garage under house

[sonny151]

Are there any issues to worry about with having a garage under the house (i.e. in lowest level of house), in a newer home?

I can think of two: water drainage if the driveway slopes down to the garage, and cold floor in rooms above garage in case of poor insulation on the roof of garage.

Any others?

thanks

D

[VASandy]

Check with the local town/county office for any code requirements for attached garages. Be specific and ask about living quarters above a garage. The garage must be sealed completely so that any exhaust gasses from the automobiles from permeating into the living quarters.

[BHD]

The Dry wall (wall coverings) will probly need to fire rated, for how long you will need to check with your local codes.

[Bob D.]

Aside from code requirements there may be a significant difference in insurance premiums.

[bigscore]

Just finishing up a garage that's under our living space.

I ended up putting R-30 in the floor joists, doubling 5/8 fire rated sheetrock & sandwiching this stuff http://www.greengluecompany.com/ in between the two layers of sheetrock, for it's sound damping qualities.

With the insulation, doubled 5/8 sheetrock & the Green Glue for sound damping, we don't hear squat in the living areas from the garage (even with compressor running) & vice versa.

I also installed an automatic fire sprinkler system in the garage.

Knowing cars sometimes spontaneously combust, even hours after you've parked them, that just didn't sit well with me knowing I was sleeping directly above.

Way overkill as far as code compliance (could've gone with the fire rated sheetrock or the sprinkler system & either would've been satisfactory), but I sure do sleep better at night.

Last thing I did was hang an air scrubber with Charcoal Filter for the CO-2 & install a hard wired ~ battery back up CO-2 / Smoke Detector combo.

End result, Building Inspector was tickled pink with how I did the garage & our Home Owners Insurance has gone down 10% because of the automatic fire sprinkler system.