drive under garage
 

After the lengthy discussion about basement or no basement last week, I had an idea. I really hate basements but this would be a great option I am in love with:

Walkout basement that includes a garage. We were thinking oversized double garage with doors on the long side of the 20x76 manufactured home, a man door next to the garage door, then hilled up like a regular basement for mech. room and storage.

Something like this with a manufactured home instead:

http://i43.tinypic.com/2lw6eu.jpg

This should be possible right? Any idea if this is going to doable for a reasonable price? Who would I need to talk to about designing a basement like this? I am thinking carrying walls, mech. room, etc.

Thanks!

Entirely doable. Any decent residential designer should be able to draw it up for you, the biggest hurtle will be finding an appropriately graded lot.

Too expensive to grade a lot? We are looking into buying 10 acres. Fairly flat looking but the realtor advertised it as "lends to walkout basement". Not sure what slope you would need.
I will talk to an acreage developer for sure.

I know a few people that did something similar to what you are planning, although they ended up with a two story garage, main 2car garage accessible from the front, then on the walk out, they built another garage for seasonal toys.

My only concern would be noise transferred to the house or rooms above. As in, I would plan on doing noise reduction measures if you plan on working in the garage, and/or maybe keeping the bedrooms (or at least the kids rooms) on the other side of the house.

It really wouldn't be any different than a bonus room style build (aside from more concrete).

Sharp looking house. I'd be interested in seeing the floor plan.

Nice looking house, however I personally would be worried about off gases from the cars coming up in to the house.

Probably no difference between that and all the new houses that have bonus rooms etc over the garage. There were a couple houses with garages like that in the neighbourhood I grew up in...the only difference being the driveway sloped down into the garage and the house was level with all the other houses.

I was thinking along the lines of a city lot. If you want to grade, it's better to have to remove than to take away. You want to ensure your footings are going to be placed on undisturbed base, below the frost line.

We are aware of the noise. We planned on going with manual door to keep the noise down. Also, no kids :-)

Sorry, I just grabbed the pic from a google search.

Obviously we would spend the money to make it safe. I am sure it's in the building code that we need fire resistant walls, smoke/carbon monoxide detectors and what not. An attached garage would be the same I think.

I was thinking a regular basement needs to be dug out too, the walkout would just be graded away from the house?

Great comments. Keep it coming. Thanks!

Under drive garages are not that popular and tough to resell
It is cumbersome to bring things from your vehicle.
Grocierys are a pain and most people feel cheated by the lack of a full basement.

But if your going to live in the house forever, let it rip.

But I have to ask what don't you like about basements?

Big windows and 9 foot ceilings go along ways from your parents Rumpus room.
The best most valuable way to finish a basement is to match to the upstairs.
Same carpet, same doors, same bath fixtures, finished ceiling and a fireplace make a monster difference

BTW unless the land really lends itself to a walk out and you have a big enough design, stay away from it. A walk up is always nice.
Good luck
Jamie

Drive around Calgary and you'll see lots in the hilly older areas. Not a new concept.

Grizz

Yup, I did a reno in Brentwood, where one had already been turned into a bedroom. I re-did it correctly.

http://houseplans.co/house-plans/22197/

There ya go. :)

slam in some piles and do a thickened structural slab and your golden

who cares about the grade, build a three storey

you will save yourself MAJOR cash and water problems with nothing below grade

we build 200 units a year like this

We have one like that and we hate it.Yes all the grocries have to be hauled up the stairs,but thats not the worst of it very few new full size trucks or SUV's will go in it cause the ceiling is only 8 feet and the door is 7 feet.If you drive cars great or I guess you can make a taller basement but that will add to the cost.So we have a garage packed full of crap cause not one of the trucks we drive will fit :sign0176:

And don't forget the grade of the driveway. If it slopes down towards the house, it's a constant pain in the azz, summer or winter :mad3:

This^^^^^^^^^^^is a nice house.

This^^^^^^^^

Well, see I didn't want a basement but everybody tells me we "have to"...

I would drive around the house to unload groceries etc. and then park down in the garage. No different to a detached garage. I am not hauling everything from the garage to the door now either.
Good point on the ceiling. I was wondering if 8ft is enough. We do have trucks so we have to look into that. Thanks!

Definitely slope away!

There are other options, we have a liftmaster 8500 which is an opener that mounts on the springs (I think). It is 2000% (just a rough guess) quieter than the standard chain drive or belt drive. You'll want to consider it though for yourself. If your wife goes to bed and your working in the garage, noise will transfer.


Definitely go with at least 9ft ceilings & 8 ft doors.

I like the concept, but I personally would miss the basement, unless it was a 3000ft bungalow w/drive over garage.

Good luck, building a house is ALOT of stress, but it is very rewarding when your vision becomes a reality. We've built 2 now in the past 7 years, and I think we're starting to get the hang of it.

Whenever your building a room above a garage, make sure the garage is heated because the room above the garage will be cold.

x2 if you have a dew extra bucks (which you will save in the long run) put in a viessman boiler and do infloor though out basement/garage.

So, another question. How deep needs the garage to be for trucks? I am not expecting to have much room in front/behind the trucks as we have space on the side. But I want to be able to close the garage door.

Also, any idea what a basement will cost us? I was told once 30k roughly but I didn't give any details so I am not sure what to think. I am still waiting for estimates but thought maybe somebody just got one done that's comparable?!

There is a guy in Banff with a drive thru garage. Contractor told me the wife sucked at backing up so the husband put a circular drive though in under the house. Enter from one street exit on another. (corner hillside lot) Never saw the finished product.

LOL though I CAN drive!

I would go 24ft at minimum, but if your starting from scratch for a few bucks more go 30-32ft. it's nice being able to walk around in there.

My inlaws just bought a house with this drive under garage concept. They have 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a little sitting room above it. The garage is 32 feet deep I think and that leaves all kinds of room. The garage enters directly into their walk-out basement.

I really really like it actually, but as has been said it sucks carrying groceries up stairs. The house is designed though that there is like 6 doors on the friggin house, with one going directly into their pantry from outside the house. Kinda neat and I've never seen it before.

If they hadn't bought the place, I probably would have. I really like the drive under garage deal, saves space and looks cool.