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expanding the garage plan a tad and adding basement steps???

12 years ago

I would appreciate any input on how I could go about expanding the basement a bit. my builder doesn't think that basement steps from the garage will work, but my father in law disagrees. I am wanting to expand the garage a tad but don't want to take any away from the powder room. Any input would be greatly appreciated. ( do you I will attach the plans.

P.S. next year we are going to build a detached garage workshop/storage for my hubbys F250, Polaris toys. etc..

I just want a decent size to pull in my SUV and my hubbys car. would it look funny extending it out in the front a bit?? thank you in advance

Here is a link that might be useful: garage plan

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Comments (3)

booksandpages
12 years ago
Its a little hard to read your plans, but can you use that 5'6" deep area to the right of the powder room wall (it appears to be over 4' wide)? I'm thinking five or six steps down to a landing and the stairs turn left down into the basement. Will that work?

We're planning steps directly from the garage-to-basement as well (if we can afford to keep them in the plans - one builder estimated them at $5K). Ours will also "bend" at a landing and go under a powder room.

Good luck!
ImaCurvyGrrl
12 years ago
When you say basement steps from the garage, do you mean steps going down into the basement from inside the garage? If so, I will tell you my parents have just built a house like that. Seems to work fine, no problems, though they have not moved in yet. Personally, I don't like not having access to the basement from outside, but they wanted it this way. They hated the exterior steps they had previously (keeping the lower landing area clean of leaves and debris), and they felt they could back a vehicle into the garage right to the steps inside and then carry things directly down into the basement even during inclement weather.

But I will note, they didn't really get a deep enough garage to pull a vehicle in normally with the basement steps taking up so much room. They've had to add a parking pad next to the side of the garage for the car they had intended to park in there, and they're using the remaining garage space for a workshop.
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Thanks everyone for your comments. I met with the foreman earlier in the week. Yep, not a lot of storage. When I asked if there was any easy way to do this, he said he could build the steps as usual and then let me look at them to see if it would be helpful to have just the middle step tread hinge. Because the steps will be 45” wide, there will need to be support in the middle, so it will be two compartments...maybe even less useful than I’d imagined. So...I think you are all right... Thank you! BTW, in terms of style, I talked to my architect. He said that yes, people most commonly people do concrete, poured when we pour the foundation and garage floor. That didn’t happen. Option 2: redwood. Option 3: something nicer, with painted risers (painted-grade plywood?). Then nice treads. what do you think of this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Stairtek-1-in-x-11-5-in-x-48-in-Unfinished-White-Oak-Tread-BTWO1148/202019913 FWIW, my home has new white oak flooring. Directly inside this garage door is the little hallway/mudroom leading to the adjoining powder room. Both of those are tile (a 12x12, sandcolor tile). For consistency, my architect said that same tile could be used and obviously would wear well. I’m a little hestitant since it seems like so much work and is so permananet. So I am leaning towards to the wood treads. What do you think? Thanks for your help!
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Annicade
Original Author
12 years ago
thank you all for your comments.my builder nixed it. I would have to eliminate a closet, move the powder room... in order to have head way to get down to the basement...plus the steps would be right off the garage doors..not too safe, i guess. I wasn't really sold on Bilco doors from outside the house and really wanted a 2nd access entry to the basement from the garage. There is access inside the house. But I would like a second entry to the basement in case of emergency...utility workers etc. Thanks again for your time and thoughts/opinions!!

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