[ramnaresh_2000]

Bhpians, need some advice and your valuable inputs on parking my Phoenix inside my home.

Background: Since I purchased my Compass during pandemic WFH era, I used to park it in my parents house in my hometown. It was a nice covered parking area with walls on 2 sides and open area on other 2 sides. Now as my son's school has started, I shifted back to Hyderabad. I am still WFH

Problem: I live in a duplex house with limited parking area which can fit only small cars which are less than 4 meters in length. It can easily fit i10, Santro, Celerio, Kwid and Tiago (you get the idea). It can fit Swift, Ecosport or XUV300, but it will be a very snug fit with no room for error. The issue is that my Compass is approximately 4.4 meters in length. I don't want to park it on road as the harsh Hyderabad sun and rains will ruin the paint. It will attract rats and bird droppings.

Solution/Jugaad: To extend my gate and make it in to a 2 step folding gate, so that my Compass is protected. I will use car cover to protect back side.

Advise Needed: I know the problem, I have the solution, but need advise on the gate folding mechanisms. I found few images online, but not sure which will be the best mechanism for me.

Please do share images if you are using this kind of solution or any other jugaads you are using.

In below image, you can see the back protruding outside quite a bit and cannot close my gate.



Other side as well.



I want the folding mechanism near the red arrows.



Need advise on damping material required on the side walls and front entrance. The right side door and front bumper needs protection from walls due to tight gaps.



Founds some images online. Credits to original uploader.

This one looks over done



Below screenshots from the YouTube video

https://youtu.be/n4KEjBFTzIk

Final question: Will this extension be illegal? Any approvals required from local municipality?

Thanks in advance.

[anjan_c2007]

The best solution will be to extend your gate taking help of a good fabricator to make it a two step folding gate. Apart from using a car cover please also make the gate taller and opaque using either metal or acrylic sheets keeping the aesthetics ok. A taller gate covering the full height of the SUV, can camouflage it from prying eyes.

Such two step folding gates have become common in Delhi since the 1990's in localities where each middle/upper middle class house (they call it "kothi") has an average of at least four cars these days. These two step folding gates intrude into the footpath space on broader roads no doubt, but are only too common especially in South Delhi.

[alpha1]

What purpose does the extended gate serve? (To prevent intruders?)
What if you always keep the metal gate always open?

[poloman]

Sorry to say, but this is grossly illegal. you are encroaching public footpath. If every one starts doing this, there won't be any footpath left.

[ramnaresh_2000]

Originally Posted by alpha1

What purpose does the extended gate serve? (To prevent intruders?)
What if you always keep the metal gate always open?

Can't keep the gate open. We don't live in a gated community and the roads are open with zero security. Any intruder can enter inside the house if they are open.

Originally Posted by poloman

Sorry to say, but this is grossly illegal. you are encroaching public footpath. If every one starts doing this, there won't be any footpath left.

Lol what public footpath? There isn't any public footpath laid putside my house by municipality officials. The slope is well within our own land on registration papers. Our house is in a very remote location for even to be considered for a footpath. Forget about footpath, we don't even have street lights in our lane.

[poloman]

Sorry man, you yourself asked whether this is illegal, so I replied this is illegal. If that is your property why bother. go ahead..! You can even break the wall and extend it.

But ideally, that is the drain area and should be owned by the government. I can see the wall line which marks boundary or private and public lands

We are highly troubled by this menace in Bengaluru. You can see in the below picture. If you have a 20ft road. People on either side take up min 5 ft as ramp to their home. Mind you, houses stand at around 1-2ft from the road level, may be due to flood concerns. So it is a steep ramp and now public is left with 10ft road and one tyre has to go off-roading.

So please think about it. Accommodating sufficient parking area in your home plan was your responsibility, But if that was not provided, you can't look for quick fix solutions like these.

[ramnaresh_2000]

Originally Posted by poloman

Sorry man, you yourself asked whether this is illegal, so I replied this is illegal.

So please think about it. Accommodating sufficient parking area in your home plan was your responsibility, But if that was not provided, you can't look for quick fix solutions like these.

I know it is illegal to encroach government road, so this out of question and would never do. I marked below in red arrow where our plot area starts and in blue arrow where government road starts (The government road starts from the white wall, see the sharp curve?).

Even the tar road you see in the picture belongs to the original land owner, he left this area for free to include a road, this improves their chances of selling a house.

I was not clear in my question raised about legality, I was referring to house plan. The house plan approval shows house construction permission from end of the ramp, so the gate extension will go over the ramp, and hence was not sure.

Just to be clear, none of the road belongs to government, nor the ramp nor the road. The road was also laid by funds provided by our house owners society with zero funds from government. We can actually close the road and will still be in our rights (we will just be locked away from society).



The house was not planned by us nor constructed by us. It was constructed by a local builder who sold it to us for discount as he was unable to sell it for 2 years after construction and was going bankrupt. Hence, I would say there was no control on this aspect by us.

[ankan.m.blr]

One solution I can think of is sliding gate panels on rails. Like we used to have on old lifts. The lift doors could be expanded to close and squeeze to open.

[krishnakumar]

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

The slope is well within our own land on registration papers. Our house is in a very remote location for even to be considered for a footpath. Forget about footpath, we don't even have street lights in our lane.

