Lateral Building Line Setback For Detached Garage

[Angostura]

Anyone know the minimum lateral setback for an alley-facing detached garage? Lot is 33'-4" wide, not deed-restricted, outside the HD's and on a block without MLS and MBL restrictions, and I'm curious if it might be possible to build a 3-car garage someday.

Chapter 42 of the CoH code of ordinances only mention setbacks facing the street. The CoH building codes (Table 302.1) seem to indicate that a zero lot line is OK as long as the walls have a 1-hr fire rating (and the eaves don't drain onto neighboring property).

There is currently a 3-ft setback (both sides of house and on side of garage) and 6-ft cedar plank fencing on both lateral property lines.

[RedScare]

According to my architect, no. He says almost the entire city has 5 foot setbacks, with the exception of the Heights and 6th Ward, which have 3 foot. When I built my garage, I went to 3 foot 4 inches in order to accommodate a 16 inch overhang (there must be a 2 foot vertical gap in addition to the 3 foot foundation setback). The way townhomes get away with it is that they are permitted as multi-family housing.

You can call or visit permitting to discuss your belief that a 0 setback garage is allowed, but my architect believes you will be unceremoniously shot down.

Good luck.

[Angostura]

Thanks.

I, too, would be surprised if 0-ft is allowed, but I couldn't see anything explicitly prohibiting it.

[RedScare]

He claims that it is there somewhere, but he and I had this debate back in 2009 when he was drawing my garage. My old garage was on the back line, and I suggested that with a firewall we could do it. He said no back then also, but we never actually found the statute prohibiting it. Another issue is if your garage door faces the alley, you'll have to put the garage 17 feet from the back line. Mine is side loading, so we got away with the 5 foot setback.

[innerloop]

Another issue is if your garage door faces the alley, you'll have to put the garage 17 feet from the back line. Mine is side loading, so we got away with the 5 foot setback.

Has that changed in the last few years? When I built my garage four years ago, we were told the setback was 26 feet from the opposite side of the alley. Since we have a 15 ft wide alley, our setback was approved at 9 ft. I'm told that the purpose of these rules is to insure adequate room to turn the car.

But if you have the room, then I suggest a big enough setback to back the car out of the garage and close the door without the car blocking the alley. I can't do that with a 9 ft setback so if I have the car backed halfway out working on a project in the garage, then the door to the alley must remain open and there's a security risk if I venture too far from the garage. In my case I went with the smallest allowed setback because I wanted to leave as much room as possible in the backyard for a pool.

[Angostura]

Has that changed in the last few years? When I built my garage four years ago, we were told the setback was 26 feet from the opposite side of the alley. Since we have a 15 ft wide alley, our setback was approved at 9 ft. I'm told that the purpose of these rules is to insure adequate room to turn the car.

This sounds closer to correct. Current garage, ~4 yrs old, is nowhere near as far as 17-ft from the easement. The alley isn't cut all the way through, and there are several encroachments on the easement on the half of the block w/o the alley. Even on the half of the block where there IS an alley, a number of buildings are close to or at zero setback from the easement.

I wouldn't want the garage any closer to the back line than it is, but I wouldn't want it much further, either.

[RedScare]

I think he is wrong on the 17 feet. I seem to recall the turning radius version as well. If the alley is 20 feet wide, the garage can be closer. I believe the 17 feet that my friend is talking about is the space needed for most cars to park in the drive with the door closed.

[innerloop]

But if you have the room, then I suggest a big enough setback to back the car out of the garage and close the door without the car blocking the alley. I can't do that with a 9 ft setback so if I have the car backed halfway out working on a project in the garage, then the door to the alley must remain open and there's a security risk if I venture too far from the garage. In my case I went with the smallest allowed setback because I wanted to leave as much room as possible in the backyard for a pool.

I should mention that you can achieve alley parking for one car with the garage door closed and a smaller setback if you're willing to parallel park behind the garage. You just have to give a little thought to how the garage is positioned laterally on the lot and where you put your back fence. For the OP and his desire to put a full width 3 car garage, that would be easy because even the worst driver should be able to parallel park in a 33 foot wide driveway.

[RedScare]

I should mention that you can achieve alley parking for one car with the garage door closed and a smaller setback if you're willing to parallel park behind the garage. You just have to give a little thought to how the garage is positioned laterally on the lot and where you put your back fence. For the OP and his desire to put a full width 3 car garage, that would be easy because even the worst driver should be able to parallel park in a 33 foot wide driveway.

As noted earlier, I built my garage to be side loading. I did this for several reasons, one of them being to center the garage behind my house, which sits on the left side of my lot. Another reason, however, was in case the alley was ever opened behind my lot. With a side loading garage, I can pull out to the front driveway, or turn into the alley. This way, the garage takes up only 29 feet of the lot (24 feet plus the 5 foot setback). The driveway in front of the garage door is 29 feet deep and 21 feet wide.

In the OP's situation, a 33 foot wide garage that was 24 feet deep would sit at least 33 feet deep (24 ft plus 9 ft setback) on his lot, possibly more. If he built it side loading, the garage could be built only 5 feet off the back line, allowing a larger parking apron in front. Of course, the aesthetics would change drastically from the lot line to lot line garage look.

[TGM]

Anyone know the minimum lateral setback for an alley-facing detached garage? Lot is 33'-4" wide, not deed-restricted, outside the HD's and on a block without MLS and MBL restrictions, and I'm curious if it might be possible to build a 3-car garage someday.

