Posted this originally in Detailing & Showroom, but thought it might be a better fit here... Planning an eventual "snowbird" retirement in central Florida. Had previously purchased a neat-as-a-pin canal front home with a 2 car garage that we were initially very pleased with. Great neighborhood, boathouse and easy access to the chain of lakes, shopping and entertainment. The thought was to purchase warehouse space for additional car and boat storage later on - without further checking into availability or prices. After a period of frustration searching for storage or a place to build some, we eventually decided to sell and find something that could accommodate more on-site storage. When asked about the lack of garage space attached to most homes, one realtor told us that big garages are just "not a thing" in Florida. We finally found a place with a 3 car garage and a large enough lot to add on - with the bonus of having a lake view. Additionally, the garage has a 10 foot + ceiling, so a lift will be a possibility once the garage doors are out of the way. Below are a few pix of the original garage and the process of adding on to the front to make the stalls two cars deep - or allow boat storage. Work in progress... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Welcome to central Florida and congrats on the house. Where (approximately) did you buy? It also was difficult for me to find a place with a large garage close to the city without spending into the 7 figures. I held out for a property with driveway access past the main house so I could build my garage, which is possible, but difficult downtown due to the narrow lots. My agent was the best - understood this was important and found what I was looking for. As for your garage doors, I high mounted my tracks and switched to side mount openers to allow for more open ceiling. PM me if you want some info. Good luck with the build and congrats on retirement.
Congrats! Your photos looked kind of confusing as the construction ones look like a 2 car garage and the non-construction photo looks like a rendering of a 3 car garage. I guess it must be camera angles to make it look that way, but you're extending the already existing 3 car bay forward toward the street/mailbox, right? Btw nice decision to go with waterfront house. My family had a boat when we lived in Orlando and we had to trailer it to the boat ramp every time to use it (Butler chain of lakes)...quite the hassle and took some enjoyment out of it. Way better being right on the water...
We are in rural Lake County - outside of Leesburg on the Harris Chain of Lakes. Going with 7'-9" door height in place of the original 7'-0" - which will get the tracks closer to the ceiling in the process. These will be 5 panel doors vs 4 panel. Doing this primarily for boat storage and - as the stalls will be ~36' deep - the door openers and tracks will not be in the way of any future lift in most of the space. High mount tracks are a significant adder that are really not needed in this situation. BTW - no retirement yet! Have to pay for this and another garage up north in order to get out of MN...
It's a 3 car. Only 32' wide overall, with 10' and 16' wide doors - which perhaps make it look like only a 2 car in the pix. And, yes - extending forward towards to road. The plan is: boat/trailer in the third stall, 3 sports cars in the center stall (with the help of a lift - tbd), daily driver/golf cart and HD in the first stall. It will be full - as is my custom with any garage - no matter the size! Waterfront property is what drew us to the area, and Harris Chain of Lakes offers big boating opportunities (the adventurous can boat all the way north through Jacksonville to the Atlantic I'm told!). This one already had the seawall and boathouse in place on the canal and we are 3 lots in from the lake, with a perfect lake view. Trailering does take some of the fun out...so waterfront was a must. I'm somewhat familiar with the Butler Chain. Essentially in the suburbs west of Orlando. I've heard that it is nice water, and developed enough there that gators are zero to minimal and you can actually wade into the water. Is that true?
Congrats on the new house! It’s frustrating that many here don’t view a garage for anything more than junk storage. Looks like you’ll have a nice set up. Butler is nice, mostly sand bottom. Enough traffic that it’s a little less frequent to see gators, as opposed to Harris. But not the same opportunities to explore. Still a nice chain to see. Parking used to be limited at the public ramps but I haven’t been for a while.
Yes, very few gators in the Butler chain. I only saw them in the undeveloped areas like the canals that connected the lakes or right near those openings if in the actual lake and never around the shores of the homes. That's pretty cool the Harris chain connects all the way to the St. Johns river/Jacksonville!
I heard that you are on your own for a long way after Sliver Springs? Probably all the way to Lake Ocklawaha?
After the Silver, yes. We would launch on Eustis and run up to the Silver. Have lunch and swim, then cruise home.
All formed up and ready to pour footers... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Looks good! I assume you are going to extend the roof like it was originally? The first photo (viewing angle) looked like the roof was already finished.
Yes. It will be a hip roof - same as the previous construction. Except now the ridge will now run front to back, as the garage will now be deeper than it is wide. Also changing that mess over the bay window to a single hip. The appearance from the front will improve, as each roof section will come to a peak when viewed from the road. Color is changing also - to a yellow with a hint of peach to it.
Fellas, I’ve lived in central Florida all my life.... if there is a lake, there are Gators. Just be careful during mating season, don’t bring small dogs and small children around the lakeshore, and be aware of your surroundings and you should be ok, but please don’t put your guard down because another northerner told you there were no alligators in those lakes, cmon guys, common sense please. ALL of central Florida is the world capital for Alligators Always carry a pocket knife, if you were to get attacked keep your wits about you and stab that gator in the eye or snout...... Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Got to the house this evening...and found this. You can see the new roof detail.... Image Unavailable, Please Login
That roofline is 1000x better. Nice call on that change. How did they extend that new peak back over the old garage that was flat up there?
Nice balance. Noticed that the small kick out on the right side of the house also got a simplified roof, too.
The orientation of the ridge changed to a front to back orientation. You can see it from the side now...but it is shorter than before...as the garage is now closer to being square. Yes. The design (and implementation) was a mess before we tidied it up with the simplification of a single hip roof over the bay window. The entire balance of the design has been improved as a result. For example, we thought that the entryway section would "get lost" when we brought the garage forward. Instead, the entryway now appears more prominent. We are very pleased with the outcome so far.
Working on that today. We know they are Owens Corning. Most likely Desert Tan. And it will perhaps be a good news/bad news situation. On one hand, it will probably be difficult to closely match 5 year old shingles that already show some weathering. On the other hand, most of the street view will be all new - thus freshening the place up where it is seen the most. And eventually, they will also show some weathering. Seems that most roofs down here show some evidence of mildew staining pretty quickly...