Minimum garage size?

[nelstomlinson]

I'm building a garage, and I want it big enough and no bigger.

I already have a 30x49 shop, so all I need is warm parking space for a pickup and a mid-size car. I'm thinking that 22' wide is sufficient: 2', 8' for a car, 2' between, 8' for the pickup, then 2'. Depth will be 26' inside.

Is that a little more than I need? Is it going to be adequate?

 

[930dreamer]

Re: Minimu garage size?

A lot of garages are 24x24', so anything bigger is gravy.

 

[Shiftless]

Re: Minimu garage size?

It will be interesting to watch the responses to your question.
Remember that you are posting on Garage Journal where to many, overkill seems barely adequate.

As far as I am concerned, having a blank wall is a waste. A wall of cabinets to store the inevitable is so handy I would never design a new building without allowing for an extra 2 feet.
I live on a small lot in a city and my garage is a mere 20x20. I have shelving on both sides and a workbench on the back wall. Yes, I park 2 cars in there almost every night. It is WAY too tight.

 

[nelstomlinson]

Re: Minimu garage size?

I get what you're saying, Shiftless, but the storage is already taken care of, as is the shop space. This is just warm parking. If I can open the doors on one vehicle at a time, I'm golden.

 

[BruceMc]

Re: Minimu garage size?

If you don't mind the occasional door ding, 2 feet is probably the minimum clearance to squeeze in and out of a car. Just park your vehicles side by side and get out the tape measure. Take a couple of saw horses and see how close you can live with the walls.

 

[Shiftless]

Re: Minimu garage size?

I get what you're saying, Shiftless, but the storage is already taken care of, as is the shop space. This is just warm parking. If I can open the doors on one vehicle at a time, I'm golden.

OK
If you are sure that your need for storage space both now and in the future is taken care of, that’s great. Many times the amount of stuff we accumulate expands to fill the space available. Limiting the space might be good.

So back to your question...
Is 2 feet between vehicles enough to safely open a car door and enter without banging the neighboring vehicle? That depends on how long the door is and how big you are.
As far as the depth goes, do you really need 26 feet? If there are no cabinets or workbenches, I doubt that any of your vehicles either now or in the future are going to be that long.
A new F350 crew cab is a hair over 22 feet long.

 

[BruceMc]

Re: Minimu garage size?

Somewhere, either on the side or end wall, you want ~ 4'x4' clear area for the door sweep.

 

[66Caprice]

Re: Minimu garage size?

26X26 Would be perfect. You won't have to squeeze around or in between the car and truck. Not to mention future selling points!! Cost would be minimal over a 24x24.

 

[Cougar]

Re: Minimu garage size?

I'm building a garage, and I want it big enough and no bigger.

I already have a 30x49 shop, so all I need is warm parking space for a pickup and a mid-size car. I'm thinking that 22' wide is sufficient: 2', 8' for a car, 2' between, 8' for the pickup, then 2'. Depth will be 26' inside.

Is that a little more than I need? Is it going to be adequate?

4' 8' 4' 8' 4' = 28' min. Leave plenty of room on the sides and in between.

Our attached garage is 22' wide, it ***** for 2 cars.

 

[nelstomlinson]

Re: Minimu garage size?

The depth isn't really constrained, and 26' inside gives me room for a man door at the end. The width is constrained: the wider it gets, the more I'm interfering with shop access and access to the area behind the shop and house. Building this attached garage means the house is growing toward the shop and the shop driveway.

Shiftless, my OBS crewcabs are right at 21' long. 26' inside depth gives me some room at the end to walk past the vehicles, and maybe even for storage.

BruceMc, I will have a man door swinging into the garage at the back on the shop side of the garage, and I will have a man door swinging into the house at the front on the house side of the garage, so I should be good on that. I will definitely set out saw horses as you suggest to test this out.

Here is a little more information on this: the addition will be attached to the North side of the house, and there will be six feet of addition between the house and the garage portion. 20' of garage means 26' of addition. The six feet between gives space for entryway, pantry and laundry areas which my wife wants there. 26' feet of addition doesn't really crimp my shop access, but going further starts getting close to the shop and making it hard to drive between shop and garage.

