Garage dimensions?

[Jon]

Hi all,

I am in the process of planning a stand alone two car garage for my anticipated Model X and eventually a Model S as well.

How much length and width do you find is optimum for parking your Model S inside? I will assume the X will use a similar amount of space.

I can gather so much from the car's dimensions, but real experience is the best measure.

Thanks,

Jon

 

[brandonmbeard]

I would not build a garage will less than 25' depth and 20' width. Personally you can never go wrong bigger. My garage dimensions (built knowing i would have tesla) is 35' x 27' - 3 cars with plenty of moving room.

 

[brianstorms]

I would not build a garage will less than 25' depth and 20' width. Personally you can never go wrong bigger. My garage dimensions (built knowing i would have tesla) is 35' x 27' - 3 cars with plenty of moving room.

+1. All the decades-old garage dimensions---like kitchen, bathroom, shower, bedroom dimensions--- are hopelessly outdated. Oversized is the way to go, in my opinion. I'd even go wider than 20'. 25' more like it. Room to work around the cars; possibly add cabinets with doors swinging open but never hitting the cars; car doors swinging open and not hitting anything (including the other car). Just my opinion, but my philosophy when it comes to home architecture is, ignore the past, design for real-world 2013-and-future uses.

 

[jkeyser14]

Mine is 24x24 and it's really too tight for two cars by the time you add up the space taken up by tool boxes, etc.

30 x 24 would be the minimum size I would go with for a 2 car if I was building a new garage and the budget was tight. If you plan on putting cabinets in front of the car or storing stuff then then you need to make it deeper, 30x27 mininmum. Don't forget the 50 amp outlets on both sides for charging multiple cars.

 

[Jon]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

While I don't intend to skimp on this, I'm trying to be efficient with the amount of space I'm taking up too. The Model S is listed as 86" wide including the side mirrors. How far away are you from the wall of your garage before you feel you don't have enough space to open the door and get out comfortably?

I was thinking it would be about 48", but what you are suggesting sounds like there needs to be more room?

Note, I will not be storing anything else in this garage besides two Teslas. I have a tractor garage, a workshop, and a barn for all of that.

Cheers,

Jon

 

[Cottonwood]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

While I don't intend to skimp on this, I'm trying to be efficient with the amount of space I'm taking up too. The Model S is listed as 86" wide including the side mirrors. How far away are you from the wall of your garage before you feel you don't have enough space to open the door and get out comfortably?

I was thinking it would be about 48", but what you are suggesting sounds like there needs to be more room?

Note, I will not be storing anything else in this garage besides two Teslas. I have a tractor garage, a workshop, and a barn for all of that.

Cheers,

Jon

For opening doors, and a nice degree of comfort, I recommend a width of 12 feet per bay. I have done a couple of garages with this width and it works well.

 

[paulkva]

My garage is 20' deep and 22' wide with a single 16' wide door. Model S and Honda CR-V fit comfortably, for the most part.

WIDTH: If we do a reasonably good job of parking both cars, all 8 doors can open fully (though not all 8 at once). We do have things hanging on the side walls, though, so in practice we don't open the doors fully, but we can still get in and out pretty easily. I'd recommend 23'-24' total width, since the CR-V is much narrower than the Model S/X. Add another 1'-2' (maybe even more), and use two 8' wide garage doors rather than one 16' wide door, if you want the car doors facing the middle to be able to open at the same time. (Otherwise I personally prefer the single 16' wide door.)

DEPTH: I pull the Model S all the way up to the front, and there's plenty of room to walk behind it and use the back trunk with the garage door closed. But I don't think I could position it with enough room in front and back at the same time. I don't mind much since I almost never use the frunk, but I'd love to have another foot or two of depth. So I'd say 22' minimum depth.

I don't have a workshop in my garage (got unfinished space in the basement for most of that stuff), but I do store a few other things like bikes and some tools.

 

[neroden]

While I don't intend to skimp on this, I'm trying to be efficient with the amount of space I'm taking up too. The Model S is listed as 86" wide including the side mirrors. How far away are you from the wall of your garage before you feel you don't have enough space to open the door and get out comfortably?

I like to have about 2 feet on each side outside the mirrors. If you aren't stick-rail-thin like me, you'd want more.

 

[ElSupreme]

If you plan on getting the Model X make sure you look at height as well. Those falcon doors can easily hit a short garage door when opened.

My Model S tailgate will hit my garage door (when it is overhead and open) if I don't back in.

 

[Chipper]

If you plan on getting the Model X make sure you look at height as well. Those falcon doors can easily hit a short garage door when opened.

My Model S tailgate will hit my garage door (when it is overhead and open) if I don't back in.

You do know that the opening height can be adjusted, right? I watched the video and it shows how to accomplish that.

 

[ElSupreme]

You do know that the opening height can be adjusted, right? I watched the video and it shows how to accomplish that.

Yeah. I always back in (so that there is nothing over the tailgate), except that one time to unload the 12' boards I was toting home. Pulled in straight, left the garage open and I made some contact before my tailgate started to come back down. Only a tiny scratch on the Tesla badge (lucky me). I now stay in the driveway if I need to unload something long from my trunk.

But for the Model X you won't be able to get into the doors unless they are mostly open. It would be crazy not to put your garage door up at 9' or above.

 

[Jon]

Wow guys, this is excellent information. Thanks. Also good point on the height with the garage door. I'll see if there is any preliminary numbers on the falcon door height requirements.

Cheers,

Jon

 

[PhilBa]

I recently had a detached 2 car garage built for my MS. 9' wide, 7'6" high doors, 28' wide, 24' deep. This is pretty comfortable for the Model S and leaves plenty of room for shelving/storage that doesn't intrude on the car area. It also gives me a workbench space on the back wall for car related stuff and a dedicated space for washing/cleaning/vacuum stuff (I really like my cleaning cart). Also, don't scrimp on power outlets - you will regret it the first time you have to go get an extension cord.

Max garage door height is going to be a function of your ceiling height. I believe normal door tracks need at least a foot of space. My ceilings are 8'9" (15" above bottom of door header). You can get low profile hardware but it has a number of limitations that caused me to reject it. As I recall, it was quite a bit more expensive. Also, it limits your lighting options where the door is going to be (open). I have a bank of lights that line up with the window in the door and light my garage even when the door is open.

 

[Jon]

I recently had a detached 2 car garage built for my MS.....

That's good to know Phil. I've used the low clearance hardware before, and would ideally avoid it this time. Your dimensions seem to be closest to what I was hoping to go with - what is your second car? Is it about the same size as the MS?

Cheers,

Jon

 

[CatB]

Oh dear, I'm househunting now and am considering a house with a garage that is 19'2" deep and 17' wide, door is 16'4". The garage has cabinets already built into the sides and back, so that's part of the problem, but with steps going up to the house, I wouldn't have much room to play with even if I did remove the cabinets on one side. My other car is a Prius, but I hope some day to make that a GenIII. Should I pass on this house and keep looking? I like, but don't love the house otherwise. Do not have easy access to my car now , so that's the primary reason for househunting (right now it's in ex-boyfriend's garage, moving to parents' garage shortly, but then will be even harder to visit it...)

 

[N4HHE]

Garages are never big enough. Anyone buying a Model S and a Model X should have at least a 40' x 40' as you are clearly well on your way to the Jay Leno Car Collector's Hall of Fame.