S
sauerpeter7 Mar 2017 11:41Hello everyone,
we have a huge problem. We actually wanted to submit our building permit application in the next few days, but now everything is uncertain because of the garage.
Problem:
Please take a look at my excerpt from the site plan, it might help to better understand the situation. As you can see, our garage is planned to be built on the boundary. However, the elevation difference to the neighbor is about 10cm (4 inches). In the area of the garage, there is an elevation marker of 69.48m (228.1 ft). Our architect said this height would be sufficient and the garage could be properly planned. Anything lower would be difficult. Yesterday, we asked our surveyor to measure the corner points of the garage relative to the boundary, since these were missing from the plan. Now he has done this on the computer. Don’t ask me how. He somehow calculated a digital terrain model and got these results. Terrible, I can see the dream of having a garage fading away.
Why:
1) If we set the garage at 69.40m (228.0 ft), it will be significantly lower than the house. According to the current plan, the top of the finished floor slab is at 70.04m (229.7 ft). That would be a difference of about 60cm (2 feet)! That’s almost like an underground garage.
2) Looking at the other elevations, nearly the entire lot would have to be excavated. This would make the neighbor to the right much higher again, and retaining structures would be needed along almost the whole length. That would be very expensive.
3) Problems with the driveway: It is at an elevation of 69.67m to 69.70m (228.3 to 228.4 ft). This would mean I drive down into the garage. In heavy rain, I would have a small pool. In winter, with rain and below-freezing temperatures, I wouldn’t be able to get out of the garage because of the frozen ice on the ground. Also, the driveway slopes down immediately after the garage. The question is whether it would even be possible to drive back up onto the property if it slopes down right away. The driveway (owned by the municipality) actually goes slightly uphill. At the highest point the car might bottom out. Should we cut back the driveway? I don’t know if that would be allowed.
4) Transition garage–house: You are supposed to be able to go from the garage into the house. But with about a 60cm (2 feet) difference in height, this would probably cause problems with the door.
5) Lot design: How should we design the front yard if the garage slopes down so much? 🙁
Can you help us? This is so discouraging...
Are there any options to still save the garage? Or maybe an alternative? Maybe lower the house a bit? The top of the finished floor slab is at 69.70m (228.4 ft)? Then wouldn’t we avoid having to adjust for the 10cm (4 inches) difference to the neighbor on the right?
It’s all just awful. So much trouble already... Great.
Thanks a lot for your help.
we have a huge problem. We actually wanted to submit our building permit application in the next few days, but now everything is uncertain because of the garage.
Problem:
Please take a look at my excerpt from the site plan, it might help to better understand the situation. As you can see, our garage is planned to be built on the boundary. However, the elevation difference to the neighbor is about 10cm (4 inches). In the area of the garage, there is an elevation marker of 69.48m (228.1 ft). Our architect said this height would be sufficient and the garage could be properly planned. Anything lower would be difficult. Yesterday, we asked our surveyor to measure the corner points of the garage relative to the boundary, since these were missing from the plan. Now he has done this on the computer. Don’t ask me how. He somehow calculated a digital terrain model and got these results. Terrible, I can see the dream of having a garage fading away.
Why:
1) If we set the garage at 69.40m (228.0 ft), it will be significantly lower than the house. According to the current plan, the top of the finished floor slab is at 70.04m (229.7 ft). That would be a difference of about 60cm (2 feet)! That’s almost like an underground garage.
2) Looking at the other elevations, nearly the entire lot would have to be excavated. This would make the neighbor to the right much higher again, and retaining structures would be needed along almost the whole length. That would be very expensive.
3) Problems with the driveway: It is at an elevation of 69.67m to 69.70m (228.3 to 228.4 ft). This would mean I drive down into the garage. In heavy rain, I would have a small pool. In winter, with rain and below-freezing temperatures, I wouldn’t be able to get out of the garage because of the frozen ice on the ground. Also, the driveway slopes down immediately after the garage. The question is whether it would even be possible to drive back up onto the property if it slopes down right away. The driveway (owned by the municipality) actually goes slightly uphill. At the highest point the car might bottom out. Should we cut back the driveway? I don’t know if that would be allowed.
4) Transition garage–house: You are supposed to be able to go from the garage into the house. But with about a 60cm (2 feet) difference in height, this would probably cause problems with the door.
5) Lot design: How should we design the front yard if the garage slopes down so much? 🙁
Can you help us? This is so discouraging...
Are there any options to still save the garage? Or maybe an alternative? Maybe lower the house a bit? The top of the finished floor slab is at 69.70m (228.4 ft)? Then wouldn’t we avoid having to adjust for the 10cm (4 inches) difference to the neighbor on the right?
It’s all just awful. So much trouble already... Great.
Thanks a lot for your help.
The states have geographic information systems. They contain so much terrain data that the surveyor doesn’t need to come out again every time. It’s not rocket science.
I still haven’t understood how a 10 cm (4 inch) height difference across to the neighbor could result in lowering your garage by 60 cm (24 inches)?
If I interpret the limited excerpt correctly, the neighbor has integrated their garage and therefore doesn’t have to consider a separate height limit for it?
My thought would have been to do the same, formally maintaining the setback from the boundary (possibly with an uncovered parking space or perhaps a carport with a false gable that still counts as “used”) and integrating the primary garage into the house.
There are quite a lot of trees crowded on this plot; you could almost build a wooden house there.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
I still haven’t understood how a 10 cm (4 inch) height difference across to the neighbor could result in lowering your garage by 60 cm (24 inches)?
If I interpret the limited excerpt correctly, the neighbor has integrated their garage and therefore doesn’t have to consider a separate height limit for it?
