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Minimum Garage Door Size?


kayakwv

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I am putting in a garage and wanted some feedback on the size door opening. Height is not an issue, as I am going 12' high so I don't have to lower the tower each time for my '05 VLX. In the summer, I'll just park the boat in this garage, but in Jan-Mar, I'd like to park my Suburban there too, and I'll put the boat in close to one side. I parked the two side by side, and they fit together with room to get out at less around 20ft width.

I'd like feedback from those that park a boat and a truck together in a two stall sized garage.

What width is your garage, and what width for a single garage door?

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I park a Dodge Dakota next to a 23 LSV. The 18 ft door provides plenty of clearance. There is 3 ft of space between the edge of the garage door and the outside wall. Instead of backing the boat straight in, I nudge it over into that 3 ft of space just a bit.

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I am putting in a garage and wanted some feedback on the size door opening. Height is not an issue, as I am going 12' high so I don't have to lower the tower each time for my '05 VLX. In the summer, I'll just park the boat in this garage, but in Jan-Mar, I'd like to park my Suburban there too, and I'll put the boat in close to one side. I parked the two side by side, and they fit together with room to get out at less around 20ft width.

I'd like feedback from those that park a boat and a truck together in a two stall sized garage.

What width is your garage, and what width for a single garage door?

for single garage doors you need a minimum of 10 ft...which gives you about 9-8 clear...and if you got the room go with 12 footers

Edited by jkendallmsce
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The bay where I keep the boat has an 18 foot wide and 10 foot high door. There is plenty of room to park the boat and the Tahoe side by side. With the 10 foot door, I don't have to ever lower the tower, so you are definitely going to be good with the 12 foot door.

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Our garage is 24 feet wide and have a single 18 foot door that provides plenty of room to pull a boat and truck in.

This is our garage right now.

IMG00685-20111025-1834.jpg

Edited by 2004WakeSetterVLX
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On the height issue, my VLX on trailer is 9'6", so 10' door is fine, but I was thinking 12, but I prob don't need it.

On width, I was considering 20 ft wide, with a 16' wide door. Gives 2' on either side of door, but not sure how hard it will be to park boat close to the wall for the winter months.

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If you live up north a walk-in door might be real nice to have to cut down on the heat loss when you go in to work on it. With a 20' door I can get my LSV close enough to slip a credit card between it and the wall, but it is 40' long which helps a bunch. A 12' door is going to be stupid $$$ and require more money for roof trusses/construction as well and a 10' won't be much cheaper. IIRC my 20x8 (non std size) was like $1600.00.

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On the height issue, my VLX on trailer is 9'6", so 10' door is fine, but I was thinking 12, but I prob don't need it.

On width, I was considering 20 ft wide, with a 16' wide door. Gives 2' on either side of door, but not sure how hard it will be to park boat close to the wall for the winter months.

That will probably be plenty if you don't need space for anything else. if it's anything like my family we are always looking for more space for cars, outside equipment, outdoor furniture, ect. Adding a couple feet to the width does not cause the price to jump dramatically. It's better to have too much space than too little and typically you never have too much space.

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:plus1: "It's better to have too much space than too little and typically you never have too much space". I have a 30X40 and can get my LSV in with room to put my Tahoe and wifes Monte (front to rear) on the other side with plenty of room to open the doors with workbenches. Build as big as you can reasonably afford.
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I already have two attached garages on either end of the house, and even an atv garage as well. But all of them are a ridiculously low 6'6" door height, and only 7'4 inside height. It came down to two boats: A Nautique that would barely fit in one of the existing garages; or a Malibu that didn't. Of course, I ended up with the VLX, and couldn't be happier. The Nautique would've been fine for us before kids, but with the family, the VLX was a much bigger and better option, and much smoother ride.

I looked at modifying my garage opening, but still it was only 7'4 inside, so building the boathouse is the best option. I am really only limited by the property line, and 20ft wide will look much nicer than say 22ft, which would be a little tight up to the property boundary. Same with the length, 30ft long looks good, but 32 will be right up to the line. I'm concerned that a 16' wide door may be too tight for the truck and boat, but the primary use will be for the boat. I would really only park in there during Jan-Mar. on snowy nights.

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Make sure you check the building codes in your area before you start spending money/breaking ground. I live in the county and even out here there is a 10' easement on property boundaries. This could drastically reduce the size of your build.

