Using an empty house as a garage

I think I can remember seeing a build thread on a different forum, the guy did a fantastic job.

Knowing all this up front would have been helpful.

 

How far away from your current house are the other properties? If you seemingly don't care about the $$, tear down the existing home, combine the lots and build something cool.

 

You might be able to get away with combining the lots and building a cool standalone garage, but it will be one property at that point and very difficult to separate later.

 

You need to talk to an architect familiar with your local building codes, there is just way too much speculation to form a reasonable opinion.

 

 

The lot and house I just bought are four houses down the street from my home. The local codes will not allow me to build a standalone garage so either I need to build a new house and garage on the lot or combine it with the house I just bought next to the lot and build an additional garage there for my use. An additional garage would be best but probably not the most financially prudent idea.

 

Just a little clarification here....between building codes and zoning.

 

Building Codes tell you how to build a building, and will tell you about separation distances from other structures based on construction type.

 

Zoning tells you what kind of buildings you can build on a particular lot, setback distances, etc.

 

All of the model building codes in the US are rather close to each other, assuming they are some variant of the ICC (International Code Council), which most of them now are.

 

Zoning is vastly different from city to city, town to town.

 

Houston, TX depending on who you talk to does/does not have zoning:

 

https://urbanedge.blogs.rice.edu/2015/09/08...f/#.WBSHo4VOLD4

 

And even if it does have "de facto zoning", you could probably finesse things more than most cities.

 

I'd say most Architects by the nature of their profession would know a decent amount regarding zoning, but I believe some specialize in it more than others. An Architect working in the city building department would probably know more than most of their practicing counterparts.

 

Googling "[insert your city here] zoning expert" could also yield some good information/resources.

 

Whatever you do here it seems like it will be a temporary solution at best. If you combine the two lots into one lot of record and build out a larger home and garage, it would seem that someone would come along and want to buy it. Renting a large home with a shared garage situation may hurt your ability to get the best rental price and if you only get an additional two garage spaces is this really worth it?

I am an architect and am also a Planning and Zoning Commissioner in my city. My work is non-residential, but I must say that I have never seen a situation where a home was designed to serve as a garage and developed into a residence at a later date. The type of construction, floor loads, fire safety, and local building codes would seem to make this an impossible task. It is too bad that it seems like your existing lot is too small to develop a good size accessory building that would accommodate all of your toys.

Now when you already bought another place this all might be to late.

 

But did you try to find loop hole?

 

Can you build any other structure on the site? A shed or since you are on lake, a boat shed?

Can you go underground on your existing garage?

Can you build a parking lot with roof and x amount of sides walled?

If you can build semiopen shelter, then build a fence around it.