Window Size and Location

[TF8]

I used a lot of information from this forum when building my attached two car garage a couple years ago. The goal of that was to keep the daily drivers attached to the house and dry. Owning a home means lots of stuff and I swear a riding mower, push mower, wheelbarrow, generator etc eats up nearly a full garage bay.

I am now in the process of planning my detached garage/barn. I want to move the lift from the attached garage to the barn and have some additional space. Unfortunately I don't have any good drawings right now but will shortly, in the mean time I will try to describe my plan as best possible.

The current planned barn is 26'-28' wide by 36' deep. The ridge runs east west giving me a south facing surface for additional solar. I am planning on a 10'x10' garage door and man door on the west end of the barn. I wasn't planning any windows on the north wall as it faces a hill and will be my tool/machine wall.

The south wall is the side which I am trying to figure out the scale of windows and doors. The plan is let as much natural light in that side of the barn as possible as it faces due south. The wall is 12' tall and 36' long, centered I want to have a double door without center post to get stuff to and from the yard. On either side I was planning on 2 or 3 large windows per side. Here are my questions:

A: I was originally planning on starting the bottom of the windows at 4' off the ground so I could put work benches or carts along that wall without interfering with the windows. With a 4 or 5 foot tall window that gets me near the ceiling. What type of windows do you recommend for a barn? I'm thinking rolling over double hung? (2) 4' tall by 6' wide sliding windows on each side of the door looks good?

B: How tall should the door be to match the scale. My first sketch with a 6'8" man double man door on the south side and windows reaching up to 8' looks silly. I don't think I need an 8' tall double man door but if I go that big the tops of all of the windows/doors on the south wall match up and look "better"

C: I guess I am having an issue with scale given the large wall size. Do I really need big doors and windows to match the scale of the wall?

Thanks,
Tyler

 

[Coloshaver]

When I designed my shop I wanted natural light. It is 30' x 50' with 16' walls. I put in three 4' x 4' non-opening windows on each of the 50' sides. The bottoms are 8' from the floor. They have been great!! Lots of natural light (during the day of course) They are high enough off the ground so I don't worry about bad guys using them to get in.

Since your walls aren't quite as high, you might consider 2' high by 4' (or 5' or 6') up close to your ceiling. Non-opening windows are fairly inexpensive and very low maintenance.

Good luck.

 

[tylernt]

Consider security. Having windows that are quite a ways off the exterior ground will make it harder for someone to break in. And it makes it harder for them to see in to view what kind of goodies they can steal.

 

[coachrick]

And, of course, the higher windows will leave more wall space for storage, etc...above any sort of work table. Perhaps a bank of smaller window along the upper level with one or two operable windows flanking the door. Another thought...will there be windows in the door?

 

[Xander]

I did pretty much what you described. I went 40" off the floor for counter height, 57" tall double hungs set at 97" high, or just a tad over 8'. I did all the doors and windows at 8'. Check my sig for more pictures.

X...

 

[Le Mancave]

I'm in a similar situation. I ordered some pre-assembled glass block windows that are narrow enough to fit between the studs. I'm thinking they should be easy to install and won't take up as much precious wall space as regular windows. You can't see out of course but I'm usually head down working on something when I'm in the garage.

 

[larry_g]

I did pretty much what you described. I went 40" off the floor for counter height, 57" tall double hungs set at 97" high, or just a tad over 8'. I did all the doors and windows at 8'. Check my sig for more pictures.

X...

In my opinion the bottom of the window in the above picture is to low. I prefer to have a 12 to 18" backsplash on the bench as perty soon the back of the bench piles up with treasures and the bottom of the window is blocked anyway. Just my opinion.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[coachrick]

In my opinion the bottom of the window in the above picture is to low. I prefer to have a 12 to 18" backsplash on the bench as perty soon the back of the bench piles up with treasures and the bottom of the window is blocked anyway. Just my opinion.

lg
no neat sig line

Well heck, lg...should he jack up the walls on cinder blocks or chop the legs off the workbenches???

 

[911mike]

my shop is 44 x 80 x 15 and the 80 ft wall faces south. I ran 4 horizontal windows 72" x 24" towards the top of the wall 10ft from the floor. This was one of the best things I did in the build. Security is good as it's 10ft up. I get solar during the winter and I don't need to turn on the lights if I'm just going in to grab something.

 

[Angelfire]

A lot of folks don't like windows in a shop. Myself, I gotta have a view! My shop is a little different in that I built it to match our house so it actually looks like a little house. This means from a security standpoint, that it's not ideal but I'm ok with that. Another option to consider is skylights. I put a number of them on mine and its amazing how much light they really let in. Of course depending on your plans for solar, they may not make sense.
Cheers.

 

[Supercompdad]

Sorry to just jump in here but thought I would put in my 2 cents. I have had numerous garages over the years and these are some pics of the one I am currently in. Since the kids have left we have downsized a lot as they took their toys with them. Long story short we built this house about 8 years ago and decided to make best use of an attached garage as the weather is very uncooperative most of the year. So we settled on a 42' X 50' with a 12' ceiling for all the toys and a lift. Back on subject, as you can see I elected to go with block glass the same as our bathroom. Lots of windows to provide a lot of light and high enough off the floor not to compromise security or wall space. Also you can see a row of cement board all around bottom for washing of vehicles and floor without wall damage. The window pic is of our bathroom but same block is in garage. Sorry about the last one I am starting spring cleaning.