19' Boat owners and their Garages

[Sinker]

You need to buy a house where you can build a big enough garage.......or store the boat someplace.

 

Good luck finding a big enough garage.........

 

I don't know how you guys can live in the city, when you can't even have enough space to store a boat..........that would be the first reason I'd stay out. I'd rather have a drive to get to work, than not have my toys.

 

Sinker

[Roy]

Minimum garage depth (length) where I live is 22'. That still is only good enough for an 18 footer.

[Greencoachdog]

I know a good trim Carpenter with a Sledgehammer and a Chain saw if anybody needs thier garage remodeled.

[express168]

I build new foundations around the GTA for a living tony and 20ft is pretty much cookie cutter garage length with the major builders around the GTA. You would have to likely find a smaller builder to try and get someone to adjust the size of the garage. They apply for their permits based on their standard plans and making changes like that may require amendments that they aren't willing to go through. Usually what I find, to get a garage that big it would be a detached garage on a rural lot somewhere.

[irishfield]

As others have noted you may need to build Tony. My house garage is 22 wide x 24 deep and heck..like anything it could be bigger. I park the F150 Supercrew in one side with a foot ahead and behind...Leah's sport trac beside it ...and I can open my doors full on the truck and walk around her truck nose into the house. A garage this size will be a very rare find on a metro-land home, and that said it won't even fit my boat with swing tongue trailer.

 

Good luck with your search.

[ch312]

why dont you call around the brantford area to get some prices on indoor storage? it only takes 25 minutes to get to burlington from my house and im on the west side of brantford. or you could just wait until next year when i build my own garage...cheap! lol.

 

the house i just bought has a lot thats 45' wide and 110' deep i think. empty lots this size are selling for more than i paid for the house! gotta love smaller cities if you decide to get a house with a bigger lot, just gimmie a shout and ill pour the floating pad and driveway for your garage

[Garyv]

I had the same problem so years ago I purchased the old Canadian Tire garage in our town. It goes back another 20+ ft. thats not in the picture. Not as big as Waynes hangar/workshop but holds every toy I have plus my Sons and Son-in Laws. Best investment I could have made...wife never tells me to get my stuff off the driveway or out of the yard.

 

Edited March 28, 2007 by Garyv

[Guest Trophymuskie]

I have a 20 x 24 double garage with a 16 foot door ( I remember builder tried to pass me a 12 footer ). And I keep upgrading my boats, now my 20 footer with the swing away tongue barely fits in there at an angle but it does take the entire garage but maybe 3 feet so it's taking up a 17 x 24 spot.

 

I actualy thought of tearing out the back wall to create a double door opening ( has single now ). Then I would temperarely frame a small extention that would house the motor. When I would sell the house I would take down the extention and install double doors. Then it would be usefull for the next owner to get his tractor out the back way.

Edited March 28, 2007 by Trophymuskie

[Eddyk]

I guess I got lucky. I have a 14 foot boat and a double garage thats 30 feet deep but then again I do live in the BOONIES.

[charlesn]

Tonyb,

 

I bought my house 8 years ago, so maybe the info is not pertinent, but I too had boat storage in mind when selecting a house. I found the builders willing to accomodate floor plan changes and got a normally 21'4" garage extended by 2 feet for $2000. Looking back I wish I had paid $5000 and got another 3 feet, as instead of cutting into the house floor plan, they just made the room above the garage bigger by 2' so ended up with 32 sq.ft bigger of a house as well as a longer garage. I have 20' bassboat with a swing tongue that should fit in the garage at an angle. One thing that takes up a lot of length is the motor and jack plate. That adds a good 3 feet to the length on my boat. My last boat, 20' with no swing tongue, was about 12" away from fitting. But the tongue was using up a solid 2' of wasted space. It made the swing tongue a must for my next boat purchase.

 

My lot is long and skinny. 32' x 214'. My driveway is the longest in the neighbourhood (I notice this the most when shovelling - lol) so I think the builder could have gone longer on the garage.

 

I remember we looked at some shorter wider lots, and they had zero flexibility in the garage length. So when looking at the neighbourhood layout at the builder, try to find the longest lot.

 

Another thing is some builders actually have some homes that have very long garages as an option. Our builder (Carrington Homes) had 2 models of their bigger houses (3200+ sq. ft.) that had a 35' long garage standard. I would have loved to have gotten that and thinking back, that is another regret as the incremental cost difference then would probably have been recouped threefold by now in terms of what it would be worth.

