Minimum 2 bay shop size

aarolar · May 23, 2016

buickanddeere said:
Figure minimum size and then increase by 50%. With all the expense of putting up a small building going another 8ft or 16 ft costs very little and gains much

So I should build a 60x80 then?

bigtiller · May 23, 2016

aarolar said:
So I should build a 60x80 then?

No, I've got a 60x80 and it is too small

dstig1 · May 24, 2016

My data points... 10' w doors are not wide enough. That is what I have and I need to watch it when I back the tractor in (7' rear blade) or the F250 (regular tow mirrors fit with ~6-9" each side). I wouldn't recommend you being that close for anything regularly used - another 2' would be great. You should have min 4' between each door and outside each door. More if you want to really work in the place. 4' gets you some stuff along the wall and the ability to walk, but not lots of room for real work on a vehicle unless you eliminate the storage on the sides. So add that up - 12' doors x2 +4'x3 = 36' min width. A couple more feet would be even better. I could see 2x 12' doors, 4" in the middle and 6' or 8' on the outsides. That gets you up to 40-44' wide. Mine is 32' wide (2x10' doors + 4' x3). It works, but I could really use more width so I could end up "dancing" around stuff less. My depth on the "car garage" side of the building is about 31'. Neither dimension is "enough" but it sure beats what I used to deal with.

Depth? Depends on what you want to do. Benches take 2' plus probably another 2' to be usable. Add your max car depth plus 10-12' at least, I would say.

If you want to put a lift in, you need height. There are short lifts, but your options open up greatly if your ceiling is 13' min. That is why mine is 13'... 12'6" seems to be a common height. If you think you are going to lift very large vehicles (dualie F350's with work bodies) then you might need to go higher to 14' or more. There is another thing to consider - the slab. If you are going to put a heavy lift in place, you may need a 5" or 6" slab to meet the specs. Something worth investigating before you move on this. You really want clear floor lifts if you can.

HTH. From my experience...

aarolar · May 24, 2016

dstig1 said:
If you want to put a lift in, you need height. There are short lifts, but your options open up greatly if your ceiling is 13' min. That is why mine is 13'... 12'6" seems to be a common height. If you think you are going to lift very large vehicles (dualie F350's with work bodies) then you might need to go higher to 14' or more. There is another thing to consider - the slab. If you are going to put a heavy lift in place, you may need a 5" or 6" slab to meet the specs. Something worth investigating before you move on this. You really want clear floor lifts if you can.

HTH. From my experience...

Yep I'm up on all this definitely going with 14' height and the slab will have poured footers for the lift where it goes with the studs in the concrete.

EddieWalker · May 24, 2016

I think 30 feet depth should be the minimum. My parents garage is 24 feet deep and that's just right for their cars and a small amount of storage along the wall in front of them with enough room to walk around the car. My shop is 30 feet deep and I can get my extra cab, 8ft bed truck in there with enough room to walk around it. For two vehicles, I would think 40 feet wide would give you enough room to have both vehicles in there and still have enough space for storage and a functional work space. Bigger is always going to give you more room, and there is no limit to how big you can go except your wallet.