Garage Plans 2 Car
Garage Plans 2 Car - BEWARE Common Mistakes!
The 2-car garage in the above photo was built about five miles from my home. It's going to be a disaster.
Can you see why? Be sure to look down at the simple floor plan I drew up to show you the biggest mistake!
It's important to realize that a vast majority of two-car garages are too small. Here's a partial list of mistakes to avoid:
- garage doors too narrow and short
- distance from edge of doors to side walls of garage too narrow
- distance between single doors too narrow
- lack of floor drains to catch snow and ice melt
- front to back distance too short
- lack of attic or storage trusses above garage
Garage Door Width and Height
Garage doors are often too narrow for full-size pickup trucks. These vehicles are extremely popular and require a single-door width of 10 feet and the doors need to be 8-feet tall.
I didn't build the house I live in now in central New Hampshire and the single garage doors here are 9 feet wide. I own a Ford F-250 Super Duty 4x4 and my sideview mirrors are wider than the door jamb width.
Even with a 10-foot-wide door, I'd only have about 4 inches to spare on either side of the mirrors as I back into the bay.
Door height should be no less than 8 feet. Period.
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Attic and Storage Trusses - A MUST-HAVE For Your Garage!
Sidewall Distance From Doors
The distance from the edges of the garage doors to the side walls of the garage are the biggest mistake of all.
Often the distance from the car or truck, once in the bay, to the the side wall is less than 4 feet!
You can't open the car door completely and if anything is stored on the wall like garbage cans or bikes, the driver or passenger gets trapped in the car.
This distance should be a minimum of 6 feet.
Floor Drains Are A Must
Floor drains should be under each parked car. The concrete slab should slope so water dripping from a car or truck flows to the floor drain.
In many garages the concrete slopes to the garage doors. The meltwater freezes to the door weatherstripping in cold climates.
Total Garage Depth
The distance from the garage door to the back of the garage should be no less than 24 feet. Often it's just 20 feet. It's best to have 30 feet.
This may seem extreme, but if you have lots of bikes, a motorcycle, wheelbarrows, etc. to store, you'll need this space.
Speaking of motorcycles, that's about the only thing the homeowner is going to park in the right bay of this attached garage.
Look at my drawing below to see why. It's not to scale, but you get the idea if you read all the photo captions above.
Summary
When you go to look for garage plans 2 car be sure you READ my Dream Garage column above. You can't have enough space in a garage. You don't want to be banging your car doors against garbage cans or bikes CURSING each time you scratch the door.
The extra space you call for will not be that expensive and you'll be very happy in the future.
CLICK HERE to get FREE & FAST BIDS from local contractors that can build your dream garage.