ᐅ Roof terrace above garages

Hello,
I am in the process of buying a house with 3 garages. These are not prefab garages but solid concrete garages standing side by side. Later, I would like to add a roof terrace on top of them.

Does anyone have experience with the structural aspects of this? Do I have a good chance that my plan is feasible?

Best regards

Hello,

does a solid garage mean that it also has concrete ceilings?
For example, our garage is built with solid masonry but has a wooden roof structure.

Good luck.

AngelusNoctis schrieb:
Hello,
I am in the process of buying a house with 3 garages. These are not prefabricated garages but solid, masonry garages standing side by side. Later on, I would like to build a roof terrace on top of them.

Does anyone have experience with the structural aspects of this? Do I have a good chance that my plan is feasible?

Best regards

The structural aspect should be less of an issue; the main challenge will be the setback distances. Usually, a roof terrace must maintain a setback of 3m (10 feet) from the property boundary. That means if the garages stand side by side, are each 3m (10 feet) wide, and the outermost garage is on the boundary line, the terrace can only be built on the other two garages.

If the garages on the left and right are both on the property boundary, you can use only one of them for the terrace. If all three garages are boundary-adjacent, then it is not possible—unless you obtain the necessary legal agreements (building easements) from your neighbors.

Details can be found in the development plan or in sections 6 and following of the regional building code for Lower Saxony (NDS), under terms such as setback areas and privileged buildings. From memory, in NDS this is also limited to 100m² (1,076 sq ft), but normally you would be below that if the garages are not unusually long.

If you are uncertain, just ask any architect or a publicly appointed surveyor. They should be able to clarify this within five minutes by reviewing a map excerpt.

Best regards,
Dirk Grafe

Many older solid garages have corrugated metal sheets 🙂

Best regards

Great, now I’m getting three replies, but I can’t read them because of all the ads in the forum.

It would be nice if someone could remove the ads. Then maybe I’ll be able to read the messages again soon....

AngelusNoctis schrieb:
Great, now I get 3 replies but can’t read them because of all the ads in the forum.

It would be nice if someone could remove the ads. Maybe then I could read again soon....

That’s not our advertising – it’s yours! Microsoft and Google make it possible :P

Regards