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Well if you have plenty of other storage then I can't imagine a 20x30 not working. Our door is 18x8 and garage is 24x26 with around 10" ceilings. Silverado and VLX fit easily with room for other things. The only downside is having to lower the tower to get through the garage door but that isn't a big deals since the ceiling is high enough so we can raise the tower once inside. But as stated above be careful of the property lines. If our garage was any wider we would have had to get a variance for being with 5' of the property line.

Edited by 2004WakeSetterVLX
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When you say "a little tight up to the property boundary", are you taking the set back and any other zoning gotcha's into consideration?

looks like wdr beat me to it

Edited by skyskier
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My new shop is 30'x30'. i have 2 10'x10' overhead doors and a walk thru door. Just a FYI, I think on a smaller shop 12' doors are going to look to tall. Even my 10 ' doors look a bit tall in my opinion.

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No restrictions to worry about, but I'd like to leave about 2ft and not build right up to the line. I do think that an 18 x 12 door might be overkill, and 10ft high should do. Would there be any reason I'd need that extra 2ft? Any Wakeboard boats on trailers that are over 10ft high??

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No restrictions to worry about, but I'd like to leave about 2ft and not build right up to the line. I do think that an 18 x 12 door might be overkill, and 10ft high should do. Would there be any reason I'd need that extra 2ft? Any Wakeboard boats on trailers that are over 10ft high??

My 2005 23 LSV with titan III and lights = 10'3". I drove 24hrs round trip to get boat home and find out it was 3" too tall. After lowering the trailer it fits great."what a pain". Its my understanding the illusion tower is under 10'. Hope that helps!! I think the titan III is one of the tallest.

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I went a different way.

My third stall has a 10 x 10 steel insulated door. The stall is 13 wide x 50 deep.

That stall is dropped enough that the 10 foot door is aligned at the top with my other 2 doors which are 8 feet high x 9 feet wide.

There is a concrete ledge between the regular stall and the RV stall.

This ledge has become a very convenient work surface when cleaning camp gear , or bigger projects.

The adjacent main garage stall has two insulated steel doors 8 feet high x 9 wide. That stall is about 23 feet wide and 24 feet deep.

This allows us to swing the car doors open wide without putting dings in the adjacent cars.

I have drains in the front 3 stalls ( and hot water ) so I can wash the truck or car in freezing weather while watching "Dancing With The Stars " on TV. :crazy:

By not having the 16 wide or 18 wide doors I think I prevent some maintenance problems with springs, openers, and door alignment issues.

Another thing that works good is I have a 10 x 12 tool room behind the middle pickup stall. This room has no door only a 3.5' opening.

This room has the forced air furnace and the NG water heater, an extra full size refrigerator, my red rollaway tool chest and matching metal workbench in it.

The heat thrown off by the gas furnace and water heater keeps the garage from freezing in winter.

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I went a different way.

My third stall has a 10 x 10 steel insulated door. The stall is 13 wide x 50 deep.

That stall is dropped enough that the 10 foot door is aligned at the top with my other 2 doors which are 8 feet high x 9 feet wide.

There is a concrete ledge between the regular stall and the RV stall.

This ledge has become a very convenient work surface when cleaning camp gear , or bigger projects.

The adjacent main garage stall has two insulated steel doors 8 feet high x 9 wide. That stall is about 23 feet wide and 24 feet deep.

This allows us to swing the car doors open wide without putting dings in the adjacent cars.

I have drains in the front 3 stalls ( and hot water ) so I can wash the truck or car in freezing weather while watching "Dancing With The Stars " on TV. :crazy:

By not having the 16 wide or 18 wide doors I think I prevent some maintenance problems with springs, openers, and door alignment issues.

Another thing that works good is I have a 10 x 12 tool room behind the middle pickup stall. This room has no door only a 3.5' opening.

This room has the forced air furnace and the NG water heater, an extra full size refrigerator, my red rollaway tool chest and matching metal workbench in it.

The heat thrown off by the gas furnace and water heater keeps the garage from freezing in winter.

Sounds like the ultimate garage. Would love to seem some pictures this set up!

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On the height issue, my VLX on trailer is 9'6", so 10' door is fine, but I was thinking 12, but I prob don't need it.

On width, I was considering 20 ft wide, with a 16' wide door. Gives 2' on either side of door, but not sure how hard it will be to park boat close to the wall for the winter months.

