What's Your Garage Size - And How Do You Use It? (1 Viewer)

[spazzyfry123]

Just curious what a "typical" garage size is for everyone and what their use is.

We currently live in a small house that was purchased with the full intention as a pitstop for the next job. It's a true 20x20 with about 9' ceiling height. This is a tight squeeze even if I didn't use the garage for anything other than parking a vehicle. As it sits now, both the 80 and 200 (and the company car) park outside with the garage used as storage and a workshop for various projects. It works, but it's not ideal. (Seems like the only pictures I've taken had something to do with a bicycle...A few older shots with some updates since)

As the "next job" looks to have a tangible date in a different state, we're looking for something more permanent and are surprised to see, even with larger homes, that garages just aren't big. Almost to the point that I don't think I could comfortably park the 200 in one of these things on a regular basis. It would be great to have comfortable parking for two larger vehicles with a separate workshop (basement or even a standalone). With new(er) construction homes, it looks to hold zero priority. I mean who wouldn't want to park in the garage during a rain storm, close the garage door, and unload the groceries without being an acrobat?

As I imagine most on this forum have larger vehicles, what is your garage space like? What's the ideal space to have?

 

[e9999]

It does not matter how big your garage is. If you're a fervent DIYer, you will end up having to park outside anyway. Might as well get used to the inevitable.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

What's ideal will vary person to person by quite a bit.

I have a 22x30 that has a laundry room taking up ~8x14 of that in a back corner. I have room for one vehicle when it's clean because of the tools, but vehicles are only in there when they're being actively worked on.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

3 car garage with 3 cars. It has 3 storage rooms and a golf cart “garage” to hide the mess. Also have a separate large shop for the tools and other cars.

 

[GatorPlater]

Shelby 500 under wraps there? D2C chassis?
That might be the highest garage ceiling I have ever seen without racks hanging down holding stuff.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Shelby 500 under wraps there? D2C chassis?
That might be the highest garage ceiling I have ever seen without racks hanging down holding stuff.

Wife's '08 GT500. I had just put the battery tenders on and covered it when I snapped the photo. We were headed back to Riyadh that evening. Hopefully will look just like that when we get back. I do like high ceilings. Shop has 16' eaves which is going to be nice.

 

[Kris]

@spazzyfry123 what you are forgetting is most people are not DIY kind of people. My wife and I laugh at people in town with an "empty" garage (two cars and a push mower). Thus most garages do not reflect our lifestyle. We were house shopping last year and were dismayed by the size of garages/work spaces. Our last house had a good size 2 car with 2 separate doors and that was really nice compared to our 2 car single door for actually parking cars inside.

 

[spazzyfry123]

With us casually house shopping (won't move until next year), I'm surprised that unless we go full McMansion I really do not see garages that could even fit the two Cruisers - I'm not even convinced we could comfortably fit the 200 by itself! Never mind DIY. We'll certainly be going much larger than our current house as the family grows, but the garages just do not seem proportional.

@WarDamnEagle what is the footprint of yours?

 

[WarDamnEagle]

With us casually house shopping (won't move until next year), I'm surprised that unless we go full McMansion I really do not see garages that could even fit the two Cruisers - I'm not even convinced we could comfortably fit the 200 by itself! Never mind DIY. We'll certainly be going much larger than our current house as the family grows, but the garages just do not seem proportional.

@WarDamnEagle what is the footprint of yours?

I don't know to be honest and I'm not in the country to measure it. It's pretty large; those are 9' wide doors IIRC. It's not the largest 3 car garage I have ever had though. Two houses previous we had a 3 car garage that was either 22' or 24' deep with (3) 9' doors separated by a good 4' with 6' on each end. That garage, however, did not have the closet storage space that I have in this garage. The long wall that you can't see is 3 different closets that are 3' deep. There's also a 4th bay through the door that you see on the end but I guess it's called a golf cart garage. Not sure how wide the door is on it; maybe 6'?

 

[Michael B]

I have been working out of and storing my HJ45 in this 27x25 space. I have built, from the ground up, two trucks in this space. Currently it is being used as

storage, with the 45 stored off site, while my 40’x50’ is being built. I use my shop space for whatever I’m interested in at the moment.
If you’re a heavy DIY’er you should consider a separate work space.

