Starting from scratch

[BehanCS]

Hey all,

I have been planning to build a garage since I bought my house but one thing lead to another and one wedding and 2 home additions later I'm finally allowed to get my garage

I am looking to keep all of my mechanics tools and some carpentry tools (when I don't need them for work) as well as my truck (4 door long bed) and my wifes car (full size suv).

I will mainly be using the garage for storage, parking, to service and maintain our vehicles, to work on but not store (i have a shed) our lawn and garden equipment, and things of that nature.

I had lofty goals of building something exciting with a traditional foundation and stick framing but that's out the window. Time and money is better placed in a pole barn. Hire it out get it done and enjoy.

I come here to ask my fellow garage junkies if I am on the right path. I know mostly what I want for a layout but I know I could benefit greatly from some of your input. The things I have set in stone is a side exit 36x80 door and 2 overhead doors in the front for where I will drive in from the driveway. I was thinking 10 foot doors but am open to suggestion.

For overall dimensions I was going with 24 wide by 28 long by 10 foot high. This is the number one area I would love to hear some input from people that have similar sizes as well as pole barn experts that might know how to tweak the numbers to get the best bang for the buck.

I genuinely appreciate any input!!

 

[78SC4X4]

There are a number of ways to construct a pole building. What I've seen from east and central states are poles on 8' centers with trusses on 24" sitting on header boards. In my area, the poles tend to be set further apart and the trusses are only placed at the poles. With this construction method a 12' span on a pole building is typically the most economical. 14' is less so but at 16' price goes up because the girts have to be reinforced to prevent sagging. A decent pole structure company should be willing to sit down with you and discuss your options and price impacts.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Measure your longest vehicle. Add 15' to it. There's your bay length. Take the width of all your vehicles combined. Add 5' per vehicle, plus 5 more feet, there's your width. Take it from a girl who only gave herself 4'more per vehicle and didn't add any extra in.

 

[BehanCS]

Thank you for the input so far!! I'm definitely trying to balance between garage size for practical use and without losing too much of my yard as well. My truck is crew cab long bed. Comes in right below 22 foot. As a carpenter and someone starting a family I dont think I'd ever drive another style vehicle. So I know I need some length there for that.

 

[CraigStu]

Since one is a big pickup and other full size suv, the 24 width is going to be really minimal.
I suggest you mock up those dimensions w/ posts and string or 2 other vehicles, and see how it will work. Also at those dimensions whether they are inside or outside will be important. A 24 outside width will be just a couple inches over 23 inside. Also figure where your wife will park so she has an easy job to get groceries into the house. How does the rear door on the SUV open? And when kids arrive, how will carrying them and all the associated **** to the suv in the winter or while raining and the garage door is closed work out.

 

[BehanCS]

Craigstu fantastic points I genuinely appreciate. I am already thinking I am gonna have to cheat the width wider

 

[Jeff Ivers]

One of the "standard" sizes for pole barns in this area is 36 by 36. For what you want to do, I think I would be looking at that size.

 

[Kaizen]

If you can 36x36 would be great. Or even 30x36. If you can do 12 foot walls. Gives extra height for ladders and to hang/store. Mine is 30x36 and now I’m just trying to shoehorn my stuff into it. Don’t even park there and out of room


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[BehanCS]

As much as I would love to go 36 by 36. I think I'd be over stepping my boundaries on size. We have gardens, chicken, and host a lot of barbeques and I think my wife would have my head if i took up that size footprint.

 

[pmiranda]

Are you going to insulate and finish the interior? If so, I see over and over that people that start out with a pole building end up thinking they should have stick built in the first place with all the extra framing they ended up adding between the posts.

 

[MSPoirier]

30' wide minimum is a good size, I have 30' wide and 2 10' doors and it is nice to be able to open doors on both vehicles side by side. I have a 22' long f350 and the minimum length I would consider would be 30' because you want to be able to walk in front and behind of a vehicle while carrying something

- Sam

New England Region

 

[Kaizen]

As much as I would love to go 36 by 36. I think I'd be over stepping my boundaries on size. We have gardens, chicken, and host a lot of barbeques and I think my wife would have my head if i took up that size footprint.