Another option would be to go with a 4-post lift if you have enough ceiling height. Even if it does require some ceiling redesign you may come out ahead vs building a new garage and the pleasures of dealing with the city.

Like in most urban land situations sometimes the only option is to go up or down.

[Angostura]

As noted earlier, I built my garage to be side loading. I did this for several reasons, one of them being to center the garage behind my house, which sits on the left side of my lot. Another reason, however, was in case the alley was ever opened behind my lot. With a side loading garage, I can pull out to the front driveway, or turn into the alley. This way, the garage takes up only 29 feet of the lot (24 feet plus the 5 foot setback). The driveway in front of the garage door is 29 feet deep and 21 feet wide.

In the OP's situation, a 33 foot wide garage that was 24 feet deep would sit at least 33 feet deep (24 ft plus 9 ft setback) on his lot, possibly more. If he built it side loading, the garage could be built only 5 feet off the back line, allowing a larger parking apron in front. Of course, the aesthetics would change drastically from the lot line to lot line garage look.

Side-loading would be tricky, as the lot's only 33-and-a-bit feet wide. So 24 feet of depth, plus 3 feet of setback only leaves 6 feet between the door and the lateral property line. Alley-facing door is probably the only real option.

[RedScare]

True. Keep in mind that the 3 foot setback only applies to the structure. You can pour the slab all the way to the lot line, since, you know, grass won't grow in that shaded area anyway. If somehow the walls expanded at some point in the future when no one was looking, well, there you go.

[Marksmu]

True. Keep in mind that the 3 foot setback only applies to the structure. You can pour the slab all the way to the lot line, since, you know, grass won't grow in that shaded area anyway. If somehow the walls expanded at some point in the future when no one was looking, well, there you go.

Those magic expanding walls are nice! City is getting better at noticing them though...the Heights inspectors can be tough!

[innerloop]

Another option would be to go with a 4-post lift if you have enough ceiling height. Even if it does require some ceiling redesign you may come out ahead vs building a new garage and the pleasures of dealing with the city.

Like in most urban land situations sometimes the only option is to go up or down.

Traditional lifts are good if you don't use the car on top much. The problem is what do you do with the car on bottom when you move it out of the way to lower the car on top. You still have to have a place not too far away to park that car while you're getting the other car down and driving it. Otherwise, once you've moved the lower car out of the way, lowered and removed the upper car, then you have to get out and put the first car back in the garage and finally you can get out of that car and drive off in the car you wanted in the first place.

Here is the best idea going in my opinion.

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The beauty of this solution is that you don't have to move the car on bottom to get to the car on top. You just lower the whole assembly, drive the top car off and then since this is Houston and it floods, re-raise the lower car back to ground level just in case it rains hard while you're away. The only down side that I can see is that because the top deck is solid, you can't use it to work on the underside of a car. Oh yeah, and try explaining this install to the guy at the permit office.

And I apologize if I've taken this thread too far off topic from setbacks. I'm thinking more about the car parking part of the question.

[TGM]

The beauty of this solution is that you don't have to move the car on bottom to get to the car on top. You just lower the whole assembly, drive the top car off and then since this is Houston and it floods, re-raise the lower car back to ground level just in case it rains hard while you're away. The only down side that I can see is that because the top deck is solid, you can't use it to work on the underside of a car. Oh yeah, and try explaining this install to the guy at the permit office.

Love it! (Also dig the turntable in front)

The only issue I would need to figure out in my situation is how cope with the dampness in the pit when the car has been lowered. That and some other questions about my foundation, 30+ year old oak tree roots, etc.

I've been thinking about my car basement options ever since I started viewing some of the options out there on YouTube land. I want to maintain the footprint and external esthetic of my house, and since I have my kitchen and a nice live oak behind the garage I cannot extend it back. It's up or down.

So are there any city codes that would prevent me from tunnel boring under my house? ;-)

I mean caves are like (pre) historic or something...

[Marksmu]

Codes may or may not prevent basements in Houston, but the water table does...I would never intentionally store a car below the natural grade in Houston...it doesnt take long with a sump not running to fill up your "basement" with water...some ares around Houston you can find water less than 8' below the surface...Ive got a place east of town where we hit water at 3 feet.

[TGM]

Codes may or may not prevent basements in Houston, but the water table does...I would never intentionally store a car below the natural grade in Houston...it doesnt take long with a sump not running to fill up your "basement" with water...some ares around Houston you can find water less than 8' below the surface...Ive got a place east of town where we hit water at 3 feet.

My folks had a basement up in northwest part of town in a home we lived in back in the 1980's. We convinced my dad to add a basement to the house he was building for us after visiting some friends of ours in Denver. I guess as a child you have no concept of relative humidity, but when all was said and done we had a seldom-used game room complete with cinder bloc walls that sweated. I'm sure the fact that it was pier and beam didn't help with the dampness.

On the same note the home he built down the street had a wine cellar and subterranean garage ramp that I believe also had one of those widow-maker pits. My guess is that they did not fare too well during Allison.

[Joe T]

It should be a zero setback here but probably some traffic ordinances involved with a garage, so you'll need your builder or architect to go sit down with city planning and ask. From what I understand if your alleyway doesn't go all the way through they don't have to give you access because 15ft is only good for one way traffic. So you need to make sure to offer them enough room to turn around like 24ft, so maybe a 9ft setback. You'd need 29ft at that point to get a proper depth garage in. You'll need someone good to go talk to planning so they can go over the rules that work for you.

I've built on the alley in the Heights and I'm doing a detached garage in Oak Forest right now. Different rules apply in different areas.