Three car 26ft wide garage?

[miamivice]

Hi all!

Been a lurker for years and love to see everyone's projects/get ideas!

I'm planning a small house addition out back to squeeze in a garage. House is currently on a concrete slab and I have an un-used room in the back that's 10ft deep and 26 ft wide. Thinking I can just bring out the room/structure by another 10ft or so to have a 26x20.

I am in the city of Seattle so land/lots are at a premium and I would prefer to stay in the city!

Wondering how many people might have a three car garage that's 26' wide and actually fit three cars in it. How tight is it? (I know types of cars will affect this, but just curious to see what others experiences are!)

Thank you!

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

Considering a small two car garage is typically 24x22 or so, getting a three car opening into that same 26 foot wide space is going to be pretty tight. Cars average 6-7 feet wide. Add a bit for your car door to open. I think it will be very tight if you have all three vehicles in place. You'll have no space on the walls to do anything with.

BUT make that a two car opening and you'll have a very comfortable and easy access space.

Do you want to park in the space or use it for a shop space?

 

[themiller]

Welcome to the board.

I have a 24' wide and find it just big enough to fit two mid-size cars and open the door on my 2DR Grand Prix. Certainly understand your restrictions and wanting to stay in that great city - I'm sure some one here will have some great ideas!

 

[NHBandit]

I think if you leave the windows down on all the cars so you can climb through from one to the next it might work. Opening the doors ? not so much... Welcome though. My garage is 40' wide and would be perfect for 3 cars if I didn't have an office on the end. Here is a pic of my 24' wide carport. As you can see it's fairly tight with only 2 cars. I don't see you getting 3 side by side in a 26' space and still be able to open the doors to get in and out. Ain't gonna happen.

 

[ez-duzit]

3 cars in 26'? No way!

 

[Olyar15]

Only reasonable way of getting 3 cars is to put a 4-post lift in it.

 

[geewiz]

I have a garage that is 23' wide inside and I can *store* 3 cars across in it (even if one of them is actually a full size truck) but parking 3 for daily use would not be fun.

If you really need more care you could put a lift and a third car next to it, or even 2 lifts .

-- Glenn

 

[Pat Brady]

Welcome!! Yep!! Three cars would be kind of tight.

 

[BRIANBB]

You say you have 26ft of space to put this. Make sure you are not into the minimum setback on the property line.

 

[Always_Thinkin]

I have a 26'x26' garage and it is a comfortable two car garage with some additional storage space along the walls. If you are looking at a three car garage I would recommend you look at going minimum 31'. I don't know if you have the space not knowing your situation/workable space. Also, welcome to GJ!

 

[Aberdale]

My 3 car garage is 32' x 32'. I still have to be careful to avoid door dings. 26' wide would make a fine 2 car garage, but no way would you be happy parking 3 cars side by side.

JMO

'dale

 

[zcar751]

If you drive a mini (original), midget, and a bugeyed sprite sure.

 

[Falcon67]

I can get two cars and a trunk in 28' wide, but it's real tight. And they have to be parked in such a way that you can access the driver's door, which means staggered in direction and in parking.

 

[38Chevy454]

As the rest said, you need about 10 ft per vehicle to allow reasonable space.

If parking only is you goal, and the cars are real small, then it may fit. No storage space or any ability to do work.

 

[posaune]

I have a 24W two car and I keep three cars in it. Only one is accessible enough for a driver though... and one car is REALLY small. Unless you are just storing or have really small cars (nothing modern), I think 26' will be too small for three useable cars. And 20' deep seems quite shallow to me.

My suggestion, based on my situation, is to put two doors close enough to one side that you have almost a car's width of space on the side with no door. That way you always have two useable spaces, but if you need to store a project or something, you can use go-jacks or the like to roll it into the side with no door. Does that make sense?

I do almost this, but I don't have quite the room on the closed side of the 24' to get the extra (third) car far enough over. That means that getting the second car into the garage is *really* tight and not feasible for a daily operation. The extra car isn't accessible at all with the second car in. The first bay remains completely open and useable (or my wife would not be happy).

Or move out of the city.

 

[taumac]

My fathers garage is a 2 car which is 18 x 18 so think min would be 27ft but all depends what cars they are. Hell you could fit 6 Smart cars in there or 2 full size cars. LOL

 

[miamivice]

This all came up because I just need space to "store" my "collector cars" (if you could call them that)....

