ᐅ Planning to build a house using the Gulf farmhouse style – garage integrated into the house

Hello everyone,

After considering various building concepts for some time, we have realized that we prefer the Gulf house construction style.

Nowadays, most houses have the garage located in an extension or even in a separate building. Our dream would be to integrate the garage into the house itself and connect it directly to the utility rooms (laundry room, etc.), which in turn would flow into an open-plan kitchen and living area. Has anyone had experience with this or even built such a house? How feasible would this be?

Best regards!

Hello Avemaria,

Integrating the garage into the house is architecturally unproblematic. However, as far as I know, the garage must then meet the same energy efficiency requirements as living spaces, which would make it a relatively expensive matter.

Best regards

DerJohnson

I know about Gulfstream, but what exactly is a Gulfhouse construction method?

And what does a construction method have to do with the design (which this seems to be about, right?!?)

If even Aunt Google doesn’t provide clear, relevant results, something must be off...

And yes, your challenge will be the energy efficiency requirements.

The garage can also be outside the thermal envelope, but that also makes things more complicated...

Yes, it is doable; I have seen it in the model home park. However, I cannot provide any information about the requirements.

Here in our town, there is at least one row of terraced houses, I believe seven houses, each with an integrated garage. However, at least in the family I know, there is no entrance from the garage into the house, so it is probably thermally separated.

It is feasible, with an integrated garage of 40 sqm (430 sq ft) located outside the thermal envelope but with internal access. The primary energy demand of the house is around 30 kWh (final energy demand <20). But does that help you? Considering that these old Gulf houses were built integrated with barns and such anyway, right? So it would actually suit your style well.