as far as the large slope for the driveway. That would definitely be the most functional probably. Of note, that I am having trouble learning in sketchup is trying to do curved ground elevations, is that the left side of the garage and driveway will actually have to be dug into the ground and will have a small retaining wall. The large slope I don't find very aesthetically pleasing though. It will be a mixture of function and aesthetics to get to the final solution.

 

There's still plenty of grass to park on.

 

 

Met with the builder again yesterday to go over the new design and also to see any initial issues that could potentially arise because of it. He only really came up with two small issues I had not accounted for which is the fact the dryer vent and my gas hot water vent are on the outer house wall where the breezeway roof is. I think the water heater gas exhaust will need to be moved higher. The dryer vent we will stay under as it is already in the garage ceiling/second floor joists so hard to move it. If we are under a 2/1 slope he said we will have to do the roof in a standing metal seam roof to meet code which is fine with me.

He doesn't see any other major design issues or size issues so I am started dimensioning off what I had designed and should have it finished tonight to send to them to build the actual plans. I am not as aware of the required wall thicknesses so have told them to stick with my inner dimensions as things can't get any smaller inside.

I need to work this weekend on laying out the new plans on the property with flags so I can then figure out where the new clearing of the woods is.

Another project I need to get done before they start clearing or very soon after is redoing the fence on the other side of the house. With the new plans, we will be ripping out the entire existing gate since that will now become part of the breezeway. I don't mind mowing the front lawn by hand for a little bit but long term I want to be able to get the mower out so I will need to have a gate large enough on the other side of the house. With the small section on the left side of the privacy fence going away, I will remove the section on the other side and make it all split rail as I think it will flow better since the rest of the property is split rail and you will no longer have matching privacy sections on each side. The span I need to replace is 39ft 3in. Three sections of split rail and the posts total 31ft. I am torn on if I use the last fence post as the gate post or if I add extra gate posts right next to it. Most pictures I see online seem to show the split rail post should be sufficient enough to support the gate since it will only be a 4ft high fence.

I now need to figure out the best design for the double gate section. Each gate will be roughly 4ft wide. If I added an extra set of posts they could be a bit smaller which I think would be better. I only need a 6ft opening to easily get the tractor through so anything more is just a bonus.

I have seen both A frame and Z frame gate designs. Some info says the A frame design is better.








I am leaning towards one of the last two designs where the gate is made thicker by either turned the 2x4 wide or using 4x4 on the outer parts of the gate. This will add more weight pulling on the fence post though which is a concern. One thing I have seen done though is even though the post is already going to be about 3ft in the ground. Get one these metal fence post for wire fence. Hammer them further into the ground and put a couple of lags screws through the holes into the post to add deeper regitiy. Not a fan of concrete for fence posts cause they eventually need replaced.

 

I like Z.

 

I think the Z gates look better, but can see how the A gates are probably less likely to sag over time.

 

Sag is natural. They still need suckin'

 

So long as have you the Z oriented properly, it should not sag as much. the bottom of the Z cross brace needs to be on the hinge side. I've seen some folks have the top of the Z face the hinge which distributes all the weight onto the open end which will cause it to sag even more. I too am on team Z... Depending on the size of the fence, the A is too much... If it were like 10-12 foot fence, it might look better..

 

This.

Also don't need another post for something like this, just use the fence post.

 

I've also seen a lot of sag counter measures in the form of a cable that goes from the top to the bottom corner to combat it.
I am certain you'll be fine.
You can also build a luninum frame for it and then hang some reclaimed shit on the front...or whatever.

 

I spent so much time with your dogs the other day at your house that i didnt even learn what your plans for the garage were lol. Holy shit! I think I heard you say something about a garage but I didn't know it was this monumental wow!

 

Those plans look great, so jealous!

 

You owe him a jar of jiffy, E...
not cool.