I have three 3rd gen Pontiac Trans Ams (as well as some other cars) that I want to keep in there. I have another detached garage out back that I work on my cars and currently store them, but dont have enough space to keep everything stored inside...which, being up in Seattle I would like to. I do not daily drive any of the cars so continually going in and out wont be a problem.

I lived in Vegas for a few years and the house I was living in had a 3 car garage...that happened to be 26 ft wide. We never had 3 cars in, and kept an escalate and one trans am, motorcyle, and a wall full of tools (so impossible to keep three). Here is a sketch of that space and what was thinking of replicating https://scontent-a-sjc.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1377186_898495046885_1947237640_n.jpg

So I was really hoping to see if anyone actually does this...as I would at least like to build it to 'easily' be able to put in 3 if I can... and obviously can just put 2 in and have space to walk around and play w/ the car is I needed to.

 

[CNGsaves]

A 26 ft garage is NOT 3 car . . . unless 3 have Mini-Coopers or Smart cars.

26 ft is a TWO car garage with some bench and toolbox space.

 

[LX-Markham]

We have a 18' wide garage and park 2 daily drivers in it, so I would think you could easily squeeze (store) 3 vehicles into a 26' wide garage (8 feet wider than what I have).

Back #1 in tight to the wall, back #2 tight to it, and drive #3 in tight to the other wall. The driver doors to cars #2 and #3 will be accessible, and when you want access to #1 you'll just have to move #2 first.

We had lots of practice squeezing as much farm machinery into a barn as possible

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

That 8" of space between the doors and on each end isn't going to work. Too narrow. With all the jack studs and wood needed to support and frame out the openings, you're looking at 18" at a minimum. I'm not sure what the code is, but 8" isn't going to do it.

I'm afraid you've got a 2 car garage and a smaller side work space, which is a very comfortable configuration that many of us here would be envious of- especially me!

 

[The Big M]

I park two vehicles in an 18' wide double as well (16' single door). My project truck is tucked up against one wall (moved it over on dollies) and the remainder of the space is occupied by a 350Z that's an occasional driver. I back into the garage and get pretty tight to the truck, and have just enough room to open the driver's door halfway (to the first stop on the hinge). And that's a fairly wide car with long doors. No chance of opening the passenger door inside, of course.

It's going to be tight, but for storage only it may work.

 

[miamivice]

That 8" of space between the doors and on each end isn't going to work. Too narrow. With all the jack studs and wood needed to support and frame out the openings, you're looking at 18" at a minimum. I'm not sure what the code is, but 8" isn't going to do it.

Yea the measurements i took were based off of the house in Vegas, so the actual house was built w/ only 8 inches between the two doors. Weird. I guess that is what you get for those track built/cheap homes in good ol LV (unless i measured wrong)

 

[miamivice]

Back #1 in tight to the wall, back #2 tight to it, and drive #3 in tight to the other wall. The driver doors to cars #2 and #3 will be accessible, and when you want access to #1 you'll just have to move #2 first.

That is what I am thinking.

I have my contractor coming and architect to have a look tomorrow, so will see what they say. May just have a nice 2 car garage w/ some hangout space and nice double doors

 

[cas2395]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=213614
here is a link to my 26' wide pole building. You can put 3 cars in it but your not gonna open the doors.

 

[6768rogues]

Small parking lot spaces are typically 8 feet wide. I would go to a parking lot, measure a space, then see how you like parking between two other cars.

 

[The Big M]

Just a thought, maybe a wide, strategically placed man door (swing out, of course) in the side of the building might provide extra space to open the door of the cars? Just thinking in terms of the side doors in enclosed trailers.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=213614
here is a link to my 26' wide pole building. You can put 3 cars in it but your not gonna open the doors.

Nice collection. I can see it being a challenge to open the door on the T-Bird in a tight space.

 

[Homerr]

Hi, I'm a draftsman at an architecture firm here in Seattle. I agree that the configuration on your sketch isn't going to work because of lack of lateral panels (the 8" dimensions).

Instead, how about a single 18' door? They don't cost much more than a 16' door. Offset the door to the right to allow the middle car to have a better aisle on the driver's side. The right car stays tight to the door edge, and the left car is 'long term' storage. Use some car dollys to push the left side car out of the way.

This has the benefit of also make a very decent 'oversize' 2-car garage for resale purposes. And you've got a nice 6' lateral panel on one side to make it cheaper to build.

