How far should garage be from house?

[apeters62]

EDIT: As suggested, I plan to stake out the garage on the left and turned 90 degrees allowing to drive along the back of the house and straight into the garage. ( we currently park where the label "gravel drive way" is)
Also, not shown in my doodle, there are various small buildings that originally prevented us from building on the left, but things change.

Hello, All
Getting closer to being able to get my garage build up. The location in my back yard has changed a few times and I'm currently looking at putting it close to the back of the house and replacing the current single car garage. Current garage is 30' from the edge of the back deck. I like the distance but ideally when I get concrete poured I would have it go all the way to the back deck since that's where we park, hence wanting it to be a little closer, like 20' away. But that creates a new problem, actually being able to swing vehicles into the garage. First bay on the right would be no problem for my truck to get into but I'm worried 20' won't be adequate. Thoughts? Stick to 30' even if it means I can't afford to have concrete all the way up to the deck? Below is a really crude picture I drew up.
Many more questions to come...

 

[The Cobbler]

that's really tight
go to a mall parking lot on a slow day and pace it out, try to manoeuvre you vehicles into a parking space . wider doors would help here too.

 

[apeters62]

that's really tight
go to a mall parking lot on a slow day and pace it out, try to manoeuvre you vehicles into a parking space . wider doors would help here too.

20' or 30'? Or both?

 

[sweetk30]

my shop is 125ft from back of the house . it works good for sound dissipation and plenty of room for vehicles to work in and out .

 

[The Cobbler]

I think you'd find 20'impossible, and 30' tight to hit the the second door head on

 

[quickfarms]

Bigger is better

what types of vehicles

do you have any trailers

 

[sixty4]

Depends how far back you can go back (not showing that property line). Mine is 41' but I couldnt go back more, but works well.

 

[APEowner]

20' is way to tight. Even 30' might be an issue if you ever want to back a trailer or a tow truck up to the doors. Build it at 30'. You can always widen the driveway later but moving the building back after it's built will be problematic.

 

[nadogail]

Your house should be close enough to your garage so you don’t have to take your car to go to lunch.

 

[apeters62]

Bigger is better

what types of vehicles

do you have any trailers

various cars and trucks. My daily is a lifted F150 but I work from home. Have a 16' car trailer but it's staying outside. Not so much worried about the size of the garage as 50x30 is probably about max what I plan to spend.

 

[apeters62]

Depends how far back you can go back (not showing that property line). Mine is 41' but I couldnt go back more, but works well.

Plenty of room to go back further, maybe another acre back there. originally the building was going to be situated the other way and much further back but I didn't want it to be so far back that it was a cumbersome to go back and forth for tool when working on something in the house.

 

[apeters62]

20' is way to tight. Even 30' might be an issue if you ever want to back a trailer or a tow truck up to the doors. Build it at 30'. You can always widen the driveway later but moving the building back after it's built will be problematic.

That's a good point, didn't think about the trailer. I was considering putting a single bay door in the back of the building too which could solve that problem. Main purpose for the rear bay door was for air flow if I ever needed it but I'm sure it could have more uses.

 

[Adaylate]

How would it work if you turned your garage 90 degrees?

 

[Adaylate]

....and put it by the left and of your deck.

 

[apeters62]

....and put it by the left and of your deck.

I actually hadn't considered that orientation yet. Kinda makes sense actually.

 

[APEowner]

How would it work if you turned your garage 90 degrees?

....and put it by the left and of your deck.

If you've got the room, I like this idea. If you put the bay doors close to the house end you won't need much more concrete for the driveway than the current configuration calls for.

 

[cvairwerks]

At 20’, my VW bug would be hard pressed to get in the door without it being a hassle. Forget any of my pickups. Take the time and use stakes and flagging tape to lay it out full size and try things before you commit.

 

[Sumboodie]

Your house should be close enough to your garage so you don’t have to take your car to go to lunch.

My buddy's place.
He's on about 10 acres. His workshop garage is at the far end of the property from the house.
I'm not sure you could even hear anything at the house short of a gun shot.

It's a solid 5 min walk which is a PITA at times.
Have considered just pooping in the woods instead of walking up to the house.
The house has a garage as well for in theory parking cars in.

 

[Sumboodie]

At 20’, my VW bug would be hard pressed to get in the door without it being a hassle. Forget any of my pickups. Take the time and use stakes and flagging tape to lay it out full size and try things before you commit.

What I was thinking.

My garage is 26ft deep and barely fits a crew cab ******* box truck with room to work.

 

[crazylunker]

what about door size? If I were in your position I would do a min of 10' wide doors to help with approach angles.

 

[beemerphile]

The shop should be far enough from the house that the wife won't bother to come get you for chores and missed obligations, but close enough that you can crawl back to the house with a broken leg. Concrete can be added later as budget permits, but pushing the shop farther away from the house, although not impossible, is a lot of trouble.

