Stand alone garage sizing

[Lee Williamson]

1) Can we increase the interior width to 25' and length to 55' please.

2) How far forward can we bring the garage without it looking weird or out of code?

3) Using the internal garage spacing, I'm thinking the back 8-10ft depth of the garage could be a workshop with wall separating it from the cars to keep out dust and to maintain a clean look where the cars are. I could put in an internal sliding door.

4) I'd like plenty of light in the garage, but probably not direct sun overhead, so maybe on the right hand side we put in a couple of basic clear garage doors.

5) We could install one of those Mitsubishi type cooler units in the wall to keep it cool in summer if I'm working in the garage:

http://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/products/indoor-units/wall-mounted

[Tim Haley]

Extras: 
A) As for the Meters - I think it is fine if the gate doesn't open a full 90 degrees.   The idea is to produce the maximum size opening on this size to get things through there if need be (without bringing them through the garage).  You may need to put a bollard or something similar to a door stop so the gate when opened does stop before it hits the meters.

B) Sounds good on making a 11' high ceiling but I'll need to see if I can make it work with a 15' high roof (think our maximum height for an accessory structure).   We can look at this as we start the elevations.

[Lee Williamson]

1) Perfect.

2) Great. I also figured I'd need to do some landscape work (cut down a tree or two, change driveway).

3) Perfect.

4) Looks great.

Extras:
A) Gas meter on left side of house next do the gate is about 24" in and 18" out. Just a small detail to keep in mind as we configure how we swing the side gate open.

2) If the right side of garage ceiling height can be 11ft, that would give me room to put a lift to work on cars and also to put my 2 small cars on. 

[Tim Haley]

1. Sure - I actually increased it to 25'x57' (the extra 2 feet works better with the new workshop and car spacing.
2. I've moved it forward (and per code you can move it forward more.   I would caution against moving it forward even more since it will start dominating the front elevation (diminishing the curb appeal of the front elevation and the house).   It's likely that you'll have to keep the same curb cut (possibly widening it a bit).  I'll modify the driveway once we got the garage nailed down.
3. Great idea for the workshop.  I am doing this for the Phillips Residence (you can do a search under groups for it if you want to see it) - a new house in Diablo (under construction now).   In that workshop I did a sliding glass door to separate the garage from the workshop but in your case I think it is better to have an internal glass garage door (to still give the option for a car to back into the space - if needed).
4. Great idea - added 2 glass garage doors
5. Another great idea - this should work fine (when I do the electrical plan I'll add it in)