NHND to the Pond - Hiding the Garage

Garage is set back behind the house to make it less prominent

 The New House Next Door to the Pond has a floor plan layout that minimizes the visual impact of the garage. The garage is large (36'x28') to enclose 2 parked vehicles in addition to a myriad of outdoor recreational equipment. It is a separate building tucked behind the house, on the north side, so as not to block sunlight from the house or unfavorably shade the yard.

Partial Plan above shows Garage tucked behind house with an exterior roofed connection corridor to Mud Room

Scaled for vehicles, garages can distract from the design of a house

 The garage structure also has a full width porch 12' deep along it's west side. This exterior covered space can be used for wood storage, bike tune-ups, as a staging area when packing or unpacking from a trip, and it may even house a hot tub. On a steeply sloped site, it provides a level patio-type area that could even become an outdoor living space off the back yard.

Long Garage Roof covers porch on it's west end. See the back of the house beyond

The garage is connected to the house with a narrow roof over a stone path leading to a small back deck and the mudroom entry door. This will likely provide the everyday entry for the family living here- whether they commute to school or work via bike or car.

Semi-Detached Garage on right with connecting roof leading to Mud Room in house

As an architect, I think this is a good compromise to the alternative of an attached garage or a garage in the basement of a house- both of which have their own architectural challenges. This layout of a semi-detached garage affords the house it's own anonymity and allows a more human-scale massing and detailing. (a house is built for people, a garage is built for cars - much different scale! Click HERE to see a post on why the attached garage is referred to as the "uninvited guest that never left".)

On a physical level, the connecting roof provides protection from the elements as one transitions to and from home - and on a psychological level "transition zones" such as porches, mudrooms, entry halls, etc. give one time and space to shift from in to out. See my website for more about my theory of transition zones here: CWB-architect

From Tractor Garage to Office

Working on a discrete, separate out-building often makes for a fun project.

The costs can be lower, because of the smaller size. There are no strict rules to be followed to match the rest of the existing house or any particular style, necessarily. Clients often feel they can take more chances/risks and sometimes choose to do some funky or trendy finishes, that they might not be bold enough to do in their house.

This project is an old tractor storage barn. It is attached to another barn-type space that is near a pool, and has been renovated into a rough bathroom/changing room/pool house.

Tractor Garage  - Before

Pool House - Before

The bones of the building will remain as is: the foundation, the exterior walls and roof, the wood siding. New energy-star windows and doors have been installed to take the place of the existing over-head door. The walls and roof are insulated with spray foam. The dirt floor of the tractor garage now has rigid insulation and radiant heat tubes laid into a new concrete floor. What was a gravel floored, un-heated garage will become a new home office.


The pool house is being renovated with a new layout boasting beautiful new bathroom and laundry room inside and some sprucing up on the outside porch space. All new flooring, bead board walls, and paint- plus removing that indoor/outdoor plastic carpet- will go a long way to cleaning up this part of the building.

The whole structure will benefit from all new electrical wiring and plumbing and heating/air-conditioning. We have moved the pool mechanicals out of the building to ensure the office is a quiet place to work. We have kept the ceiling high in the new office and installed large windows facing toward the pastoral views. We have connected the office to the new bathroom so it can also function as a guest house.

Here are some photos of the work in progress:

The New Workshop Next Door

Work at the NHND is moving slowly now, getting the final fixtures installed and such.

But! Here on our property, we have started a new outbuilding project that's in the early framing stages and is moving fast. This building will be a two-vehicle car port and a one room wood working shop/studio space. (click here to go to first post about this project)

The foundation and site work is very low-impact by design. Piers reach below grade to frost and support a wood floor system. 2x4 walls support a scissor truss (higher in the middle) roof. The truss is also designed to perform well in terms of energy code, by having a "raised heel" to have more space for insulation above the wall (that spot is traditionally a weak link in the insulation/thermal barrier). The walls will be sheathed with continuous insulation, as well as insulated within the wall cavity. This 23'x23' space will be high, and dry, well lit and warm - all things DH's current workshop in the basement is not. Yay!

In terms of zoning and site planning design, this building was designed to meet the Village's codes and pattern book. Since the one end of the structure is for cars - although not a technically a garage, I located it back 20' from the front of the house, to keep it secondary - as an outbuilding should be. The workshop part will have a front porch facing the street, and our driveway became a circular shape, with two entrances/exits. There are always restrictions regarding how much of the site can be covered by building footprint, and we were careful to meet all requirements and presented our site plan to the planning board for approval last year.

Concrete pier foundation with wire, fabric & gravel under building

Wood framed floor system for workshop/studio space

Raising the last wall of workshop

Roof trusses

The New Garage Next Door - A Photo Illustration

Excavation & Soil Compaction

Foundation Form-work & Reinforcing

Floating the Concrete Slab

Back-fill Around Slab

Sill Plates onto Anchor Bolts

Framing of First Walls

All walls with door and window openings are framed

Setting Roof Trusses & Applying Wall Sheathing

Wall and Roof Sheathing

Building Paper and Windows

Fascia, Drip Edge & Roof Shingles

Door, Casing & Soffits

Exterior Trim - look close: white on white

Over-head Doors and Clapboard Siding

Shingles Applied in Gables

Completed Exterior Siding

I thought it would be interesting to see this small building from beginning to end all in one post. Click HERE to read my "architect on a soap box" post about garages and house design. The last things that still need to happen to this garage building is the electrician will wire the garage (and a cool barn light will be hung above the over-head doors) and the excavator will place top soil and driveway material. Next year, when the grass is green all around the building, I'll add a truly "final" photo.

The New Garage Next Door

Ah - the garage - I think America is in love with this giant room for their car(s). If detached from the home, it can look like a charming outbuilding or barn set back on the property and be built quickly and easily. The Tivoli Pattern Book (and general good zoning and planning) require that the garage be detached (or semi-attached with a "breezeway") and set back behind the house. Thoughtful siting like this that places the car in a secondary location, allows the house to be primary. It creates a traditional pedestrian friendly layout, which is appropriate for our walkable village. (refer to "Site Plan" Post from the fall)

I know many suburban homes have the garage attached to the home for convenience, but this can be a dangerous and smelly room and once attached, insulating and air sealing the habitable space of the house becomes more difficult to do correctly. On the aesthetic side of the argument, this room for cars is required to be so large, that it completely changes the massing of the house and often puts the primary focus of the building and site design on the car, instead of the people.

At the New House Next Door, the garage is designed for two cars - really it will house one car and a lawn tractor and stuff- and it is just a few steps from the back porch. It is built on what is called a floating slab, which means that the concrete footings do not reach down into the ground to the frost line, like the footings for the house do. The 6" thick reinforced slab has haunched or thickened edges that help anchor it down. The square building has walls with windows and doors and a gable roof built of wood trusses so that the 22' span doesn't require any interior columns. The exterior will have clapboard siding like the house, but the interior of the walls will have no finish, saving a bit of money and allowing my father-in-law to hang all sorts of tools and items easily inside. (Side Note: Attached garages need to be finished inside with fire-rated sheet-rock and a self-closing fire-door, to meet code, and cannot have open storage space above)

The builders have been building the garage as they've been building the New House Next Door. I will post photos of it from start to finish when it is all done, because I think it will be neat to see a small, simple building be built "right before your eyes" all in one post.