30x50 vs 40x40?

[BellyUpFish]

Ok, so I've been getting quotes for a new shop.. Just got a quote for a 30x50 for $87,000 but that is a story for another thread..

Which would you rather have? a 30x50 or a 40x40? I was all set for a 30x50, but lately, I'm leaning towards the 40x40..

 

[antinym]

depends on your needs and planned setup. 30 foot deep would be harder to store 2 cars deep. If you consider creating separate rooms 30' might be harder to divvy up. And of course 1600>1500sqft. Seems I'm suggesting the 40x40...

 

[BellyUpFish]

Yeh, it seems that way..

Plan is to have a 4 post lift to store cars, but if I go 40x40, I could almost skip the 4 post and get a more "usable" 2 post.

 

[Kevin54]

Pics Belly.....we need pics. Do you have an overhead aerial shot of your house. I can see either one having it's advantages over the other, but you also want to consider how it would look on the property.

I could, and maybe will here shortly take a couple pics of the garages the next road over. One is a brand new pole barn, but it is in the guys front yard, and the other is a mammoth huge gambrel roof barn that takes up the guys complete property in the rear. Another just built a 4 car garage that does look decent where it's at, and the last one is when the houses being built had restrictions. A sort of Country style HOA. The guy wanted to build a separate detached garage but was not allowed, so he added a garage on the opposite end of his house from his other garage.

So you want to stand back and look at the aesthetics of things along with the size. Stand back and take a pic of your house, then overlay a paper with a scaled size of the garages you are considering. Do it both from the front of the house, possibly what you see coming down the road, and lay it out on an aerial shot.

My garage is 28x36 with a 6' overhang front and one side. I wanted a space to work one side of the garage so my garage doors (2) 9x7's) are offset to one side.

If I were to do it over today, I would have turned the garage 90 degrees so I could have had a lift in the back corner. But at the time, I did what was affordable to us, never thinking about life changes, like going on disability, so my needs have changed. So you want to look ahead some also. But I can change my mind worse than a woman at times too.

 

[sberry]

Ideally doors are on a gable end. A 40 is too short for end to end and a 30 is narrow for side by side as it reduces the running space along the wall to near useless. 40x40 is good for 2 cars and the tools up front with enough room along walls to pull a mower in or park a bike or put a toolbox/bench etc.
If there ever is a place to break some budget here is it. go 40 x50 and it starts getting pretty respectable and really adds little to the cost but really boosts the usable room. Put the hoist up front, 2 doors in a gable end and drive thru to the hoist.

 

[Iroc-Z]

My shop is 40 deep and the only way you could park double deep is to have two smaller cars and nothing on the front wall. Wish I would have went 50 deep so I could have double parked. As to your dilemma it a toss up to me. I can see the positives and negatives of both. How many garage doors do you plan on having? Also what size doors. What wall did you want the doors on?

 

[BellyUpFish]

Kevin- no pics, as it's just a plot of land. Waiting on a house and shop.

I'm still sorting out doors, etc. Brainstorming in a big way.

 

[RacerRick]

My shop is 40x40 and I love it. I can park two cars double deep and still have room for pallet racking, but it is tight and the cars are nose to tail. The cars I tried it with are a 67' Plymouth and an 87' Olds - neither one small cars.

 

[LWW]

40x50. Mine is 30x26 with a planned 30x40 addon and I'd rather have 40x50 but house location on the lot and distance to the property line forced my hand. Cars park in the front and workshop is in the back with a 14' "drive-thru" on the far bay that keeps the 3 bay "parking" side separate from the workshop side.

Here's the diabolical plan:

 

[dw1]

http://www.goldennumber.net/what-is-phi/

30x48.5
It's just looks correct in your head when you see it.

There's a difference between built and engineered and created.
It's in my head different, maybe no one elses, but this rule rules projects for me.
It puts the mind at ease. It allows for a comfortable 2,4,6,8 thing in your head like music.

I'm no crystal hugger. This is the aesthetic of numbers.

I wasnt quite sure of the size I wanted, 30x50 or 40x50- I could not go 40x50 as it would be bigger than the house I have on this lot, after talking to the pole barn supplier, he suggested 30x48 for cost. Another company I got a price from raised the price considerably for 40' trusses? I didnt think it would have made that much difference? I did not go with them.

 

[Bib Overalls]

When I was planing my shop one of the suppliers I talked with told me a 30' width was the point where you got the most truss for your money. I built 30' x 40' and I am happy with what I have. With the 50' length you have the option of building a room at the back for engine work, machine shop, or something similar. Gets hot in Alabama as I recall. You might find a need for an air conditioned work area with storage on top.

 

[sz0k30]

One of the 1st things you need to do is determine what are you going to be using it for.

I'm a car guy, so my primary goal was to set it up for cars and a hoist. Before I started (& I'm lucky enough that my job was as an auto designer on a CAD system), I did scale layouts of the cars (including with the doors open), the 2 post lift, workbench, toolchest, welder, compressor, table saw, lawnmower, shelves and whatever else I had that was going to fit my needs.

A big factor that came in to the location and layout of my barn was my property (long, narrow & hilly) and I basically had only one spot and one orientation for the barn.

