26 x 36 or 36 x 26

[v8only]

hey all im looking a building a new shop.

I cannot figure out which way i should orientate it. The garage will be heated as I have a very cold winter where i am.

The shop will be used as storage for my car and tractor, a hoist one day and storage for all my tools. ( 60 gallon compressor, tool chest, grinder, press, steel work bench, welders etc etc etc.)

I do not plan on building another car in here, my plans are to do engine/transmission swaps, tractor maintenance, and vehicle maintenance.

any thoughts?

 

[CNGsaves]

Neither . . . . . this is GJ . . . . . . "NEEDS" to be 40'x60' !!!!!

Seriously . . . BIGGER is better !!

Update your GJ Profile with a Location.

 

[evildky]

36" wide

 

[v8only]

Neither . . . . . this is GJ . . . . . . "NEEDS" to be 40'x60' !!!!!

Seriously . . . BIGGER is better !!

Update your GJ Profile with a Location.

I would LOVE a 40x60 and yes i know that bigger is better, but i dont want to go broke over the garage. My last shop was 24x34 so this one is a bit bigger.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

v8only, I think it depends how and where your property the garage is located. IMHO it'd be awkward to have the top orientation with the lift perpendicular to the other two bays. I'd go with the second (bottom) orientation with three bays parallel to eachother.

 

[Evilunclegrimace]

IF this were mine to build, based on your first drawing I would make the garage 26X40. (mine is 26X36) I found that a few more feet would be nice.
Based on your second drawing I think that you will find that having 3 Ten foot wide doors in a 36 foot wide wall will not work as well as you think. That leaves less than 18"between doors and on each side. For me 3 feet on each outside would be ideal and I could suffer with 18" between the doors. Maybe drop down to 9' wide doors?

 

[ItsNemo]

3 side by side...also is 26x36 an efficient use of lumber? Multiples of 8 or 12 are handy, so maybe a 32x36? That extra depth would make for a really nice workspace at the back, especially if you have any longer vehicles in the garage, 26' deep isn't quite enough.

 

[hunterguy86]

I have a 24x30. I went with one 16' door on the 24' wall and a man door on the opposite wall. Seems to work out ok.

The only thing I wish I could do different was put the garage door facing south and man door facing north instead of the inverse that I have now. That would let more of the cooler south wind into the shop and block the north wind in the winter.

Think about your prevailing winds if your site will allow. It will make a difference if you have to work with the doors open.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[WAPat]

If the top orientation works well for your property, have you thought about changing the other doors to a single 18x10? Would give you some usable space for your air compressor, etc.

 

[larry_g]

My old shop was lke your top drawing, without the OH door to the back bay. I found it a very nice shop for working on ONE vehicle. With the tools you listed and fab work your going consume a lot of space with that, Allow the space for carbon units to work and move around. Allow room for car doors open and work around them. I don't buy 6" for a HVAC unit and some of your other items are on the smallish side of scale. Be the pessimist when sizing items not the optimist and you'll have a much happier time working in the shop.

Good luck on your build.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Falcon67]

36" wide

Hot Wheels garage

I'll tell you what I did and you can think on it. Go get a bundle of grade stakes from the home center, and a 1000' of a good nylon string/twine. Stake out one design, rope it out - I mean all of it. Stake out the door openings, man door, etc. Drive your vehicle in there and get out, see how it looks. Pile rocks for lift column locations or use more stakes, lay cardboard down for benches , stake out any walls. I had 5 layouts that I kept fussing with on paper. Once I started putting it on the ground in "real time", the limitations of a layout jumped out immediately.

Note, a "16' SUV" is pretty small. My F150 is 18' long, my F350 20'.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Hot Wheels garage

I'll tell you what I did and you can think on it. Go get a bundle of grade stakes from the home center, and a 1000' of a good nylon string/twine. Stake out one design, rope it out - I mean all of it. Stake out the door openings, man door, etc. Drive your vehicle in there and get out, see how it looks. Pile rocks for lift column locations or use more stakes, lay cardboard down for benches , stake out any walls. I had 5 layouts that I kept fussing with on paper. Once I started putting it on the ground in "real time", the limitations of a layout jumped out immediately.

