Building Three Car Garage

[Coursey]

I am getting
ready to start building my 32'x46' three car garage. It wil have 3-10'widex8'tall doors on the
46' side.

We have decided to turn the garage doors toward the house, and
the garage will be 67' from the house. The only issue I can see with this is
backing a trailer up into the garage, which might be hard to do or maybe
impossible.

It will have an attic bonus room with stair access over two
of the bays. One bay will have a vaulted ceiling to allow clearance for a future
two post lift.

Is there anything that I may be missing that I should try
to make provisions for?



I will post progress pics as soon as we
start.

[Tom Welch]

in my opinion, all cars should be able to be in the garage with both doors fully opened with room to walk carrying a big box between the doors. It may not seem like much until you attempt this, but it really helps when working on a car when there is plenty of room to move around. I'm envious by the way.

[srh3trinity]

Sounds great. I would wire it for 220V in certain places for compressors and welders. Even if you don't need it now, you may buy something down the road. I would research lifts and recommended slab depth. I have heard you need to poor your slab thicker in the area where you would anchor a lift. As a luxury, air hardlines throughout would be really nice.

[shortrack]

Have no windows/entrances that can't be seen from the house.

[Coursey]

Have no windows/entrances that can't be seen from the house.

That is one of my reasons for turning the garage door toward the house

[astroracer]

Sounds nice. My original barn was 30 x 48. I put one 16' door on the long side and one 9' door on the short side. Like Tom mentioned, consider the walk around room and how much work you plan to do in the shop. I set my doors 6 feet from the side of the building. That leaves room for a work bench or equipment storage along the wall and still be able to walk comfortably around the cars AND open their doors. To me six feet is minimum. Your spacing will leave you with less then 4 feet on the ends because of wall thickness.
Just a side note. I watched a guy build a garage on my way home form work at night. It is 34' wide and very deep. He put three 10' doors on the 34' side.... That leaves less then a foot on the side walls to walk or open the doors and only a foot between vehicles if the middle stall is occupied... Way to close to be efficient as a work space.

[protouring70]

Also remember if you want put your air compessor on the outside. Keep it covered and plumb air lines into the shop. Wil be quieter and don't take up space

[Coursey]

Will have 4' then 10' door, 3'3" then 10' door, 3'3" then 10' door, then 5'6" to wall. Then entrance door will be in the 5'6" section

[TheJDMan]

You may or may not have plans to install a 4 post lift in the building but just in case you think you may want a lift in the future I recommend at least a 12ft ceiling .

[damannhw]

My Dad placed floor drains on one bay of his shop and plumbed in water. Works great for doing body work or washing cars when the weather gets cold.

[JustJohn]

You could go 2 deep, leave yourself some extra storage and only buy 2 doors...

[Bryce]

You could go 2 deep, leave yourself some extra storage and only buy 2 doors...

Looks great! I see you shop at costco, I have the same roll away.

[dropit69]

when you do electrical put outlets between the garage doors..told my brother this while building his..he said ill never use it..guess what he uses it more than any other outlet..my new house doesnt have one there but ill be putting one in for sure..

[protouring70]

Also......if you can go at least 1 block high. So you can wash out the shop. Had it in my last shop works great

[JustJohn]

Actually, outlets everywhere. +1 on next to the garage door, I use it all the time plus outlets along the wall ABOVE your work benches. I don't think I've pulled out more than a 10ft extension cord anywhere since all the electric was put in.

when you do electrical put outlets between the garage doors..told my brother this while building his..he said ill never use it..guess what he uses it more than any other outlet..my new house doesnt have one there but ill be putting one in for sure..

[BonzoHansen]

My Dad placed floor drains on one bay of his shop and plumbed in water. Works great for doing body work or washing cars when the weather gets cold.

floor drains are against code in many places.

[shortrack]

floor drains are against code in many places.

yeah X2....I put a floor drain in that I covered with a big piece of plywood under the boat until the building inspector signed off and left. My shop is a separate outbuilding. I inquired about putting in a washroom and shower (essentially installing running water/drains), no dice. If I did want running water it would suddenly become a "residence", long story short the building permit would have been denied and unable to build without a variance ($$$) because you are not allowed to have two "residences" on one lot.

Another thing, check your local building codes VERY CLOSELY! they vary wildly between municipalities. In one municipality I was looking at you could get around the shower/washroom deal by building an enclosed "breezeway" sort of thing to connect the house to the garage therefore it's merely an extension of the house so you can do anything you want, washroom, shower, anything. When I asked about doing that in my town (the next town over) the guy sighed and said "YES!! Im aware you can do that in _______ but you can't do that here!!"

[shmoov69]

About 30 more feet!! LOL! Seriously!!!

What everyone has said here plus a wood stove for cheap heat in the winter. Make sure you won't have to move cars once their disassembled to get another one in there. If you can't have a floor drain, then have at least one stall with enough slope to drain the water out the door. Have one stall almost perfectly level for suspension setups. LOTS of lights that you can turn on randomly with different switches. Wired for TV and stereo with a place to mount it all out of the way. And a Big Ass Fan.
My .02!

[Todd in Vancouver]

You could go 2 deep, leave yourself some extra storage and only buy 2 doors...

Oh my, that looks AWESOME!

[Ishmael]

I just built a 30 x50. I put 2 doors on the 30, a man door on the side and another 10x9 on the back so you could drive right through. Attic trusses got me a 50' x 13' room upstairs with 8 feet of head space. I park small toys under the stairs. I designed with 2x6x10s on 24. With the 16" concrete wall, bottom plate, double top plate and 10" of 2x6 I have almost 12 feet which is enough for a lift. Plus 2x6s come in 10s so no cutting.
I put a wood stove about halfway down the 50" wall. I also used slider windows tall and wide enough to sit a box fan in. May want to paint cars in there so there are 5 windows on each side. I have water between the doors. It will get plumbed for natural gas and I'll be insulating the hell out of it. Make sure your concrete is plenty deep where you will want a hoist. I'm putting in plugs along the ceiling and using hanging t8 flourescents so when a ballast goes I can just unplug the light and hang a new one or fix it on the ground. Don't forget a plug above the hoist area.
I can fit my wife's ford 500 and my xj in the front with room to walk around or barbque, two firebirds, and my truck in there in the back plus two benches, plenty of room around the stove and toys under the 4" wide stairs so you can carry whatever you need to upstairs.
Check code over and over before you pay for any plans. Have someone who knows what they are doing and is versed in code do the plans - it pays to have a planner. Just because you think you are doing something that is going to be cool doesn't mean it will work out that way when codes come into play. Seriously, sit down with some kind of designer as they should know code and how things are built and where you can't skimp. Which leads me to the last thing I have learned. Don't skimp. I haven't yet and I don't plan to but you'll regret it.
My regret. Should have gone bigger. I would have had to knock down trees and my wife would have been pissed but she's pissed already because its taller than the house and looks bigger. That's cool though because once I get the electrical hooked up I plan on living out there.
I don't like it when she calls it my "man cave." I don't hibernate out there. Its where I get work done (and then put my feet up in front of the stove). Its the best thing I have ever done other than help create my son. Enjoy it.