Architectural question

[ejm1961Tbird]

I'm considering a 30'x60' garage with doors on one long wall.

Thinking about four 10'x10' overhead doors and one 3' man door.

One overhead door for entry to a paint booth. Two overhead doors to park cars (and each bay could eventually get a four-post lift to park a total of four cars in these two bays). The fourth overhead door would have a two-post lift.

Four overhead doors and four openers would add extra expense to the build, but I think I would be happy to have them. I live in a moderate climate, so if I bought good insulated doors, heating/cooling the space should not be affected too much. What are your thoughts on this arrangement? Thanks.

 

[ddawg16]

Why not 3 doors....with the middle being a 18x10? It will give you more options.

 

[ejm1961Tbird]

What did you have in mind for one 18x10 door versus two 10x10?

 

[ddawg16]

What did you have in mind for one 18x10 door versus two 10x10?

Have you ever tried to get something wider than 10' through a 10' door? And, it allows you to park something in the middle without having to juggle it around.

 

[ejm1961Tbird]

I guess I could put a wide four-post lift that would still allow for four cars in that 18x10 door. That would park the cars in a tighter space and give me more room by the paint booth and the two-post lift. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Chaz]

I'm not a fan of lotsa doors . They look crappy, are expensive, and create poor insulative properties. My 36 by 60 has one 9x12 door . I can move the cars around once they are inside. If you have 4 or 5 cars, most of em probably dont move that often. I know this is a minority opinion, But I had two 16 by 16 doors in my old shop, and never opened one of them. If you have lotsa doors your shop starts to look like a rental storage unit.

 

[ejm1961Tbird]

I definitely want to avoid the rental storage unit look!!! On the other hand, I also don't want it to look like a large warehouse box.

Your point about fewer doors for the sake of insulation is a good one. One of my other concerns about many doors in the long wall is structural integrity of the building -- it will have attic trusses and a second floor.

If you had to put doors on the long wall of a 30x60, what would you suggest? Thanks.

 

[Chaz]

Since you posed this as an architectural question, Thoughtful architecture can easily overcome the "large warehouse box" look you mention. I know I've posted this picture here before, but this building is near 90 feet long and doesn't look like a warehouse box.
There are certain types of large buildings that dont look like a home depot. Our choce was this monitor style barn.

 

[rarevair]

The number and placement of the doors kind of depends on how you are going to use the space. My main building is 160' x 35' with only two external garage doors, one 8 x 7 and another 9 x 7. I use the front 1/4 for my shop and the rest is for storage of finished cars, project cars and parts. With over a dozen collector cars registered and insured, I got tired of having to move three or four cars out, pulling out the one to drive, then putting the multiple cars back in.

So a couple of years ago, just after I retired, I built a 20' x40' x12' pole barn with two 16' doors on the same side. Now I have four spots for finished cars (five with the 4 post lift) that I can hop in fire up and drive without moving any other cars. This also opened an isle in the main garage so that no running car is blocked in.

For a working garage, I would suggest as few doors as possible . . . as storage for cars you should or would be moving often then more doors is handy. Not sure if having the paint booth open directly to the outside is a good idea. Others can chime in on that.

Both my building look like Wal*Marts . . . ;^)

 

[ejm1961Tbird]

Chaz - the building you posted is gorgeous. Thanks again.

Rarevair - my building will have to be for everything; working shop mainly, but also car storage. This is the reason I asked the question. Ideally, I would like as few doors as possible, but I also do not want to have to move stuff around to work or to take a car out. The paint booth will not open directly to the outside. The last 14' of the building will be walled off with a 10x10 door to the outside, but the paint booth will be inside this space. At least this is what I'm considering. Thanks.

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

MIne is 32x52 with (3) 10'x10' doors on the long side. With 15-8 ceilings inside, the outside looks proportional with that size door. I was shooting for a 32x72 with an additional wash bay but the budget got out of hand for that size and I settled for one that I could pay for.

It's still a nice size and I don't think it looks like a "rental storage unit". This shop will be used for general maintainance on the family cars, some parking and project space. The first bay will eventually have a 4 post storage lift, the center bay a 4 post working lift and the last a 2 post lift for most of the work that I will do.

 

[trackwelder]

I would go with at least a 12' wide door. It makes backing a trailer in much easier.

 

[ejm1961Tbird]

GeorgiaHybrid - I think your garage looks great! What I am thinking about is similar to yours. I have been planning for some time for a 30x48 with three 10x10 doors. I would also really like to have room for a paint booth, so now I'm considering a 30x60 building with a fourth door for that purpose. Thanks.

 

[nehog]

My 30x60 has two doors, both 16x10. I am very happy with the result, it looks good (not too busy.)

An advantage is that you can choose to come in the middle of the bigger doors and have a lot of work area on both sides, and bigger doors offer more flexibility in parking.

 

[ejm1961Tbird]

Sounds good Peter. Can you please show us a picture of your garage? Thanks.