best size/shape for mid-size garage

[RatLabGuy]

Working on plans to add a detached garage, maybe late fall depending on some financial things.
Most likely post construction due to cost and ease of setup, and larger spaced trusses giving mroe interior options.

Kicker is, county rules for my zone limit me to 1000 sq ft and the height of the house. I'll measure later but I'm perssimistically guesssing it will be a 16'-18' limit (house is a 60s rancher and this is at the flattest end :-( ).

So I'm exploring the best way to use those limits. I'd like to have 3 bays; realistically 2 for vehicles (1 w/ lift) and 1 that is "other projects". I'll still have the main attached garage too but that's been promised to the wife to finally be able to use ;-)

Opinion or experience on going wide and shallow vs more square? I need to find out if the county has leniance on exactly 1000 sq ft. I kinda like the size of 36x28 (which is 8 sf over). 40x25 seems huge but shallow. A longbed truck would fit but not w/ much to spare.

Also, will it matter which direction I have the strusses going? I'd like to squeeze in a loft or upper shelf/storage area somehow. I was thinking of either having low height in 1 end bay and squeezing that between trusses, or puttting it along some part of the back wall.

 

[CasterTroy]

Also, will it matter which direction I have the strusses going?

Shorter side will be cheaper

I'd like to squeeze in a loft or upper shelf/storage area somehow.

I had to build one for all of our furniture until we build the house

I'm at 30x40. The whole back of my garage is lined with 30" deep "pantry'
12x10 doors, 12ft wide bays and a man door. 14ft ceiling
It's perfect for me

 

[Tim C]

I have a 24x30 2 door. You're gonna want 30 deep at least especially if you are going to work on a long bed truck and have benches or tool boxes along the back wall. I have had an extended cab long bed 2500hd Chevy and F250 on the lift in mine and even pulled the engine on the f250, but we had to kick the lift and roll the truck all the way against the door to do it because of space. A long bed 4 door may fit but it'll be really tight. I honestly wish mine was a 30 x 30 or 32x32 (which is the biggest I can fit by zoning) I could use the extra 6 to 8 foot "half bay" for storage for things like the cherry picker, transmission jack, engine stand, parts washer and press, etc. and still have 2 full size bays to work in. Plus that would give me more room to get around the lift on one side, as it is there's only a foot of room or so between the lift post and the wall, so I have to walk all the way around a car unless its lifted enough to duck under or small enough in width to squeeze my 300lb ass between the lift and the car. That wont happen on a full size truck. You're going to need a full 12 foot to ceiling height to use a regular lift, the low clearance lifts suck and the car wont go high enough to work under if the ceiling height is less than 12'. That means either a flat sloped roof or custom trusses to put the lift in the center bay if you go with a traditional A roof unless the height thing can be waived. I have 12' to the trusses and the trusses are 6 to 8 feet above that. Mine is a pole barn style with metal skin. Ill get some pics later today once I get out there and moving about.

 

[Tim C]

This is 24 wide, 30 deep with 10' wide x 8 foot tall doors. The workbench, toolbox press parts washer and fridge all use roughly 3 feet of the 30. If you can put them along the side wall you can get by with 28 or 27 feet deep. If I had that extra half bay that's where most of that would be here. Along with the spare engine the hit and miss engine, welder and zero turn mower which would leave more space around the vehicles.

Basically build as big as you possibly can, but you're going to want 28 to 30 deep for sure. The shop at work is 30 feet deep too.

 

[RatLabGuy]

I have a 24x30 2 door. You're gonna want 30 deep at least especially if you are going to work on a long bed truck and have benches or tool boxes along the back wall. I have had an extended cab long bed 2500hd Chevy and F250 on the lift in mine and even pulled the engine on the f250, but we had to kick the lift and roll the truck all the way against the door to do it because of space. A long bed 4 door may fit but it'll be really tight. I honestly wish mine was a 30 x 30 or 32x32 (which is the biggest I can fit by zoning) I could use the extra 6 to 8 foot "half bay" for storage for things like the cherry picker, transmission jack, engine stand, parts washer and press, etc. and still have 2 full size bays to work in. Plus that would give me more room to get around the lift on one side, as it is there's only a foot of room or so between the lift post and the wall, so I have to walk all the way around a car unless its lifted enough to duck under or small enough in width to squeeze my 300lb ass between the lift and the car. That wont happen on a full size truck. You're going to need a full 12 foot to ceiling height to use a regular lift, the low clearance lifts suck and the car wont go high enough to work under if the ceiling height is less than 12'. That means either a flat sloped roof or custom trusses to put the lift in the center bay if you go with a traditional A roof unless the height thing can be waived. I have 12' to the trusses and the trusses are 6 to 8 feet above that. Mine is a pole barn style with metal skin. Ill get some pics later today once I get out there and moving about.

