Working Space around a car

[Suprman]

I'm trying to plan out some garage space and wondering what would be a good "buffer zone" to use as useable space to work on a car?

I work on mostly Mustangs and give myself roughly 15x6 for the car itself, would 2' buffer all around be a reasonable?

 

[catmech]

If I was planning a new garage space and knew what was going in it for the most part I would want to be able to walk around the car with atleast one door open and not have to close the door, open tool box drawers without fear of them hitting the car or having to step out of the way to make room, and work in the engine bay without being crowded. If you pull engines in your shop I would take into account the foot print of your hoist with an engine on it and make sure that you can turn it so that you can unload the engine onto a stand. As far as two feet buffer zone... how wide are you with your arms at your side? That would be the minimum distance so you don't rub on the car, right?

 

[onewaydave]

Ideal, enough room to lay on a creeper perpendicular to the vehicle and work on the rocker panel and not bump into the toolchest or cabinets or wall. Say 8-10' all around.

At least, enough room to put a full sized floor jack under it perpendicular to the car and work the handle without hitting anything. I recently put the T/A in the garage and came back to find a flat front pas. side. It was about 18" from the wall. I was on crutches. I hired the 17 y/o neighbor to change it for me

 

[Kevin54]

I'm trying to plan out some garage space and wondering what would be a good "buffer zone" to use as useable space to work on a car?

I work on mostly Mustangs and give myself roughly 15x6 for the car itself, would 2' buffer all around be a reasonable?

2' is not enough. If you are under the front, you may want to roll your toobox up with you so you don't have to make trips back and forth. And as Oneway stated, if you are one a creeper you want to have enough to lay perpendicular to it. You never want to have to turn sideways to get around a vehicle. I have about 6' on one side of mine, 10' on the other, maybe 8' in the front and 4' in the rear. BTW...the bay that I work in is 22' W x 28' L. I have enough room to roll my 41" box to whichever side I am working on and have never run into anything while laying on a creeper. As for your original question as to "useable space", I wouldn't go any less than 4' minimum all around the vehicle. With that amount it gives you room to pull over to one side or another to gain an extra foot or so if needed.

 

[pcmeiners]

Presently in the design phase, which I used EZ-Architect 3.0 software for a floor plan. I find it hard to visualize spacing so I found an empty parking lot, used the far end corner as the front and one side of the garage design, used chalk lines for interior/exterior walls (with some 4' pieces of wood along the perimeter lines), parked my vehicle in appropriate area of the mock up, then I could visualize the distances properly. Agree with others, 2' is not enough.

 

[eldirector]

I have a 20x24 garage for the Jeep. If it is in the middle of the floor, it is just about right. That is about 6' clear on each side, but only about 3' front and rear (some room taken by benches and storage). I wish I had more room front and rear to maneuver floor jacks, engine hoists, tool boxes, etc....

 

[Ray-CA]

I currently have a 24x24 two car garage and when I need to work on any car, I put it in the center of the space. I have enough walk around room to cleanly move all around the vehicle. Additionally, there is plenty of room for creepers, jacks, tool boxes etc. My minimum space would have to be enough room to have both doors fully open and still be able to walk past without having to touch the door(s).

Ray

 

[rickairmedic]

My garage is 21' deep and 28' wide . I have benches down both sides which brings me down to a little under 24' wide . I have one vehicle in the garage at a time to work on and its still tight at times . I would say 4-6' minimum on each side and at a minimum 5-6' in the front and 2- to the rear of the vehicle ( depending on which end your working on ) . I have had 2 vehicles in here and there is barely room to work on one side of one of them .


Rick

 

[Scotto]

My garage is 10x20.... get more space than that if you can, lol.

 

[CrashTestDummy]

When I was talking to contractors about our new shop, a couple of them told me to use approximately 250 sq. ft. per vehicle. Turns out that seems to be pretty right, for more vehicles, especially the 4-door sedans and pickups we have. Mustangs will be a little smaller, but it's a good rule of thumb to follow for future use, too.

Gene Beaird
Pearland, Texas

 

[usmc_noma]

2' is nowhere near enough to work on a car. if you wanted a jack on the side you wouldn't even be able to pump it. as some others have said, i'd go with 5' at the very least. 5' is still pushing it imo.

 

[Kjbakke2]

I'm trying to plan out some garage space and wondering what would be a good "buffer zone" to use as useable space to work on a car?

I work on mostly Mustangs and give myself roughly 15x6 for the car itself, would 2' buffer all around be a reasonable?

would this be v6mustang suprman by any chance?

 

[nonhog]

My bays are 14' wide (3) between posts. although its open in some spots, walled off in others. I can say more is better to a point. Be realistic, not only does sq. footage cost money you'll maybe be tempted to fill up that space if you have too much putting you where you didn't want to be in the 1st place.
(just my 2cents)

 

[Daniel Dudley]

I like enough space to pull the axles on both sides of the car. Even if the car doesn't have solid axles, that is what I like for a minimum.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Doesn't matter how big you make it, after you build it, you'll wish you built it bigger.

Having 4-5 feet on either side of the car (minimum) would be nice.

 

[malibu101]

Lay it out for yourself and see.
Park the car in the yard, parking lot, wherever- measure and mark out the footprint with some string or tape. Of course in this case, bigger is better. How much money ya got
2' on each side is just barely bigger than a parking space.

