Detached Garage Questions/Build

[elchaseo]

Hello all,

Been lurking on this forum for a little while now but I think the time has come to finally start my detached garage, so this is my first post. So far I have it nailed down to 30x40 with 3 garage doors. Figured I'd try and keep this updated and use this thread to show the build and ask questions and/or opinions. One of the things I'm stuck on is I plan on driving thru the garage to park boats and what ever else in my back yard, I'm having a hard time deciding on size of doors. I have the architect drawing them 3 feet off the outer wall and have both at 14x14. I know I want to go 14 high but I am unsure of how wide so I've been going back and forth between 12 and 14 wide bc I'm not sure what will work best.

I also have a side door that I plan on using as an access to a vehicle lift in future (10x10 door).

What door size combos have worked for you guys? Thanks in advance

 

[65cayne]

Ask your self what are the drawbacks from going wider? Little more $$....a little less wall space.

My personal opinion would be to use the 12ft wide door. Your boat I assume will be no wider than 8ft including trailer. That gives you 2ft on either side which would be plenty given it is a drive through configuration (no maneuvering). If you had little space to move around and had to back in....then opt for the wider door.

 

[tomroblee]

I'm happy with a 18' wide and a 10' wide on my 36' x 48' barn, but I'm not parking a semi or motor home inside. In my opinion, 14' is too narrow for two cars or trucks side by side. How wide of a vehicle are you wanting to put in (or through) the garage?

With doors like what is shown in your drawing, you need to make sure that the door tracks and/or opener on one door doesn't interfere with the door tracks on the other door. Look at the specs on several different lifts to make sure that you are allowing ample room in your plan. Building are typically sized by outside dimensions. You say that your building will be 30' wide with a 12' or 14' door spaced 3' from the outside wall. That wouldn't leave a very deep bay for your eventual lift.

 

[North Run Grader]

What is your location? You'll be asked for at least a state or province so people have a general idea of your weather conditions and codes, etc.

Take a look in your local commercial or industrial areas to see the scale of just how big overhead doors are. 14 feet width would be the minimum for an industrial shop, but for just a pick up and boat, it's huge. Measure you largest item to the outside of the mirrors and add at least a foot.

In my area with huge average snowfalls and cold temperatures, each time a big door opens, you can literally see money floating out. In Florida, no big deal, unless you are air conditioning that space. Also in my area, I'd almost never put an overhead door under the eaves. Having seen tons of snow slide off a roof, I wouldn't have anything valuable under there, Florida, no big deal.

Your man door should be closest to the back door of your house, or where you will 95% of the time enter. If you have a flow through garage, no long term immobile projects should ever block that path. Things to keep in mind, easiest to spend time now planning then spent money later changing.

With that flow through bay, if you move the doors inward a bit, you could have a long wall of pallet racks and incorporated benches. 40 feet long, 3 feet deep and 16 feet high would lave you with just a rolling toolbox and parts cart in the working bay, and no clutter, if you can stand the sight of all that open shelving.

If you plan it right, you can have a mezzanine in the back left corner for office, play room, etc, plan it now and you can build it later when the budget recovers.

 

[elchaseo]

The boat is pulled by an f-250 so I believe either door will be fine. Sorry I haven't updated my profile yet, kinda slid that to the back burner lol. I am located in Charlotte County which is southwest Florida. I do plan on adding a mezzanine later which was kind of my thought on leaving the doors staggered to one side. I figured the doors pushed off 3 feet would give me enough room for a good size bench down the wall and storage for sheets of plywood or whatever else.

As far as door heights, for the 10'x10' door I had planned on going with a track higher than the opening (if that makes sense?) so there isn't so much bracing to bring the track down 6 feet. That door height isn't really set in stone so it may end up being a bigger door by the time this is done.

As far as the lift I do realize that it is outside dimensions, so that should still leave me with 28' for a lift if I pull in from the smaller door (10x10). Tomroblee, are you saying hold the 10x10' door further off so I can move around better?

 

[tomroblee]

I'm sorry if I didn't make myself clear. I'm not recommending any changes in your plan if you are happy with it. All I am saying is that you should draw in the garage door tracks and openers in you drawings (both floor plan and elevation) just to make sure that there is no interference. There would be less of a chance of interference if you use jack shaft openers.