Note, a "16' SUV" is pretty small. My F150 is 18' long, my F350 20'.

Great advice Chris. I'm not sure the OP realizes how small of a door opening area he has set up for. Only being able to open a car door two feet is not enough. If you build it like that, I believe you will have nothing but regret inyears to come.

 

[Streetbu]

Really the question should be , do I want a deep 2 car garage, or a standard length 3 car garage? My garage is 24 wide by 36' deep. I really love the extra depth, but wish it was at least 4' wider so I could easily park two cars and still have stuff against both walls. As it is now, mine is a huge 1 car garage...

 

[matt_i]

I would do 30x40. A more common size. The extra couple of feet would be appreciated.

Is this going to be a pole build or a stick build?

 

[CNGsaves]

OP . . . do you have setback limitations on the land boundaries ???

Also, have you priced in radiant floor so you could heat in Canada ?? You have electric only at property, or do you have NG or Propane ??

+1 for the 30' x 40' if you can swing it. That gives extra room for toolboxes and work areas/storage racks, etc. Good luck with all the decisions.

 

[ocanuck]

My shop that I'm in progress on is 26x30 and will be laid out like #1. The left bay will be setup for working and the right bay setup for storing the done car and a gym. I might do a MaxJax lift one day.

I would rethink being a 3 car shop at 26x36 and have it just be a *big* two car. I regret every day not going 30x40 if your zoning will allow it.

With this layout, I have enough space to get an 18-20' boat in (moving the treadmill over) and close the doors.


Where in Canada are you?

 

[Falcon67]

>Only being able to open a car door two feet is not enough.
My experience is that to comfortably work on a regulation size vehicle with the doors open and have a chance of not banging anything you need 12'. Per vehicle. I would also say that if you don't have anything longer than 16~17' (mid size car, Fusion, Mustang, etc) 24' deep (reality 23' 4") is good. Pickup - hmm, now it's getting pretty tight even without a bench at either end. Design #1 above would allow 23ish ft on one side only if the lift side was held to 12'. That's 144". The lift I'm considering is 131" between the outside of the plates. That's tight.

 

[v8only]

I have no boundaries, electric service only. The reason I figure 2' from the door is enough because the doors are 10' wide and a vehicle is about 7-8' so if I drive straight in I now have about 3' from the door to the wall.

My Sierra measures 20' long and my Jeep Grand Cherokee is 16' long.

I definitely don't want regrets but I don't want to go broke either.

 

[Streetbu]

The problem becomes if you put anything against the side walls, You lose the room to open the vehicles doors.... I really LOVE the extra deep part though. I can pull m extended cab Silverado inside, drop the tailgate, have 3' between the tailgate and the door, and still have 5' in front of the truck and I have a workbench on that wall.... I just wish it was 4' wider so I could actually pull two vehicles inside.

 

[finn]

My only recommendation is to put the main doors on the gable ends, not the eave ends if you are in the snow belt.

Especially if you are considering a steel roof.

I hate clearing compacted snow from the garage doorway.

 

[Itinerant]

Hot Wheels garage

I'll tell you what I did and you can think on it. Go get a bundle of grade stakes from the home center, and a 1000' of a good nylon string/twine. Stake out one design, rope it out - I mean all of it. Stake out the door openings, man door, etc. Drive your vehicle in there and get out, see how it looks. Pile rocks for lift column locations or use more stakes, lay cardboard down for benches , stake out any walls. I had 5 layouts that I kept fussing with on paper. Once I started putting it on the ground in "real time", the limitations of a layout jumped out immediately.

Note, a "16' SUV" is pretty small. My F150 is 18' long, my F350 20'.

Absolutely do this if the site allows it. If not, make a larger scale drawing of your building shell and then make scale cut-outs of your vehicles, equipment and everything else you'll put in there and play around with laying it all out.