 

[onewaydave]

Presently in the design phase, which I used EZ-Architect 3.0 software for a floor plan. I find it hard to visualize... parked my vehicle in appropriate area of the mock up, then I could visualize the distances properly. Agree with others, 2' is not enough.

I've not used an electronic drafting program. I just use drafting paper and draw out to scale. I make cut outs of the physical items that can come and go or be moved. That works well for me. But then I don't know how to change the ring tone on my MF either.

 

[nate379]

Need IMO AT least 4-5ft on all 4 sides.

Take a garage that is 30x40. Well to begin with, you loose about a foot in both dimensions for your walls.... so you are at 29x39.

Once you throw in benches, shelving, toolboxes, etc you are probably more around 25x35 if that. That is just enough room to work on a pickup IMO.

My garage is 24x26 and it's pretty much too small for my quad cab shortbed truck. If I had a say (and the $$) I would have built it the full length of the house which is ~40'.

I really can't put anything on the back wall of the garage or I wouldn't have enough room to move around the front and back of the truck and actually do any work.

 

[pcmeiners]

Onewaydave....
Used paper many times but in 12 hours I have 10 different layouts ( including 2 hours "learning experience"). With a simple software layout program one can develop completely different layouts, plus programs give you libraries of windows, doors, cars, bath, kitchen etc items with sizes, in a short time. Accessories placed in the sketch are scaled to overall garage dimensions.
Architect 3 is very simple/basic (and limited), good for a preliminary layout ($19.). After I talk to an Architect/Engineer, I will jump on a real CAD program.

example...
http://s852.photobucket.com/albums/ab84/pcmeiners/Garage/?action=view&current=temp.jpg

 

[e-tek]

Of course, bigger IS better, but my shop is 24x40 and I can work comfortably 2 cars wide. Last winter I had 4 cars in all year. This winter I have 3 inside and have enough room, plus one bay for an engine department! (The white Chally is off to one side as it's a show car).

 

[sstruckguy]

If you want to try something else on paper, try grizzly.com's workshop planner. I have used it for planning dealership parts departments to my 28 x 40, home man cave

The front half (28 x 20) has plenty of room for "1" vehicle.(and thats all I want/need) The back half is set up for woodworking. I built my shop with specific needs and wants. It is 4 years old, and so far, I have chosen correctly. Years from now? Who knows.

Hopefully your choice will serve you well!!



p.s. the "other" garage is 24 x 25. It is just an indoor parking structure. No "working on cars" in there

 

[jshillin]

I have a 24x32 with nothing along the walls on the sides(24'). I use one bay for working and the other for parking 2 cars with 1 in front of the other. This gives me plenty of room to work.

 

[Engine-Ear]

I designed mine to have a 30 x 20 work area, with benches and one lift, plus a 30 x 20 storage area. The work area will have about 20' long x 3' deep worth of benches against the wall. A 40" wide staircase shortens the 30' down but basically I will have a 26' x 13' work area.

'62 Pontiacs are 19+' long and 6' wide...leaving 3.5' on each side

 

[7echo]

Onewaydave....
Used paper many times but in 12 hours I have 10 different layouts ( including 2 hours "learning experience"). With a simple software layout program one can develop completely different layouts, plus programs give you libraries of windows, doors, cars, bath, kitchen etc items with sizes, in a short time. Accessories placed in the sketch are scaled to overall garage dimensions.
Architect 3 is very simple/basic (and limited), good for a preliminary layout ($19.). After I talk to an Architect/Engineer, I will jump on a real CAD program.

example...
http://s852.photobucket.com/albums/ab84/pcmeiners/Garage/?action=view&current=temp.jpg

That cad looks good, I will have to check it out.

I see there is a Sawstop on your cad drawing. Do you have one now, or planning?

 

[exes]

I designed mine to have a 30 x 20 work area, with benches and one lift, plus a 30 x 20 storage area. The work area will have about 20' long x 3' deep worth of benches against the wall. A 40" wide staircase shortens the 30' down but basically I will have a 26' x 13' work area.

'62 Pontiacs are 19+' long and 6' wide...leaving 3.5' on each side

I would love to see pics of your '62...A '62 Catalina Convertible was the last car my dad and I restored before he died. He was a die hard Pontiac guy. Thanks

 

[brownbagg]

my shop is 24x 30. its about right for one car down the middle. two cars and its tight. with toolbox etc, it get small quick

 

[pcmeiners]

7echo...

Have a Sawstop still in storage ( I know it's a shop sin to not have it setup). Primarily purchased it as I will be having younger family using it.. one real HEAVY, quality saw. If it was strictly for myself I would have purchased a used 10" or 12", for about 1/3 the cost.

 

[Falcon67]

Mine is currently 20 x 24 and with the 70 Mustang in there, you can just open the doors with the car in the middle. Primarily because of the "stuff" around the edges. For an older Mustang, I'd say at least 6' on either side. BIG doors on the 69 up models. I can pull engines, etc in the shop with the car pushed right up against the door. It's tight on the long axis with the tool box, etc at the end but I can work it. The plan is to build a work room on the east side and get most of the machinery and work areas in ther and out of the big room. With that, I could fit in two race cars in the off season.

 

[Engine-Ear]

I would love to see pics of your '62...A '62 Catalina Convertible was the last car my dad and I restored before he died. He was a die hard Pontiac guy. Thanks

Thanks for your reply!

Well, I have nine to choose from...no 'verts though. But if you hear of one for sale, PM me!

I will post pics of my rides sometime.