She won’t if you put a shade porch on it for your guests. Also nice for larger gatherings. Move the cars out and it’s a huge drinking area. Just turn off the tool breakers


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[BehanCS]

I love the enthusiasm ya'll add to my garage project I'll have to get my wife on here haha. I drew out the 28x32 on the yard for her to see and she thinks it's "huge" but she also seems on board with the help from some of the great reasoning you guys had for it. If I insulate down the road it will be spray foam to avoid all the extra stick framing for batts. Considering I haven't had a real garage in almost 8 years when I lived at my parents house I'm willing to compromise with her on things.

This house is a 10 year plan, we are saving for a farm where I will have plenty of room for a much larger garage. This one has to be a balance of budget, space, and practicality. It's kind of like little red riding hoods porridge haha

 

[NUTTSGT]

Go for the larger building, make a plan for a covered area like mentioned. If the larger garage is a distraction to some buyers, the covered porch area for outside entertaining will bring in another group of buyers.

Remember, you plan on selling in the future, but realize that 10 year plan may go out the window with having kids, alot of things get back burnered.

I put up a 24x32 stick built on the house, with a F250 crew cab and 6 3/4 bed, there's not much room inside. Got a floor jack ? Measure from the rearend/front end and add the length of the floor jack (to both) if you plan on doing vehicle maintenance.

 

[CraigStu]

The house we had built a year ago has a 28x32 attached garage w/ one 16 ft door on the left side. It is fantastic. My wife parks on the left which has her right next to the door to the house. She pulls a little more forward than might be normal so it's easier for me to drive in at an angle off to the right some. Works fine and there is essentially a bay left over which is my shop. I maybe should have gone to an 18ft door but it hasn't been much of a problem.
20190320_125351 by craig stuard, on Flickr
My tool box/ work bench is inside that window which is nice that I can look through to see who is coming up the driveway.

 

[WisJim]

I'm in the process of building a 24 by 40 garage and shop building. Size is limited because it is at a house in town that we will be moving into soon because of my back and knee problems. We had to get a zoning variance to even build as big as we are doing, so I sympathize with recommendations of bigger buildings. My existing shop is on the main floor of an old dairy barn, a 30x60 building, and I have a one car garage and a 40x100 pole shed, lots of stuff to sort through and get rid of in order to move into the new building. I'm going with stick built, 2x6 walls, and attic room trusses. It will have a 6 foot wide lean to on one side with a sidewalk slab for some covered outside space. Our city has minimum green space requirements for back yards and that was part of the limitation of the building size.

 

[CombatNinja]

Taking all of the cues you are giving us about competing priorities with respect to yours and the wife's views of how to best utilize space and the fact that you have already said you are looking at this being a 10-year home, I will offer the following advice. Resign yourself to not building a giant pole barn that can do it all (and at the same time). As in, if you take the advice posted here to add this and that length and width over and above the two large vehicles you own (plus a little more), then add areas to keep tools and an area to work on lawn equipment, you are looking at a 50' long building. Maybe a slight exaggeration, but you know what I'm saying.
I would look at building big enough to comfortably house the tools and pull both cars in for parking (so probably 30' long minimum because of a full-size truck) and 30' in width as well. I would resign myself to pulling one car out and centering the other inside if work needs to be carried out on it and pulling both out when it is time to work on any other project beyond what can be done on a bench. This is just the reality when you want a jack-of-all-trades space. The thing that really drove this home was the fact that you said you want to be out of there in 10 years. You will get pennies on the dollar in return for your pole barn, if anything at all when you sell it on. This is a fact. So be pragmatic both with finances and your wife's priorities and build conservatively in this situation. Save the thousands that would have gone to a bigger building for the forever home.

All this said, I am pitching the conservative approach but your original estimation of 24' x 28' with a full-size SUV and a crew cab truck and tools was borderline ridiculous. There is conservative and then there is unusable.