 

[spazzyfry123]

I don't know to be honest and I'm not in the country to measure it. It's pretty large; those are 9' wide doors IIRC. It's not the largest 3 car garage I have ever had though. Two houses previous we had a 3 car garage that was either 22' or 24' deep with (3) 9' doors separated by a good 4' with 6' on each end. That garage, however, did not have the closet storage space that I have in this garage. The long wall that you can't see is 3 different closets that are 3' deep. There's also a 4th bay through the door that you see on the end but I guess it's called a golf cart garage. Not sure how wide the door is on it; maybe 6'?

It looks to be ideal for a modern home with modern, larger vehicles. Being able to park and walk around and in front of the vehicle with plenty of room to spare - that's not too much to ask for, no?

I'll always be a DIY'r, so the hope is to park vehicles with room to spare with a separate structure/basement fulfilling my hobbies.

Thanks for the approximation - it sounds like somewhere around the 24' deep mark is what we're after.

 

[Allen Stanion]

 

[ace10]

Oversized (more than 3 car) and detached garages have terrible ROI. And that's one of the many reasons why they're the exception to the rule.

Everything I own is parked indoors. It's not for everyone.

 

[PAToyota]

I built my detached workshop. The initial space was 40' x 24' deep (vehicles and metalworking) with a second floor of 32' x 18' (woodworking) and then added an 18' x 20' addition (lift and "dirty" work). I wish I could go even larger...

Nothing I saw came close to what I wanted/needed when I was house shopping.

As you've been finding, new home "garages" are barely adequate for storing cars, lawn equipment, and recreational equipment in and certainly have little use for the DIY or "enthusiast."

As far as how big you want/need, the easiest route is to buy a pad of graph paper and an engineering or architectural scale. Draw up some boxes to represent the size of your vehicles, tools, and whatever else you might think you're going to put in the space. Cut out all the boxes and then start rearranging them with access space around them. I've seen people do similar with Excel, SketchUp, and a host of other online options. It doesn't need to be fancy, but it will give you an idea of how much room you're looking for.

 

[J Mack]

Just curious what a "typical" garage size is for everyone and what their use is.

My wife has let me have one stall of our three car garage to park one of my cars. Probably only getting about 20x10 of usable space and she has her junk taking up the rest of the garage.

 

[kirvesmies]

no pics, sorry guys. 28'x38' with 8'6" ceiling. 2 bays. the 38' is split 1/3-2/3. the 1/3 is my woodworking area n winter time parking for . the 2/3 is mechanical/fab area with an 8'x8' office. oh, n the best part, got only 10,500 into it. all reclaimed material but lintels and roof. built it 20yrs ago

 

[Broski]

My wife has let me have one stall of our three car garage to park one of my cars. Probably only getting about 20x10 of usable space and she has her junk taking up the rest of the garage.
View attachment 2781837

Now that's how to us a garage

 

[LDowney]

The attached garage by definition is part of the house ... which makes it community property, so occasionally small projects hit the garage.

The shop is not attached to the house and was deemed dirty-n-unworthy by my bride when we purchased our home. It was promptly assigned to me. I gladly accepted. It is still very basic work environment (no insulation/unfinished concrete floors).

Interior dimensions: 40 ft wide / 80 ft long / 11.5 ft min. overhead height / 18 ft max. overhead height
Uses: Storage (Cruisers, tractor, tools, shop equipment) / auto maintenance / limited fabrication / ... the usual that we all dabble in

Front entry

Interior (or at least a portion)

Clear shot of the lift in use

 

[diabetik81]

Surprised this thread didn't get more attention. I've been looking for garage ideas just to spiff mine up. Here's my attempt at reviving this.

 

[Michael B]

It appears I have neglected to update my garage/shop space and usage. I now have a 40’x50’ post and beam shop with a 10’x40’ mezzanine and a10k lift. Usage is still the same just more room to do it in. As an added bonus now gets to park in the garage. There is also a 10’x20’ “office” area, that isn’t finished yet.