Edited to add: access to pump out the septic tank is between the house and the shop. If I close that off, I'll need to build several hundred feet of road to loop around the house or the shop to reach the tank before the next pump out. Building the road is do-able, but it's an expense I'd rather put off longer than that.

 

[bdbecker]

Re: Minimu garage size?

I'd agree that 24x24 is probably the minimum, depending on the size of your truck. Speaking of truck sizes... don't forget about the garage door height either. My buddy just got a new F250 and that thing is tall - I think he's only got about 3" of clearance with his 7' tall garage door.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Re: Minimu garage size?

For a garage that is purely for parking and nothing else I'd figure a minimum of 12' x 24' per vehicle, so 24' x 24' minimum for a two car garage.

 

[ChaseDE]

Re: Minimu garage size?

Pretty sure my regular old, residential, suburban, built in 1985 homes garage is 22' wide and like 22' deep.

And it has 2 separate doors with a short wall in the middle.

 

[ard]

Re: Minimu garage size?

The width is constrained: the wider it gets, the more I'm interfering with shop access and access to the area behind the shop and house. .

Every single day you are squeezing your body through a 12" gap, holding the door and trying to grab your **** out of the car or truck, think about that access to the area behind....

 

[finn]

Re: Minimu garage size?

I kept a small suv in a 24x32 last winter along with a crew cab long bed dually. It was more than wide enough.

My previous house had a 21.5x 22., and barely fit an expedition and a 69 Mustang, width wise. I could cram a Dodge crew cab short bed in there, but it was difficult to manage door swings.

Go for 24x24 if at all possible.

 

[maxpat82]

Re: Minimu garage size?

24 width is great and wide enough...but 26 deep can be a bit tight with a truck.
My supercab 6,5' bed F150 fit kinda tight in my old 26' deep garage, and I only had a smallish table on that wall.

If you plan to not put anything on the end wall...26' is good.

 

[RegeSullivan]

Re: Minimu garage size?

My garage is 19' 8" wide 22' 6" deep. I got my Chevy Avalanch 2500 and a Subaru Forester in by pulling one in forward right to the right side and backing the other in tight to the left. That allowed entering and exiting only on the driver's side of the vehicles. If I didn't already have the Avalanch in when my wife pulled in she would pull in to the center of her bay making it difficult to get out without dinging her car once I got in even with the back bumper just touching the side wall and the front 3-4 inches away. It's also difficult to walk around a longer vehicle especially carrying something.

Today we have a Subaru Outback and a GMC Canyon. I bought the Canyon so it would fit better... Unfortunately it's not much different than the Avalanch in the garage... Well maybe a little but not enough to make up for the comfort and ability of a full size truck. So I gotta side with the guys saying 24 x 24 is minimum for convenience. You could go less (like me) and live with it but I don't think you will like it.

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[nelstomlinson]

Re: Minimu garage size?

The consensus seems to be that 20' is going to be too narrow. I'll definitely mock this up with sawhorses to prove whatever I come up with.

For those of you talking about 24' garages, is that the external dimension? or is it 24' inside wall to inside wall?

 

[RegeSullivan]

Re: Minimu garage size?

For those of you talking about 24' garages, is that the external dimension? or is it 24' inside wall to inside wall?

I was referring to inside width.

The sawhorse mockup is a good idea providing you can picture in your mind a $300 ding or living with the buggered up door when you are off the mark a little bit. I'm sure it will help... maybe stick a spike or two out of the sawhorse for a little more realistic feel for things!

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[6768rogues]

Re: Minimu garage size?

I would go at least 24 wide to give a little more room between the vehicles. If one is parked a little crooked, there will still be enough room. Construction is usually in 4 and 8 foot modules, so you will probably not save much money going 22 rather than 24.

 

[BruceMc]

Re: Minimu garage size?