 

Your wife or family may think you are nuts, but I think it is worth the extra effort to find a home for your baby. Average winterization and storage costs are $250/season, so over 10 years of boat ownership, you are saving $2500 in addition to the convenience and the simple feeling of joy that a boat in the garage brings.

 

Good luck.

 

Charles

[tonyb]

Thanks again everyone, there has been some really good info on here.

 

We have spoken with Fernbrook, Valery and Greenpark builders in new home communities in the area. NONE of them are willing to make accomodations, it's rediculous. You are paying several hundred thousand dollars for a home to be built and can't get a garage built the way you want. It's just not a consideration when they go through the zoning process as express168 mentioned. They don't care or want to have to get approval for new ammendmants when the next person in line is just fine with buying the house as is.

 

I'll keep looking...

Tony

[bigbuck]

Tony, the big builders take the cookie cutter route. THE ONLY WAY to get a custom sized garage is to buy from a custom builder who takes the size of the garage into consideration when you and him design the house. Now for the only LITTLE problem, you'll need some serious dough-ray-me to go this route as the custom builders usually get you to buy or they supply the lot (usually with a tear down house already there) which will set you back $400K+ and then another $125-250/sq.ft depending on how you want to finish the house. In other words, probably at least $700K - The pain!!!

[tonyb]

Not an option bigbuck

 

My contributions to stupid tax are quite low, I could try that route (aka Lottery)

 

Tony

[Aaron Shirley]

Good luck with this Tony... you know my pains with the 20' ProV in my 20' garage. That is why I am going to an 18' this year. I didn't think at the time, but with my model, it may have been possible to build in, not out. I could have had the existing laundry room moved upstairs and had an extra 5' on the one side of the garage. Something to keep in mind with builders, as you cannot build out with the small lots in our area. It would have been worth the extra dough if I had of thought of it at the time.

 

Kristi doesn't know it yet, but we may make some future modifications with our current laundry room to move it upstairs for more garage space... it should be an easy sell... no traveling downstairs to do laundry

 

Cheers,

 

Aaron

[Gerry]

Tony, I would be quite frustrated too. I guess the Toronto market for new houses is so hot that the builders don't give a s$%t. A couple of suggestions: 1. buy the lot and hire another builder to build a custom home. 2. look at an older subdivision to find a house that can be renovated to suit your needs .... an added bonus is that quite often these lots are bigger then the current ones.

 

Charles made some good points and I would like to add to them:

1. Storing the boat in winter. I tried that and it didn't work. The salt dust from the wife's car pitted my trailer after just 2 winters so I gave up on that idea. Not a problem if you have a galvinized trailer though.

2. The total length of the boat is much more than the advertised length. My 21 footer becomes 26'3" when you include the motor and jackplate which is why I requested 30'. I have 28'3" which gives enough room to walk around it.

3. A swing-away tongue is indeed a great feature and although I don't have this, I would get mine retrofitted if I ever need it. My next boat will definately have this.

 

I still can't believe you're having all this trouble with builders. The first thing that came out of my builder's mouth was "no problem, let's see what we can do". As someone mentioned, garage doors is something to pay attention to. Most new houses come with 7' high doors, only good for cars. My previous house had 8 foot doors and that wasn't high enough to clear my Optimax when trimed up for towing. I had to get out, remove the transom saver and trim it down some .... a PITA and I'm lazy. So, 9' door(s) is a must if you have a boat or a pickup in my opinion.

 

Keep looking and posting. We might have a builder on here who would be willing to help you.

[SlowPoke]

Tony, if you don't mind a little effort after a hard day of fishing you could probably fit your 19' sideways in a double garage... big single door or two door opening.

A swing-away tongue and wheel dollies...

http://www2.northerntool.com/product-1/212131.htm

It's sure cheaper than a custom home and will make shopping for a home easier.

-Brian

[tonyb]

Tony, if you don't mind a little effort after a hard day of fishing you could probably fit your 19' sideways in a double garage... big single door

-Brian

 

Indeed. That is exactly what Aaron does and let me tell you it's not a cinch with 2 people, let alone by yourself.

 

However, since my wife is pretty much set on a house with a 20' garage, it looks like my only option. My wife continually asks me "Would you rather have a boat and have to screw with it to fit it in the garage? or have no boat at all?"

 

The frustrating part is that when I say "I want to have a boat and a garage that will fit it" she laughs and deep down I realize how rediculous I sound based on our search efforts thus far.

 

Tony

[Mandy]

It's true... I laugh, but only because I have been searching for months now...and NOTHING.

