Wider or Deeper

[HPRifleman]

I am trying to find the most efficient layout for a new garage.

In my plan I have a dedicated area for vehicle storage that is, say 24' deep and an appropriate width for the vehicles. Now I have to add some workshop space.

Am I better off adding that extra shop space on the depth of the building or the width? Maybe this should be a poll, wider and shallower or deeper and narrower?

 

[ZRX61]

Wider AND deeper. I consider 30ft to be the absolute minimum depth for a garage.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

My experiences is most women prefer deeper.

Tommy

 

[PelicanPines]

Both... seriously... you need space on the sides for shelving, cabinets... space in front of the cars for benches... space between cars for equipment, table saw, two drill presses, grinder setup, rolling boxes...

Wait... I just described my layout... you will need it too... go for both.

 

[Pluribus]

It's not how deep you plow, but how long you stay in the field that matters most in getting the job done.

Discussion already happening in this thread: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=440888

Something to keep in mind is that if you have enough ceiling height, buying four post lifts for storage is cheaper than adding extra building footprint. You can get two cars in about the same square footage that it takes for one.

As for preferred design, I'd rather have the extra depth for keeping projects at the back and having access to the front. It's also nicer if you want to have a working lift at the front, then be able to roll the vehicle off & back to the storage portion. Another pro for that design is being able to have a tow vehicle with attached trailer all under roof if you want. You also need fewer doors this way, which tends to be more economical both in up-front cost as well as heat loss/gain, seeing as how you're in kind of a nasty climate in both winter & summer.

 

[Kevin54]

28' deep minimum, the go as wide as possible.

 

[BD1]

If money isn’t a issue, then either way.
IF roof construction is gable type truss, additional trusses would be the least expensive.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[readhead]

Being in both the shed and metal building business I can say with confidence that, per square foot, it is less expensive to go longer than wider. It’s all about the roof structure.

 

[Higgins]

What would be the optimal width? 24, 26, 28, or more?

 

[930dreamer]

You will never regret having a large garage, you would having a too small garage.

 

[readhead]

Doesn’t matter. It’s always a proportion. If you have 100 square feet eleven five foot trusses will be less expensive than six ten foot trusses. The five foot truss has less material and can use lighter material for it’s span. Obviously this would make more sense with longer spans but the formula works every time. Same with steel. Longer span requires more material and you are buying weight.

 

[ed_v]

Depends on the size of the shop. My shop is 28x40. I have doors on both sides and it works really well.



We don't use this building for parking. If we did, I would park in the 16' wide bay and use the area to the right as workshop.

Ed

 

[HPRifleman]

I get the whole "just make it bigger" thing. But that's not really my question.

If there is already the right amount of space (both width and depth) for the vehicles, and I now have to add more floor space for the workbenches, air compressor, tool chest, etc, where should I add that space? If I can only add to one dimension, should I add it to the depth or the width?

 

[HPRifleman]

Depends on the size of the shop. My shop is 28x40. I have doors on both sides and it works really well.



We don't use this building for parking. If we did, I would park in the 16' wide bay and use the area to the right as workshop.

Ed

Thanks for answering my question.

It looks like in your example, you have the option of parking through either door. Your preference is to have the "shop" stuff next to the vehicles rather than in front of them.

 

[Wileel]

If I had to choose I would vote for deeper. My shop is 24x28 (ish) and it BARELY fits my truck, like just enough to walk by the rear if the receiver is removed (truck is a '17 F250 4 door and its 21' long!). I can only put it in one of the two bays because of one of my benches is on the back wall. Its easy to under estimate size of vehicles and space needed, especially depending on where your benches/work areas are, I would love to have another 2-4' of depth

 

[larry_g]

Some depends on the layout of the land and where the drives are, and other details. I've had it both ways. First shop was 30 wide by 36 deep. It worked good for having two rigs in the building with 12' in front of them for 'tool room'. Current shop is 36' deep and 48 wide (in link below) and being wider makes for more tool and fab area. Having your restraints I would say go deeper so if you want to get heavy into a repair you can pull it in further and have room on both ends of the vehicle to work. If you have only 24' deep then things can get tight trying to work on both ends of the vehicle. Any 24' deep shop I've had to work in is not comfortable. Doable yes, but not good.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[YukonXL04]

Alot of it depends on what your actually doing in the space. If your wanting to work on 2 vehicles side by side, or just 1. Also the size of the vehicles matter as well. As well as what all large tools and other items you plan on storing.

