20' x 20' - "build out" spacing/clearance Qs

[sclancy]

sorry for a long first post....i have spent about 6 hrs over the past few days looking at pics and reading posts. what a great board!!!

here are two pics of my old garage...nothing fancy...floor paint is rustoleum industrial 9100 2 part epoxy.

new house has a 20x20 2 car garage, w/2 doors. planning on putting a second full size fridge and cabinets in. right now i m struggling with how much clearance i need around the cars so that i can decide how much cabinetry to install up front and/or on the sides.

which cabinetry to install is another question...probably gladiator as a balance between cost and quality...welcome to other suggestions.

the cars to be parked are 14' (boxster s) and 17' (MB R500) long. the 14' car isnt a daily driver and will be backed in and tucked close to the wall on left side to free up middle space for my wife's car door opening. i plan to hang 12" deep wall cabinets on the left wall above the car. leaving less than 2 ft split front/rear give me 4ft up front to do base cabinets and fridge.

the 17' car is my wife's with large doors - she will pull in on right side. the steps in to the house will be by the rear wheel and stick out about 18" from the wall.

realistically do i need more/less than 2ft split front/rear for my wife's car? i ll do parking stops for her car so she pulls up to the perfect spot everytime....but that only leaves me 1ft up front....i could do wall cabinets and shallow base units but not much else...I need to leave enough room to walk in front or behind her car (without opening the garage door) to get to the fridge in front of the left car.

help! pics of smaller 2 car garages would be great too.....i have trolled through the gallery but may have missed some...

 

[rickairmedic]

I would say a 20X20 is going to be pretty tight for any cabinets along the wall against the house ( where the door is ) . I made the mistake of puting lower cabinets on that same wall in my 21' deep X 25' wide garage and quickly realised that my 18' long truck wouldnt fit into the garage . I am in the process now of moving all those lower cabinets to a side wall so that I can get my truck back in here to do a full chassis up on it. The side where you park the boxster you might get away with it if you put in parking stops so that it barely clears the garage door when it closes leaving 5' + behind it but the side with the wagon I dont think will work with any cabinets on the floor if you plan to get around it at all.

Rick

 

[MG David]

I have a 2 car garage that is small by the standard of this board.

If you are using wheel stops on the floor and the cars go in backwards you will not need to leave 2ft between the car and the garage door unless you need to get to the rear of the door to open it.

I leave about 6 inches between the car and the door. This increases the space between the car and the bench across the back of the garage. Having said that I don't use wheel stops and I leave the hand brake off so that the car can be moved to and fro if needs be.

Wall cabinets are good in a small garage. I have some from the inlaws old kitchen. The top of them and the top of the wall plate, between the trusses, get used as shelves as well.

 

[amishman]

I have a 20 x 20 shop so I know all too well of how things work. It is TIGHT!!!!

If all you are doing is parking only, you can have cabinet or shelfing on each side, and depending how long your car is, some in back. My VWs are short, so I have room all the way around. If you have a 17 footer, your nose will go right up to the edges I am sure.

I have 2 foot deep shelves and workbenches on both side and out back, rolling tool box and other ****. My VWs are shorter so it works for me. BUT, when it comes time to work on something, ouch. As it is, you have very minimal door bumping barely open door to get out when you park side to side. To make it usable to do work, you really need to lose shelf on one side or the other, or do what I do, got me 4 HF decent quality rolling wheel dollies and moved one bus right to the shelf. I can't get **** on those shelves now but I can work on my left side bus. hehehe. I am climbing all over stuff to get to the shelves or have to jack up dollies and get what I want and then move them back. A pain but is do-able. Just expect bumped asses, elbows, and heads in a small 20 x 20. I know very well. But it is mine and works for now.

Here is my bus all the way to shelf so I can do brakes on left bus.

tj

 

[autoist]

Why not bump the garage door wall out about 4'....I've seen that done on some older houses that were built in the '20's using the same brick as the house but with a nice metal roof....relocate the door & you've gained what footage you need.

Looks like it would be an easy extension & a good bricklayer could tie it together so it looks as if it were always there.