New double garage - is 5m door genuinely enough?

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I’m currently going through options for a new build double garage with attached store/workshop.

Overall building width will be 9m so I’m lucky to have a decent plot.

I’d initially settled on a design with a 5m wide door as this seemed more than adequate to comfortably drive in 2 cars side by side and would allow for a roller door thereby maximising usable width and height. This would also still allow for a generous sized separate store to the side within the overall dimensions. Some of the garage door suppliers have also suggested 4.8m wide is certainly enough but I’m not persuaded at all.

I’ve seen a few garage projects where wider openings have been used and now wondering whether I should sacrifice some of the proposed storage to allow for a 5.5m opening. I’ve seen this in a couple of pictures with two large cars in situ and it just looks like there’s a lot more room afforded by that extra half metre - without stating the obvious.

To be honest I’ve not seen much online evidence of double garages with a 5m opening and two cars parked inside to use as a comparison. Any real world examples would be appreciated.

As I have the space then there’s no bar to going for the bigger size except for giving up some of the segregated storage. It does seem like there’s a couple of considerations though:

Up to 5m width I could go for a roller or sectional door.

Over 5m it’s sectional only due to weight apparently.

Really no idea at this stage what the cost difference would be like for like but again happy for any opinion or previous experience to draw upon.

Thanks in advance.

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Appreciate replies guys.

I’m replying on my mobile so apologies for not quoting individual comments:

Ref having 3 single doors - I started with this idea but felt by the time the middle support and two wall returns at each side were factored in then each door would be on the tight side. Crucially my other half really didn’t like the idea of 3 garage doors so that kind of put that one to bed!

As well as being able to comfortably store 2 large family cars I also want to be able to put a car right in the middle and have good room at either side to do any work on cars. Again, the single large door suits this plan.

Depth won’t be huge - around 6.5m - so there’s not the option to do much manoeuvring once past the door.

So far you’re all confirming my thoughts about going for a 5.5m wide door.

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Rosscow said:

paulrockliffe said:

Rosscow said:

How will you park a car (circa 1.8m wide) in the middle and get a car either side as well? Surely that will be very tight even with a 5.5m door?

He means to put just the one car in the middle while he works on it, rather than parking three cars.

That said, if there's enough depth or they're short cars, you can drive the side cars in at an angle and straighten up so they're slightly to the side and can't be driven out, then get a third in between and just about get out. A hatch back you can exit via the boot if necessary.

Such a waste of space putting cars in garages though, unless they're something special that will otherwise leak or rust, garages are for workbenches and powertools surely?

Ah, sorry. Yes re-reading that makes sense!

I'm just in the middle of building a large extension, and we'll have an integrated double garage 6.5m wide x 6.2m deep.

We've gone for 2 doors @ 2.8m wide each.

And I will most definitely be wanting to park in the garage - you don't get wet going to/from the car, and unloading shopping is easier!

The other half will no doubt be used for storage, etc. though.

Yes, putting a car in the middle on its own from time to time - I think it would be a struggle to ever get three-abreast!

In terms of use, it’s definitely a luxury having the available space for cars. I’ve not got anything special to store (ironically had to sell the ‘keepers’ to fund house and now garage) but I want the option in the future. In the meantime it’ll be good just to keep worst of the UK weather away from the daily cars and in winter dispense with scraping windows!l

I’m no mechanic but would like to learn and do more - hopefully having a nice work area will encourage that! I am definitely getting a few workbenches in the non-car area and finally give my power tools a proper home.

Edited by dscam on Tuesday 24th April 11:31

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mel said:

Rosscow said:

Personally I'd go for something like 2 doors both 3m wide.

So would I. 3m is nicely generous for a single so I'd go with 2x 3m doors and a pedestrian door on the front aspect. From a security point of view any roller over 3m is going to need a ground anchor in the middle which is a lot of faff but without it leaves the centre vulnerable to a toe or bottle jack and enough flex over the span to pop the door.

Fair comment re the security aspect - hadn’t seen this referred to in terms of roller doors so thanks for heads up.

2 x 3m doors would be generous but you are then well into a total width of around 6.5m which is robbing yet more space from the area I’d like separated for a store/workshop. As mentioned earlier it would also prevent me from using the width of the garage to work around the car by placing the car in the middle from time to time.

Ref the sliding tracks on the floor thing - that looks like a pain in the backside!!

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paulrockliffe said:

The track thing would let you move the car into the middle of the garage to work on it though. With two separate doors would you not end up with one of those bays where the car has space all around it so long as the other car is out, so you don't need to put it in the middle?

Right, see what you mean. Other than aesthetics of one door versus two though I can’t see the track option not being a deterrent to using the garage with minimum of fuss.

Do appreciate the different ideas though which was the point of asking for any thoughts from the PH collective!

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smckeown said:

A 5m door will look very commercial. Im in the middle of a 10.8 x 8.5 and went for 2 x 3m doors rather than a wide single door

Good point.

I think that issue would certainly be more so with a roller door which tend to be associated with a commercial application. My hope would be that a sectional door in a woodgrain finish would lessen that effect significantly.

I’m assuming your dimensions relate to width x depth so that extra 1.8m would definitely allow for two 3m doors, plus I’m guessing your design is all ‘garage’ whereas I need to have a division with a workshop space to one side. For those reasons I can’t really stretch my plan to accommodate two single doors that size and still have the issue of how I intend to use the garage space at times.

Have you got a build thread going or planned as I love following projects and picking up ideas along the way.