 

Wish me luck, I am going to talk to Greenpark again about moving an interior wall.

[Sinker]

You guys are going to have a real hard time ( if not impossible) to find a subdivision builder who will move walls, or anything for that matter, to get you a bigger garage. There is just so much involved in changing the plans, its not worth it.

 

If you want a garage big enough, you need a private builder and a lot, or an older home with a large lot where you can build a detached garage.

 

I put up an 18x25 Garage for my dad a couple years ago, with a full height loft on the second floor, for less than 10 g's, for a garage with no loft, cut that in half again.

 

Look for a decent older home, nice lot.....and mortgage enough to build the garage too......as soon as you get posession.

 

Sinker

[love2fishhave2work]

I share your dilema and am stuck with the no boat in driveway by-law. Picking up my new boat on Friday and praying that the angle trick works. If not, me, my neighbor and my local by-law officer will be seeing alot of each other in the coming weeks.

 

Thought that the toughest thing would be to convince my wife i needed the boat. That part seems pretty easy these days.

[SlowPoke]

It's true... I laugh, but only because I have been searching for months now...and NOTHING.

 

Wish me luck, I am going to talk to Greenpark again about moving an interior wall.

Mandy, I don't think moving an interior wall will accomplish what you are trying to achieve. The garage floor is normally at grade while the main floor is probably close to two feet above grade. I think the least cost-prohibitve soultion would be extending the garage forward which would result in less driveway and possible road allowance issues.

 

It's unfortunate but I can understand why a builder would not be interested in making such alterations when the next person to come through the door will buy the house as-is. That's not to say the right house/builder isn't out there, keep looking and try to enjoy your search... you don't need stress now, you'll have enough on moving day!

 

-Brian

[Guest Trophymuskie]

If the builders are not willing to work with you it's because they are cookie cutter type of houses that they slap together in 6 weeks. That's not the kind of house anyone should want.

 

A custom builder might be a bit more expensive but not that much considering you are getting a much better built house as well as been able to select every single item going in the house.

 

Major builders are cutting every single little thing they can, heck if they can save $100 a house that's a lot over the year. As well major builders are building houses to barely pass code. Code is a minimum required and you would think that anyone would want more then the bare minimum when it comes to cars and boats so why would they settle for it in a 25 yr investment like a house?

[Sinker]

Yep, in all honesty, I'd stay away from subdivision homes. I've built hundreds, and I wouldn't even buy one I built myself. They are just thrown together as cheap as possible, and to get a change in anything, its gonna cost large.

 

Find an older home on a nice lot and build your garage to suit, or get a custom home with a big garage.

 

Other than that, your storing your boat someplace for a price........which isn't that bad an option really.

 

I'm sure glad I don't have to deal with your scenario.......I've got 3 boats, a canoe and a snowmobile parked in my driveway........but, I have no nieighbours to complain

 

 

Sinker

[cisco]

I'd get a realtor to do the work for you. Face it, here you are upset about the difficulty in trying to find the right place, when it's totally avoidable.... unless with a bad/lazy realtor....

I also simply do not get the logic behind selling privately just because you bought privately. Some folks won't consider looking at a house sold privately since they sense a scam of some kind going on.

 

Maybe check the prices of homes sold in the area when you bought your house 'privately'. If the real estate info on private sales I read a while ago is accurate (which may not be since the realty business did it) in your case, you may have paid more for the house compared to similar ones in your neighbourhood even taking commissions into acount. In fact, a realtor worth his or her salt can probably as additional service while looking for a new house investigate to see whether this happened to you.

 

I'd get a good realtor to go find me a house with the right-sized garage. Or else you gotta suck it up and pay the dues...

 

Hence a favorite expression a pal of mine spouts (ole Swampdawger who some here know)..... goes something like this

 

" If you're gonna be dumb ya gotta be tough!"

 

Seriously, hope things turn out for you in such a difficult search. Best of luck!

[tonyb]

You lucky dogs living out in the country with your big lots, mature trees, and cheaper housing. I am truly envious!

 

As for me, in the GTA, I am limited to the cheap, thrown together houses, or 20-30yr old homes in relatively original state. The older houses you speak of with big lots, are $400,000.00 and up in price, just out of reach.

 

Custom homes would be anywhere from $500,000.00-$1,000,000.00 when you factor in purchasing a lot with a home on it, and tearing it down in order to build the new one. There just isn't free space that hasn't been purchased for high density housing purposes or retail outlets in the area.

 

Tony