gbuisson@earthlink.net

04/07/2001 04:20 AM

mikegrafton@home.com

04/07/2002 05:52 PM

DMAIA@aol.com

04/07/2001 06:43 PM

In a message dated 4/7/1 11:03:06 AM, mikegrafton@home.com writes:
<< I don't know, but is there a MINIMUM width for a "bay" to be usable for
parking (in general, not just 356s) and an optimum size? I have several cars
and am slowly looking for a porsche, a 356 or 912 (sorry) probably. >>
A typical residential garage door is 8' wide and has a 10' clear space bay.
A door for a two-car garage is usually 16'. If you're going to build a
garage to work on the car you should consider the width to be at least 12'
and 14' (clear) or more would be better.
Many two-car garages are 20' deep and 20' wide (400 sq. ft.).
Give lighting and ceiling height a lot of attention.
We recently converted a portion of a professional mechanic's shop into a
sales showroom. (the best Porsche mechanic in these woods by the way). Very
interesting project.

Daniel Macdonald AIA NCARB
Daniel Macdonald AIA Architects, Inc.
1595 Grant Avenue
Suite 200
Novato, CA 94945
(415)899-0050
FAX (415)899-0055
DMacdonald@DMAIA.com

CtheW@aol.com

04/07/2001 08:03 PM

In a message dated 4/7/01 2:03:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
mikegrafton@home.com writes:
<< Subj: garages
Date: 4/7/01 2:03:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: mikegrafton@home.com (Michael Grafton)
To: 356talk@356registry.org

I don't know, but is there a MINIMUM width for a "bay" to be usable for
parking (in general, not just 356s) and an optimum size? I have several cars
and am slowly looking for a porsche, a 356 or 912 (sorry) probably.

Mike Grafton
85 Jeep Wrangler
89 Jeep Grand Waggoner (love the fake wood sides)
91 Acura Legend
plus the 4 nonrunning corvairs of course
>>
-----------------------------
Hello Mike;
Your architectural answer is YES and NO. On private property there are
usually no "laws" that regulate the size of garage spaces. There are laws
that say you have to have parking spaces for 1or 2 cars (usually 10'x20' )
but no law that you have to park the cars in the garage - th driveway will
meet the code requirements..
Vehicles can be 3.5 feet wide (driving tractor, or 10' + (a small Boat on the
trailer) so every garage is unique. The "typical" developer (tract house)
will settle for a standard 8' wide x 7' high overhead door into (typically) a
10' x 20' area on the floor for a car. Typically, there will be a 4"
diameter steel 'lally' post to support the beam or attic framing EXACTLY
where your door will open on the drivers side (or worse) on the kids side of
the car. Also, the typical garage will have ceiling lights over the top of
the roll-up door so you can only work on something with the door closed.
Personally I have never done a typical garage, preferring instead to
anticipate the clients future prosperity, and using 9' wide or larger doors
and 8' in height as a rule - and I have no columns inside.
(Halfway thru a residential design my client bought a boat and wanted to keep
it "inside" the garage on the trailer. The overhead door became a sliding
barn style door 10' high with a peak at about 13'- 6" . Later, as the house
was being built he got married, and his wife hated boats so out it went - and
we redesigned the garage into (get this) an indoor Handball/Squash court -
20' deep x 20' wide x 40' long - without being noticeable from the street.
He parked his cars in the driveway. Fun with architecture. In the future he
can probably get 20 cars inside on two levels and a moveable NYC parking lift.
(Another client wanted a garage for his 20 classic cars -then- added his
house on top of it - all build into the side of a natural slope on the
property (and some rather interesting construction to protect the occupants
from the hazards of the garage.) Heck, Bill Gates has a 30 car inside garage
in his house for staff and guests. (His house took almost three years to get
the foundations done - all under an existing woodland that stayed (or was
replaced) intact - mose of his 50,000sf residence is below grade for security
and idio(t)sincricy.
It all depends on what you need....its only money.
Architect Charles Weiler

RWMLD@aol.com

04/07/2001 09:07 PM

Mike,
This'll probably get laughs from pros on the list, but there's a book called
Architectural Graphic Standards that list standard, minimum and max sizes for
about anything you can build. It's a bit spendy (abt $100 when I bought my
one-year-old issue some years back), but if you're planning any further
building projects, it'll keep you from all sorts of mistakes.
Ron LaDow