My 2006 247 with Titan tower is about 10'6", Mastercraft X45 was just over 10 feet and my Tige 24V was almost 11 feet. Life happens and you might end up with something different some day. Go 12 feet for sure. If you ever sell the house, having an RV garage is a great bonus, and many RV's go over 10 feet with all the apparatuses that go on top.

If you live up north a walk-in door might be real nice to have to cut down on the heat loss when you go in to work on it. With a 20' door I can get my LSV close enough to slip a credit card between it and the wall, but it is 40' long which helps a bunch. A 12' door is going to be stupid $$$ and require more money for roof trusses/construction as well and a 10' won't be much cheaper. IIRC my 20x8 (non std size) was like $1600.00.

The roof trusses would be the same no matter how tall the garage is, right?

The walls and door would be more expensive, but the roof would seem to be the same.

No restrictions to worry about, but I'd like to leave about 2ft and not build right up to the line. I do think that an 18 x 12 door might be overkill, and 10ft high should do. Would there be any reason I'd need that extra 2ft? Any Wakeboard boats on trailers that are over 10ft high??

Many wakeboats are over 10 feet...as I said above.

Ignore the ugly red boat....this is my garage with a 12 foot high door opening that is 16 feet wide. It is not really enough to easily get the boat in and then pull a vehicle in as well. The garage is 20 feet wide and 36 feet deep. I love my garage, but by the time I have shelves on the wall, motorcycles and other stuff, I don't have room for the boat and another vehicle.

But it sounds like I wish I had DONTW8's garage.

IMG_9833.jpg

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My 2006 247 with Titan tower is about 10'6", Mastercraft X45 was just over 10 feet and my Tige 24V was almost 11 feet. Life happens and you might end up with something different some day. Go 12 feet for sure. If you ever sell the house, having an RV garage is a great bonus, and many RV's go over 10 feet with all the apparatuses that go on top.

The roof trusses would be the same no matter how tall the garage is, right?

The walls and door would be more expensive, but the roof would seem to be the same.

Many wakeboats are over 10 feet...as I said above.

Ignore the ugly red boat....this is my garage with a 12 foot high door opening that is 16 feet wide. It is not really enough to easily get the boat in and then pull a vehicle in as well. The garage is 20 feet wide and 36 feet deep. I love my garage, but by the time I have shelves on the wall, motorcycles and other stuff, I don't have room for the boat and another vehicle.

But it sounds like I wish I had DONTW8's garage.

IMG_9833.jpg

This is what I need,... to see photos with dimensions, thanks so much! After reading all this great feedback, I think a 12' high and 18' wide door would work best.

Do you think your 20' garage would be easier to park a vehicle and boat if your door was 18' instead of 16'?

All shelves will be in the rear of the 32' long building, so I should be able to use most of the width. Really debating between 20' wide, which works best for the space I have, or the "Go Big or Go Home" theory, and make it 22'. Right now, I marked off a 20 x 32 garage with 12x18 door ( which will probably look MASSIVE on that size building).

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This is what I need,... to see photos with dimensions, thanks so much! After reading all this great feedback, I think a 12' high and 18' wide door would work best.

Do you think your 20' garage would be easier to park a vehicle and boat if your door was 18' instead of 16'?

All shelves will be in the rear of the 32' long building, so I should be able to use most of the width. Really debating between 20' wide, which works best for the space I have, or the "Go Big or Go Home" theory, and make it 22'. Right now, I marked off a 20 x 32 garage with 12x18 door ( which will probably look MASSIVE on that size building).

I think no matter what you do, you will want a 2 foot return on the front wall. So I am not sure you want an 18 foot door on a 20 foot wide garage. It just adds extra stability and makes it look better.

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I think no matter what you do, you will want a 2 foot return on the front wall. So I am not sure you want an 18 foot door on a 20 foot wide garage. It just adds extra stability and makes it look better.

So how good would your boat and truck fit in that 20wide with 16'door, if empty? Could u snug boat up tight to one side and still open your truck door?

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I wanted the same thing, a garage for my truck and boat. I built a 24x32 with two 10x11 doors. I went with two doors because I thought one big door might give me some maint. issues later on. I wanted to go 32x32, but I just did not have the room.

post-9503-074929700 1320204652_thumb.jpg

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  • 5 years later...

So I live in a townhouse where the height of the garage door is 7'. Based on what I'm reading, I won't be able to get a 23 LSV with the tower folded down to fit in? I don't have the boat, but am just thinking through this part of the potential new boat. The garage is 30' deep and definitely wide enough, but I think height will be an issue. Am I correct?

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