Personally for an area I'm working on a vehicle with a bench in front. 30ft deep is probably minimum for full size trucks. Smaller for cars would be tolerable. Width for working on 2 vehicles would probably be minimum 30ft as well if you want to have some stuff on the side.

My 36 wide 26 deep 3 car is fine for parking 3 vehicles, wouldn't work for working on 3 though. My 24wide 30 deep is basically a 1 car workshop. Room on either side and in front.

 

[Swervyjoe]

I'd vote deeper. My shop is 24 wide x 50 deep. It be nice to have an extra 2 or so feet to the side for shelves.

 

[iSpark]

I'm a wide body guy. hahah

Look at it this way, which is easier to work out of using a shipping container as an example.
The normal way with the door at the end, or with a couple doors on the side?

If it's the normal way, you have to move everything in the front to get anything in the back out. The side way, you can move stuff in and out and not disturb the rest.

You say your plan is 24' deep, I would go wider so I wouldn't have to play rubik's cube with garage contents.

 

[mod34]

all depends on your use for that "shop" space. woodworking, metal and fab work, machine shop, or will you be repairing vehicles or equipment in the "shop" space. your end use, machine / equipment layout, property size, zoning, and budget will all help you figure out the proper width and length for you.

 

[CraigStu]

Which way will your roof peak run. As redhead says, more trusses is less expensive than longer trusses.

 

[ALinCarolina]

I'm with the deeper guys. It's nice to have enough width to open car doors and have some storage space on the side walls where you park but for working I like to have an extended area in front of the cars.

 

[JamesW84]

I made mine longer than wide...32 wide x 64 Long with two 12x14' doors on each 32' end (four total doors). I didn't want to make it deep and shove stuff in the back only to not be able to get to it, thus the doors on the other end. Now it's drive-thru. I also wanted the option to put a motorhome, truck with attached trailer, etc in it. If I have kids and they want to play basketball or hockey or whatever, if I don't have **** on one side, I can pull the vehicles out and have an open 16x64 concrete floor area w/ 18 ft ceilings to play.

I also did a 20x64 lean-to to keep the trailer, backhoe, truck etc outside and out of the shop. It's very cheap covered storage.

 

[nikerret]

If I could only choose one, it would be wider, so there was less distance to bring things in from the big doors to the workspace.

 

[tc429]

we moved out here and built a 40x40 thinking I would never fill it up...took a year

my old house had a 3 car, 22x whatever, I added a 8 x 22 extension on it for machines/heated workshop- and swear it was a better setup. one big space is nice, but hard to heat and if grinding/painting/its all a mess...the old place had to be kept organized, the new garage had room for random clutter everywhere, now its a giant unuseable mess. went 11' high on the new one for a lift- but trucks are too tall to stand under- go 13 if going 'up'.

biggest thing on the new garage I kick myself for- not putting foam/tubing in the floor for radiant heat- especially in tall buildings, floor heat is warmest...infrared works, but still hottest at the ceiling, forced air/torpedo heat/whatever just heats the ceiling...stand up you'll be sweating, laying on a creeper will still be cool... even if not doing right away, the foam under the concrete is almost free, the tubing a few hundred bucks, giving ability to add later.

oh- doors: we have three front but also added one in the rear- were on a hill, so rear is 3' off the ground- but the lift is a drive-on type, acts as a car elevator to the rear door LOL- anyways, BEST thing about the rear door is ventilation... summertime with it closed , even all three fronts open, its a sauna in there- open one front and the rear, it self cools if theres any breeze at all- huge cooling benefit!

 

[readhead]

I hope the OP realizes that wider and deeper only depends on where the doors are placed. Obviously how the building has to be placed on the lot may affect that but for cost analysis longer is cheaper than wider.

 

[jetnow1]

What size vehicles do you have? My garage is 24 wide, 30 deep and I find it tight in width
for working on my full size pickup. We tend to put stuff along the sides which makes it tighter. I wish I had gone 28 foot wide. The 30 foot deep works well for me, except I put
a walkup stairway on one side which really cuts that bay down, though it makes the attic
useful. I have a 12/12 roof pitch so the attic space is major storage, thus the stairs.

 

[1901]

This thread got me thinking about my future garage. Can't go deeper but can go wider. I'd probably go for wider just for the storage and not due to cars.

 

[HPRifleman]

After making some basic measurements on my lot, it seems a foundation deeper than 25' begins to encroach too much into the back yard and too close to a mature tree. I do have some flexibility in width so it appears I will be going wider than deeper (but still 24' deep).

Thanks for all your replies.