garage/workshop layout help needed

[semlin]

I am trying to fit a 3 car garage into an awkward spot on the property.

what do folks say is

1. the minimum/optimum depth/length of a garage from vehicle entrance to back wall?

2. the minimum/optimum width of the open driveway/manouever area in front of the garage to allow easy manouvering in and out? assume i will use 3 single doors, but that i could maybe go 10' wide each to make it easier to angle in a little. the garage doors will be perpendicular to my driveway so you will be turning 90 degrees to get in and out.

I figure i have about 45' to work with to fit the garage depth and the driveway turning area in front (i am battling a setback at the back, and will be forced to dig up my septic tank drain pipes if i make the driveway wider, plus fight the about eating into her veggie garden).

[firetruck41]

I am considering a drive under garage for my future house, which will require a 90 deg turn in, as well. From a book I was perusing at the library, the recommended distance for turning in/out, was 28'. Having wider doors would definitely help. Regarding the depth of the garage itself, I think 21-22' is as shallow as I would want to go. That gives you about a foot, behind the 80 (that way you don't have to get out and check that you are in by an inch before closing the garage door), and about 3' in front to walk around with a bag of groceries, luggage or tools, if moving between bays/vehicles with the garage doors closed.

[Mars]

Whats going to be kept in the garage? Any poor turn radius vehicles going in there?

[GeoRoss]

I would say a meter would be great. That would give you plenty of room to walk in front of the vehicle. I judge it by what is the amount of space I need to pass through if I have an armload of stuff.


Will this be car parking only or will you work on your cars in there too? If you will work on cars in there, try to make at least one bay deep enough to work in front of the vehicle easily.


As far as the turning radius, one thing that really helps is to have a place directly in front of the garage doors with plenty of room to back straight out then turn into the drive way. This can also help with the turn into the garage.


Pleas excuse my poor drawing.

[GeoRoss]

Also, I would do almost anything that would negate the involvement of a plumber.

[semlin]

Originally Posted by GeoRoss

Will this be car parking only or will you work on your cars in there too? If you will work on cars in there, try to make at least one bay deep enough to work in front of the vehicle easily.


As far as the turning radius, one thing that really helps is to have a place directly in front of the garage doors with plenty of room to back straight out then turn into the drive way. This can also help with the turn into the garage.


Pleas excuse my poor drawing.

that diagram is pretty close. imagine the garage is moved over to the right so it is sticking halfway out into the path of the drive way and you have it. I will have to jog the driveway to make it work. The manouever/parking area will definitely be wider than the driveway.


and yes I will work on vehicles there so you are right, I need room to get in front of the vehicle

[semlin]

Originally Posted by Mars

Whats going to be kept in the garage? Any poor turn radius vehicles going in there?

according to my wife, it will have to hold a couple of cruisers, a big ol lexus, a honda fit, a large john deer lawn tractor with a trailer and tiller, an m101 trailer and a 20' boat, plus all our garden tools and all my "car crap".

maybe I should plan on having an alternate dimension portal built into the back end.

[semlin]

Originally Posted by firetruck41

I am considering a drive under garage for my future house, which will require a 90 deg turn in, as well. From a book I was perusing at the library, the recommended distance for turning in/out, was 28'. Having wider doors would definitely help. I think 21-22' is as shallow as I would want to go. That gives you about a foot, behind the 80 (that way you don't have to get out and check that you are in by an inch before closing the garage door), and about 3' in front to walk around with a bag of groceries, luggage or tools, if moving between bays/vehicles with the garage doors closed.

thanks . 28' sounds about right I might have to look at angle parking inside the garage to make that work.

[GeoRoss]

Originally Posted by semlin

that diagram is pretty close. imagine the garage is moved over to the right so it is sticking halfway out into the path of the drive way and you have it. I will have to jog the driveway to make it work. The manouever/parking area will definitely be wider than the driveway.


and yes I will work on vehicles there so you are right, I need room to get in front of the vehicle

Is your septic system to the right of the driveway in the above diagram?


You may want to consider an arc rather than a straight line. That being said, I think the septic tank dictates your choices. Moving a septic system is very expensive.

[semlin]

yup, septic runs north south to the right on that diagram roughly 45 feet from the setback on the left (e.g., furthest point to the left I could start the garage wall).

also, the setback is 15 feet ieft of the driveway, which is 16 feet wide, so 10 feet of garage sticks out in that drawing.

