We had a fire two weeks that destroyed our garage and 2/3 of our home. I was hospitalized for two days, but everyone is fine. At this point, we’re making plans to rebuild, which is the reason for this post. My wife is concentrating on the house and I’m focusing on the garage. I’d like to solicit ideas, drawings, and or photos from VMF members to help me design something. We had a two-car garage; I’m going to expand it by several bays. Your help is appreciated; I figure I would ask the experts and do it right.
Garage Plans
- Thread starter PonyCar
- Start date
Craig Balzer
Well-known member
Pony
Glad to hear that no-one was (seriously) injured. A 2-day stay in a hospital is nothing to sneeze at. The rest is just stuff and can be replaced.
As to your request for ideas, you don't give much to go on:
1. What do you do in the garage? Wood work? Car work? Speed boat repair? just storage?
2. Assuming you work on cars, what kind of work? Basic tune-ups/oil changes? Frame off restorations? Body and paint work?
3. You're looking for ideas on 3-4 bay garages, but how many cars?
4. Are you an accomplished mechanist/mechanic (with your own lathe, lift, blast cabinet, compressor, drill press, etc) or a weekend warrior with a tool box holding only hand tools)?
5. Will the garage be only for cars or will you need to cough up space for washer/dryer, second refrigerator, stand up freezer, lawn care equipment, lawn furniture, etc?
And finally, take a look at the Garage Gallery. You can spend literally hours on the details provided on everything from a 16x24 one-car garage to 100’x60’ machine shop-in-a-backyard. You will find great ideas on cabinet design and positioning, floor covering, arrangement of equipments, mobile vs static tool chests, decoration, garage doors, and lighting. There is hardly a facet of garage building/design/usage that hasn’t been touched on
Glad to hear that no-one was (seriously) injured. A 2-day stay in a hospital is nothing to sneeze at. The rest is just stuff and can be replaced.
As to your request for ideas, you don't give much to go on:
1. What do you do in the garage? Wood work? Car work? Speed boat repair? just storage?
2. Assuming you work on cars, what kind of work? Basic tune-ups/oil changes? Frame off restorations? Body and paint work?
3. You're looking for ideas on 3-4 bay garages, but how many cars?
4. Are you an accomplished mechanist/mechanic (with your own lathe, lift, blast cabinet, compressor, drill press, etc) or a weekend warrior with a tool box holding only hand tools)?
5. Will the garage be only for cars or will you need to cough up space for washer/dryer, second refrigerator, stand up freezer, lawn care equipment, lawn furniture, etc?
And finally, take a look at the Garage Gallery. You can spend literally hours on the details provided on everything from a 16x24 one-car garage to 100’x60’ machine shop-in-a-backyard. You will find great ideas on cabinet design and positioning, floor covering, arrangement of equipments, mobile vs static tool chests, decoration, garage doors, and lighting. There is hardly a facet of garage building/design/usage that hasn’t been touched on
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SILVERPLATE
Well-known member
astroracer
Well-known member
Glad to hear you are okay. I couldn't imagine going through something like that...
Check out the Grizzly Workshop Planner...
http://images.grizzly.com/shopplanner/resources/shopplanner.aspx
It is pretty cool and the sizes of the equipment and benches is adjustable.
Once you get it loaded up it will give you a total cost for equipment from the Grizzly site.
Mark
Check out the Grizzly Workshop Planner...
http://images.grizzly.com/shopplanner/resources/shopplanner.aspx
It is pretty cool and the sizes of the equipment and benches is adjustable.
Once you get it loaded up it will give you a total cost for equipment from the Grizzly site.
Mark
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
However big you build it, make it large enough to accomodate a small bathroom. If it is two car now (24 x 24) I would at least expand out to 28 x 36 minimum. The extra 4' at the end of the garage makes a huge difference in working. And you want a garage large enough that you can pull in two fullsize two door cars and open all the doors as far as they go and still have room to walk around and in between. That is for the minimum size. As far as the maximum size......everyone knows that there is no such thing as a maximum size to a garage.
Unless your county has a limit...but if they don't, go as big as you can afford!Kevin54 said:That is for the minimum size. As far as the maximum size......everyone knows that there is no such thing as a maximum size to a garage.
I wanted to follow up on my original post related to rebuilding my garage. I’ve been busy trying to deal with my insurance company and contractors, which is why it has taken awhile to get back to this.
My original structure was a two car garage approximately 24’ X 28”.
I currently have four vehicles that are driven on a daily basis by family members, so I planned on garage space for each of these. I also have a 1970 Mustang Mach 1 which is driven very little and lost a 1967 Mustang Fastback in the fire that I am going to replace eventually. The garage not being used for daily drivers will be utilized for auto restoration work with all the tools associated with it. I am far from being anywhere near a professional, but I do enjoy it as a hobby.
The width of the garage will be expanded from 28’ to 31’ in order to tie into an addition on the house. What I am unsure of how to plan is the length. I am thinking I need four bays with doors for the daily drivers. I’m also think I need two bys for restoration work that I can potentially subdivide with a wall and door from the remaining portion of the garage. With the 31’ width, I think I will have enough room to store a vehicle that isn’t driven often lengthwise against the rear wall and still be able to pull a car into the garage. So technically I will have room for six or seven cars in this four bay area.
I’d like you input on what I should design based on my needs. Not only the design of the building itself but also how to lay out the interior, wiring, etc.. The contractor is working on rebuilding the house and won’t start on the garage for a few months, so I have time to dream, plan, and design. My other question is would you design a six bay garage with six doors or would you put three double doors on it or would you design something completely different?
Thanks for your help.
My original structure was a two car garage approximately 24’ X 28”.
I currently have four vehicles that are driven on a daily basis by family members, so I planned on garage space for each of these. I also have a 1970 Mustang Mach 1 which is driven very little and lost a 1967 Mustang Fastback in the fire that I am going to replace eventually. The garage not being used for daily drivers will be utilized for auto restoration work with all the tools associated with it. I am far from being anywhere near a professional, but I do enjoy it as a hobby.
The width of the garage will be expanded from 28’ to 31’ in order to tie into an addition on the house. What I am unsure of how to plan is the length. I am thinking I need four bays with doors for the daily drivers. I’m also think I need two bys for restoration work that I can potentially subdivide with a wall and door from the remaining portion of the garage. With the 31’ width, I think I will have enough room to store a vehicle that isn’t driven often lengthwise against the rear wall and still be able to pull a car into the garage. So technically I will have room for six or seven cars in this four bay area.
I’d like you input on what I should design based on my needs. Not only the design of the building itself but also how to lay out the interior, wiring, etc.. The contractor is working on rebuilding the house and won’t start on the garage for a few months, so I have time to dream, plan, and design. My other question is would you design a six bay garage with six doors or would you put three double doors on it or would you design something completely different?
Thanks for your help.
atch
Well-known member
i've had two houses with 16' garage doors and hated both of them. if i ever get the chance to build a garage i'll only use 9' (or 10') single doors. to get a car larger than a go-kart through a 16' door you have to head towards the middle and then angle towards the far corner. then there's not much room to get your doors open without dinging the other car.PonyCar said:
chet
Well-known member
I'm not sure I know what you mean. Do you mean 8' doors? I've never had problems with 16' wide doors.