I didn't state the obvious earlier, but if a person wants the minimum 'ding free' dimensions, just open both doors on the widest vehicle and measure the width. Then open one door on the smaller vehicle and measure the width. Add them together and you'll have the bare minimum needed, assuming you can park them just right every time.

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[James-W]

Re: Minimu garage size?

Our garage is 24ft wide and 36ft deep with a 16 ft wide overhead door. We can park two Malibu cars in the garage side by side, but it is a little on the snug side getting in and out of the vehicles. We normally don't park in the garage, we use it as a workshop, but if we did park in the garage all the time I would want if wider than 24ft

 

[Stuart in MN]

Re: Minimu garage size?

Some of you guys are driving some huge vehicles, if a 26' deep garage is marginal... I just looked up a 2018 Ford F250 as an example, and the longest version is a little more than 22 feet long. That still gives you several feet of clearance, and shorter trucks would have even more. Remember, this discussion is about a parking garage, not one where he plans on doing engine swaps or anything.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Re: Minimu garage size?

I didn't state the obvious earlier, but if a person wants the minimum 'ding free' dimensions, just open both doors on the widest vehicle and measure the width. Then open one door on the smaller vehicle and measure the width. Add them together and you'll have the bare minimum needed, assuming you can park them just right every time.

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But how often do you have the doors wide open on both cars at the same time? I'd only worry about clearance for one door open.

 

[Pluribus]

Re: Minimu garage size?

This may get me tarred and feathered here on Garage Journal, but 22' inside dimension width will be plenty for a parking-only garage if you're not putting stuff along the sides, even with a full size truck. I used to have a 24.5' wide space, and I had LOTS of extra room. 22'x26' inside dimensions will be enough, IMHO.

 

[BruceMc]

Re: Minimu garage size?

But how often do you have the doors wide open on both cars at the same time? I'd only worry about clearance for one door open.

That's for one door at a time, two doors, or even three doors. But whether you open up just the driver or passenger door, you'll still need swing room on each side. Obviously you can't simultaneously open both doors in the middle without them banging each other.

As anyone that's ever been caught in a crowded parking lot knows, you can park cars as uncomfortably close together as you want.

 

[Blazinzuk]

Re: Minimu garage size?

So in a parking only garage, I'd line up both cars with doors wide open and make it a couple feet wider on either side.

Now if I didn't have kids that might be different as they often swing the car doors open rapidly with wreckless abandon.

Or if your dream was a couple early 70s Cadillac coupe DeVilles well it might need to be wider.

Buying all seriousness having a bit of extra room is very nice most of the time.

Unless your space or budget constrains you, I'd say build it just a touch bigger than adequate

 

[maxpat82]

Re: Minimu garage size?

Some of you guys are driving some huge vehicles, if a 26' deep garage is marginal... I just looked up a 2018 Ford F250 as an example, and the longest version is a little more than 22 feet long. That still gives you several feet of clearance, and shorter trucks would have even more. Remember, this discussion is about a parking garage, not one where he plans on doing engine swaps or anything.

26' is the outside of the building. here in canada we build in 2x6. Add sheeting, strapping, exterior and interior finishes, and you lost 8-1/2+" in each end.

that make the inside to ~24,5'. I don't think a 1,5' gap each end can be called "several feet clearance"

My supercab 6,5' bed is 19' long and with a simple 20" table, there's room, but still need to be very close to one end to have "plenty" of room on the other one.

 

[sberry]

Re: Minimu garage size?

I agree with 2 things here and not really overkill but from lots o experience. 30 isn't too wide for 2 cars and a little bit more doesn't add much to the cost. I agree with wall space too. So much of the cost is fixed in building that a couple 4 extra ft doesn't add much to the bottom line.

