ᐅ Garage too High – What Are the Possible Solutions?

Hello everyone,

We are about to purchase a plot of land that slopes down from the street. For this reason, we want to first consider what is technically possible before buying it. The biggest challenge seems to be the height of the garage built on the property line if we want to build at street level. Here is a picture of the situation:

Unfortunately, with a base that raises the ground and a garage height of, let's say, 3 meters (10 feet), the permitted height of 3.20 meters (10.5 feet) required in Rhineland-Palatinate would be exceeded. What possible solutions do you see?

Thank you in advance.

A garage is completely overrated. If the plot suits you, simply do without a garage. In our case, with kids, it mostly just served as an extra storage space. You don’t really need it (but that applies to many features), yet you just want to have it.

Does the garage need to be at ground level? Where is the house located—in front, behind, or next to it? Will a lot of fill material generally be required?

It would be ideal to have the ground floor at street level and, for that reason, also the garage. The house would be positioned next to the garage. A lot of fill would be required, yes.

nordanney schrieb:

A garage is totally overrated. If the plot works for you, just skip the garage.
With kids, for us it mostly ended up being just extra storage space. Not really necessary (but that goes for a lot of features), although people just want to have it.

A garage is more important than the house. That’s my opinion!

Regarding the thread: a variance is the magic word. Ours ended up 20cm (8 inches) too tall as well, which is normal for plots like that. Getting a variance shouldn’t be a problem if the neighbor agrees. It does cost a bit, though.

@Bookstar How does the exemption process work? To what extent are the building authorities involved, or is it just a written agreement between neighbors?