Out in the rural areas and suburban fringes, there's a great way to get a little extra money to pay off the mortgage: build a two-car garage with an apartment over it. But while it looks like a complete winner, this project has a whole bunch of problems in a whole bunch of areas. In this column, I'll just hint that there are financial and zoning problems and stick to some of the engineering difficulties. The size of the garage footprint is pretty well dictated by the size of vehicles and available garage doors — usually 24 feet wide by 24 to 30 feet long. It can vary a little, but it's a pretty simple building. Your