Wait a second. Are you saying that the slope/ramp to your parking is fully within your land?

In that case, why don't you move the gate outposts (the pillars holding the gate) forward to the end of the slope? You can define it as part of the compound wall and not part of the house and therefore need not comply with set-off rules (I'm assuming here, but it's be worthwhile to check).

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

I marked below in red arrow where our plot area starts and in blue arrow where government road starts (The government road starts from the white wall, see the sharp curve?).

Even the tar road you see in the picture belongs to the original land owner, he left this area for free to include a road, this improves their chances of selling a house.

The house plan approval shows house construction permission from end of the ramp, so the gate extension will go over the ramp, and hence was not sure.

Edit: Based on what you're saying above, I believe it is totally possible to move the outposts forward. Who does this road belong to? The original land owner/builder, government or society?

Also, when you say end of the ramp, you mean the top of ramp?

In any case, the gate should be counted as part of the compound wall and hence, not part of the "house" itself. I believe what the plan approval is talking about is the set-off rule (from what distance a house construction can begin from the boundary). In this case, since a boundary anyway needs access, the gate would be considered as part of boundary itself. Experts, please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, areas like parking, yard, garden etc aren't really considered as part of the house. This is how in certain compact plots, the architects go with an inside-outside design philosophy with fully openable walls.

Long answer short, highly unlikely that moving the gate or the outposts would be illegal.

Moving the outposts forward and having a more rigid gate (preferably opaque) is a better solution than those examples in my opinion. It'll be pain to deal with closing the gate, with everytime having to engage those anchor pegs to the ground.

Have you explored this? I wasn't going to suggest this assuming that the slope maybe outside the owned land (while complying with some access regulations). However, since it is included in your land it might be worthwhile to explore this.

NOTE: Edited to include additional details based on OP's explanation in the subsequent post.

[Saint_Krish]

The last option in your first post seems the normal for these gates. You can probably try for some curved path collapsible iron gates like the ones you see on some old elevators. Or just curved sliding gates. Provided you have space to accommodate them while they are open.

[hridaygandhi]

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

I marked below in red arrow where our plot area starts and in blue arrow where government road starts (The government road starts from the white wall, see the sharp curve?).


Attachment 2290938

We were in a similar situation a few years back, and had to consider Ford Fusion instead on Fiesta (2006) and Honda Jazz instead of Honda City (2011) and hence when it was time for the next upgrade, decided we did not want a 4 metre parking space to limit our choice of the car.

We were in a slightly different situation than you in the sense we had a covered garage with a shutter, so we decided to install a new shutter outside the roof (the older one was inside the roof) to increase the length of garage to 4.8 metres. This way our shutter closed on the ramp instead of in the parking like it used to before. (It helped that we had our house constructed leaving a 10ft space between the road and ramp and hence owned that area.) We also took the opportunity to install the automated open-shut mechanism which has been such a boon.

In your case, I would suggest you get a sliding gate installed outside the wall, which can run alongside the outer wall when opened. (No legality issue as well.) It will barely take up any space, will not open on the road and like us, you can take the opportunity to remote control the opening, which will be a huge convenience on sunny/rainy days.

Another suggestion would be to get a roof and shutter combination installed (since you own the land of the ramp as well) which can fully cover your parking and protect your car.

[Cliff9091]

I think the gate extension is the best solution for you, it's a common practice in bangalore and is termed as box gates, as for the the door hitting the wall, the best I can think of the baby proof materials for sharp corners and walls at home, or also sound proofing foam panels. Get them in the shade of your wall, or paint them in the shade wall It will look neat and not very tacky. The gate extensions there are mixed reactions on the forum.

Moreover, the car will be used I'm assuming daily throughout the day and be parked only in the night and at the time of day there should be no problem with the "footpath" being used. As seen in the photo's you shared when people park the cars on roads unevenly and you're making an effort not to cause a problem to passerby's, the small gate extension is justified. Be sure to get a nice car cover and acrylic/plastic sheet extensions if your budget permits

Cheers

Cliff

[loki]

Whatever you do, ensure that the gate can be folded inward in case the drain requires repair work. It could be a single extension or multiple parts.

This is a pretty common problem for most of us with independent houses. When constructing our house, I had planned the parking for a 4600mm length car. But after the finishing was done, I realized I only had 4400mm. Guess what, I too got a Compass

[NPV]

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

I know it is illegal to encroach government road, so this out of question and would never do. I marked below in red arrow where our plot area starts and in blue arrow where government road starts

Looking at the picture you've shared, why even go with a folding gate ?

Add couple of new concrete or metal pillars in line with the red arrow/garden and re-fix the existing gate so that part of the ramp is covered by the gate which will then solve your parking issue with the additional length gained by doing so.

Additionally, you may want to flatten the part of the ramp inside the gate and realign/adjust the remaining portion of the ramp outside, will have a sharper incline though from the road.

[nissar]

This may sound extreme. But you might be better off pulling down the wall opposite your gate. Not sure of your exact building layout and if it even an option. But if feasible the cost may not be that far off from metal fabrication work. Yes just work is a lot more messy but will be more of a permanent solution (possibly even add a rolling shutter). Not sure why builders still do not provide 5m of parking minimum by standard, seems like obvious choice for long term flexibility.