I'm assuming that you are thinking of a two post lift because the back posts of a four post lift would protrude into your drive through bay(s). You also need to consider that having a vehicle of any size in your lift bay will block the use of your drive through bay(s) and vice versa. Will this be a problem for you or some future owner?

You mention having an architect draw the plans. I'm assuming that an architect will have to factor in wind loads in Florida hurricane zones. Have you asked your architect whether the door sizes or locations will have any major impact on construction costs?

 

[TerryH]

Are you planning on parking vehicle side by side utilizing the 14' doors? That opening seems too narrow if that is the plan. Conversely if that is not the plan then the opening seems wider than it needs to be if you are just pulling the boat through. I also have a 30'x40' with 3 overhead doors but my doors are on the 40' sides. I have 2 - 9' doors in the front with one in the rear so I could take advantage of that same pull through idea when I had my boat. Super nice not to have to back in. I chose the 9' doors to preserve as much wall space as possible and never had a clearance issue with the trailer. I have man doors both front and rear and 2 windows on 1 end. I use the rear door to park our enclosed trailer now as we've moved from boats to drag racing. I use the wall space by the doors for my tool boxes, metal working bench, welder and storage. Pics for reference.

 

[matt_i]

One thing..by putting a garage door edge super close to an outside wall, that wall is essentially "lost" as far as any deep shelving, lest it interfere with the vehicle/trailer passing thru. This goes for any garage, drive thru or not.

You might want to space the edge of the frame 3-4 feet back from the outside wall if any kind of storage is intended there.

As far as the door path intersecting from the other side, I think there is not enough width to park a road vehicle and keep the main thru-pathway open. IOW, 30' - 14' is around 16' left. You'd probably want around 25' to be able to park a truck there and keep the path open, add another 3-4' if storage shelving is intended...

 

[elchaseo]

Thanks guys. These are all good suggestions. There really will not be any cars stored in there permanently, maybe in the event of a big storm there will be a couple stored inside.

Yes the lift will be a two post, sorry I didn't clarify that. The architect is going to draw up the plan showing all the doors and lift and he will have to factor in all the wind ratings to meet local building codes. I will have to submit a variance for the building due to its size, so this entire plan could get squashed and I may have to shrink the thing down anyway.

I do realize the drive thru portion will be blocked when something is on the lift, I should have enough room to drive in-between my house and the garage in the event a project or repair is taking a bit longer than anticipated.

I do think I will make a change to the 10x10 door and move it over a few more feet in order to clear the wall and/or bench that will be there. This should help when working around a vehicle so I wont be pinned against a wall.

I wish I could go wider but if start going larger than 30 feet I start covering the front of my house. The 30x40 will leave me with about 15' feet in-between the garage and the house.

 

[LightningBG]

Is there a particular reason you want the smaller door perpendicular to the other doors?

Would something like this work?

 

[AK737]

Here's mine. 40x54. 15 foot walls. Two 14x14 doors. Three man doors. 14x40 for loft across the back.

I love the 14 foot wide doors! So glad I did the 14s and not the 12s. A big consideration for your door size is the driveway approach. Is it straight in? Or curved? You want to make it easy on yourself to back a trailer in and out. Keep in mind how much the vehical has to swing when backing up.

It also gives you room to cheat left or right when you drive in and park.

AK

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=518326&stc=1&d=1453338274

 

[Cyberbear]

In my 2800 sq/ft shop I use two 36" exterior steel man doors, one 8 x 8, one 10 x 10, and a 10 x 16 steel commercial roll-up door. These have been in operation since 1995 and have worked very well for me. Except for the wash/toilet room, I also use steel doors on my interior store room and office for security purposes with alarm switches at each opening.

 

[elchaseo]

Is there a particular reason you want the smaller door perpendicular to the other doors?

Would something like this work?

The reason for the door being perpendicular is to pull in for a lift that will be added. The two doors in front would work but the telephone box and water meter would probably have to get relocated and I think that would be a pretty penny.

 

[maxpower_hd]

The telephone box and water meter? Where are they now? They aren't installed yet are they? Maybe I missed something.