It is mostly just a line from the septic tank to the field. the septic field proper starts about 25 feet down from the top of the garage. It is a 1927 system and I am afraid to even touch it, but I will have to consider exposing it for 20 feet or so (I know it leaks a little ) , cribbing it with concrete, and using that area alone for a turnaround.

[semlin]

your quote in my sigline is coming back to haunt me.

[GeoRoss]

Originally Posted by semlin

your quote in my sigline is coming back to haunt me.

Buy rubber boots, don't be like me and ruin a pair of shoes and socks.



If your system leaking it may be time for a little TLC. Is it the leach field or one of the lines to the tank? I will say it is easier to work in a functioning system rather than one in failure mode. In any event, I would be loath to alter a basically functioning system.


I see your site plan issues, very tight constraints with setbacks and whatnot. It may be time for some creative thinking, placing it at an angle to the house, other side of the house, etc. I can't recall all the details, but it my be better to punt and put up a smallish two car garage and then later knock out an outbuilding for a shop and toys.

[semlin]

the line between tank and field leaks a little at one spot during "high use", but not enough to be alarming. the grass is supposed to be greener over the septic line

[beaufort-fj60]

do you have an as-built plat of the lot/house and a proposed foundation plan? if you do pm me.

[firetruck41]

Edited my post above, to clarify the 21-22' depth was relating to the garage itself. While the 28' is the depth of the turnaround area.

[semlin]

Originally Posted by beaufort-fj60

do you have an as-built plat of the lot/house and a proposed foundation plan? if you do pm me.

i have one of the house and lot but not the proposed foundation. i am sketching that out on graph paper

[TomH]

I'd seriously consider one double door and one single. That way you have more room to maneuver the larger vehicles. Also, if you want to work on one of the vehicles, you can center it in the double door side and have more room to move around while wrenching.

Tom

[beaufort-fj60]

for a full-size van to get into the garage from a 90 you need MINIMUM 25+ feet from the face of the garage to the outer edge of the drive. A 15+ radius turn is typical



Typical 2 car garages here are 24x24 deep some 24x26 deep

[semlin]

awesome, thank you beaufort. that makes it crystal clear how you approach this.

[kcustom73]

semlin, instead of the turn-a-round, can you come in from the end (narrow side)? If I look at the diagram in post #9, you could always come in from the north end (closer to the start of the driveway). My garage at home is 22' wide x 44' deep with a 14' and a 32" door in the front. This gives me plenty of room to put my 4 door Colorado pickup and my Subaru side by side in the front of the garage(at an angle), my 75 FJ40 in full frame off resto in the back right corner (with lots of room all sides) and back left area is my work/tool space. just a taught...

[semlin]

yes, I have thought of putting an extra door at the gable end but we have three regularly driven vehicles to park and I don't want to be moving vehicles all the time. One idea I had was to build a wider garage and have the 90 degree turn happen inside the garage with no doors to impede the turn. With the diagram beaufort gave me, I can work out how wide the garage would need to be.

[beaufort-fj60]

Originally Posted by semlin

awesome, thank you beaufort. that makes it crystal clear how you approach this.

I cannot tell anymore when someone is being serious or a smartass.. just in case.

[semlin]

Originally Posted by beaufort-fj60

I cannot tell anymore when someone is being serious or a smartass.. just in case.

i am srs. thank you. I suck at math and could not figure out how to calculate a turning circle until i saw that.

[bsmith123]

I have always wanted to do doors front and rear with a loop behind the garage and back around to the front ---drive in drive out, and a lean-to carport on the other side

[semlin]

Originally Posted by bsmith123

I have always wanted to do doors front and rear with a loop behind the garage and back around to the front ---drive in drive out, and a lean-to carport on the other side

that is very close to what i am thinking now. widen the garage by one stall into the area where i would have had the 90 degree turn and put two garage doors facing up in that picture and two doors roll out doors facing down but staggered so the garage is an inverted "L". I will be occasionally driving around in my yard but it should work. I will also have some wasted space so that I can park three cars inside a garage with only two doors and pull any of them out, but the new garage is one stall bigger than I originally planned so it is a wash.

[bkfj40]

this thread is clear as mud....take one of the sketches above and show all your limitations...

is there a legal reason why you can't put doors on the front? you could then put some side parking to allow you not to move a parked vehicle. I would be hedging towards a double door and a single door - but it seems to me that you are really looking at only having a 2 1/2 car garage with the space and the limits that you are setting yourself up with.


bk