My landscape architect’s accompanying letter:
Attached are three sketches for the driveway, parking, and porch steps.
There are two major problems that we are trying to solve. The first is the elevation change from the finish floor height (FF) of the house (assumed to be 100.0′) and the garage and parking area. The difference is about 10 feet. The second is the tight maneuvering space for cars between the garage and the house.
The three different versions solve these problems in basically the same way. From the house, two flights of steps descend to the parking area, with a landing at about the midpoint. The parking area is as close to the house as the elevations will allow to maximize maneuvering room. In all three the parking spaces are 10 feet wide (instead of the usually 9) for opening doors and more maneuvering room. All steps have 6″ risers and 12″ treads.
When we were visiting the site on the 22nd, we all assumed that a retaining wall would be necessary. #1 shows a flight of wood steps centered on the front door descending to a landing and terrace part way down. The landing and the retaining wall are stone, and a second set of stone steps descends to the parking area. This is my least favorite solution, for two reasons. The retaining wall and stone steps increase the cost and complexity of the project. The arrangement of the steps makes the space between the parking and the garage a little smaller and more difficult to negotiate in a car.
#2 and #3 both show wood steps only, divided into two flights with an intermediate landing. #2 extends the center of the porch for a landing at the top of the steps. The steps run parallel to the porch, then turn at 90 degrees to a stone landing beside the parking. The parking is centered on the house.
#3 moves the steps to the end of the porch. They go down to a landing, then turn at 45 degrees and continue down to a stone landing at the front of the parking.
Please let me know what you think. Any of these can be tweaked to some extent by moving the steps to one side or the other.