The bigger the door the better if you ask me unless you need the wall space. It's way bigger than my 24x28 so to me wall space doesn't seem like it would be an issue from my side of the fence.

I've been researching retirement possibilities in the Port Charlotte area. Compared to where I am it seems you can get a lot of house for your money. But I did notice in the areas I was looking near or on the canals the lots seem very small with no room for such a shop. Are you more inland? Just curious. Not to hijack your thread but are there any neighborhoods I should automatically scratch off my list? I was mainly looking in areas close to the beach and mostly ones with canal access to the bay but not totally necessary. Thanks.

 

[aknawful]

Mine is 30x40 with three 10 foot doors. Love it!

 

[elchaseo]

The telephone box and water meter? Where are they now? They aren't installed yet are they? Maybe I missed something.

The bigger the door the better if you ask me unless you need the wall space. It's way bigger than my 24x28 so to me wall space doesn't seem like it would be an issue from my side of the fence.

I've been researching retirement possibilities in the Port Charlotte area. Compared to where I am it seems you can get a lot of house for your money. But I did notice in the areas I was looking near or on the canals the lots seem very small with no room for such a shop. Are you more inland? Just curious. Not to hijack your thread but are there any neighborhoods I should automatically scratch off my list? I was mainly looking in areas close to the beach and mostly ones with canal access to the bay but not totally necessary. Thanks.

Yes the meter and box are already there. I purchased 30 feet of a lot from my neighbor so that is where the garage is going.

As far as lots with canals they are a standard lot and they really don't have the space for an accessory structure unless you purchase 2 joining lots. I guess you could call my house more inland. I'm right off US 41 pretty much right in the middle of Port Charlotte. The beach in Port Charlotte isn't really that nice so if the wife wants to go we usually go out to Englewood which is about 30 minutes away and worth the drive. Are you looking on the water because you have a boat? You can get way more house/property if you are able to trailer your boat...there are plenty of ramps with good parking. I personally drive to Lashley Marina in Punta Gorda to launch. For neighborhoods to cross off, I'd avoid anything near Easy st./Conway area. There are some nice houses but a lot of them are older smaller homes that are kind of run down, some of the areas I guess you could call rough. Have you looked in North Port? There is lots of property and newer houses, I'm not sure how plentiful canal lots are there

 

[maxpower_hd]

I do have a boat but probably not the one I would end up moving down there with. I plan to buy a different one when the time comes. And yes I agree there would be more options for less money if I were to go inland. Plus wifey wants a pool too so maybe the cost for that would be offset by not being on the water itself.

Thanks for the tips. I forgot to check back after the post a while back and lost track of it. I have been looking in North Port and it looks pretty nice. We were thinking of taking a vacation and actually looking at some of the houses for sale to better see the neighborhoods. We are still at least a couple of years away from making a decision so it's just research right now.

Good luck with the garage build.

 

[elchaseo]

Is there a particular reason you want the smaller door perpendicular to the other doors?

Would something like this work?

So I got some stuff from the architect, and it was exactly how I originally had it. But after buying a new boat and not wanting to mess with the cover every time we take it out I think I am going to do something like LightningBG suggested. I still want to stick with 30x40x16 and keep the doors on the 30 side.

The boat is 22ft pontoon with an 8'6" beam and I would like to park that in the drive thru section so it can be moved to the backyard if more garage space is needed. The other door will house the automotive lift. I am still having some issues selecting door sizes that are functional for this size garage. What do you guys think?

 

[Crazy68Dart]

About all I can offer is that you should not waste wall space if you don't have to. So, I would think about the largest item to get through and size accordingly.

Mine is 36x30 and I ended up with a 16' wide and 10' wide. The 10' bay will have a lift some day, and I went with the slightly wider than "standard" residential sized door to give some wiggle room with lift placement and car entry.

You can get two medium sized vehicles through a 14' door. But it is tight.

 

[elchaseo]

I still like the idea of the drive thru doors being 14x14 and the lift door being 10x10 but I think I will run out of space and have to shrink the 14x14 to maybe 12w x 14h and the other door to roughly 8 or 9 wide. I figured I could hold the doors off either side just shy of 3'. the only thing I worry about then is having the lift close to the wall and pinning myself with no room to work.