 

[apeters62]

Thank you for all the advice. When it's not raining I'll stake out the dimensions. There are several small building on the property that had sentimental value to family that I originally wasn't able to demolish/remove. But that has changed so this new orientation may be the winner. I likely wouldn't have to take down as many trees this way, although I'd rather them all get removed regardless. Thanks again!

 

[Rc_Guy]

The way to offset the 20 feet is to put wider garage doors in so you can make the turn into the garage

 

[Verado1250]

If it were mine, I'd consider (from your drawing), spinning the garage 90 degrees with the garage doors facing the neighbor's. The, the corner of the garage would be on the same corner as the house's left side, again, looking at the pic. You want enough room to be able to back a trailer into the garage when the occasion arises, and also park a vehicle without having to move it to move another vehicle into the garage.

 

[CraigStu]

....and put it by the left and of your deck.

Winner, winner! Your diagram doesn't have the garage sized correctly compared to the house so it's a little hard to tell for sure but I think this is the best idea yet. You might also move the doors closer to the house so wife can park in there. I'd get the garage built and talk to the concrete guy about future driveway. What would he recommend for the gravel so it becomes a good base for concrete later on. Also, we don't know if there is a back door to the house but think about if a covered walkway could connect the garage to the back door. Maybe put the garage right at the current deck, have a man door so she can walk out of the garage right onto the deck and someday, put a roof aver the deck. If you put you wife's car in that garage w/ a remote opener, she will be so thrilled you may be able to build larger than your current plan.

 

[nadogail]

My buddy's place.
He's on about 10 acres. His workshop garage is at the far end of the property from the house.
I'm not sure you could even hear anything at the house short of a gun shot.

It's a solid 5 min walk which is a PITA at times.
Have considered just pooping in the woods instead of walking up to the house.
The house has a garage as well for in theory parking cars in.

Why not add a toilet in the garage, I really like having a toilet and sink, with a water heater, in my Workshop. The little 120 volt tank heaters fit in the cabinet under the sink.

 

[dcg9381]

My shop is a good 300' from the house (commercial building). It achieves the purpose of the two structures not be "aesthetically separate", but it's really too far to fetch tools. 300' is also pretty far for a house to shop power run (we do it alternately) and on the edge of what you can span with conventional copper CAT6.

 

[yeldogt]

Having had various properties with outbuildings ... Having the larger of them further away was IMO always nicer. A nice garage may integrate nicely 30-40 feet away ..... but ... not so much a bigger more commercial building. My current property has a barn 150' from the garage that is 40' from the house. 30' is very close and IMO would impact the overall value if the structure is not compatible with the house

 

[FMB4]

... I didn't want it to be so far back that it was a cumbersome to go back and forth for tool when working on something in the house.

What do you do more often: pull your vehicles into your garage(s), or haul tools into your house? That said, I'm guessing that you could always use a cart or dolly to haul tools and tool boxes into your house.

 

[ludakris04]

a crew cab short bed F350 is 21' for reference.... I would vote for 40'+... if you have the room....

 

[ace10]

I have exactly 50' between two garages that face each other. Sometime it's not enough.

 

[rburke65]

Grab some stakes, orange spray paint, string and stake it out. It may take up a few times to get it right but you’re only doing this once. I laid mine out a dozen times….glad I did. You can do the 30’…or more….save your dollars to finish the concrete later.

 

[cvairwerks]

When you stake it, use either flagging tape or the wide caution type tape to give you a feel for size. Stakes alone will fool you if you don't visualize in 3D very well.

 

[greenskeeper]

Statistically, there is an inverse relationship to the detached garage distance from house compared to how well you get along with your wife

 

[apeters62]

Statistically, there is an inverse relationship to the detached garage distance from house compared to how well you get along with your wife

Now that's funny!

 

[APEowner]

When you stake it, use either flagging tape or the wide caution type tape to give you a feel for size. Stakes alone will fool you if you don't visualize in 3D very well.

Use police line tape. It'll give the neighbors something to talk about.

 

[FMB4]

Statistically, there is an inverse relationship to the detached garage distance from house compared to how well you get along with your wife

Reply of the year.

 

[cvairwerks]

Use police line tape. It'll give the neighbors something to talk about.

Or BioHazard tape...

 

[NUTTSGT]

20' isn't even enough to pull your F150 straight out of the garage.

If you can't afford the extra concrete right now, who cares, put stone down and call it a day. Do the concrete in a few years and pay cash for it when the time comes.

 

[Forgottonia]

You don't absolutely need a rectangular building. Maybe lop off the lower right corner to give yourself an angled end for both garage doors. If you want to keep a rectangular roof the corner could be an overhang. (Might need some structural support depending on how much overhang.) Just a thought...