3 stall garage - wall or not?

[Mike Willeson]

Just moved into a house with three stalls connected to the house. 3rd stall will be my shop. Trying to decide if it makes sense to isolate the 3rd stall with a wall. I assume folks on this board have experience with both set ups. Any thoughts?

[Brandon Speaks]

I would vote towards no as it gives you freedom to move one car out and spread out when needed. You do loose a wall in the shop portion for storage and also can end up getting cars dusty with saw dust. If either of those factors matters to you it might be different. Personally for me I decided no wall.

[glenn bradley]

There’s some confusion. The third stall is you’re finishing room, the first two stalls are your shop.

Seriously though, consider a curtain of some resilient material that could be closed to keep the dust down and opened to allow use of the room when needed.

[Robert Hartmann]

I would vote for the wall. I had a house (I'm military and move a lot) with a 3 1/2 car garage. I put a wall up and it worked out great for the shop and the cars on the other side (no dust). The advantage is you have a nice separation with an extra wall to place equip against/hang stuff. The cost wasn't that much (did it with a friend) and could always be pulled out if needed. I also had a 68 Chevelle SS I showed, so keeping it dust-free was a desire.

I also owned a house with an oversized 3-car garage where the 3rd garage was an add-on. I put the Chevelle there this time (little kids at this point, so it was safer). My shop was part of the 2-car side. I hated it there in relation to having its own side. The dust was an issue as was having one less wall.

Having had both and numerous other configurations I don't think you can go wrong with the wall. It gives you a dedicated space with no intrusion on the shop or your cars/storage.

I currently have a detached oversized 3-car garage for my shop and other stuff. It's awesome, but unfortunately we have one more move.

[Jim Becker]

As a compromise, you do have the option to make your wall "movable" which gives you some reasonable isolation normally, but easily allows you to spread out if you're working on some operation that might benefit from more space.

[Peter Christensen]

Walled if you are bringing wet and or snow/salt covered cars in the winter. Easier to keep it warm/cooled/dehumidified if needed with a walled off shop.

[Mike Cutler]

I have three stalls, and a boat port, in a detached garage.
Having the wall can be inconvenient because there really isn't that much distance, width wise, in the space. However heating, cooling, and humidity control, are much easier with the space enclosed. You guys get some pretty good summers/winters in S. Dakota. I would look at climate control as the priority.
I personally think you want an insulated wall.

[Mike Holbrook]

I also have a modified, three car garage, call it 2 1/2 with a room and closets in the 3rd stall. I initially planed to put my shop in the garage with cars. There happens to be an apartment over our three car garage though. I did not want to deal with guests above me while I worked. I started looking at another option that might work for the OP as well.

More recently I am looking at building the shop under one of two decks. I am not a youngster any more. I want real sunlight, particularly at my bench, which is hard to get in a garage. Framing under decks has a number of advantages, particularly if there is a roof over the deck/porch. A porch or deck is typically much easier to add exterior windows, large exterior doors, practically anything to.

[Al Launier]

Give yourself the most flexibility by stringing a 1/8" steel cable from one end to the other & using clips (shower curtain clips, etc.) to hang plastic sheeting from ceiling to floor. This will allow expansion if ever needed for "special" large projects; it will keep paint spray & dust from your vehicles. I've hung plastic sheeting in this manner in my shop to keep the dust off the storage shelves that line a couple walls - works great.

[John K Jordan]

There are a lot of factors, yet unknown to readers. I had a shop in a one stall of a 2-car garage once, primarily for woodturning.

What will you do in the shop?
Are tools on mobile bases and need to be moved into the other stalls on occasion?
Will you need to walk through the adjacent space for access?
Will you need to impinge on the adjacent space for infeed/outfeed space? Will a wall cut down on noise and spreading dust to the main house?
Is there heating/cooling in the garage now or will there be, perhaps just in the shop area?

One bit advantage to an extra wall is it gives a lot more space to hang things. I use nearly every square foot of my shop wall space. In fact, for my woodturning alcove I built two walls extending into the main shop just to give me more wall space and to separate the turning a bit from the rest of the shop.

Here's one bounding walls; a similar wall is about 12' away behind a second lathe and a diagram showing the both walls. For the type of turning I usually do I like to hang tools and things within arm's reach behind the lathe.
389343 389344

A wall just half or part way on the boundary can give you some separation plus extra wall space on both sides of the wall.

A full wall may help to contain noise and dust, depending on what is over the garage and the work and tools and dust collector you use.
A wall with a lockable door could be useful to secure the shop from children.

If you sometimes need to move tools on mobile bases or use the adjacent space for assembling large things, a possible compromise is to put a double door in the wall. I put one 5' wide double door in my shop between two rooms so I could more easily move things or open the doors for a bit of extra outfeed space for the table saw if needed.

When I had my turning shop in one stall of a two-call garage I put up a temporary "wall" made of 3/4" plywood just to give me the extra wall space behind the lathe.

