Booth/Bay minimum width

[alaskajeff]

I'm planning on adding a bay to my shop, for winter vehicle storage and summer paint booth. It won't need tool storage space, since it's attached to my regular shop. It will be about 25' long inside, of which 12' will be 16' wide inside. The other 13' will be either 11'8" wide or 13' wide inside. I'm pressed for space in the yard and the 11'8" interior width would fit better and save a few bucks, but I'm concerned it might be too narrow to paint full-size American cars. I don't expect to ever paint a commercial truck or PU w/ duallies, but I work on '50s & '60s car regularly. This may be my last shot (at least for a good long while) to add on-my wife is running out of sympathy for my ever increasing space needs. I know bigger is always better, but is 11'8" wide enough, or will I regret not adding the extra width for painting? TIA,

Jeff

[Len]

For most painting the 11' 8" will be fine.

[Phil V]

I started out doing bodywork for myself in a 12' X 20' garage. By the time I had my air compressor, tool boxes and bodywork/paint work equipment in that shop there was no room to pull in a full size car. So I built an addition on to the garage that kept my winter heat furnace, tool boxes, air compressor etc so I was back to 12' X 20' of work space. Doint a full paint with the car doors closed the work space was great. Plenty of room and really easy to exhaust paint fumes while spraying. The biggest car I ever got in there was an early/mid eighties Mercury grand marquis which made space really tight on both ends of the garage. One disadvantage to the 12' wide of the work space was that both doors open would hit the walls and open all the way (there was no room to walk around the car in the garage, got to be a real pain in the butt going back and forth for tools with the car door open).

Out curiosity I just measured how much space it would take with both doors open on my Pontiac Sunfire. It measured 14 ft

[88GT]

I started out doing bodywork for myself in a 12' X 20' garage. By the time I had my air compressor, tool boxes and bodywork/paint work equipment in that shop there was no room to pull in a full size car. So I built an addition on to the garage that kept my winter heat furnace, tool boxes, air compressor etc so I was back to 12' X 20' of work space. Doint a full paint with the car doors closed the work space was great. Plenty of room and really easy to exhaust paint fumes while spraying. The biggest car I ever got in there was an early/mid eighties Mercury grand marquis which made space really tight on both ends of the garage. One disadvantage to the 12' wide of the work space was that both doors open would hit the walls and open all the way (there was no room to walk around the car in the garage, got to be a real pain in the butt going back and forth for tools with the car door open).

Out curiosity I just measured how much space it would take with both doors open on my Pontiac Sunfire. It measured 14 ft

The outer dimentions of my booth is 25x15
The inside dimentions is about 24.5x14. Anything smaller is too small IMO
I had my buildings built so that I can open both doors on at least one car without hitting another car or a wall

[Serge]

My previous booth had 14 ft inside and I would not go anything narrower. Being stuck in a 12 ft space is no fun when working on cars. Its good to be able to open both doors fully in a spray booth or a garage...Some of the older cars have long doors...

[coostv]

I, like Phil, had a small one car as my first garage. I think mine was 14X20, but I had a workbench on one side so it was similar in interior space. It worked for an 88 T-Bird, a Ranger, and a Chevy II. But was too narrow.

When I built a 24x40 garage a few years ago I partitioned it at 14' (13.5'x23.5' inside) on the end with a 9x8 door for a booth/storage bay. I use it in the winter for storing my truck and if I need to paint something, I just plan ahead (weather wise) to move my truck from that bay to the main portion of the shop.

As far as space goes, I can paint a full size ext. cab short box without feeling too cramped. Last year I did my in laws Galaxy and was able to open the doors far enough to jamb it in and have little fear of hitting the walls with a door although, I could never open them all the way.

I'd go as far as you can bear to give up outside. What's 2 feet outside anyway? You'd just have to plant or mow that space anyway.

Chris

[alaskajeff]

Thanks to all for your input. The issue outside is a couple large trees between the shop and neighbor's yard. I could prune a few branches and still drive between the add-on and the trees with the narrower shop. I won't cut them down, I value my privacy (and his) and prefer staying "out of sight and out of mind" as much as possible.

I guess I need to think a bit more about how often I would drive through the outside space (probably not often, but I like having the option) versus the extra inside space. Thanks again,

Jeff