I was thinking if fhe trusses are set perpendicular to the doors, then i might be able to squeeze the lift between trusses. Ive even seen pics where guys ran the posts on either side of trusses and the top beam goes through them.
Thinking the lift would go on the middle bay to avoid the post-wall problem. I may also just spend the money on an in ground lift, a friend has one and it is the shizzizle.

 

[Tim C]

My lifts cross bar is in-between the trusses as you say, even though mine are spaced further apart. The lift would tuck inside the trusses if they were the usual 2 feet apart or so. I meant by my comment that if your total height was limited to 14 feet or so you may need a custom truss literally shaped like an A where the lift would have a higher ceiling for clearance.

Don't forget another part of ceiling height is so you can get the car all the way up. No point having a lift if it crushes the roof against the bottom of the trusses.

I don't know what type of inground lift your friend has but as a mechanic I'm partial to this style, most in ground lifts or the low clearance ones with the cables running along the floor in a chanel or with a "speed bump" for the cable seems to be right in the way no matter what you're doing. Want to pull a transmission or tcase? Can't roll the trans jack, cables in the way, trying to pull a motor, cable run in the way of the hoist legs, etc. My first job as a mechanic was at a Ford dealership, as the new guy I got stuck at the only low clearance lift with a cable run on the floor AND an open floor drain that ate all my sockets and dropped bolts. That may have skewed my opinion though LOL

 

[ghost]

A friend in Harstville was limited but then found out if it's attached to the house it's different. He put a walkway with a roof attached to his house. A breezeway I call it. He had a limit of height and used scissor trusses to get the height he needed. He now has a 34 x 60... It's quite nice.

 

[RatLabGuy]

View attachment 324419 View attachment 324420

My lifts cross bar is in-between the trusses as you say, even though mine are spaced further apart. The lift would tuck inside the trusses if they were the usual 2 feet apart or so. I meant by my comment that if your total height was limited to 14 feet or so you may need a custom truss literally shaped like an A where the lift would have a higher ceiling for clearance.

Don't forget another part of ceiling height is so you can get the car all the way up. No point having a lift if it crushes the roof against the bottom of the trusses.

I don't know what type of inground lift your friend has but as a mechanic I'm partial to this style, most in ground lifts or the low clearance ones with the cables running along the floor in a chanel or with a "speed bump" for the cable seems to be right in the way no matter what you're doing. Want to pull a transmission or tcase? Can't roll the trans jack, cables in the way, trying to pull a motor, cable run in the way of the hoist legs, etc. My first job as a mechanic was at a Ford dealership, as the new guy I got stuck at the only low clearance lift with a cable run on the floor AND an open floor drain that ate all my sockets and dropped bolts. That may have skewed my opinion though LOL

His has the controls on a wall, hydraulics, wire etc is in the slab. When the instalkers cut the pit for the lift they also roured out a channel for the control lines to lay in.

 

[shelby27604]

I can have nothing to add of value, just wanted to say I am jealous of all the garages pictured!

 

[CasterTroy]

I was thinking if fhe trusses are set perpendicular to the doors, then i might be able to squeeze the lift between trusses.

Code allows 14ft between trusses. That's what I have outside because I wasnt sure if I would put a lift out there or not. I have 21ft in the center

The thought was also to replicate this on the middle bay, but the ceiling would have cost quite a but more so I chose to just make it flat

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

I was going to say, if you want a lift with no crossbar, have them put in the channel for the cables, in the slab.

