Minnesota Garage Builders
Xcel Energy Utility poles and the power lines coming from the alley to your home may create a problem when building a two car garage. Most Minnesota garage roofs are built using a standard 4/12 roof truss so problems rarely occur.
Minnesota electrical code requires a three foot clearance from your garage roof deck to the power lines. On a typical alley there could be as many as three power lines, several cable and phone lines coming across your property. Many times one or more of these lines will interfere with the building of your new Western two car Garage.
So what are your options;
- Ask Xcel Energy to move their pole to a different location missing your Minnesota garage altogether
- Ask Xcel Energy to move the lines from the alley pole to a mid-line location so it misses your two car garage
- Raise the electrical mast on on your home high enough so the line is above your garage roof
- Install a post on your two car garage raising the power line the required three feet off your garage roof deck
As you might imagine Xcel Energy doesn't work for free so the first two options can be the most expensive. Raising the mast on your home can be expensive but less than either of the Xcel options.
The most common and the least expensive option is of course to simply put a post somewhere on your two car Minnesota garage so the electric line is the required code height above your garage roof deck.