Anyone here have experience with tandem garages?

[Z-man]

Looking to add a tandem garage to an existing two-car garage, where one of the bays would be two cars deep. This is due to the layout of the home and the lack of space available on either side of the existing two-car garage.

Anyone have experinece with tandem garages? The inner bay would house my (yet to be purchased) Cayman S, while the outside bay would house my Ford Sport Trac - my daily driver.

Good idea? Bad idea?

Thanks,
-Z-man.

[HardDrive]

I'm sitting here a bit stunned....why didn't I think of that! I've got room behind my garage for extra bays.

[Noah930]

Why not? If you've got the space... A lot of people don't like the curb (un)appeal of big garage doors comprising the facade of their house.

I don't have the space for a tandem garage, but I park my 911 and motorcycles in tandem fashion. Plus I park my DD in the driveway in front of the bay which houses the 911, so that makes it effectively tandem parking. (Mrs. Noah's car goes in the other garage bay.) It doesn't seem like a big deal to have to move a car to get to another, but everyone's lazy and it's a mini-PITA. There will be times you'll want to take the Cayman, but you just won't because you haven't got the time or energy to shuffle vehicles around like the deck of an aircraft carrier. But that's a minor complaint IMO.

[jwhcars]

Check the garage journal there are a few like that. Most are two deep.

[Jim Bremner]

I'll do it in the future. the roof of the add-on will be a party deck. I live on a hill that overlooks Disney Land 5 miles away. I get a free fireworks show 365 days a year.

[fintstone]

A little inconvenient, but a big improvement on a single. Handy for times you want something very long in there to work on like a car trailer. I have 4 attached and one detached (for commercial mower) but no way to add a tandem space without uglying up the home's lines. I am just going to add a 4 post lift or two for 911's.

[jhynesrockmtn]

We built a tandem during a big remodel several houses ago. Looked like a 2 car garage from the street but was close to 40 feet deep. I miss it.....

[legion]

I had a tandem garage at my old house that was two car + one car. My new house has a traditional 3 car.

Tandem Pros:
-Had a TON of floor space
-Had a TON of wall space
-Had a separate internal garage door between the 1 car and two car parts
-Was roughly 1.5 car wide in back and had workbenches lining one side

Tandem Cons:
-Playing "musical cars" every morning got old, fast
-Had open eves and its own roof--it was very cold in the winter and it leaked in the corners where its roof joined the rest of the house

Even though I have less square footage in my new garage, I really like the ability to get in and go with any vehicle now.

[Bill Douglas]

Great. And have it drive through at both ends so you can do things like car washing outside but at the house end.

[72doug2,2S]

This^^^

We went with a double two car garage, but only one set faces the road.

[slodave]

I have tandem parking in my town house. I get lazy with dragging my 911 out, since I have to move my daily to get it. If I could drive through both ends, I'm sure I'd have the 911 out more.

The only real problem I have had, was when a neighbor went to Iran for a month and the friend that brought them to the airport in their car, thought my Toyota was theirs (I was not home and I had my 911) and parked A Honda SUV behind my Toyota, blocking me in. I was able to do some nifty 50 point turns and eventually get the Toyota out and the 911 in that spot with the help of another neighbor. The neighbor in Iran was eventually contacted and they contacted their friend who moved the SUV back to the correct spot.

[herr_oberst]

A friend of mine had a six up garage, side by side x 3.
Eventually, a couch, TV and a ping pong table ended up at the far end, and two cars were always in the driveway.

Wish I would have taken pictures.

[mikesride]

Hmmm... timely. We are looking at changing houses and one on the short list has a tandem garage. a good solution for space but no so handy I thought. At closer inspection of this home....the tandem opens at the front of the home after a substantial drive way....and it also open at the rear of the home in the alley!!! Ding Ding we have a winner!!! I need a home with alley access as I cant stand having my boat and any project cars "cluttering up the front yard".

[David]

I made my 2 car garage into a tandem 4 car garage as my first big project on the house many years ago. It was the main reason I wanted the house since we couldn't find anything in our price range that already had a big garage. Except for having to shuffle cars around, it's been great. The project cars stay in the back and the daily drivers up front. I'll dig up some pictures and post.

[Z-man]

Thanks for the feedback guys. To put it in perspective, here's the floor plan of the ground floor:


The garage bay in front of the 'gym' is what I would turn into a tandem by adding to the front of it.

-Z

[ILXLR8]

Are you planning to just add the spot or reconstruct the front of the garage? A second level floor plan would help. How tall are the garage ceilings? I parking lift comes to mind.

[David]

Mine's detached so much simpler but here are some pics anyway:







I don't have any recent pics since it's been completely finished inside but here's an old one:

[911boost]

We bought this house new in 2001 (I have since gotten divorced but my ex-wife still lives in the house). Since one of my cars was the 1966 Mustang that doesn't get driven much, the tandem aspect did not bother me. I got the lift in the spring of 2008 and that made things a lot easier. As you can see I kept the motorcycle in the front of the lift and 911. I actually liked the set up of the tandem and it never bothered me.

My current house has a three car garage, double door and a single door with the lift on the single door side. Yes, its a bit easier to get cars out etc, but if there isn't room on either side to expand that way I'd buld a tandem again. Heck I'm thinking of moving the back wall of my single stall out and making that side a tandem, then my F350 with the 8 foot bed would fit in the garage

Bill

[911boost]

It was normally not that messy. I had to move everything to install the lift.

[72doug2,2S]

What ceiling height is needed for the lift idea?