How To Add 2 Car Garage To Existing House

"Nosotros love our firm's location, but information technology was tight on space," says Geoff Allen of the 1925 seaside Cape Cod in Barrington, Rhode Island, that he shares with wife Michelle Forcier and their immature daughter. Though the ane,600-square-human foot, 2-bedroom house, the site of the latest TOH TV project, was built equally a seasonal residence, the family plans to live there year-round.

They turned to architect Mary Dorsey Brewster and full general contractor Andy Tiplady to help them envision a plan that would make the best use of its rooms—and even squeeze in a few more than in an addition over the garage.

A Garage Addition Adds Home Value and Actress Space

Topping the couple'southward wish list was an extra bedroom and bath upstairs. Given the house's small lot and strict local zoning laws, Brewster sketched an addition in the only spot it could go: in a higher place the fastened, unheated garage.

"An over the garage improver doesn't increment a house's footprint, which helps reduce costs," says Brewster. "But it besides presents unique challenges in planning and construction."

What does a home-possessor interested in such an add-on need to know? Nosotros asked Brewster and Tiplady for their communication and about how the project played out at Geoff and Michelle'south house.

1. Remember from the Outside in

After the house was expanded to include a garage addition. — Later the house was expanded to include a garage addition.

Over the garage additions have a huge impact on curb appeal since they often face the street and tend to be large; a typical two-machine garage is 24 past 24 or bigger. "Yous don't desire information technology to look like a bulky, tacked-on box," says Brewster.

A few strategies that volition assist it announced seamless: Make sure features such every bit gables and windows are harmonious with the house's mode; add facade details, similar trim, to break upwardly expanses of siding; and, if possible, schedule the project in tandem with an exterior upgrade, like repainting or re-siding.

Brewster designed Geoff and Michelle'due south addition with a cross gable that extends along the full length of the firm, which also immune for an attic to concord mechanical equipment. For visual symmetry, she centered double windows over the garage door and a gable-end window over the window beneath.

2. Make Sure the Structure is upwardly to Snuff

An engineer volition demand to verify that the garage's existing framing and foundation can behave the weight of an add-on. Garage walls oft have exposed framing, says Tiplady, but if yours are finished, you'll demand to cut away the drywall to see what's backside information technology.

For the foundation, a contractor will need to dig several holes to check its depth and status forth the garage'southward perimeter; if the foundation is inadequate, he'll demand to bolster it or put in a new i, both of which are circuitous, pricey jobs.

In Barrington, Tiplady installed a larger header in a higher place the garage door to help carry the load of the rooms above, and put in a support beam for the addition's floor joists.

Fortunately, Geoff and Michelle's foundation below the garage's back and side walls was sufficient. A new footing was added on the street side of the house, however, to adjust other structural changes during the remodel.

Shown: Before Prototype. The fastened garage was added on several years after the house was completed. In a higher place it, the architect and contractor designed and built an addition that accommodates a sleeping accommodation and a modest portion of a new bath's footprint. The entire house got a curb-appeal boost from new cedar-shingle siding and details such equally fascia boards and trim, which help the new space look properly scaled and connected to the older structure.

3. Keep it Condom in Case of Fire

Edifice code requires 5/eight-inch-thick fire-rated drywall, known as Type X, on the garage ceiling and walls when an addition is put on above. (The wall shared by the garage and the firm should already have it.) "If the framing were left exposed, it would be damaged likewise speedily in a fire," says Tiplady. Penetrations in the drywall, for electric conduit and the like, must be sealed tightly.

Shown: With careful planning, homeowners Geoff Allen and Michelle Forcier gained space above their fastened one-car garage for their young daughter'southward cheery bedroom.

iv. Insulate While You're at It

Code calls for insulating the voids between the garage ceiling and the add-on'south floor, but Brewster and Tiplady also recommend adding insulation to unfinished garage walls before drywall goes upwardly. "Anything you can do to go along this expanse a fleck warmer volition help the new room feel more comfortable," says Tiplady.

At Geoff and Michelle'due south, open-cell spray-foam insulation was used to form a barrier against the area's potent winds, with the new sleeping room'due south floor surpassing the required R-30 rating.

5. Call up almost Where to Put Plumbing

Where to put plumbing in garage addition.

Yep, you can build a bathroom above an unheated garage‚ say Brewster and Tiplady. But pipes demand to stay in areas that are heated, and they tin can't get in outside walls. This requires close coordination among your plumber and contractors to make certain pipe runs are planned properly and installation is timed to avoid rework.

At Geoff and Michelle'southward firm, supply lines for the 2d-floor bathroom were tucked above the addition's floor joists and only the room's tub sits over the garage; the rest of the space is situated over the laundry room to tap into existing pipe chases.

6. Don't Forget the Affect on Adjacent Spaces

This project isn't only near calculation on a room or two, of course. "Y'all need to access the new space from within, which typically calls for reconfiguring existing rooms and putting in a hallway, as we did hither," says Brewster.

Geoff and Michelle ultimately decided information technology was better to accept on the bedroom addition while the residuum of the business firm was also being revamped, instead of putting information technology off until a later date, as they'd considered. Look for the full details on their entire remodel in our May outcome.