Garage on boundary line.

Thei · Oct 17, 2023 6:33 am

Hi.I am building house in Victoria and my garage wall is 200mm from boundry line.My neighbour already built his house.My plans are getting finalised.My Architect raised the slab levels to avoid underpinning of my neighbours garage wall.But i am little concerned about the height of my garage wall and upcoming hiccups if the underpinning or retaining wall is still required.I want to avoid any problems and happy to redesign .Please advise me the best scenario.
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chippy · Oct 17, 2023 10:45 pm

Your architect has lifted your garage to prevent any undermining of the neighbours garage.
You don't have any issues to worry about. None of your construction will be below the zone of influence of the neighbours building so there is no need to retain or underpin.
Personally I hate the 200mm gap between garages as it's just a waste of space and is a trap for leaves and debris that can never be cleaned out, but it seems very common in the east to build like that rather than a true zero lot where the garage is built on the boundary.

ponzutwo · Oct 18, 2023 7:09 am

chippy

Your architect has lifted your garage to prevent any undermining of the neighbours garage.
You don't have any issues to worry about. None of your construction will be below the zone of influence of the neighbours building so there is no need to retain or underpin.
Personally I hate the 200mm gap between garages as it's just a waste of space and is a trap for leaves and debris that can never be cleaned out, but it seems very common in the east to build like that rather than a true zero lot where the garage is built on the boundary.

there is one major issue with a zero lot and thats not being able to have any ability to seal with drainage on the boundary on your land. You're left at the mercy of your neighbours if you want to put any solutions in place.

Engineers will leave a nice little hidden notes on the plan that drainage for that area will be left up to you to deal with post hand over for slab to perform (despite it being the builder s responsibility to manage drainage during construction, which on a zero lot, in that spot cant. Bit of a catch 22.

chippy · Oct 18, 2023 1:10 pm

In WA zero lot is actually zero lot. We build 10mm in from the boundary.
My house and my neighbours house have garages that sit only 20mm apart. They were both built at roughly the same time.
When I had our roof done I had the roofers flash between the 2 garages so no moisture can get down the gap. The front gap is covered by a rendered trim so you can't see a gap there either.
I don't understand why over east all the builds seem to sit 200mm from the boundary. It just introduces issues with drainage and cleaning not to mention it's a waste of 200mm of land.

I guess that 200mm is to allow for space to put in drainage. I have to wonder how many people actually install the correct drainage before the brickwork starts because it will be impossible to get in there after the bricks go up if you have garages back to back as the OP has.

ck14 · May 16, 2024 11:12 am

Hijacking this post as its relevant to my situation (VIC). My garage wall is on zero boundary and my neighbour's land (build hasnt started) has a little slope towards my side. Aside from the concreting around my house, my garage wall will have a Megaflo drain under the edge beam if I got the terms right. Builder said the Megaflo drain will only run within the garage wall so no issues on hitting during fencing. I think my garage wall will be my retaining wall since its on zero boundary.

Anyone has used Megaflo and if you see any concerns on this set up that I should watch out for?

Engineering Plans Retaining Wall with Megaflo DrainageLike ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅

Lynne123 · Jun 19, 2024 7:32 pm

ck14

Hijacking this post as its relevant to my situation (VIC). My garage wall is on zero boundary and my neighbour's land (build hasnt started) has a little slope towards my side. Aside from the concreting around my house, my garage wall will have a Megaflo drain under the edge beam if I got the terms right. Builder said the Megaflo drain will only run within the garage wall so no issues on hitting during fencing. I think my garage wall will be my retaining wall since its on zero boundary.

Anyone has used Megaflo and if you see any concerns on this set up that I should watch out for?

Engineering Plans Retaining Wall with Megaflo DrainageLike ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅

I'd be very interested in any replies you get. I am going through a similar process at the mo but no one has explained as yet. How much extra did it cost you? Thanks

Eng. B A · Jun 20, 2024 10:12 am

My concern is the reduction in concrete footings width and steel cover in the Megaflo setup. I’m not sure why this is required? Generally I don’t like the house wall to be the retaining wall. Because it’s difficult to eliminate the great risk of moisture ingress to inside the house. Specially if any of the drains get blocked, higher than expected rainfall events or waterproofing failed. It’s recommended to retain the soil further away from the house or raise the slab if you can.

ck14 · Jun 20, 2024 12:08 pm

Thanks, great points. I am hoping that having my garage wall being the only retaining wall will compensate for that risk. From what I understand, this was mandated by the builder's engineering plans (~$3-4k variation before the plans were finalised) to address the lack of space to do concreting apron or any other drain. I do have a small lot so the zero-boundary was to maximise the garage space. The builder did some waterproofing on the wall as well. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