 

[justin1795]

i had a 24 wide at my old house. it had my benchs ect. i think you could fit 3 if you didnt plan on moving them only storage and go jacks

 

[miamivice]

Hi, I'm a draftsman at an architecture firm here in Seattle. I agree that the configuration on your sketch isn't going to work because of lack of lateral panels (the 8" dimensions).

Instead, how about a single 18' door? They don't cost much more than a 16' door. Offset the door to the right to allow the middle car to have a better aisle on the driver's side. The right car stays tight to the door edge, and the left car is 'long term' storage. Use some car dollys to push the left side car out of the way.

This has the benefit of also make a very decent 'oversize' 2-car garage for resale purposes. And you've got a nice 6' lateral panel on one side to make it cheaper to build.

Homerr, thank you so much this is a great idea...really like it. Will show to my contractor on Friday. If you want to pm me your firms info, maybe i can use you guys (if this type of build is something you do)

 

[posaune]

Hi, I'm a draftsman at an architecture firm here in Seattle. I agree that the configuration on your sketch isn't going to work because of lack of lateral panels (the 8" dimensions).

Instead, how about a single 18' door? They don't cost much more than a 16' door. Offset the door to the right to allow the middle car to have a better aisle on the driver's side. The right car stays tight to the door edge, and the left car is 'long term' storage. Use some car dollys to push the left side car out of the way.

This has the benefit of also make a very decent 'oversize' 2-car garage for resale purposes. And you've got a nice 6' lateral panel on one side to make it cheaper to build.

This is exactly what I was trying to describe (with little success, apparently) except that I forgot that double garage doors exist. As long as you don't need to use the third car often, I think this will work pretty well.

 

[LX-Markham]

the configuration on your sketch isn't going to work because of lack of lateral panels (the 8" dimensions).

It can be done, just not going to be cheap, i.e. moment connected steel frame.


...or flying buttresses on either side

 

[May Pop]

We just completed a 29.5' wide for my son. Its ok, Subaru gets backed in tight with passenger door against the wall. Other side gets an old S10 passenger side close to the wall. Jeep Grand Cherokee in the middle so they can get the kids into the carseats. We hope to put a lift in the spot the S10 sits and put a small summer car above it at a later date.

 

[May Pop]

Heres a couple of pics. Front and rear view.

 

[merc66rkm]

Hi, I'm a draftsman at an architecture firm here in Seattle. I agree that the configuration on your sketch isn't going to work because of lack of lateral panels (the 8" dimensions).

Instead, how about a single 18' door? They don't cost much more than a 16' door. Offset the door to the right to allow the middle car to have a better aisle on the driver's side. The right car stays tight to the door edge, and the left car is 'long term' storage. Use some car dollys to push the left side car out of the way.

This has the benefit of also make a very decent 'oversize' 2-car garage for resale purposes. And you've got a nice 6' lateral panel on one side to make it cheaper to build.

+1 on this idea.This is what I would do.

 

[JMartel]

Considering a small two car garage is typically 24x22 or so...

I wonder what you'd have to say about my 16x19 2 car garage with low ceilings, and considering the fact that it's the biggest garage we looked at. 24x22 just doesn't happen in the city.

 

[Homerr]

Homerr, thank you so much this is a great idea...really like it. Will show to my contractor on Friday. If you want to pm me your firms info, maybe i can use you guys (if this type of build is something you do)

Happy to help out. My firm does big custom homes, i.e. 5-10,000+ square feet. Sorry, no remodel/garage stuff like this.

 

[PacGarGuy]

As many of the previous posts have commented, getting permission from the City is usually the toughest and least enjoyable part of any project these days, especially in the city. The size of your garage will probably be limited by the space available and your pocket book, how many cars you can get in there will be up to you and how you choose to use it. I"d be happy to look your project over if you go to my website and fill out our contact form, no charge for a quick consultation.
Ed Olson, Pacific Garage Inc

 

[JOHN 86GT]

I had a 26 x 26 garage with a 16 ft wide door off set to the right . I parked a mustang , ranger and ****** in it .

I would back the mustang in and could get it a foot from the side wall.

I parked 4 cars for one winter . One mustang sideways on back wall and the three wide.

 

[YukonXL04]

Our garage is only 18 ft wide. I fit my yukon xl and the wife's acura tl in it. Both daily drivers. I park my yukon straight in with the passenger mirror almost touching the wall, and back the wife's car in with her passenger mirror almost touching the other wall and there is easily a few feet between to get in and out. So i definitely think you can fit 3 in.

However this is a pretty old thread and the guy revived it to promote his business...