How much working space around vehicle in workshop?

[Keith_MN]

I am in the planning stage for a new workshop. I would like opinions on what you think the ideal minimum clear space is needed around a vehicle to do all types of vehicle maintenance and repair, including auto body work.

My design standard is a full size pickup truck, but that does not really matter because we are taking about the distance between any side of the vehicle and walls or other obstacles such as work benches or tool boxes.

How much space do you think is ideal and does is vary based on the side?

 

[PhantomEB]

2’ minimum down the sides. Prefer to be able to open both doors.

I aim for 3-4 feet in front, especially with workbench, awesome when you can use the bench for tools used.

Then when not working on it you got 1’ behind and 2-3 In front.

 

[LXCam]

If you can accommodate it I'd highly suggest 5ft. There are bound to be times you need to leave a door fully open and get around it. But no matter what an absolute minimum of 3ft in the event you're pulling an axle or etc..

I have 3ft minimum with mine and despise it, but there's nothing I can do about it in this shop.

 

[BruceMc]

Has anyone ever complained about having too much space? This is another one of those questions that shouldn't be a hypothetical. Go find a wall to park next to (or even another vehicle), then walk around it to see what distance you would be comforartable working with. In my own personal experience, it's far too easy to underestimate the space you need when drawing it out on paper.

 

[DGersic]

Ideal? At least as wide as whatever it is. If you do something like pulling the dash, you’ll need quite a bit of room to get it out.


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[xyster101]

I will pull the 2nd car out when I work on a vehicle and park the one being worked on near the wall giving me a good 10 plus feet. I can have tools laying around, work cart, stool, light, and beer within easy reach.
Minimum I would say is 3 ft left and right and 4 ft front and back. Then you can move the car to one side giving you 5ft or pull forward giving you 7ft in the front.
If you are pulling engines or doing body work, I would say 10ft all around.

 

[sberry]

My Bud had a 30x40, 30 wide and 2 doors in the gable end and it was really a small 2 car garage. The space along the walls was wasted due to the fact that 2 cars cramped it. 36 wide minimum and 40 better yet. My neighbor just built 30x50 and is already kicking himself, did this draw it out nd measure scheme. I mentioned it but he was in a big yank and ordered trusses first thing, must have said this will be alright a dozen times till he got it built and pulled in. After the fact put 8 ft lean to he now wishes was part of the building.
My semi ideal home hobby thing would be 40x60 or even 50x60.

 

[fiataccompli]

Will you have a lift?

 

[DC73]

My preference for the sides is to have the doors fully open and still be able to walk by without closing them. As far as the front and back, think about any equipment you might want to move such as portable workbenches, engine stands, etc and then allow enough room.

DC

 

[DFB]

A lot if you have Dodge doors!

 

[Handyfarmer]

personally I think any thing less than about 15 feet wide inside wall to inside wall, would be to narrow,

I think one wants enough room to be able to roll a creeper in from the side,

 

[rayra]

at least 4' between vehicle and side work benches.

 

[Keith_MN]

Has anyone ever complained about having too much space? This is another one of those questions that shouldn't be a hypothetical. Go find a wall to park next to (or even another vehicle), then walk around it to see what distance you would be comforartable working with. In my own personal experience, it's far too easy to underestimate the space you need when drawing it out on paper.

I agree that more is better, however, given the same amount of square feet, more space for the vehicle would mean less space for other equipment.

I have used my current garage to gauge the amount of room I would need and have an opinion, but wanted to see what the thinking is here as people have different experiences.

 

[Keith_MN]

Will you have a lift?

Yes, but am planning on an in-ground scissor lift to avoid the columns.

 

[larry_g]

My ideal is open both vehicle doors, measure the width from door edge to door edge then add 4'. vehicle length plus 6' equals the distance from the OH door to the front of the WORK BENCH. If you have storage on the side walls then that shelf depth is to be added to the vehicle +4 to get building width.

 

[holdover]

have a working bay in my 40 X 60 it has 5' of clrnc. on all sides. You spoke about body work, unless you have a shield of sorts(wall- plastic- separate room) over spray, dust etc is going to go everywhere

 

[bad_idea]

I worked out of a 14x20 attached garage for 8 years. Metal fab and auto repair. I welded new floor pans in my 79 Camaro in there. With a 2' deep workbench down the side and a 1' deep cabinet on the other side, that left 11' width for the car to work on it. To weld the floor pans in I pulled the doors off the car. Garage was too narrow to open the doors.

My new shop is 30 deep x 40 wide with (2) 9' wide doors on the front. I have 3' from the edge of the door to the wall and 4' between doors. That means each bay is 14' wide. I can open the doors up wide and still get around the car.

I can pull the vehicle being worked on into the middle bay and clear out some space when I have that unusual project that requires 10' on each side. Other than that once in a while weirdness, I just need enough room to open the doors wide and walk around them.

 

[augustus]

if you have kids, you can save yourself alot of body work by making sure the doors can open all the way

 

[rlitman]

...minimum clear space is needed ...

How much space do you think is ideal and does is vary based on the side?

Minimum clear space needed is your belt length divided by Pi.

Ideal space would be the same as the space around a pool table. I don't see why clearance on one side would necessarily be different than the other.

 

[PWC Repair]

Realistically, my shop has **** sitting everywhere!!!! That being said I have to agree with several others that about 3ft is minimum and 5ft is great. I usually only have about 3ft down at least one side when I'm working on a vehicle and I can get the job done without cursing. When I happen to have not so much around the 4 or 5 ft makes everything a bit easier. My shop is about 29ft deep inside and there is plenty of room for our 4 door 4x4 f150.