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Having one stall separate could come in handy for any number of reasons; maybe you are doing something to one car that you don't want the other two to be contaminated by. Or you are painting something (could be anything), so you only have to pull one car out instead of three. Or for some reason, you need to climate control something, why waste that on a large space?
Frankly, if I was building my house again with a three-car garage, I would have made one a wash-capable place, so that I could wash the car inside. Waterproof walls, drain in the floor, the whole nine yards.
Mine has 16x9 garage doors and if I had gotten the 3 car garage it would have had an 8x9 door with the third car section set back a little from the 2 car section but on the inside the bays would have been open. Plan ahead for shelving, parts storage, tire storage and make sure you have an attic that can be used for storing stuff. A lot of builders use 2x4 truces now a days and the attic can only handle one 200 pounder at a time.
What ever you do will be a mistake. Just ask somebody who has just built their dream garage what they would have done differently. You will invariably get a long of list of I should have dones.
I built a 30x30 shop after trying to figure out how to put a lift in the 3 car open garage attached to the house. Some of this has been said, but I'll say it again;
I would opt for an open space. As much as you can shoe-horn in. As others have said, "why take up space with a wall?". If you are painting or doing some other messy task, you can easily pull the other vehicles out of the space while that's happening.
Eight foot doors are as high as typical residential garage doors go. I was told that 9 foot doors would be commercial. I opted for the 8 footers, which is one foot higher than standard (7 foot) but not as expensive as a commercial door. I also opted for a jack-shaft (Sidewinder) garage door opener which allows the door to hug the ceiling. Finally, I bought insulated doors.
A 12 foot high ceiling is minimum for a lift, in my opinion. Also, if that's ever going to be a possibility, and I highly recommend it even if it's just for storage, I would thicken the floor in the place where the lift will go. The latter just for piece of mind.
As many 20 amp outlets as you afford. In fact, I would have a separate sub-panel added to the garage so you can later add circuits for a welder, compressor, lighting and whatever other gadgets you can think of.
Some have mentioned drywall. I opted to go with OSB. It is much heavier duty, will easily support shelves or hangers, and with some semi-gloss white paint, reflects as much light as possible. I too insulated.
If you can, put up batter boards at shelf height (behind wall board) so you can put shelf supports anywhere rather than always looking for studs.
I have hot and cold water taps. I wanted a drain but unfortunately county code said no. The reasons behind the rule come from someone who's car leaked gasoline, it went in the drain and then there was an explosion. I was willing to accept the risk but my insurance company wasn't. A good pitch of the concrete floors to the doors have sufficed.
Finally, if you are building new, I would install a separate heating and cooling unit for the garage. For the $3-5K in costs you will have a comfortable place to work all year, your cars will be warm (or cool) when you leave and the garage is an excellent area to have a party when inclimate weather force you inside.
I suggest all open, with two doors. That's what I did in my garage. I actually have a 4th space in front of the single door.
Other excellent suggestion is the sidewinder opener, I wish I had done that. I also insulated the walls, roof and doors, and finish drywalled the walls and roof.
Outlets every 10 feet all around the garage.
High enough roof to accommodate the car on a lift.
8 foot high doors with a "high Lift" which gives more clearance to a car on a lift.
Extra electrical panel for welder/air compressor etc.
Let see some pics. If I were building a garage...two car with one and the third a single door.
Mine, really don't like having the vette buried but what'cha gonna do I'm thankful for what I got thou But I would like a lift and its too short Excuse the lame photos
NSF
Was your home a model home? Do you have pictures of what this looks like? I Like this idea, but when I consider what new construction looks like in my area it's all model homes where you get to choose alot of things in the house, but changing the functional space isn't possible.
Not a model home. The small town we live in requires minimum lot size of one acre, so we had the space. One builder built all the homes. They have several plans, and you can modify almost anything.
you will ultimately spend more money, and have less useable & flexible space, with two separate buildings than with one.
Also, you will find that when you are in one part, working on something, a part or tool you need will invariably be in the other garage. That is a major pain in the butt.
My last house was similar to the three car pictured above by "2011 Grand Sport" and I really liked that 3 bay open layout. I actually could fit four cars comfortably side by side in mine but used the single door for my project car and that left room for tools and such all around it. It also kept the two other daily driven vehicles safely away and with plenty of room. Most attached garages I look at fall short in depth and door height. When I went shopping for my current house, I took my Excursion and it couldn't fit in most of them. Ended up with a detached 30x60 insulated shop with bathroom and couldn't be happier. It has a carport between it and the house for maximum covered parking/workspace. The short answer though is; as big as you can make it.
If possible make the ceiling as high as possible and the doors high also. My garage is 30 X 22 X 9.5' high with a 7'9" high door. The tall ceiling makes it seem bigger and the extra height on the door is sometimes handy. Don't forget you have to have room above the door for springs and tracks. Doors come in 3" incriments.
Last edited by HammerheadTed; 12-28-2016 at 09:24 PM.
If possible make the ceiling as high as possible and the doors high also. My garage is 30 X 22 X 9.5' high with a 7'9" high door. The tall ceiling makes it seem bigger and the extra height on the door is sometimes handy. Don't forget you have to have room above the door for springs and tracks. Doors come in 3" incriments.
is 30x22 considered a 2 car or 3 car? Do you have a single 2 car door?
I realize that you could probably park 3 cars in 30' of space, i wonder if they would consider that a 2.5 car garage by today's standards. I know that most recommendation I have seen is to get a garage that is 12' per stall so for 2 cars get a 24' garage and for 3 car try to get something 36' wide, but the new construction in my area is stuck on the 9'6" wide stall spot (19x20 for a 2 car and 9x20 for a single car)
Mine is just 2 car, with my shop on one side. 30' wide is minimum for 3 car. It's all I had room for with a smaller lot on the water. Would love to have some of these garages.
NSF, nice garage space with plenty of room in the tandem to get some work done. Where did you get the checkered flag material along the top? I have a lot of wall space I have to figure out how to cover so it doesn't look like a wall of white....
NSF, nice garage space with plenty of room in the tandem to get some work done. Where did you get the checkered flag material along the top? I have a lot of wall space I have to figure out how to cover so it doesn't look like a wall of white....
OP, definitely insulate.
Ya know, you would think that it would be easy to find but far from it, maybe nowadays it is but back when I did it I finally found wall paper that I had to cut down the middle it get the border effect
So I would look at wall paper books
Thanks
NSF
12-20-2016, 12:14 AM
I'm thankful for what I got thou 
But I would like a lift and its too short 
Excuse the lame photos