So mine is 32 wide X 48 long with 2 10 X10 foot doors on the gable end.

Attached are 2 images that need to be put together to show my layout.

One of the things I really wanted was room for 4 cars and the ability to open the doors wide while working on them without worrying about hitting the doors or the other cars and lots of room around the cars. I have it.

Like other guys said 40' long might be tight for 2 vehicle end to end.

Get some 1/4" graph paper and use a scale of lets say 1/4" per foot and start measuring & laying things out. The only sure way to get what you want & need.

 

[Catadj78]

I would go 40x40.

I am in the process of same build. Very slow as I am working by myself now.

I put a 12x20 office fishing room. 12' on gable end. 2 10x8 garage doors on same gable end.

1 8x8 door on right eave side.

Leaves me 28x40 roughly wide open. I plan on more woodworking than anything though

 

[OldracerJones]

I have a 30 x 50 and rarely need greater depth. The width comes in handy on a regular basis.

 

[SALIV8]

I drew up so many different setups on graph paper. This is the final design I came up with and it works for me. 30' x 48'

 

[sanddan]

In my area, 12' must be the magic number. Most pole buildings are built on 12' wide bays, mine started out 36X48. I added a 15' bay to the end for motorhome parking so it's now 36X63. I had a hard time finding someone who would do the 15' addition as most only wanted to do 12'. I still wish it was bigger (I've been it over 20 years now so getting filled up). Also, go at least 14' eves as you will need the extra height for lifts and storage lofts down the rode.

 

[Ray916MN]

Although ideally doors should be placed on gable ends, what you get with the 30x50 dimensions is the ability to have 2 two car garage doors in a wall which will allow you to pull 4 vehicles directly in and out without having to end to end park. This arrangement also provides a boat load of ventilation with the doors open.

To achieve the same level of convenient access for vehicles in the 40x40 you would place a two car and single car door on one side of the building and a single car door on the back end of one of the adjoining walls. This layout allows 4 cars to directly be pulled in and out and allows for end to end parking in the back of the garage as long as the two cars are less than 40' together. This provides the potential for even better ventilation with all the doors open.

Either of these layouts allow 4 car parking without any end to end parking. The tradeoff is the driveway access. In the 30x50 you have driveway on one side of the building, in the 40x40 you need to have driveway on one side and an access drive for an adjoining side. You also get the ability to park 5 cars on the floor with the 40x40 layout.

I hate end to end parking and believe it is important to avoid it. The worst thing for vehicles that don't get regularly run is starting and running them for short periods of time. I would pick the largest layout which minimizes the need to park end to end based on your ability to make the driveway access work with your site.

 

[RPH]

Once over 30 foot width the cost of trusses goes up dramatically. It's easier and cheaper to add length than width. There is a host of pole barn planners on the net. Play with them and you can see the cost difference yourself. I went with 30'x72'.

 

[BellyUpFish]

Well, as it stands right now, it'll be a 30x56x14..

 

[FFRKing]

30x50x12. Overhead doors are both 10x10. There is 10' from the end to the first door and 16' from the second door to the other end for a work area.

 

[Edelbroke]

I built a 40x60 shop myself with the help of some friends and family. 2x6 walls 12ft high. With a 1200 sq ft 20x60x8' attic. I would go with as big as a building as you can afford. I thought i'd have tons of room, I don't. Its full...
The semi aerial photo shots are from standing on the top rungs of the 100' ladder truck I bought to stand the walls and set the trusses.

 

[BellyUpFish]

I'd like to build mine to save a little cash, but it's just not going to happen, so I'll come off the wallet.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Well, as it stands right now, it'll be a 30x56x14..

Heck, this is the GJ, go with a 40x60.

 

[Diesel Dan]

When my crewcab is in the shed I wish it was 32' deep at a minimum.

 

[Shadowdog500]

I have a 30x52 and really like the dimentions. I can easily park two deep while working on stuff, and can stuff the cars in three deep when needed. I keep my motorhome on the one side full time.

40'x40' would give you an extra 100 sq ft of room but I. Not sure if I would want to give up the depth.

Why don't you draw out both layouts and use dimentional cutouts to place things in the garage shapes (leaving plenty of room to work around the lift) and see which works best for you. You can do the same on a computer.

My wife wanted a porch on ours for when we BBQ, that was a great addition, it gives me shelter from the rain and a table to put stuff on when unlocking the door. It also gives me a place to hang out when having beers and BSing Ith friends. It is also a great place to calm down and regroup when a project isn't going well.

Here are photos of mine.











One of the guys at work built a copy of my building on his propery, he had room to access the building from the side so he has a larhe door on the end for pulling his Motorhome and cars in, but has a door on the side of the far end that acts as a service bay with a lift. If I had room to access my shop from the side I would strongly consider this configuration so you never have to worry about having to move stuff around to get to your lift. I've seen garages cluttered to the point that you can't get to the lift, so it can happen.

Here is a drawing of my friends layout.

Chris

 

[sberry]

shadow, I like that, good use of space, good lift location, covered side entrance makes it work, more doors just takes away more wall.

 

[sberry]

I like yrs for simple vs the side door version. 1 less door is ok and would trade it for a larger door easy. Some of this depends on climate of course but the pull in/out factor is rather minor for diy.