 

[JamesW84]

I had a 26x24 (outside dimensions), and I could do quite a bit to my 21' truck. You can open the door and scoot it back a little if you need to and pull the other vehicle out if you need more room on the sides (as long as there aren't posts in the center).

That being said, I'd place more value on length so that you don't have to pull something out. I'd go 26 (or 28) wide by 32 deep if you can. Get quotes on both sizes. Your most expensive item will be concrete. It's only 224 sq ft more, so maybe $1500 in concrete and a little more for lumber/metal. It should only cost 2000-3000 more, but will offer a lot of bang for the buck (if you plan to work in it).

You'll have a better idea of what size you'll need for your next shop too.

PS...your wife would really think my 32x64 w/ 18' walls is big, and it's not even close to the biggest here lol

 

[BehanCS]

I appreciate the input! I agree that my original idea might have been way to small. I think the 28x32 could work for my situation and I could always pull a car out when I am working on something in there. As mentioned it really is a 10 year home that currently has no garage. So I think this will be plenty of room for the time being without murdering my wallet or my yard space.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Just curious here, if you're a carpenter, why are you not building it yourself ? Granted I get the foundation work that could get subbed out or trade labor for labor with some of the other tradesman, but why pay for labor to have somebody else do it ?


Sweat equity is the best bang for the buck.

 

[CraigStu]

Yep, I've been pulling a car out forever. It's normal to me now. Especially doing any woodwork w/ the radial arm saw which blows sawdust on everything even when I point it out the open garage door. We would all like a 50x100 shop but few will ever have one. If you can do the 28x32 I can tell you it will be very nice.

 

[nzjkb5]

We moved in to our current home in 2001. Before we closed on the house, I was on the phone with the local authorities on what would be required to build a garage on our property (0.9 acres). I was going to build a bridge across the creek that runs through our back yard, and build a 30x30 two car garage.
Then, complications arose, and it became too expensive to do that. OK, fine, we made plans to move when our oldest graduated from high school.
Didn't happen.
OK, so we will move when our youngest graduates from high school.
Didn't happen.
So last year, we (or I) got serious about looking for a house with a suitable garage. Anything in our price range would mean at least a half hour commute for both of us, and my wife (love her!), finally admitted that she really doesn't want to move. She has a five minute commute at a job she has been at for 19 years, and has no plans of changing.
So, after nearly 20 years of trying to figure out how to build a garage on our property, or expecting to move to a place more suitable, now I am trying to come up with a plan to build a garage that I should have built 15 or more years ago.
I lost that 15 years of having a shop, because I kept thinking, "If I wait a little longer...".

 

[BehanCS]

Just curious here, if you're a carpenter, why are you not building it yourself ? Granted I get the foundation work that could get subbed out or trade labor for labor with some of the other tradesman, but why pay for labor to have somebody else do it ?


Sweat equity is the best bang for the buck.

i am considering doing the pole barn myself. stick built with foundation the materials alone are more than a pole barn installed. Also i'm about 90% of the way through an 1100 square foot addition on my house and i'd rather continue working on the last couple loose ends around here than start another project hands on. I would do it if the dollars and cents work out correctly though. either way it would be pole style construction theres simply no comparison on price

 

[BehanCS]

My last debate is 2 10 foot doors or one wide door 16 or 18 wide door. I feel like the extra wide door would be nice for when i want to have one vehicle in there to work on i can center it up and have a ton of space. 2 smaller seems nice for day to day in and out. what is the typical consensus around here on this debate?

 

[JamesW84]

There's at least one thread debating the two. I don't think I could get a header 16' wide to pass inspection without engineered plans. I would compare the costs of one door vs two if money is a factor.

28 wide with an 18 ft door means you'll have roughly 5 ft on the sides. That's great for benches or tools, but puts the cars kinda close together unless you want to pull to the side when pulling in.

 

[BehanCS]

There's at least one thread debating the two. I don't think I could get a header 16' wide to pass inspection without engineered plans. I would compare the costs of one door vs two if money is a factor.

it wouldn't be a load bearing wall. so 20 foot dimensional lumber would be fine. if the supplier wants to be safe LVL would be no problem either.