I have a question for the group. Please chime in.

[Josh Bremer]

What width would you consider a 2 car garage?

What width would you consider a 3 car garage?

I would like to know working widths. Like changing wheels or vacuuming with the car doors open, and having another car beside you.

Thanks ahead of time for any input.

 

[zer01]

My two car garage is 28 feet wide and I like the amount of room to get in and out of the cars and change tires with both cars still in garage. I could always go bigger but the 28' gives me plenty of room.

 

[Falcon67]

I would like to know working widths. Like changing wheels or vacuuming with the car doors open, and having another car beside you.

The "standard" 2 car in my mind is 20x24. At 20' wide, you'll not get all the doors open. Mine is 20' and to get two cars in it's a little tight. Not bad, but when I get things rearranged to where I can put both race cars in the shop at least one will be set on casters and shoved up against one wall.

For what you listed, I'll say 24' wide minimum for that activity with two mid size vehicles in the barn. If we're thinking trucks, then 28 at least. 3 car I'd go 36~40.

 

[Aberdale]

Although you will find smaller footprints, my personal minimum standard is 24'x24' for a 2 car garage, and 32'x28' for a 3 car.

A 34'x32' 3 car would even be better, because it's easier to open car doors without worrying about dinging the one next door. It also allows parking double deep, or gives plenty of room in front of the vehicles for working and storage.

Dale

 

[MadMechMaster]

My attached garage is 20X24 and it is used for parking only. It is tight, but serviceable for getting in and out only. It could be deeper. I back out to clean.

The detached work shop is also 20X24, but with tool boxes and equipment, it is effectively a single. It could also be deeper.

Ideally a single, 3 car garage for my type of use would be about 38-40X28

 

[zmotorsports]

I would also ask what are you going to be using it for long term. If mainly parking and occassionally changing a tire or something you can go on the narrower side without any problems (20'-24' range for two-car). However, if you decide as you go to start adding benches, press, solvent tank, or any other items that seem to take up wall space around the perimeter then I would error on the wide side and give yourself plenty of room to grow and add about 4'-6' to previous dimensions. Just a suggestion, Mike.

 

[thdewey]

The "standard" 2 car in my mind is 20x24. At 20' wide, you'll not get all the doors open. Mine is 20' and to get two cars in it's a little tight. Not bad, but when I get things rearranged to where I can put both race cars in the shop at least one will be set on casters and shoved up against one wall.

For what you listed, I'll say 24' wide minimum for that activity with two mid size vehicles in the barn. If we're thinking trucks, then 28 at least. 3 car I'd go 36~40.

I'll second this. 24' minimum. My shop is 24' wide and 36' deep. The shop area is in the back (about 12'x24'). I'm putting some 16" cabinets on one wall positioned were the door won't hit them.

You need to think of the finished space. After building my garage there is no way in the world I'd buy a house with less than 24' wide garage.
Best of luck.

 

[csp]

The two car in my old house was 20x20.

The three car in our exising home is 28' deep and 36' wide, by my design instead of some builder.

 

[GarageEnvy]

As an appraiser I measure quite few garages per week. By far, the most common size is 20' wide by 21' deep. Of course this is primarily tract home stuff and I wouldn't consider this a working garage. 24' is nice but if you've got the room, go wider. Personally I like wider doors too. I put 18' doors on mine and is nice and still a standard size.

 

[Gary S]

It depends a lot on what kind of cars you drive. If you have full size pickup trucks, a 24' wide isn't enough. If you drive small Japanese cars, a 20' is probably more than enough.
Today's cars are tiny, but the pickup trucks are still big.

 

[T1320T]

My garage/shop is 36' wide by 26' deep & it works pretty well for the tasks you described above. It has a 16' & 8' overhead door so I consider it a 3 bay. My adivise is.... go as big as you can afford. You probably won't regret it.. until it comes time to heat it in the winter (if that applies to you).

 

[Stuart in MN]

I would figure at a miminum you should use multiples of 12x24:

12x24 = one car garage
24x24 = two car garage
36x24 = three car garage

 

[gfd_703]

Mine is 20x36 front with a 20x41 back area. It is a single with working room. Everybody here is saying to make the garage wider. I am telling you to also make it deeper. My pickup is 22 feet long. With 2 ft front and back to walk around, you have no room in a 26 ft deep garage. If you let the tail gate down you need 28 ft so adding any working area requires 30 to 36 ft. You can not build it large enough. I have the above 20x77,a 40x60 and a 30x50 and still have things sitting out in the weather.

 

[Josh Bremer]

Thank you everyone for your feedback! This helps a bunch.

 

[sberry]

My bud has a 30x40, 2 doors in the 30 gable end. With 2 cars it is too narrow. the space along the walls is wasted, not enough room to put much along it. 36 wide would have been so far superior, stores tools, even a mower along it with room to open car doors or work on stuff without your back up against the wall.

 

[R6 Racer]

I don't know where you are but around here (Ontario Canada) the standard width for new building construction is 10 to 11 ft per car. Which is barely enough room to park! I went with 14 ft. per car & that gives me OK room for working. If you have the opportunity I would suggest 15ft. per car.

Good luck
Steve

 

[Daniel Dudley]

24 x 24 is the minimum for a garage you would be happy with. Mine is three cars at 30 x 26. 26 is a nice depth, but 30 is too narrow for a three car. At the time, everybody was saying I was crazy for making it so big. Don't listen. Also, you can get away with a sixteen foot door for two cars, but an 8 footer is too small for a one car door. I would go with an 18 or a 9. I also would never build an 8 foot ceiling. 9 foot minimum, 8 foot tall doors. If you ever want a lift, you need to go 12.

Don't screw around trying to get away with less space. Build the biggest you can. even if you could only go 20 wide, making a deeper space can save your bacon.

 

[rockchucker]

I would figure at a miminum you should use multiples of 12x24:

12x24 = one car garage
24x24 = two car garage
36x24 = three car garage

100% agreed.

 

[InPrimer]

Living in the So west, garages seem to be bigger due to the fact that shaded storage is a must.My garage is 1456 sq ft. Seems like a lot, but I found out about 2 houses ago how fast the garages "shrink", Since we have no basements/attics out here, I figured that a20X20 space would be lost to "stuff" like Chritmas stuff, lawnmowers etc , so IMO I'd build as large as possible/affordable you'll never regret having TOO MUCH SPACE that is a lie .........LOL

 

[logical]

It's always easy to say bigger is better but a reasonable minumum to make it livable on a daily basis to park and work on one of them at a time by sneaking the other close to the wall is 24 wide with an 18' door. I had the 16' door with barely 19 wide in my previous hous and it was a daily challenge. I parked on the right near the wall but there was no way anyone could get in the passenger side without pulling into the driveway. My current 3+ car L-shaped has the 2-car daily driver bay at 24 wide and 18' door and it's fine with an F-150 and a Caddy STS. The 24 is actually an outside dimension so inside it's not much over 23.

 

[Indy_500]

Living in the So west, garages seem to be bigger due to the fact that shaded storage is a must.My garage is 1456 sq ft. Seems like a lot, but I found out about 2 houses ago how fast the garages "shrink", Since we have no basements/attics out here, I figured that a20X20 space would be lost to "stuff" like Chritmas stuff, lawnmowers etc , so IMO I'd build as large as possible/affordable you'll never regret having TOO MUCH SPACE that is a lie .........LOL

being in the north garages seem to be bigger due to keeping stuff out of the snow i wonder what it's like in the "middle"





I think like this:

14x28
28x28
42x28