Today we’re going to talk about the ideal three car garage size if you are more interested in ideal two-car garage sizing please look my two car garage article instead.
So what is the ideal and standard 3 car garage size well here are 2 3 car garage mock-ups one is 20 feet deep by 30 feet wide and one is 24 feet by 36 feet.
Starting with the 20 by 30 garage
There is a door in the top left corner that is 36 inches wide. Your garage may have a door in a different place but it’s all relative. Since every garage needs a workbench here is one that is 2 feet deep by 8 feet long the green rectangles along the walls are garage shelves that are 18 inches wide by 8 feet long. There are two on this side and two on this side.
Then we have cars. You know the high value items most people park outside so they can store their crap inside. Ok back to the cars the 2012 Ford Explorer here is 16 and a half feet long by six and a half feet wide and the 2013 Chevy Malibu is 16 feet long by 6 feet wide. The third vehicle that clearly does not fit is a 2013 Chevy crew cab pickup with a standard bed at 20 feet long by 6 feet 8 inches wide.
The little red mark here is 30 inches wide showing you the ideal space between two cars in the garage allowing you to open the car door and get out. The problem as you can see is not in the center but over here on the side. If your parents look like this this won’t be a problem however if you are like the rest of us you won’t be able to get out of the car on this side.
Let’s take a look at the 24 by 36 garage to compare
You can see the same workbench the same garage shelving and the same three vehicles but the larger three car garage dimensions work a lot better. Here is our 30 inch wide line to show you have room for opening doors between these two cars. We actually have 60 inches. Represented by this blue line with three vehicles that’s 90 inches total or seven and a half feet leaving eight and a half feet. Next we have one vehicle at six feet wide one at six and a half and one at almost six and three-quarters that’s 19 and a quarter feet leaving nine and a quarter feet. Next we have two sections of 18 inch wide shelving for a total of three feet leaving you six and a quarter feet.
If you divide that by two you have over three feet here and here giving you plenty of room to get in and out of your vehicles. If you have more stuff to store you can even bump your garage shelving up to two feet wide adjust the position of your cars and still have thirty inches of clearance for car doors. With three car garage dimensions at 24 feet by 36 feet you can park all three vehicles. Inside have lots of room for storage and even open your car doors to get in and out of your car or unload your groceries without battling the rain or any other elements.
Last we forget the front-to-back dimensions the 20 by 30 garage really isn’t worth talking about even if mr. and mrs. Stick are your parents it just doesn’t work the 24 by 36 garage.
On the other hand does work and here are the numbers 24 feet deep – even 20 feet of pickup leaves you 4 feet front to back in this third. Bay in the other two bays you have 24 feet – 16 and a half feet of car leaving seven and a half feet for a garage workbench with two feet for the workbench you still have five and a half feet to spare allow at least six inches at the back of the car. So you can close the garage door and you have five feet up front to work at your workbench change the oil in your car or do anything else you need to in this area. Oh and I almost forgot to let you in on a little secret: the single door on the twenty by thirty garage is only eight feet wide and the double door is 16 feet wide that is the absolute minimum width for squeezing your car’s inside on this 24 by 36 garage.
The single door is 10 feet wide and the double door is 18 feet wide making it much easier to pull in and out of the garage. The ability to install wider garage doors is in itself a great reason to build a larger garage.
So what’s the bottom
Generally the minimum recommended size of a three-car garage is approximately 32 feet wide and a 2 to a feet deep.
When considering your three-car garage design go bigger when possible 25:38 X 26 or 40 X 30 are common sizes that offer more flexibility with their dimensions.
Line the ideal three-car garage dimension in my in is at least 24 feet deep by 36 feet wide anything smaller leaves you wanting for more if you want to go even bigger go bigger just don’t do it to store more crap in my humble opinion that’s it for.
Now I hope this helped.