Breezeway or walk away?

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JessicaK

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Hi folks. Still I the house hunt. Liked this house that I saw today, but I was thinking it could really benefit from an enclosed breezeway / 3 season room / porch. Something to connect the detached garage, and give an entry/mud room. I also would like that it would give an entrance into the back yard (put a door in where the window farthest to the left on the back of the house is), as right now you exit the home into the driveway, then have to go through the gate into the back yard, which is a bit of a hassle with a dog who likes to wander.

I know a bunch more properties will be on the market soon, so is it worth thinking about this sort of improvement, or should we just wait for a different house? What sort of cost would we see to add something enclosed there?

image.jpeg
 
JessicaK said:
View from the back
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Is the property fenced?

What is the room called you are contemplating creating the exit from?

Are there municipality restrictions pertaining to attaching a Garage?
 
I would plan that for sure but I would go the extra work and make it a real room that connects the two buildings with door to the side of the garage and if there is enough room I would move the back door to the back between the house and the garage. It is all easy if you say it fast.;)
 
Property has a chain link fence around entire backyard. Currently a little fence between the garage and house.

I would defiantly want it to be a room where we can enjoy spending time in, maybe even think about a hot tub some day in there.

Window I mentioned using as the new door space is the kitchen. The current side door to the driveway is off the kitchen also. Having a place to put shoes and coats is important, so that's why in part I say mud room. I don't really remember what the entrance space currently looks like. Luckily we are going back for a second look tomorrow.

What would a space like this cost? Shouldn't need heat or water, just electric. Would we have to extend out foundation or things like that? I don't know what sort of codes would apply.
 
Local code is a good thought. Just take those pictures down to the permit dept. and they will tell you pretty quick if it is doable. If the house has a hot air furnace, you likely have a register right below that window that you would just extend out to the new room. You would likely want or have to knock a hole thru the foundation there anyway for connecting the crawl spaces.
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JessicaK said:
Property has a chain link fence around entire backyard. Currently a little fence between the garage and house.

I would defiantly want it to be a room where we can enjoy spending time in, maybe even think about a hot tub some day in there.

Window I mentioned using as the new door space is the kitchen. The current side door to the driveway is off the kitchen also. Having a place to put shoes and coats is important, so that's why in part I say mud room. I don't really remember what the entrance space currently looks like. Luckily we are going back for a second look tomorrow.

What would a space like this cost? Shouldn't need heat or water, just electric. Would we have to extend out foundation or things like that? I don't know what sort of codes would apply.
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Thanks.

For your next visit, include a measuring device.

Is the front wall of the garage in line with the house back wall?
What is the distance between the house and garage?
What is the distance between the house and the trim on the left of the garage door?
What is the distance between the back corner of the house and the left side of the existing door trim board?
What distance in width, between the house and driveway, had you anticipated this room to project?

There are differences in habitable and non-habitable rooms and other than heat, the type and amount of windows, other than that the basic structure is the same.

The folks here can assist you in the process and most of the questions ask, will also be asked by the building authority. The benefit is that you'll already have most of the answers.
 
Snoonyb said:
Thanks.

For your next visit, include a measuring device.

Is the front wall of the garage in line with the house back wall?
What is the distance between the house and garage?
What is the distance between the house and the trim on the left of the garage door?
What is the distance between the back corner of the house and the left side of the existing door trim board?
What distance in width, between the house and driveway, had you anticipated this room to project?

There are differences in habitable and non-habitable rooms and other than heat, the type and amount of windows, other than that the basic structure is the same.

The folks here can assist you in the process and most of the questions ask, will also be asked by the building authority. The benefit is that you'll already have most of the answers.
Click to expand...

I will try to measure what I can tomorrow. I'm confused about the projection between the house and drive way. The house and garage are not lined up. I've tried to draw a diagram of where things are. It's my first diagram attempt, so please forgive me! The house and garage are about 5 feet apart at their closest corners. You also have 3 steps up to enter the house, none to the garage, so I would assume the breezeway would not be elevated to meet the house floors, but that you would step down into it.

How much would a project like this ball park for? $5,000? $10? $30? It makes a big difference to if we keep looking at this house as a possibility, or just wait for something else to come along.

image.jpg
 
If you look at the picture of the back of the house you will see that the house is lined up or really close to it.
It looked to me like one step down and maybe one step down to the garage. Aprox. 7" per step.
The biggest trick will be to come up with a roof that looks right for the house.
Cost would just be a silly guess and depending on who is doing the work.
How much of it could you do that you know how to do and how much we could convince you to do from here.
 
JessicaK said:
I will try to measure what I can tomorrow. I'm confused about the projection between the house and drive way. The house and garage are not lined up. I've tried to draw a diagram of where things are. It's my first diagram attempt, so please forgive me! The house and garage are about 5 feet apart at their closest corners. You also have 3 steps up to enter the house, none to the garage, so I would assume the breezeway would not be elevated to meet the house floors, but that you would step down into it.

How much would a project like this ball park for? $5,000? $10? $30? It makes a big difference to if we keep looking at this house as a possibility, or just wait for something else to come along.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification.

I had presumed your intentions were to add to the side off of the existing rear entry toward the driveway, with a conforming roof, which would have addressed your concerns.

However, It appears that your proposed room dimensions will be about 12' X 23', so the easiest way to obtain an approximation of the cost, without knowing what you would like the finished product to appear as, is just that, an approximation.

To give you an Idea, as well as a yardstick to use here, or in the future, approach the local building authority with your plan with refined dimensions and your pictures and after they tell what is or isn't allowed, they will tell you what evaluation they access the addition at, for permitting purposes.

I have an unrelated question; If you maintain your landscaping, with your plan, have you budgeted getting the equipment from the rear yard too the front yard?
 
That is bigger than what I was thinking so heating gets a question mark, so the size of the furnace and total sq ft. Not stuff I know about.
 
nealtw said:
That is bigger than what I was thinking so heating gets a question mark, so the size of the furnace and total sq ft. Not stuff I know about.
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One of the three seasons, may not be winter, but then again.....?

They also need to decide if this is going to be wood framed or metal patio style encl.
 
All of your guesstimates are close, depending on what you build. It's like saying I'm buying a new car, how much am I going to spend.
 
or this, i hate getting wet bringing in stuff

no heat,

image (2).jpg
 
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Frodo's plan was my first instinct too; just enough sheltered space to connect the garage to the house. But I like the breezeway idea. First, it doesn't have to be the full length of the garage; just deep enough to connect the two buildings. Second, as Neal mentioned, there will be three connected roofs to "harmonize" (or is that 'Homogenize' :rolleyes: ). And what will you do for a floor; could be a slab; could be framed over a crawlspace, could be something else?
Plan on closing off the side door if the new back door will be in the same room, especially if that is a kitchen because you will want the wall space back. Which leads to the inevitable question: does that lead to a kitchen reno?????
 
they make big window unit heat/ac ...mount it 12'' off the floor, so it is not unsightly

or if you have a boiler, seperate zone and t-stat for infloor heat
 
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