Help me resolve a 13yr old problem!! [I'm desperate] Garage access

[glen8]

Hi Everyone,

Little bit of background....

We purchased our house 13 years ago, and negotiated a £10k discount due to an access issue regarding our garage. This wasn't long after we'd moved in, so we were lucky the builders didn't just say tough luck! The problem can't be shown on the photo, but basically in front of our garage is a neighbours driveway and fence. This makes access very difficult.

When you reverse a car into the parking space, in order to clear the fence opposite your car ends up right in the middle of the right side garage wall.

Never been a problem as we always park our cars in front of the house, and the garage is used for storage.

I'd like to start parking my car in the space, and wondered if I could somehow convert the garage into a carport by opening it up (knocking down the right side wall and removing the door).

The garage is a single skinned wall, so I assume the strenght is supported by the roof. Ideally I need to find some kind of solution, which keeps both sets of neighbours (shown in the photo) happy. My garage roof intersects with the property behind, and the fence to the right is my other neighbours.

The options I can think of

1. Knock the bloody thing down! (we use 1/2 the garage for junk so not really possible)
2. Knock it down and build a double garage with a single wide door (expensive, and neighbours might kick up a stink)
3. Knock the right wall in half, take the roof off, build some kind of double carport and brick up the back turning it into a storage room
4. Get creative, knock half the right wall down, remove garage door....get a structural engineer to support the roof and put on an electric round the corner garage door
5. Move house
6. Something else?

What a pain!!

 

[Notch7]

It is a head scratcher, that's for sure.

There are plenty of options, all of them expensive.

The cheapest solution I can think of is to reduce the length of the garage, leaving say a third and parking in front of that.

If you make the garage wider, you would need to alter where it joins the neighbour at the rear.

If you widen it at the front only, you end up with a complicated roof.....the reason is, if it's wider at the front, the gable will be bigger and the ridge higher.

The wrap around door is an option, but you prob wouldn't be able to get a car in and shut the door.

My guess is you would need planning, so you wouldn't get away with anything bodgy looking.

 

[glen8]

It is a head scratcher, that's for sure.

There are plenty of options, all of them expensive.

The cheapest solution I can think of is to reduce the length of the garage, leaving say a third and parking in front of that.

If you make the garage wider, you would need to alter where it joins the neighbour at the rear.

If you widen it at the front only, you end up with a complicated roof.....the reason is, if it's wider at the front, the gable will be bigger and the ridge higher.

The wrap around door is an option, but you prob wouldn't be able to get a car in and shut the door.

My guess is you would need planning, so you wouldn't get away with anything bodgy looking.

Thanks for the reply. Funnily enough, reducing the dept down to something like 2.5m has been our thinking for the past six months. I would prefer the round the corner door option, as we keep the entire size of the garage for storage, and by opening the door would give enough room to swing the car round.

Not bothered about actually getting the car in the garage. I'd be happy getting it into the parking space.

I've had a quote from a local builder to reduce the dept which was £4,500. The round the corner door on it's own is £4,500!! Then I'd have all the work and expensse ensuring the roof doesn't fall down.

Maybe the best option is just to reduce the dept. I'd probably get the front bricked up, and stick a single door in.

 

[Notch7]

Thanks for the reply. Funnily enough, reducing the dept down to something like 2.5m has been our thinking for the past six months. I would prefer the round the corner door option, as we keep the entire size of the garage for storage, and by opening the door would give enough room to swing the car round.

Not bothered about actually getting the car in the garage. I'd be happy getting it into the parking space.

I've had a quote from a local builder to reduce the dept which was £4,500. The round the corner door on it's own is £4,500!! Then I'd have all the work and expensse ensuring the roof doesn't fall down.

Maybe the best option is just to reduce the dept.

The problem is complex solution in construction rapidly become expensive.

I'd say £4500 to reduce the depth is a pretty fair price, given it would need new piers, new gable, roof alterations etc.

The building works for a corner door could be £4500 - it would need a structural engineers, steels etc etc.


What a shame the original builders didn't think about it a bit more.

 

[glen8]

The problem is complex solution in construction rapidly become expensive.

I'd say £4500 to reduce the depth is a pretty fair price, given it would need new piers, new gable, roof alterations etc.

