How to decide if a new garage is big enough

[lilscorpion]

ALMOST pulled the trigger on a new house but ended up losing out to a buyer that offered less (yeah, doesn't make sense to me either). During the process I found myself trying to decide if a garage was big enough to be the new shop. In this case it was a second stand-alone 22.5 x 30 (internal dimensions) 2 car garage with a 10' full width door. Square footage-wise it was slightly larger than what I have now (3 car in a double wide x 1 tandem).

What changed the most about this new layout was it had 7-foot windows on the 3 walls right in the middle which gave great natural light but also took away valuable wall space. I think the overall space would have worked but it was really hard figuring out if the layout would work for me or not. I tried to lay everything out in CAD but couldn't visualize it and, more importantly, I wasn't sure how much space I needed between machines and benches and whatnot. Usually I try a layout and then tune it over time making my machines fit the space (since historically I get the space first and then figure out how best to use it second).

For those of you who have picked a size, how did you go about knowing how you'd use it before actually using it?

 

[D100CMB]

How to determine if a garage is big enough.....its not and you will never find one big enough.

 

[BPJOOP93]

Never going to be big enough

 

[Shiftless]

How to determine if a garage is big enough.....its not and you will never find one big enough.

A couple of years ago I toured the Boeing assembly plant in Everett WA. Here is a pic of the section they let the public into.

 

[mikegt4]

No matter how big it is it will be filled and then some. Ask me how I know.
The same with property. Formerly I lived in a suburb and worried with keeping a small sailboat in the backyard and having neighbors or the city complain. Now with 5 acres in the country I get tired of moving all the boats, tractors, trailers and cars every time that I cut the grass.

 

[Paycheck]

How to determine if a garage is big enough.....its not and you will never find one big enough.

Never going to be big enough

These!

 

[Stuart in MN]

I tried to lay everything out in CAD but couldn't visualize it and, more importantly, I wasn't sure how much space I needed between machines and benches and whatnot. Usually I try a layout and then tune it over time making my machines fit the space (since historically I get the space first and then figure out how best to use it second).

For those of you who have picked a size, how did you go about knowing how you'd use it before actually using it?

I drew my garage out on a piece of paper and it worked for me, but if you have a hard time visualizing things you may want to try a CAD package that allows a 3-D perspective - the popular package is Sketchup, you can download it for free. Here are a couple examples I found online:

There was also a discussion here that had some good examples:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233771&showall=1

 

[John in OH]

An old guy in my church once told me how to size a garage.
Step 1 - decide how what you want to do with the shop
Step 2 - size shop accordingly
Step 3 - double it
Step 4 - then MAYBE it will be big enough!!

 

[ard]

When you cannot see a car parked in the far corner due to the curvature of the earth.

 

[driftpin]

The one that got away, fuhgedduhboutit!

Since you're still looking, whatever space you have now, you need at-least that much, or it's liquidation time. If you can't find something that has that-much space, will there be adequate room for expansion, when it comes-to that? Or adding an outbuilding? Be sure to check with your local Building and Zoning departments for wherever the next house is, if you are thinking about adding-on or a new outbuilding.

If you cannot bring them a survey of the parcel, bring them the legal description and whatever you find online for your local property appraiser's overhead aerials of your plot. Blow it up to a size that you can scale easily, like 1" = 20 ft.

 

[930dreamer]

30'x40' minimum

 

[cadunkle]

To figure out how big is big enough... Imagine the biggest size you'd ever need, add 10' to each side of it, then double that.

I'm getting my 24'x30' set up and while it initially seemed pretty big when empty, it's not so big when I put stuff in it. The saving grace is it's 10' tall and I have a mezzanine over 10' of the length, plus light storage in the attic. I also have a two story 16'x16' shed that I am making into my dirty room. Compressor, sand blaster, parts washer, etc. Without the shed for a dirty work area and extra storage in both structures the garage would be tight for my automotive and motorcycle work.

It's hard to find properties with much bigger than this size garage. Unless that perfect property with a big shop already built comes along I'd say look for a property that the layout works and you can reasonably expand the existing garage, or add another garage or shed. I used to have a L shaped 10'x30' with a 20'x20' addition on one end. It was an odd shape but worked. Think about your workflow once you get set up, and think about storage for anything not actively being worked on or used. Figure you square footage of your current garage and don't go smaller. Bare minimum if it's the same size, your stuff will fit and you can make it work, but it'll be just as tight as your current setup.

 

[matt_i]

I've seen some very detailed layouts where people obviously spent hour(s) modeling each machine of their shop in incredible detail. I couldn't do that so I went with basic boxes to establish a preliminary layout.

Its hard to totally stick to a single layout that you plan way in advance, so I've always tried to put flexibility into the shop (mostly with wiring). And definitely need a project area, could be a car that parks but could be pulled out to setup sawhorses or tables, etc.

It might make sense to develop an as-built of your current layout, that way you have spacing dimensions that work for you now. At minimum that will give you the basic boxes (or more) that you can now spread out and reassemble in a new design to visualize. Another possibility is to print out the boxes at whatever scale, as well as the basic rectangle of the new space, and then physically cut out the boxes so you can move them around, its somewhat like legos where they all have to fit, their sizes are known and you can tape them down or draw outlines once you like what you have.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

An old guy in my church once told me how to size a garage.
Step 1 - decide how what you want to do with the shop
Step 2 - size shop accordingly
Step 3 - double it
Step 4 - then MAYBE it will be big enough!!

This is what I did. Then I added some. My 2 car garage is 30'x60'.
Wish I had done 32'X64'. If I had I'd be wishing I did 40'x72'

32'x48' minimum

 

[Tynee]

A couple of years ago I toured the Boeing assembly plant in Everett WA. Here is a pic of the section they let the public into.

Interesting. When I toured that facility in March, they didn't allow cameras or phones on the tour. There were several dire warnings about what would happen if they caught you with a phone. In the end, as I suspected, there was no way they would have known if I'd left it in my pocket. But after my wife, the rule-follower in the family, made a big deal about it, I had to set a good example for the kids and leave it behind.

 

[rk_tek]

Formula for calculating shop space requirements: shop size= n+1sqft. Where n equals whatever size you build it.

 

[DRP6833]

A couple of years ago I toured the Boeing assembly plant in Everett WA. Here is a pic of the section they let the public into.

That would work for me.

 

[Shiftless]

That would work for me.

In case somebody needs to know how much that is...it’s 4.28 million square feet
That’s about 10,000 regular sized 2 car garages.
.
.

 

[Jazz1]

I have to consider heating and the fact I only work on one project vehicle at a time. I built 700 sq ft and always enough room although I could have gone 10k sq ft

 

[tarmy]

I built what I thought was a big enough garage...32x56...nope...

Make it as big as can...and then a bit over that. Seriously saying this too

 

[ZRX61]

Now with 5 acres in the country I get tired of moving all the boats, tractors, trailers and cars every time that I cut the grass.

Well there's ya problem right there! Throw down a 3000sqft slab of concrete or asphalt.

 

[mikegt4]

Well there's ya problem right there! Throw down a 3000sqft slab of concrete or asphalt.

Actually I am working on some gravel parking spots to eliminate the problem.

 

[Rockyboy]

I read on here once to build as big as your money will allow.

 

[C2tuck]

Wish my 30x30 was a 60x80...seriously. May eventually ad another 30x50 shop in the future.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

If you and all your buddies come over for a beer and all of the gang and their cars fit in the garage it is big enough.

 

[bczygan]

No matter how big you build your garage or shop..................................

.......................When you go to put your stuff in..................it will have somehow shrunk in size.

Bill