Suggestions on garage size for my intentions

[brownz]

Hi,

Just want to say that I have been looking on this site but just joined. I see a lot of great information and its cool to see all your builds.

My question is what would be a good size garage to build for my intentions. I will need to be able to store 4 cars with room to move around and open doors. I really need room for 5 but I will be using a 4-post storage lift for the 5th car. I will be parking my full size chevy 2500 in the garage with the 4 other cars. I will need a section to work on a car and house a 72''x30'' tool box and room for a work bench and 60 gallon air compressor.

My thoughts on a size is a 30x50 or maybe a 32x48. The only thing that worries me about the 32x48 is having the room in front of the cars and lift for the tool box and bench and with the 30x50 will I have the room to get around the cars? My thought is to put the storage lift in the right back corner and working area in the left back corner and just park the remaining vehicle in the front of the garage.

As of now I have not filed for a variance with my township to see if they will even let me build a garage this size but would like to have the size nailed down before I try.

Also the garage will be built on a some what steep grade and I dont know how to go about estimating the cost for a garage this size and also being built on the hill. I will onlt have the foundation and floor work done and I will complete the rest. So any ideas on this would be helpful aswell

Thanks
Brandon

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Well, I originally wanted a 28x56, but was limited in not only funds, but room in back of my house. I ended up with a 24x48, which is considered a 4 car, but is indeed lacking in space for my needs, even though I store only one truck in it. I would suggest at least the 28x56 that I was considering for your needs. If funds and space allows, go even bigger. A garage is sort of like a gun safe. Get the biggest you can afford and go a size bigger if you can.

 

[shawnspeed]

I have a 30X48....I do not have any problem around the front side of my truck when in the barn..1500 work truck...I would not want to work in there with 4 cars +1 on a lift though...mine is set up as a 2 bay garage with a room for my machine tools, and room for my fab tools in front of the 2 bays.....I would look at 40x60 if I were you, and it was in my budget....Shawn

 

[wdrumheller]

Go as big as you possibly can. You've never heard anyone say "this garage is too big".

 

[brownz]

Thanks for the input. I will try to go as big as budget and the township will allow. I just want to try and have the size that will fit my need before i file for the variance.

As for cost does anyone have a rough idea about building on a hillside? or maybe how the foundation would need to be contructed?

 

[mygarageone]

I wanted to build a 40 x 60 garage and settled for a 28 x 40 . I kick my self every time I am short room for something . I was at the same place most of us are lack of funds . so I settled . Pd cash so no financing .

 

[FarmerPete]

How steep is the hill? Maybe you could put a storage basement under it in the back. Just don't hire the guys that this guy hired...http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=209748

 

[Ray916MN]

30x50 or 32x48 could work fine. Part of this depends on what you're thinking about with respect to garage doors and the size of the truck and cars.

For example, if you put a 16' wide and 10' wide garage door on the gable end you could effectively create a 2 car deep and wide car storage space on one side of the garage and a 1 car wide and 2 car deep "service" area in a 30x50 or 32x48 space. A man door half way down a non-gable wall would make access to the cars and work space efficient. This layout could even accommodate 6 average sized cars with some work space without a lift. The approach in this layout is to accept tighter storage space to get more work space. Perfectly acceptable if you don't use all the stored cars frequently.

Laying out the space with 2 double wide garage doors on a non-gable wall may or may not work depending on how long your truck is. A crewcab short bed will fit in a 24' deep space with enough space to walk around one end, but a crewcab long bed will not. Add at least 6' to the length of the truck and it will give you a pretty good idea of the minimum depth you need to be able to walk around a vehicle and do some work on it.

All these layouts will work for your stated use, but will offer little extra room for storage. With this in mind, thinking about using vertical space is important. For example, you might want to think about the cost of having a second lift for vehicle storage versus the cost of constructing the extra square footage necessary to store a vehicle on the ground. Another lift can be less expensive than additional square footage and lifts can also help you make use of other vertical space. In my garage, a lift not only provides an extra space for car storage, but also enables me to easily lift motorcycles up for storage on pallet racking next to the lift.

While more space is generally always preferable, cost and zoning considerations may make it necessary to be more deliberate and considered in planning out a building. Doing some design work on paper or using a design tool or even using cones laid out in parking lot can really help visualize your building. This can also help you figure out sun and weather exposures which can be important factors in building designs.

FWIW

 

[brownz]

Ray,

Thanks for all the great info. I will start laying out the size in the backyard and start a few rought drawings to see how things will look. I have a full size extended cab with a 6 foot bed so its not real long, and the other cars are some what short, 72 nova, 65 nova wagon, 79 z28, 99 transam.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I don't believe either size is large enough to store 4 cars, a truck and have room to work on a car, particularly if you add a lift for a 5th car. Get some graph paper and draw a scale outline of the size you are thinking of, measure the dimension of all the cars/truck and cut out scale outlines of them - arrange on your "scale garage" and think about how much space you need to move around cars, avoid dents, etc. I store two small sports cars in a 24x50 and struggle to keep a 16x20 bay clear to work on cars in.

 

[brownz]

I think the 30x50 or 32x48 will do for budget and how many cars. i dont mind to move a car or two out towork if its a big job. I now work out of 20x24 and I pull out my truck when I work on one of the other cars. My main concern is the overall cost to build on the hillside

 

[wdrumheller]

Well, if you look at my build which is in my signature, you'll see that I built on a "mild" hillside, and I decided to have a basement under a portion of mine.

The thing is, if you are on a hillside, you might need to go with compaction, and footers, and poured concrete walls, and a slab to support your structure. I took advantage of my massive sloping hillside to incorporate the basement which is nifty.

Disadvantage : cost.

It's not free to have the tall walls poured, or have the soil compacted to meet code. It was pricey, but worth it to have it done "right" and have no concerns about it in the future.

If I was on a steeper hillside, I would have gone with a full basement, and poured walls.

If money grew on trees.... etc...

 

[Ray916MN]

If pole construction is acceptable in your municipality, it will be much more cost effective to build on a hillside than stick construction. You still need fill and compaction, but longer poles to reach virgin soil is the only construction implication. The backside fill on my building was about equal to the height of the walls.

 

[Falcon67]

I'd figure 12x20 per car for door and work room. 24' for a truck. So it really depends on how you lay out the floor as to your space requirements.