The building works for a corner door could be £4500 - it would need a structural engineers, steels etc etc.


What a shame the original builders didn't think about it a bit more.

Oh yeah, it's a nightmare....but thing is, we actually like the house and it's location. It's the only thing we don't like about it but I think a smaller garage would probably work. No idea if it will have an impact on the properties value, but at least we get another usable parking space.

 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

So which house is yours, the one on the right in the picture?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

If you widen it at the front only, you end up with a complicated roof.....the reason is, if it's wider at the front, the gable will be bigger and the ridge higher.

A neighbour has one like that, simply because he has limited width for the garage at the rear - he doesn't have the OP's problem though, he has plenty of driveway space to get into the garage. It was a self build, apex roof and looks just fine, apart from the bottoms of the tiles stepping.

 

[big-all]

turn table ??
buy a strip or arc of land opposite??
buy a london taxi ??
a more upright vehicle with a few inches less in width a length??
Combination off above ??
bendy bus ??

 

[charliegolf]

The black door you show has a full front, but also a big side. Hence a big chunk of garage wall gone, and lots of roof to deal with.
If the door were about 2400mm, and the side return was only say, 1200mm, it would widen entrance by about 300m (which is a lot) if you could hinge out the side bit.

So, what about one 2m flat door, hinged on the left, and the rest, a whole corner door hinged at the end of the return?

I thank you, Boom boom!

 

[kingandy2nd]

Double garage - anything else is going to devalue your house.

You’ve got £10k plus 13 years interest to pay for it

 

[glen8]

The black door you show has a full front, but also a big side. Hence a big chunk of garage wall gone, and lots of roof to deal with.
If the door were about 2400mm, and the side return was only say, 1200mm, it would widen entrance by about 300m (which is a lot) if you could hinge out the side bit.

So, what about one 2m flat door, hinged on the left, and the rest, a whole corner door hinged at the end of the return?

I thank you, Boom boom!

It's supporting the roof that's the problem

 

[glen8]

Double garage - anything else is going to devalue your house.

You’ve got £10k plus 13 years interest to pay for it

Yeah we have the money saved up, but just figuring out all the best options. I have the plans for a double garage by the builders architects already but that's not ideal either.

Reducing the depth of the garage, would leave us enough space for junk....bigger turning circle to get the car round, and also room to park a car in front....so we actually get to park two cars. You might think we could get two cars in a double garage anyway, but with the door closed the depth is 5.5m. If we reduce the garage down to 2.5m, we can get a car at the side, and a car in front as there is a good 1.5m in front of the garage we can use. The downside as you say, devalues the house.

I think if I were to have a double garage built I'd need a party wall agreement with the neighbour...and they might not like it due to the sunlight into their garden? I don't know, I'll have to have a word with them.

 

[glen8]

So which house is yours, the one on the right in the picture?

No, those two houses are at the back of us on another road. You can't see my house on the photo.

 

[kingandy2nd]

Ah, I thought it was your house connected to the garage at the back. Yeah, could be fun with party walls, but you could probably build it without if needed.

Unless this is your ‘forever’ house I would not be shortening the garage.

Double garage gives you plenty of storage and an inside single parking space. Can’t see from the picture, but I’d assume you’d still be able to park another car outside the garage at a right angle to the one in the garage.

 

[Notch7]

Yeah we have the money saved up, but just figuring out all the best options. I have the plans for a double garage by the builders architects already but that's not ideal either.

Reducing the depth of the garage, would leave us enough space for junk....bigger turning circle to get the car round, and also room to park a car in front....so we actually get to park two cars. You might think we could get two cars in a double garage anyway, but with the door closed the depth is 5.5m. If we reduce the garage down to 2.5m, we can get a car at the side, and a car in front as there is a good 1.5m in front of the garage we can use. The downside as you say, devalues the house.

I think if I were to have a double garage built I'd need a party wall agreement with the neighbour...and they might not like it due to the sunlight into their garden? I don't know, I'll have to have a word with them.

My personal thought is reducing the Garage may not compromise house value.....but Andybraises an important factor.

Does your house have its own utility room? - I wonder if you made the reduced garage to building regs you could make it a habitable room....even if you only use it for storage currently.

A double garage would cost you a fair bit, £20k or more.