Challenges To Address When Building A Garage On A Slope
Building a garage on sloped terrain comes with some additional concerns for the cost and feasibility of the project. Here are some questions to address with your designer.
Should You Build an Attached or Detached Garage?
First of all, you should decide whether you need to have the new garage attached to your home or it if could be a standalone structure.
If you build the garage attached to the house, it's more convenient to you. You don't need to go out in the cold to get to your vehicle or items stored in the garage. You also save yourself from having to build a wall; the side of your home acts as one of the walls of your garage.
Building a detached garage becomes more appealing when your property has an unusual slope. It gives you more flexibility with exactly where you put the garage. You may not have a great space right next to your home for adding a garage. If you choose to build there, the project is constrained to the condition of the terrain right next to your home.
What Will the Height of the Entryway Be?
Another challenge is designing a smooth entryway to your home. If the ground up to your house is uneven, and the ground inside the garage is uneven, it's hard to build a space that fits the vehicles and is easy to build. You might find yourself having a custom garage overhead door made to fit unusual height requirements for your door if the property slopes significantly leading up to the garage.
Should the Interior Be Sloped or Flattened?
Within the garage itself, having the floor level is helpful to your car's brakes. It's also expensive to get the garage completely flattened out. If there is a slope leading up to the garage and then a flat interior, getting over the hump could be a challenge for your vehicles. A designer will be needed to figure out the best choices, both from a mechanical and economic standpoint.
While there are many things to figure out if you need to build a garage on a slope, there are plenty of people, like Automatic Door Company, ready to help. Besides consulting an architect or structural engineer, visit your overhead door installation shop to see what's available for unusual building projects. Custom-made doors are often the way to go when you've got a challenging garage design project.