My shop is 20x30 with the 20ft depth. Like others have said, go already 28-30ft deep.

 

[shawn]

Code allows 14ft between trusses.

That is not a thing. There's a lot more to it than that.

 

[shawn]

I kinda like the size of 36x28 (which is 8 sf over).

So do 36'x27'-8".

 

[CasterTroy]

That is not a thing

Yes....yes it is

 

[1-tonmudder]

Mine is 24X40 w 40 being the depth and a 12 foot ceiling.Its just two door but that was limited by where I had the space to build.Given a better location I would have put my doors on the 40 foot side of the garage.

 

[zuke]

I'm gonna throw a big ole wrench in your plans, well really just an alternative you might want to look at...

I faced an almost identical situation 10 years ago, Stafford County VA has pretty much the same rules, no taller than the house, no more square footage, and I live in a Ranch style home on 1 acre, in a 1000sq/ft house.

There were several other factors that came into play for me, that you probably also should consider, I would have had to spend ALOT of money on leveling, as my whole lot other than immediately around the house is on 5 to 21 degree slopes.

I'm on a septic system, so I lose quite a bit of my lot to that too.

But the real kicker is the surrounding properties, Most have 1 or 2 car attached garages, and a few have a detached 1 car. If I built a shop on my land, it would actually NOT add enough value to the property to cover the cost of the shop, so it would have to be only because I would use it long enough to justify the cost for me. It also would make the house a little harder to sell, because it wouldn't be a good 'fit' for the area.

My initial solution was to Rent an industrial shop near the house (About 15 minutes), This comes with a slew of advantages (I can walk to a Lowes, Oreilly's, NTB and Firestone) and have three more auto parts stores (Napa, Autozone and Advance) within a mile. It's much easier to set a "Closing Time" I try and close shop at 9pm everyday, but if I work on something at the house, I'll say "this will only take 15 minutes" and suddenly find it's 3am on a work night.

About 5 years ago, my Landlord was going to sell it regardless of me, and I would have had to move... So I bought it, Got it for $100,000, which I would have easily spent building a comparable 1200 sq/ft 20ft ceiling shop at the house (if I even could have).

Disadvantages are I now pay real estate tax on another property, $1000/annum, and I have to maintain Commercial insurance on the property, $650 a year for insurance on a "Computer repair shop", Don't even think about calling it an Auto Repair shop! And I have to do annual paper audits for both the county and insurance, even though my revenue is always $0.

A huge advantage is the property is separate from the house, and if I have to divest myself of either, it doesn't affect the other.

What I'm saying is, with the similarities in our situations, and the type of area we both live in, it may well be worth it for you to spend a few hours on loopnet.com, and see what kind of commercial properties are available nearby you.

 

[drkelly]

My house garage is 25 x 33 INSIDE dimensions, so probably 26 x 34. My tool boxes and work bench are along the back wall. I have had my Dodge Ram 2500 quad cab, short bed in there before, and it was OK. Like others have already mentioned, I would build it 28-30' deep though.

Mine is not built with trusses. It has some kind of special beams running the 25-26' span, then rafters so we can finish in the area above. If you Did something like that, then you could build a staircase on the exterior of the garage with a normal door to enter the space above to use for storage.

 

[shawn]

Working on plans to add a detached garage, maybe late fall depending on some financial things.
Most likely post construction due to cost and ease of setup, and larger spaced trusses giving mroe interior options.

Kicker is, county rules for my zone limit me to 1000 sq ft and the height of the house. I'll measure later but I'm perssimistically guesssing it will be a 16'-18' limit (house is a 60s rancher and this is at the flattest end :-( ).

So I'm exploring the best way to use those limits. I'd like to have 3 bays; realistically 2 for vehicles (1 w/ lift) and 1 that is "other projects". I'll still have the main attached garage too but that's been promised to the wife to finally be able to use ;-)

Opinion or experience on going wide and shallow vs more square? I need to find out if the county has leniance on exactly 1000 sq ft. I kinda like the size of 36x28 (which is 8 sf over). 40x25 seems huge but shallow. A longbed truck would fit but not w/ much to spare.

