3 or 4 car garage??

[DIPREZQC]

New to this site...and looking for some advice. I'm limited on garage width (38'), depth could be up to 32' (probably go 28'). What would you guys do?? Here's what I'm thinking...

1) 2 - 16'w x 8'h doors
2) 3 - 10'w x 8'h doors
3) 1 - 18'w x 8'h door & 1 - 10'w x 8'h door

PS - this is an attached garage, and i'm open to other suggestions as well!

 

[MDSPHOTO]

3- cars attached and one stand alone single is what I did due to width issues.

 

[starquestMM]

16's are not great for two cars. If you are storing rarely used cars maybe 16', or if the wife is a bad driver than a 16' is a good single not a double.

Option 3 might be a little cheaper than option 2?

 

[Voi]

New to this site...and looking for some advice. I'm limited on garage width (38'), depth could be up to 32' (probably go 28'). What would you guys do?? Here's what I'm thinking...

1) 2 - 16'w x 8'h doors
2) 3 - 10'w x 8'h doors
3) 1 - 18'w x 8'h door & 1 - 10'w x 8'h door

PS - this is an attached garage, and i'm open to other suggestions as well!

Do you plan on a man door on the same wall as the overhead doors?

My garage is 38' long along the interior (probably 40' exterior with the poured concreted wall and framed out interior wall) and I have three overhead doors and one 30" man door. It's a bit tight, especially when we park a big vehicle in the stall that is closest to the shared house wall.

 

[CNGsaves]

With no other choices, I'd go with option 3 and make them deep as possible.

Another option if you have a very deep lot, is have a drive-thru garage (put 16 ft garage door on back of attached garage). In back yard, build another detached 2 car garage (WITH a man-cave attic)!!

 

[sracer99]

mine is about 36'W and has 18+9' doors; much preferred over 8s and 16s.

 

[bob15]

Do you really need the complete 38' width full of garage doors? Why not 2 doors and a shop area (solid wall)?

The non-door area is long and wide enough to store a 1967 Camaro and a 1948 Case VAC farm tractor next to each other. Plus have 2 vehicles backed/driven into the garage at the same time.

 

[DIPREZQC]

Thanks for the quick responses guys! I'll give you a bit more information about the lot/house. The house is attached to the garage on two sides (left side & rear). There will be a man door on the right side of the garage. The lot is walkout. I will not be able to put an unattached garage on the lot. I could possibly stretch the garage to 40' wide if my wife's dining room shrunk down a couple feet

 

[LB-1911]

New to this site...and looking for some advice. I'm limited on garage width (38'), depth could be up to 32' (probably go 28'). What would you guys do?? Here's what I'm thinking...

1) 2 - 16'w x 8'h doors
2) 3 - 10'w x 8'h doors
3) 1 - 18'w x 8'h door & 1 - 10'w x 8'h door

PS - this is an attached garage, and i'm open to other suggestions as well!

Your local wind load & seismic requirements may dictate your shear wall widths - run it by the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction)

The Narrow Shear Panel Dilemma
http://www.buildersengineer.com/assets/images/blog/Narrow Shear Wall 12-22-05.pdf

 

[tomroblee]

I've lived with narrow garage doors and at least one big vehicle most of my life. I hated it. When I built a 36' x 48' pole barn at my rural property, I had 18' x 8' and 10' x 8' door put on the 36' side. I love it!

You need to think about how you will be using your garage and what you will be putting into it. When you talk about a 38' width, I assume that you mean exterior dimensions. Interior dimensions will be less---especially if you have brick siding. You need room to open vehicle doors (and the man door.) With any of the door arrangements there won't be a lot of spare room for workbenches, storage, or ??? along the side walls.

 

[bazzateer]

Whatever door configuration you go for I'd advise you to make the garage as big as you can. Take the full 32' depth and if you can get way it with nick a couple of feet from the dining room.

 

[GTPaul]

I agree with the 18' wide NOT 16', I specified 18' on the first 2 houses that I had built, got sloppy and did not think too well and let the builder spec 16X8. I daily regret it. My favorite would be 10X8 three across. I did 26' another mistake.

Every thing I did was wrong. Race garage under sized as well, sad part I could have fixed almost everything for $10-$15K. NOW I am looking Big dollars to fix or add on. I really should raze the race garage and start over. 36'X48' 40' X 60' would be the Minimum I would consider. I did do 12' wide door on the race shop 14' would be better although that is the least of my problems.

