Building a Garage

[jzelt]

2004 Supra 22 SSV. Height with tower up and light is 128".

We are looking to build a garage to store the boat and other toys.
It will be 30' (wide) x 40' (deep). It will have 2 12' wide doors.
I have searched several sites and was curious on what height garage door?
Is 12' door enough clearance without having to take the tower down or lower the air pressure in tires?
I have read about others disconnecting the door from the opener and having to pull it back and secure it to get the clearance.

I don't want to have to do any adjustments, just back in and unhook.

I would have ~ 1 ft of clearance between the 2 measurements, but I figure the 12' is rough opening, so if the door fully opened takes 8" away, may be tight...

Thoughts or experiences?

[a_deleon]

a foot off each side might be a little tight if you have to shift it over at first but after a while wouldn't be to bad. I have a 15ft wide storage and I keep my seadoo jetski on one side and I have a little less then a foot between the jetski trailer tire and the wall on the other side. I had problems at first either hitting the door or the trailer and would have to back out but if you can line yourself up then it wouldn't be as much of a problem. I think my door is about 15ft tall and I have plenty of room with my boat but it is also an old school one so I don't know how the height with tower compares to yours.

[Diggs]

You will be fine with a 11' tall door, but always good to go bigger and do a 12' tall. For resale it might be worth bumping up to a 14' door if it won't look to bad. Reason I say that is the next owner might want to park and RV in there or you might want to later. If you don't plan to stay there forever it is worth taking a measurement on a few RV's cause it will be a good selling feature to the right buyer.
PS... I think you can make adjustments on your door so it goes up all the way and not hanging a few inches below the door. There is no way it will hang 8" lower than your door. Your garage door opener itself may though. Might think about getting one of those garage door openers that opens it from the side and just turns the bar. I have one and you get more clearance and they are super quiet.

[Loadup]

I had to do something to get my old girl out of the sun. Its not a garage but does the trick, this one is 24' wide 30' deep and I went with 7 foot legs. Might help

11316

[crystal waters]

if going with electric opener suggest using side mounted opener instead of overhead opener.
Also go with DC motor rather than AC --much quieter.
Go with bearing in your door track wheels - hardly any more $ and adds to the quiet operation.
Just built a new house and all of the above was recommended to me with great success in the end.

[Jetlink]

I had to do something to get my old girl out of the sun. Its not a garage but does the trick, this one is 24' wide 30' deep and I went with 7 foot legs. Might helpWhich old girl, the truck or the boat?

[jzelt]

I was always familiar with the track garage door opener. Saw a side mount opener online and like that route instead.

Other than online, is there a place that sells them (common at hardware stores?) or do you go thru a local garage door dealer (have several around as well).

Thanks for the input on the door and other things to look at/consider.

[jzelt]

Loadup-we were considering that route, but then told by the twp supervisor we would need to put it in the back yard. (currently store the boat on the side of the house and wouldn't be room for the added garage), so we said if we had to move it back there, might as well build big for everything.

[crystal waters]

got mine thru garage door dealer/installer

[PATROLW871]

I just finished mine it is 30x30 12 foot by 18ft wide clears my boat by plenty not even close...

[CornRickey]

I would recommend going with no less than a 16' wide opening were your going to place the boat. This will allow for another vehicle to enter the garage when the boat is stored. My garage is 30x32 with a 12x16 door. Height is fine, wish I could have gone with a 18' but the county wouldn't allow it.

[haugy]

jzeit I've got the same size shop you are planning. 30x40x14. I have a 12x12 door and a 10' high x 16' wide door.

My Saltare has plenty of room in the 12' x12' with the tower up. I can even have the first panel of door still down and still clear the tower. The 10' door I can put my CJ on it's trailer and pull it in and clear it. Which means almost anything can fit in there. This gives me a big door for the boat, and a really nice sized door for anything else in there. I can pull in my jeep and truck into the 16' wide door with ease.

This gives me alot of space between the boat and the vehicles which is where I park smaller items and my sitting area.

If you can go 16' high with 14' doors do it. That opens your shop up to RV's like someone else said. That's a big plus.

Some things to consider, are you building it stick or pole barn?
Insulated or non-insulated?
Framed out inside or not?

As for the garage door, do like someone stated. High clearance with LiftMaster jackshaft openers. They are great!

[jasun]

However big you are planning, add 6 feet to each side! Just when you think you have it planned big enough, you will need more room!!!

[jzelt]

We are planning to use the main bay that would be a straight shot as the all-time-use side. So summer would be the boat, winter would be the snowmobile trailer, and the side that would be slight angle approach would be the "storage" bay for the one not being used. The truck will always park where the snowmobile trailer would be for length room and the quad and other "tools" would be somewhere in between. We aren't planning on this being an everyday use, as we only use the truck on weekends and some weekday driving as we each have a car in a different garage/carport.
Unlike quite a few places we have been for visits, I don't think this is a very big 'camper' community/location. I do see a few around, but mostly at storage lots (HOA probably doesn't allow and fortunately we don't have to deal with one). But I could see maybe getting into something like that 30-40 years down the road...

All I asked for was if 12' was high enough and now I want a 14' high x 16' wide...You guys aren't helping very much :)

[jzelt]

haugy- It is a pole building, bubble wrap on roof (requested for lesser sound in rain), tyvek type wrap in case we would want to insulate in the future, (don't plan to at the moment), metal roof and exterior, non finished interior.

[haugy]

Good call on they Tyvek early. That will save a lot of time later down the road. Make sure you get vented tops in case you ever do enclose it, the roof will already be good to go. Since you aren't enclosing it, the heat loss won't matter.

You may not want 14' high, but I would seriously consider having a 16' wide door along with the 12' wide. Versus two 12's. Man is it handy when you don't want to move your truck to get a toy or something in or out.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/customcj7/Shop%20pics/IMG_20110504_201313.jpg

Truck image for reference.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/customcj7/Shop%20pics/P1050938.jpg

[haugy]

By the way, in case you haven't found it yet:

www.garagejournal.com/forum Great information, tons of good tips, but also ideas that you will hate me for later :D

[haugy]

The pics of the open doors was right after the paint had finished drying. The walls were primed all white. Then semi-gloss white on the top half. Semi-gloss gray, and gloss black in the middle. Prevents fingerprints or smudges from being wiped off. The bottom black strip is actually rubber stripping like you'd see at a business or school to seal up the floor and drywall. Really helped clean it up, and keep the little bugs at bay.

F-150 goes in there during winter, but not during boat season. Plus if I parked everything inside my garage and my shop it would look like we were never home. I don't like that. The tools were moved in after that shot of the open doors. It doesn't look look like that now. You can barely find gray paint now. :)

I don't mind posting that picture because there is nothing to show. Now you have to come have a beer to see what's all in it now.