32x32 garage build advice

[johnnyh55]

Hi,
I am looking at building a 32x32 garage and was thinking of having 2 10x10 garage doors but now I’m wondering is one big single door better? I would like to install a 2 post lift so if I go with one door I’m not sure where to place the lift. I also need to store a car in the winter, if i put it on wheel dolleys and move it sideways, would that leave enough room to keep both bays usable throughout the winter? And for the thickness of the slab that is required for the lift, do you pour the whole slab at that thickness or only where the lift posts will be installed?

 

[Kaizen]

Slab can go either way. I did all 6 inch. Took four years to crack.
Consider leaving three feet on each end so you can put shelves or tool boxes and still pull car in. The remaining six feet is the middle or increase ends to four feet. This gives you ability to have two lifts. One four post lift for storage. Wheel fillets that are good are stupid expensive.


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[CraigStu]

I have a single 16 door on a 28D x 32 wide. Works fine. You are thinking of yours as a two bay garage. I think of mine as a 3 bay garage. One bay for her and two for me. The door is about 3 ft from the left wall where the door to the kitchen is. Wife parks there and I usually drive in at a bit of an angle. But right now we have 3 cars in there. The one not being driven (admittedly it is small at 6'wide by 13' long) was backed in so I could get it close to the right wall. That way mine is in the middle parked at less of an angle just to give me a little extra room to open my door fully. You having 32 deep will be a real plus. I think I would put the lift close to centered and as far back as practical. that way you could move a car more easily to the right of the lift for your storage. One other possibility would be keep the lift closer to the front so your storage car could be cross ways parallel to the rear wall. 32 deep less a 7 foot wide car still leaves 25 feet

 

[Jking24]

Contrary to popular belief most lifts only require 4 inches of concrete which is what the average garage floor is. In my opinion anything over 4 is just wasted money unless your putting heat in the floor or something else that necessitates thicker concrete. My first lift only recommended a minimum of 3". As for the door you really need to think about your use to make that decision. The only thing i can add is ive seen alot of problems with the wider doors over the years. All headers will eventually sag a little and the longer the span the worse it gets. Sometimes leading to water problems. Also if your going to have a garage door opener. Ive seen alot of the wider doors bend and crack over time from the opener tugging on it during the first few inches of opening when the opener is essentially pulling straight back on the door. Despite ive pointed out a few negatives of the single door. A freind has a 32x28 with a single 12ft door and it works out pretty well because he usually doesn't store multiple vehicles in their and it gives him that much more wall for storage and bench area.