Paul

 

[Radix2]

Paul - on the 12 vs 14 door comment - I assume with those widths you are not pulling thru side by side, but using it to pull in around to "non door" areas? Some comment please on how you use stalls with this size doors, and maybe clearance needed back from doors as well?

My question in general is about planning doors and traffic if you don't want basically a shop that has a completely open side. For straight shots, 9 or 10 seems plenty... But maybe if there is a closed side a single 18 is better than two 9s..?

I think maybe this is the same issue the op is dealing with..

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Mine's considered a 4 car, but is 24x48 and I fudged the building somewhat and ordered a single 16 foot door and a single 8. My trucks are pulled into the 16 foot door on a 24 foot gable side, and my tractor and other implements are pulled into the 8 footer, halfway down one of the long sides. My builder had no problem with doing it this way, even though it was a kit, and I did my best handling the materials with Menards. My cost overruns were less than $200, so I did alright. In the end I would have opted for a 30x40 or a 28x56, but 24 turned out to be all I could get away with, without obstructing my view behind me. All I'm saying is it's sort of like getting a gun safe. Get the absolute biggest you can afford and go bigger if possible.

 

[DIPREZQC]

Guys, I don't need a shop. I figure storage for kids bikes, mower, etc. Could be on the back wall? Was leaning toward 18x8 & 10x8. We will have 3 cars in the garage at all times and I thought maybe with two 16x8 doors, it would give me more flexibility down the road? Seems like it would be pretty tight though! Even if I could push it to 40', it seems tight for four cars! I would love to have the 4th stall in case I get any future toys... Maybe we should just lose the dining room all together!!!

 

[Onewolf]

Two 16 ft doors would be ok only if you drive only Mini's or Fiat 500. We have a 16ft and an 8ft door on our attached garage and we consider both to be single car spots.

This is why the detached garage we are currently building has 12 ft and 10 ft doors (I wanted the 10ft door to be an 18ft door, but my darling wife vetoed that idea).

 

[RegularJoe]

#3 would be my choice. I've had that configuration with less width and was very happy with it. I also had a nearly 200 s.f. shed on the property which kept all the lawn and garden stuff out of the garage. Mine was 25' deep and the extra 3' would have been nice.

 

[JCByrd24]

#2 would be my choice, three 10' doors. Work space in center bay. 28' deep is a good unless you have an extended cab truck, then go 30'.

 

[GTPaul]

Paul - on the 12 vs 14 door comment - I assume with those widths you are not pulling thru side by side, but using it to pull in around to "non door" areas? Some comment please on how you use stalls with this size doors, and maybe clearance needed back from doors as well?

My question in general is about planning doors and traffic if you don't want basically a shop that has a completely open side. For straight shots, 9 or 10 seems plenty... But maybe if there is a closed side a single 18 is better than two 9s..?

I think maybe this is the same issue the op is dealing with..

No I am using them for a 102" to 115" trailer or Dually. I put up an album with some photos.

Paul

 

[GTPaul]

#2 would be my choice, three 10' doors. Work space in center bay. 28' deep is a good unless you have an extended cab truck, then go 30'.

I agree if I ever build again 1 door per car. My 16' with a Jeep and Tahoe are lots of finis not do some damage to Mirrors. I have got too close before.

Paul

 

[onewheat]

One door per car - 8' x 9' on the left garage and 8' x 10' high bays on the right garage.

 

[Old Moparz]

New to this site...and looking for some advice. I'm limited on garage width (38'), depth could be up to 32' (probably go 28'). What would you guys do?? Here's what I'm thinking...

1) 2 - 16'w x 8'h doors
2) 3 - 10'w x 8'h doors
3) 1 - 18'w x 8'h door & 1 - 10'w x 8'h door

PS - this is an attached garage, and i'm open to other suggestions as well!

My 36' wide garage was originally planned as a 3 car layout with three individual doors, but I have two 16' wide doors instead & glad I went that way. If I did three doors, the approach angle driving into the door on the right wouldn't have worked since the right side of the garage is tucked a few feet behind my house. The 16' wide door allows me to pull the car in & out of the garage at a slight angle. Over all, the extra width of both doors is a plus because of the extra clearance.