My thought would have been to do the same, formally maintaining the setback from the boundary (possibly with an uncovered parking space or perhaps a carport with a false gable that still counts as “used”) and integrating the primary garage into the house.
There are quite a lot of trees crowded on this plot; you could almost build a wooden house there.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
S
sauerpeter7 Mar 2017 13:35Thank you for your reply.
The approximately 60cm (24 inches) results from the fact that the garage must essentially be built at the same level as the left neighbor (at the top of the site plan). That would be 69.40m (228 feet). The house has currently been designed by the architect with a finished floor level of 70.04m (230 feet). That makes about 60cm (24 inches) between the finished floor level of the garage and the house.
The neighbor on the right (at the bottom of the site plan where the house is shown) has a carport. That is located further back on the property.
A garage inside the house is not an option for us. The house is also already fully planned.
If only the horizontal direction were considered, it probably wouldn’t be such a big issue. In that case, the house would probably just be set at the height of the garage, and the ground adjusted accordingly. But the problem here is that the driveway or property boundary is at about 69.70m (229 feet). That would mean that to enter the property, we would have to drive downward, and in case of rain, all the water would flow into the house or garage.
No matter how I look at it, I can’t find a good solution. Either rainwater flows into the garage at the front or the back, or I have to drive down from the driveway. There must be some way to solve this, right?
P.S. The situation with the trees is worse than it really is. You’re welcome to come and cut them down. You can keep the wood :P
The approximately 60cm (24 inches) results from the fact that the garage must essentially be built at the same level as the left neighbor (at the top of the site plan). That would be 69.40m (228 feet). The house has currently been designed by the architect with a finished floor level of 70.04m (230 feet). That makes about 60cm (24 inches) between the finished floor level of the garage and the house.
The neighbor on the right (at the bottom of the site plan where the house is shown) has a carport. That is located further back on the property.
A garage inside the house is not an option for us. The house is also already fully planned.
If only the horizontal direction were considered, it probably wouldn’t be such a big issue. In that case, the house would probably just be set at the height of the garage, and the ground adjusted accordingly. But the problem here is that the driveway or property boundary is at about 69.70m (229 feet). That would mean that to enter the property, we would have to drive downward, and in case of rain, all the water would flow into the house or garage.
No matter how I look at it, I can’t find a good solution. Either rainwater flows into the garage at the front or the back, or I have to drive down from the driveway. There must be some way to solve this, right?
P.S. The situation with the trees is worse than it really is. You’re welcome to come and cut them down. You can keep the wood :P
I identify the highest point as the back right corner of the house (69.76) and the lowest point as the front left corner of the property (69.31). That results in a height difference of 45 cm (18 inches). On the other hand, the height difference between the garden fence edges at 69.48 and 69.49 is only 1 cm (0.4 inch) over 20 m (66 feet), so it’s almost level when viewed diagonally (and also based on how the height points are distributed) — more like a bumpy track or stubble field.
Where to establish a reference height point from this is unclear to me. Perhaps understanding will come into play if you share a cross-section of the planned garage (and photos of the property) (?)
With a garage height of 3 m (10 feet), I still see about 30 cm (12 inches) of allowance for an unfavorably placed reference height point without having to resort to a special height (and certainly not for sports cars).
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Where to establish a reference height point from this is unclear to me. Perhaps understanding will come into play if you share a cross-section of the planned garage (and photos of the property) (?)
With a garage height of 3 m (10 feet), I still see about 30 cm (12 inches) of allowance for an unfavorably placed reference height point without having to resort to a special height (and certainly not for sports cars).
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
S
sauerpeter7 Mar 2017 15:42I had to read your post many times to understand and find the values 69.49. You misunderstood it. The "large" 69.48 and 69.49 are the lengths of the property boundaries at the sides. NOT height measurements.
I don’t know how else to explain it. We just don’t understand each other. Let me try slowly again:
1) The house, as planned by the architect, is at 70.04m. That means the finished floor level is at an elevation of 70.04m.
2) Since the lowest point on the left side of the property is 69.40m, the garage must start there or close to it, because only 3m (approx. 10 ft) height is allowed.
3) There is now about a 60cm (0.6 meter or 24 inches) difference between the finished floor levels of the house and garage (the garage at 69.40m).
Do you understand now?
I am now looking for a solution to build the house and garage without such large height differences. It is important to also consider the driveway at 69.70m, since I don’t want to drive downward into the property. And I want to avoid any issues with rainwater drainage.
Maybe, when paving the driveway, it could be lowered from 69.70m to 69.60m outside the property boundary, but that has to be clarified with the city because that area is no longer part of my property.
Difficult.
I don’t know how else to explain it. We just don’t understand each other. Let me try slowly again:
1) The house, as planned by the architect, is at 70.04m. That means the finished floor level is at an elevation of 70.04m.
2) Since the lowest point on the left side of the property is 69.40m, the garage must start there or close to it, because only 3m (approx. 10 ft) height is allowed.
3) There is now about a 60cm (0.6 meter or 24 inches) difference between the finished floor levels of the house and garage (the garage at 69.40m).
Do you understand now?
I am now looking for a solution to build the house and garage without such large height differences. It is important to also consider the driveway at 69.70m, since I don’t want to drive downward into the property. And I want to avoid any issues with rainwater drainage.
Maybe, when paving the driveway, it could be lowered from 69.70m to 69.60m outside the property boundary, but that has to be clarified with the city because that area is no longer part of my property.
Difficult.
S
sauerpeter7 Mar 2017 15:44How would you position the garage? Please make a suggestion, including where you see the 30cm (12 inches) clearance. Maybe I’m just making a mistake somewhere.
I don’t have any sectional drawings of the garage yet. Only the information I’ve already provided here.
I don’t have any sectional drawings of the garage yet. Only the information I’ve already provided here.
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