 

[stm317]

I know you're building this for yourself, but considering future buyers and automotive trends will only help you. Vehicles don't seem to be getting any smaller. Trucks, SUVs, and CUVs sell like hot cakes right now. Make the height of your overhead doors tall enough to accommodate most stock vehicles as well as slightly modified ones. I'd say 9-10ft tall.
Make the space wide enough to fully open the doors of one vehicle while its parked next to another. It's really difficult and annoying to squeeze a baby carrier through a narrow door opening if you can't fully open the door without hitting the car parked next to you.
If you drive around most neighborhoods near me, a normal 2 car garage is atleast half full of bulky junk that can't be stored elsewhere. A future buyer of your place might want extra space to store kids bikes, etc in addition to parking space.
I'd also try and build in enough electrical capacity to support chargers for electric vehicles. You don't have to actually install them, but I think it's a good idea to leave room in the panel if the need arises in the future.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Re: Minimu garage size?

The consensus seems to be that 20' is going to be too narrow. I'll definitely mock this up with sawhorses to prove whatever I come up with.

For those of you talking about 24' garages, is that the external dimension? or is it 24' inside wall to inside wall?

When I built the house garage, I made it 24x32 and those were outside measurements. I now have a F250 crewcab with a short bed. The house garage is for parking plus the mower. I moved the doors out and laid it out as a "parking garage" so the either vehicle door could be fully opened (one at a time) and not have to worry about door digs.

I really wish I would have went 28' deep. While the garage is for parking, there have been a few times that I have had to work in there as my garage was full. I store my tonneau cover in front of my truck and literally pull up and touch it with the bumper which leaves no room in front of the truck. I can walk behind the truck but I really don't want to be working on the truck in this garage. Unfortunately, my garage, while it might look big, the garage area is small.

If you go with 26' deep, I'd make sure that is an interior measurement.

 

[Ray916MN]

These questions are always to some degree like what is your pants size? Some people like them snug, some like them loose.

On a more constructive note, the first thing to be clear on is whether the dimensions being discussed are interior or exterior. Wall thickness makes a big difference when you're going for minimum. The second thing to consider is whether there will be a man door. You definitely will want a bit more space on the man door size of a building. If the man door is on the side of the garage, doing this will also ensure that you have at least one side of the garage where the vehicle doors can be fully opened. If you want to load for unload large stuff from the passenger compartment while the vehicle is in the garage, you need to do this.

 

[bdbecker]

These questions are always to some degree like what is your pants size? Some people like them snug, some like them loose...

I prefer no pants... I park outside.

 

[sberry]

Re: Minimu garage size?

Our garage is 24ft wide and 36ft deep with a 16 ft wide overhead door. We can park two Malibu cars in the garage side by side, but it is a little on the snug side getting in and out of the vehicles. We normally don't park in the garage, we use it as a workshop, but if we did park in the garage all the time I would want if wider than 24ft

I can tell this is a guy who been there. I realize this isn't a workshop. But a guy cant set anything along the walls and as was noted 2 cars are not comfortable. If a guy is worried about a foot and a half,,, inside dimension etc its already too small. I understand if I was buying something existing or zoning limited but if I was building would go for a bit of extra space right up front and will never regret it.

 

[BruceMc]

It struck me this morning how funny the combination of human nature, personal opinions, and message boards is, even when asking a question as simple as "how much room do my two vehicles take up"?

 

[johnnyradiant]

Seems like 30 X 49 would be the min. and then you could build your shop to min shop size of 40 X 60.
If you are including comfortable in the equation of min. I would go with 24 W x 26' D for the parking area deeper at least in the truck bay if you want to include anything more than a broom for storage area or a side bump out. If you want to stick with min and almost but not quite comfortable 22'w.

 

[sberry]

You would be correct, same for how much electric I need and how big for a water line going to a sink. Normally utility demand is over estimated and sq ft under. This is closer to the reality. Its cheaper and easier to hedge a little on the big side instead of the other way. Making it easier to walk around is a big asset. The cost is so low low at that point.

 

[RVDan]

My garage is twenty feet wide. It's too tight getting out of a two door car.

 

[James-W]

Well, everyone is free to do as they feel best so if someone wants a small garage they should certainly go that route. But the thing is, it is far easier to add on a few extra feet initially than it is to add on a few extra feet after the building is finished.

 

[tros]

30 x40 is the smallist i would go room to get out of car and room for stuff .