Also, will it matter which direction I have the strusses going? I'd like to squeeze in a loft or upper shelf/storage area somehow. I was thinking of either having low height in 1 end bay and squeezing that between trusses, or puttting it along some part of the back wall.

Call Charlie Cray at Reisterstown Lumber - 410-833-1300 once you get a bit better understanding of what you need to do. Make sure that you don't have any form-based codes that require specific exterior materials. For example, if you have to do asphalt shingles, that changes things. Your wall height is probably going to be limited to 11-12ft based on your overall height limit. You could go with a scissor truss or parallel chord truss to get a few feet of extra height, or even stick frame part of it if that wasn't enough. Hell, you could stick frame the whole thing if you wanted, but Charlie can't help with that.

 

[drkelly]

Example

 

[RatLabGuy]

I'm gonna throw a big ole wrench in your plans, well really just an alternative you might want to look at...

I faced an almost identical situation 10 years ago, Stafford County VA has pretty much the same rules, no taller than the house, no more square footage, and I live in a Ranch style home on 1 acre, in a 1000sq/ft house.
....
What I'm saying is, with the similarities in our situations, and the type of area we both live in, it may well be worth it for you to spend a few hours on loopnet.com, and see what kind of commercial properties are available nearby you.

Good points. Yes our situations are nearly identical, although the grading shouldn't be bad.
Similarly, we have an attached garage, as do most neighbors.
I've pretty much just accepted the fact that this is an investment in happiness and not real estate, and is just a big net loss in that latter department for gain in the other. Financially it makes more sense to just move, buy a house that already has a bigger garage. But the wife and kids are dead set against that, and we see no reason we won't be here a long time to enjoy it.

Remote shop won't work for my needs. The cars are just a part-time hobby thing, I'll use the garage for a lot more than that. Its very likely some space will end up being used for a robotics team project or son's garage band or something. Hell for the moment the team is homeless and may end up moving in - there's a thing where homeowners can get a property tax credit for all the sq ft used specifically for robotics outreach programs ;-).

Call Charlie Cray at Reisterstown Lumber - 410-833-1300 once you get a bit better understanding of what you need to do. Make sure that you don't have any form-based codes that require specific exterior materials. For example, if you have to do asphalt shingles, that changes things. Your wall height is probably going to be limited to 11-12ft based on your overall height limit. You could go with a scissor truss or parallel chord truss to get a few feet of extra height, or even stick frame part of it if that wasn't enough. Hell, you could stick frame the whole thing if you wanted, but Charlie can't help with that.

Thanks for the tip. Looks like they'd be a good supplier - site does not imply if they'd build too?
Up here the hot ticket is that we're close enough to PA that there are several Amish construction teams that do projects and whole barns etc, with a great reputation. I have enough going on in my life that I'll probbaly just have the structure done turnkey. My next step after closing in on the dimensions is to price things out.
Luckily I'm outside the city and no HOA so the only regs I have to worry about are county, which are more minimal than alot of the rest of the state. My plan was to talk to some local contractors who would know what is required here.

 

[RatLabGuy]

Example

View attachment 324430

Thanks. At this moment I'm leaning towards that 27.75*36 in this kind of style, I'd love to add the stairs if it can be squeezed in. I'm sure I'll have a much lower pitch roof, 4/12 or even 3/12. Gotta measure the yard and find out what the real limit is.

 

[RatLabGuy]

So do 36'x27'-8".

This would make for an odd size truss - is that a problem?

I'm thinking that since I'm limited on my total height, it make more sense for me to have my trusses do the smaller span so that the side walls can be taller.

 

[shawn]

This would make for an odd size truss - is that a problem?

So long as it's a multiple of 1/8", it should be fine.

I'm thinking that since I'm limited on my total height, it make more sense for me to have my trusses do the smaller span so that the side walls can be taller.

Agreed. You can mess around with the pitch to maximize the sidewall height and the interior clear height, too. It might not help, but you never know until you try.

 

[Futbalfantic]

Put a “steeple” on the house and raise the roof line.

 

[RatLabGuy]

So long as it's a multiple of 1/8", it should be fine.

Wait, I can't get a metric truss, like a real scientist?
WTF is this?

(The answer is, "America, you Commie")