3 car garage versus 2 car garage

15 years ago

We are in the planning stage of building our home. We are trying to determine if a three car garage is a lot more expensive to build versus a 2 car garage? What is the minimum size for a three car garage? We are considering one large garage door and one short one. The short door will be for a Miata, so the space does not have to be very large. The room above the garage will be a bonus. If we go with a 3 car garage, we are considering making the space above the one car bay, storage space to help eliminate cost.

thanks for your input.

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lorraineal

15 years ago

I've never head anyone say - "We have too much garage space". Garage space is relatively inexpensive compared to sq/ft costs of a home. You don't have to heat it or carpet it or furnish it. The extra cost will be for the extended slab, walls, roof and door.

Be careful you don't shrink your garage too much. A Miata is what you have now, but what if you want to buy something else down the road? Remember, too, to allow space to get in, out and walk around your vehicles. It's amazing how big a car becomes once it is in an enclosed space. Especially trucks or SUVs with oversized mirrors. A too small garage can become a daily source of irritation - not to mention the possibility of damaging your cars if you can't open the doors without hitting the wall or another car.

If you plan to have a yard, you'll need someplace to store tools and mowers and such as well.

Be sure and engineer the trusses/joists above the garage to support the extra weight of your bonus room floor and the storage space.

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Comments (10)

worthy
15 years ago
Unless you're constrained by lot size or municipal restrictions, I'd always opt for the largest garage possible.
In that case, three is a bare minimum.

You can never have enough garage space! (Or luxury cars.)
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mojua
15 years ago
12'x24' is a nice size per garage bay; much narrower and you'll need to be careful opening car doors, much shallower and large vehicles are going to be a tight squeeze. That being said, assuming you're building a 2-story space (garage with living area above), each bay would represent about 600 sq/ft of the total build. Also, keep in mind that building the structure; foundation, frame, garage floor, siding, insulation. windows/doors, etc., is probably 80%+ of the total cost, so leaving the room over the single bay unfinished isn't really going to save you much money.
shelly_k
15 years ago
We live in the Midwest, so garage space is always wanted. Here, 4-car garages are becoming more and more common. People have cars, kids have cars, and then there are mowers, snow blowers, kid tricycles and scooters, etc... You get the idea.

I wish I had an idea of how much more cost a 3 car compared to a 2 car is. Our contractor estimated 5K between the two, but I'm not sure if he was just guessing or not.

I think 13x24 is a nice size for a single stall, and 25w x 24 deep is a nice size for a double stall -- be sure to get an 18 foot garage door instead of 16 foot too -- it will give you that much more room between the cars.

Our plan included a 4 stall garage that is 46x25 - we're hoping to be able to keep the 4 stall -- see if finances allow.
oruboris
15 years ago
One arguement against the larger garage: if it faces the street, the garage doors will dominate the front of the house.

In some situations, a garden shed may be an adequete, low cost alternative to another garage bay.

I only did a double, sort of stupid since we have 2 cars, 2 trucks and a jeep, and I do wood working which takes [at least] the space of a stall, plus the lawn mower, ATV, bicycles...

Basically, enough toys that I knew I'd need a separate building anyway, and so didn't want the actual house structure dominated by garage space.

But I have plenty of land, and no zoning restrictions.
User
15 years ago
We are doing a two car attached and a two car detached. I only want our two vehicles in the attached garage, and all of our other stuff (bicycles, ATV's ,motorcycles, and other man crap) in the detached. In our last garage, the other stuff overwhelmed the garage, and my husband ended up parking the expensive truck in the driveway!
worthy
15 years ago
The many posters here who have multiple garages and lots of land, might be interested in some of the tips at Ultimate Garage.
kateskouros
15 years ago
where we are no one builds a two car garage. as a matter of fact, lately i've been feeling a bit of "garage envy" since ours will only be a three car.
juddgirl2
15 years ago
Our "drive-through" garage is approximately 1300 sf, but only has a 2 car garage door facing the driveway. There is a 1 car garage door on the side of the garage that leads to the side yard.

Since we don't use our garage to actually park our cars - DH claims to need all of this space just for his workshop/tools :) - we have plenty of space but avoid having a 3 car garage door dominating the front of our house (which we wouldn't have space for on the front elevation anyway). BTW - DH is already claiming he should have built the garage bigger!
dlynn2
15 years ago
When we were building we were planning a 3 car garage. One day I asked our architect "How much more expensive would a 4-car garage be?" His reply was "I'm not even going to answer that. You will now have a 4-car garage. If you are even wondering about that option, then it is worth it. Garage space is cheap and you will never regret it." I am so gald he did that to us. It gives us lots of room for bikes, snowblower, lawnmower, trashcans, outdoor Christmas decorations, tools, etc.

3 car garage versus 2 car garage

lorraineal

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worthy

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