What is the Live Load Requirement for Detached and Attached Garages?

We build garages both detached as accessory structures on our properties as well as build attached garages as additions to our homes. Garages have a variety of uses. Obviously, we build garages to house vehicles, lawn equipment, yard and house material. We build garages to have “hang out time” with the friends and don’t want company. We use garages and workshops for a myriad of hobbies. We use garages as additional office space, or for dark rooms.

What we are going to put in the new garage, barn or addition largely dictates how to design an appropriate concrete or block foundation. State and Federal Building Codes have prescribed requirements for live load distribution. For obvious reasons, the live load of a home is much more severe than a standard 3 Car garage.

In homes, each room has a specific purpose which dictates different amounts of live load. A kitchen, for example, has a very high live load per square inch requirement due to the weight of the cabinets and appliances. A storage closet has almost no weight on the floor at all. That being said, live load is a per square foot requirement for any type of floor system, whether concrete or wooden floor joists without discrimination.

When using an accessory building as a garage, the weight of an automobile demands the use of concrete as a foundation. A residential wooden floor system cannot support the weight of an automobile. The tensile strength in concrete is higher than other materials and more suitable for automobiles. Elevated garage floors must be capable of supporting a 2,000.00 pound load applied over a 20 square-inch area, which equates to 50lbs/square foot.

A foundation that is built, perhaps for an area of the new garage and addition that is only going to be used for office space or a non-equipment storage area wouldn’t need the same tensile strength that an automobile garage would. The foundation requirement for this type of use is only 40lbs/square foot. In residential construction there three different pounds-per-square-inch mixtures used.

Therefore, if you want to build an accessory building, garage or addition, an expert building contractor will speak to you at length to determine the appropriate pound/sf requirement. One thing to remember when planning your next construction project is to plan for more weight required rather than less. If your workshop would need to house your son’s car unexpectedly one day, the foundation may not be able to properly withstand the weight of that vehicle.

Call H.W. Enterprises, Inc. who will help you plan appropriately and build accordingly. H.W. Enterprises has been building garages, barns, additions and shell homes for over 59 years. Visit our website at: http://www.hwenterprisesinc.com or call 757-595-4562 office or 757-696-1927.