Dimensions for my New Garage

[ErVikingo]

Gents,

I'm working with my architect on the blueprints for my new garage & house. The garage will be split into 2 garages (L shaped) with a workshop on the corner.

One garage must accept my enclosed trailer (total length 28feet) and 2 cars end to end (plus one on a lift). The other garage is for daily use and must accept a truck (Avalanche currently), a sedan (Lexus currently), a coupe (911) and an old 1947 Caddy series 62.

I must also find some space to put my two bikes. I want it all to be accesible.

So far I thought of going with a 30 by 25 on the trailer one, a 15 x 24 workshop and a 45 x 25 for the other garage. Ideas????

 

[OI812]

I was kind of thinking about 1 acre for your garage. Thats over 40,000 sq ft. It should all be accesible then . Your dimensions didn't seem to bad to me. Why not post some pics of the blue prints. You will probably get more advice with pics.

 

[ErVikingo]

I'll scan the sketches and post them. I wish I could get a 1 acre garage ! Its an enclosed community with a very strict association. I got 1.25 acres with a 60% coverage limit.

Thanks !

 

[sca037]

A 2235 SqFt Garage is a nice start ;-7

When I designed our house & garage, I took measurements at the track of the enclosed trailers road racers were using to haul their hardware with. The overall lengths (including tongue) are easy enough to discern, but the heights were another story. I decided that 16' x 8'9" high doors would work for most of the trailers we might need in the future, but some would have required a much taller door. If your Association will allow you to build a bay with a "motorhome" door, then your height concerns should be nil. Also, make sure that the apron & driveway approach to the garage is fairly constant, because a few degrees of pitch change while backing in will result in several inches of deflection causing the height demands to vary significantly.

Post a floorplan if you can!
Brian

 

[ErVikingo]

Here's one of the latests drafts. I appreciate your ideas:

 

[sca037]

That helps a lot!

Here's one of the latests drafts. I appreciate your ideas:

OK, since your larger garage is a side entry setup I see why you designed the smaller (but deeper) garage space for trailer ingress / egress / storage. Just make sure that the slope of the driveway is fairly constant, or at least plateaus somewhat as it approaches the 'storage' garage. If your trailer's overall length is really 28' (including the tongue) I would encourage you to give yourself a bigger margin than a 30' bay depth. What are the ceiling and door heights you're considering for that bay? If you could get 12' or more, that would help with both trailer and lift clearance issues........

Looking good
Brian

 

[ErVikingo]

I agree on the notes of the slope, our plan is that the driveway will be flat once you get to the motorcourt area. As to garage doors, I'm awaiting confirmation from the Condo to see if I can go with 12 footers as I want to allow me plenty of space and also for ventilation purposes when working on the cars.

I must agree that I should allow additional depth for the trailer. The actual total length (including the tongue) is 27' 3 " and then, who knows if I end up with a larger trailer later on. The condo does not allow any trailers except if they are inside "closed" garages.

The biggest concern is that construction costs in So Florida are sky high and my budget has been WAAAY overblown on the project.

I gather that I'll change the main garage to a 45 * 25 and the trailer to a 24 * 32. You think that's enough for the trailer?

By the way, saw pics of your race car, pretty nice !!! I gather you do SCCA? I run HSR, SVRA, SCCA Vintage, NASA and Porsche Club.

Would like to hear more about your race car.

Cheers, Juan

 

[ErVikingo]

FYI, I'm considering doors of this type (bi-fold) since they'll allow more clearance inside for the lifts.

http://bifold.com/specialty/index.cfm

www.jonkman.com/bifold.html

Ideas?

 

[rnbradford]

I am certainly no expert in construction, but it seems to me that it would be almost as cheap to make that workshop match the width of your larger garage and the depth of your smaller garage. You will need the same amount of exterior wall in either case but you will end up with more square feet. Of course, there might be some ascetic or architectural reason for not just extending the walls rather than making two extra exterior and two extra interior corners. Just a thought.
Richard

 

[sca037]

I am certainly no expert in construction, but it seems to me that it would be almost as cheap to make that workshop match the width of your larger garage and the depth of your smaller garage. You will need the same amount of exterior wall in either case but you will end up with more square feet. Of course, there might be some ascetic or architectural reason for not just extending the walls rather than making two extra exterior and two extra interior corners. Just a thought.
Richard

Richard makes an excellent point.........
I've always been of the form-follows-function design philosophy, and it caused me to find another Architect to finalize my computer-based plans because he wanted to add a bunch of superfluous claptrap [/] rantmodeoff [/]
I've found a 20' (box size) trailer to be about ideal for getting into cramped paddocks and still being large enough once you're there.....YMMV. We have a fairly large sports racer (CSR- see more info here: www.shelbycanam.com) but haven't raced it since we built our place 2+ years ago. When we come back, I'm thinkin' that Vintage might be the hot ticket....since coincidentally there are a few SCA guys in Florida that run 'em with < I believe > HSR and are having a blast.
A 32' depth would certainly make me feel more confident in getting your current trailer in there easily, and would still allow you room to walk behind it once parked. I can imagine that with the last few storm seasons down there that Floridians have to build to bomb shelter standards now, eh?

Brian
(so Juan, is the 911 your race car?)

 

[ErVikingo]

Richard,

thanks for that observation. The reason right now is actually to reduce square footage. The house is currently at 6000 and the garage complex is approx 2000. I must agree with you though that the incremental cost should me minimal to "square it all off" and the benefits would be super. Thanks,

Brian,

My trailer is a 22' box (aluminumtrailer.com) made entirely (except for the axles, the pintle and the tires) of aluminum. Its quite awesome and weighs in at 2500#'s.

CSR's are quite cool. I did FF for a while and F Renault as a youngster. Vintage is quite cool, I have not seen CSR's in HSR but I believe they run them on SCCA Vintage which is quite active locally.

I'm going with the 32' depth you suggest. Bomb proof buildings its correct......

Oh yeah the 911 is my race car see pic of it in process below and the rest of the stable: