Thinking we will be storing most our kids toys and lawn equipment in the single, probably have some storage and shelving in front of the double garage. both garages are approx 29ft deep too.

With your setup I'd vote for an 18' door.

We have a similar set up and we chose the one large door

On our recent build we went with 2 doors and have a 2 car garage like yours but we don't have a one car at that location. I really like the 2 separate doors because it is easy to keep the space between 2 vehicles defined so the last vehicle in doesn't get shorted. I do pull in slightly past the door I am going to use and then back up a short distance so I have a straight shot into my space.

In just looking at your garages without knowing parking pad size it seems you might have to jockey all of your vehicles around when leaving each garage.

We changed our plans from two doors down to one larger door to give us more flexibility. At some point, we will only be parking one car in the garage and want to be able to park in the middle of the garage to allow the most space for getting in and out of the vehicle.

bethohio3 - this is what we were thinking too, my wife can park in the wide door garage, and when I actually park in the garage it would be the 12ft door single garage

Well...I guess it's a bit of a conflict: convenient function versus good proportions and pleasing aesthetics. The problem with garages--especially snout garages--is that their size and proportions often dwarf all other features and elements of a residence. Think about it--what else on a house is 18-feet wide by 9-feet tall? And that's only a double car garage entry. 3- and 4-car garages are even worse.

Any thoughts on the single garage, 10ft vs 12ft? Its going to be pretty wide too. Wasnt going to do a full double do to looks.

After putting our dually in a standard single wide door for 13 years, I am going to be THRILLED with a 10' wide door. Currently there is about 2' on either side of the mirror and 3" for each dually fenders - having an extra 6" on each side will be heaven. I think a 12' is overkill - your vehicle can't be much wider than mine.

Virgil Carter Fine Art- the wide door will be on the side entry- no other houses around to see it. So aesthetics are important of course, but I believe ease of use would probably trump it.

If it can't be seen from the front of the house, then I think you're fine with a single door.

Of course DH and I decided on two doors figuring if the one door breaks, it's much easier to physically raise a single door than a huge double door.

I prefer the look of single doors, I think it's not as overwhelming. I don't know how big your pad will be, but ours is 26' and I have no problem at all getting my large SUV in and out.

If it's not visible, pick the one that is most functional. I am jealous of your sports court!

rockybird- ill post a total floor plan later so you can see.....super excited about the sports court!!

jackson2348 - how wide our your doors and what angle do you pull in at? if straights on we thought 10ft would be fine, but having to make that turn, subject... Also, my pad can be as big as needed at this point, no real lot restrictions accept cost. Any suggestions on pad size?

I like a wood garage door. I think a wood single door would be VERY heavy and require a very heavy-duty opener. Of course, most people go with aluminum so I guess then it wouldn't matter as much.

If it doesn't show on the facade...go with the double door! I drive a big SUV, and the house we rented while we built had two single doors that I had to swing into...so pretty much my car just stayed outside, lol.

Not visible from the front, go for convenience! (Coming from the guy who one dark and stormy night last week backed his pickup hard into the solid brick wall next to the single garage door.)

I would vote for one large door. Much more flexibility (and maneuvering room) as stated....

It's a matter of scale and proportion, not feet and inches. It all depends on the scale and proportion of the "snout" as compared to the façade of the rest of the house. In many cases sticking out one-foot or even flush is too much, since the size of double or multiple single doors tends to overpower and dwarf the rest of the house.

I thought the term "snout house" referred to homes where the attached garage protruded entirely in front of the house such as the example provided by VCFA above.

I regret having to say that there are all sorts of "snouts" large and small, protruding and recessive, but all mostly out of scale and proportion and mostly obnoxious, and dare I say...unattractive...?

Hey, so are there any "snout" garages out there which are proportionate to the house. I would love to see what that looks like. (:

Me too (if they exist)! Meanwhile, here's a "snout house"...! You're welcome!

Love it...haha

This is pretty fascinating. I am surprised there are so many proponents of one large door. I already find the dominance of garages in American architecture to be rather disturbing, and the idea of a huge expanse of one massive, uninterrupted door is not what I want to see. I think Virgil Carter's comments about aesthetics are important, but I also recognize that a lot of people find aesthetics to be secondary to what they consider practicality.

For the record, I have a three-car garage, with three discreet, equal-sized doors. I've never had a problem getting ladders or cars or anything else in or out. I prefer the look, and, in cold weather, I don't lose as much heat when I just open one of the doors briefly. I've also had to open one of the doors manually during a power failure, and the single door was plenty heavy....

Topic 1:

As a person with an interest in building with aging-in-place in mind, I'm in favor of one large door. My grandmother had one large door, and it was very easy to pull into the center of her garage, open the door wide, whip her walker out of the trunk, and help her into the house. In fact, I'd back into the garage so she'd be closer to the garage entrance door.

However, that doesn't eliminate the importance of Topic 2:

When you're talking about a large garage like this, you do have to consider the proportions and the impact of a large item (such as the garage) on the overall look of the house. To ignore this would be to risk creating a functional but ugly house ... and none of us want that.

Just a comment: turning a large vehicle 90 degrees into a garage is a PITA. Many of my friends with side loaded garages don't use them at all. You'll leave it outside half the time unless you can easily get it in and out. Since you have a 4 acre lot I'd make sure you have plenty of driveway so you can back and go in a hurry without worrying about any damage or doing a multi point turn.

All garages should face a driveway. It is easier to get the car from the driveway into the garage if the garage faces the driveway. I knew a guy that faced his garage to the back yard and had to drive across the lawn to get his car into the garage.

Mark-

I presume you weren't the architect on that one... ;-)

Side-facing and rear-facing garage entries substantially mitigate the scale-busting huge line up of garage door facing the front of the house. Whenever the land permits, it almost always guarantees a better scale, proportioned and visually pleasing house, while not restricting garage entry or exit.

Olsen Studio.

Even with tight urban or suburban lots, there are various ways to integrate the garage into the house scale and proportions in ways in which the garages do not dominate nor destroy the character of the house.

Parallel Architecture.

With that much property, the vehicular traffic and home structure should be able to be designed in such a manner that a vehicle can approach the garage doors at a 90 degree angle. Most if not all standard equipped SUV's under those conditions would fit through a nine foot wide garage door, obviously wider doors would reduce the challenge of passing through the threshold of the garage.

For what it's worth, the parking lot designs and sizes of stalls at the grocery store, clothing store and home goods store (where everyone takes their SUV) tend to be 8'-6" wide, 9-0 wide, and some may be 9'-6' or 10' wide. Folks seem to be able to get their SUV into these stalls...well most folks anyway. And the Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge Ram Pick-em-up trucks fit there too. Garage doors this size should be no problem...

Having lived with separate garage doors for 20+ years, and lived through spouse and children scraping the sides of the cars many, many times .... I'm thrilled to be switching to a large single garage door in our next home.

Rob, it sounds like what you really need is a carport--no doors at all! ...It's a joke, it's a joke!

Our previous house had two doors under the house where we had to turn 90 degrees to get in. Also had an entry door between the two garage doors. Never had an issue. Our new home has one large door. Perhaps it's the size, but I much preferred the two doors and the added space between the cars that we are now missing.

Depending on layout and available space, one may need to opt for one or other option. I remember always wanting a home with side entry garages but due to lack of space on the left, ended up building front entry snout garages in our home in NJ. Subsequently I initially designed our next home in PNW with side garages but so glad I did not entirely pursue that dream. Main two double garages with two 18' glass/aluminium doors will flank front left with an additional side entrance double garage with 40' of hard standing, for my hobbies etc. Coming home late in the evening on a dark rainy night in the PNW, the last thing one would want is try to negotiate a 90degree turn in a large suv; sure I would do it but probably drive my DW mad.

Proof positive that there's always another point of view...

Not that my opinion matters much, but I vote for all single doors. :-)

The right stall on the 2-car section looks, to me, large enough on the far right to accommodate extra space for mobility concerns (if such concerns actually exist).

If parking/maneuverability is really a problem, perhaps practice in an empty parking lot? :-) When I learned to drive, my folks had a super large 4-door crew cab long bed truck and a little manual transmission 2-door car. Mom took me to a church parking lot during the week for some lessons with both vehicles.

If a 5-foot-nothin', 15.5 year old city girl can park a 4x4 V8 truck that's 20'+ long, in a standard 9' space, surely y'all can manage with a single 10' door, lol.

Yup, pretty much...I helped teach our older daughter to drive in a stick-shift diesel Peugeot without power steering in a Penny's parking lot on week ends. To this day she remains an outstanding adult, special ed teacher, mother, grand mother and all 'round wonderful human bean. And she can park a car. Or a truck.

Back from the dead...Doorzilla!

Otherwise known as spam. Reported it.

Garage door advertising now gone...!

Virgil Carter Fine Art - from above - a carport - should have thought of that. Or, insisted on street parking for underqualified drivers.

Sorry. Will not do again.