JKJ

[Marc Jeske]

Consider what Al said.. Mockup wall w some temporary manner... hang poly, can even staple 2x2's to bottom edge to keep it from flapping, and even roll up sections if needed if you hang vertical overlapping strips like 10' wide rather than one long horizontal piece.

Point is, after living with that awhile you will have a MUCH better idea where and how to place a more permanent wall.

Marc

[John Lifer]

What John KJ said.... What is your use? Hand tools and small builds? Wall it off. Table saw with extension, plus bench, plus bandsaw plus other machinery? Use curtain and move out vehicles.
I had two car garage in last house that one stall was my shop. The car moved out a LOT! and I rolled around the larger tools. Had to cut sheets of ply and 8ft lumber, so needed the room.
More info needed.

[Matt Schrum]

I'd consider putting in the wall to keep garage items/storage from creeping into your shop space (in addition to the dust, A/C, heat, etc. benefits). You can put one or two sets of double wide doors along the wall for those times you have a project that needs to extend beyond your shop space. I think that's more palatable than a shower curtain wall, even if it is a bit more restrictive.

[Yonak Hawkins]

... consider a curtain of some resilient material that could be closed to keep the dust down and opened to allow use of the room when needed.

+1 .. Dust gets everywhere. It's a real nuisance.

[Wayne Jolly]

Face it. Sooner or later, your shop will occupy the entire 3-car garage, and you will be wanting even more space. DAMHIKT.

Wayne

[Mike Willeson]

Thanks for all the thoughts. To answer the questions of what's my purpose, its pretty unspecific. The largest thing I have made is a small folding kitchen table for my daughter. I also make things as small as a wood turned miniature bird house two inches in diameter.

For me, my shop is my retreat. I do a lot of miscellaneous projects, mostly smaller. I also do a little wood turning, some wood carving, reading, watching TV, and generally relaxing.

My main objective is just to have a place to play with wood and tools. In addition to the lathe I have a table saw, small band saw, and other various tools. I don't see my projects spilling into the rest of the garage.

[Brian W Evans]

Face it. Sooner or later, your shop will occupy the entire 3-car garage, and you will be wanting even more space. DAMHIKT.

Wayne

Two years ago I promised my wife that I would have her bay in our 3-car garage cleared out before the snow came. I subsequently spent two winters cleaning the snow off of her car. There always seems to be a project that needs more space, even if it's just to move a couple of tools out of the way. Granted, I have a large sliding table saw and way too much lumber, but I have never felt like I had enough space.

Put up a curtain as others have suggested so that you have the flexibility to expand if necessary.

[Wade Lippman]

Thanks for all the thoughts. To answer the questions of what's my purpose, its pretty unspecific. The largest thing I have made is a small folding kitchen table for my daughter. I also make things as small as a wood turned miniature bird house two inches in diameter.

For me, my shop is my retreat. I do a lot of miscellaneous projects, mostly smaller. I also do a little wood turning, some wood carving, reading, watching TV, and generally relaxing.

My main objective is just to have a place to play with wood and tools. In addition to the lathe I have a table saw, small band saw, and other various tools. I don't see my projects spilling into the rest of the garage.

If that's all the tools you intend on having, then I agree with those who say a wall is essential to dust and temperature control. If you hope to get a full size planer, jointer, etc. then there is no way you will get them in a one car garage and get any work done.

[John K Jordan]

Thanks for all the thoughts. To answer the questions of what's my purpose, its pretty unspecific. The largest thing I have made is a small folding kitchen table for my daughter. I also make things as small as a wood turned miniature bird house two inches in diameter.

For me, my shop is my retreat. I do a lot of miscellaneous projects, mostly smaller. I also do a little wood turning, some wood carving, reading, watching TV, and generally relaxing.

My main objective is just to have a place to play with wood and tools. In addition to the lathe I have a table saw, small band saw, and other various tools. I don't see my projects spilling into the rest of the garage.

For years I had my shop in 1/2 of a 2-car garage. I had a large lathe, a jet mini lathe, a 18" bandsaw, a 14" bandsaw, and a number of 4'x8'x18" wire shelf units to store turning wood, tools, and such. I kept a portable planer, table saw, oscillating drum sander, and router table on shelves and set them up in the other 1/2 of the garage as needed.

It was a little tight for two people but fine for just me. I didn't build a separating wall since I planned to build a stand alone shop but I worked effectively in the space for almost 10 years.

You adapt to what space you have. My 24x62 shop building is feeling crowded now, although most of that is I have large woodworking equipment, office, welding room, little machine shop, and a general maintenance room. And way too much wood. I'm thinking of adding a wing...

JKJ

[Steve Peterson]

I vote to add a solid wall if the garage is a large 3 car garage. It also depends a bit on your specific layout.

Our 3 car garage at our last home was at least 32' by 32' with a 16' door and a 10' door. The double door was closest to the entry into the house and my shop was in the corner. This kept the workshop out of the normal traffic flow. You would not want to pass through the workshop to get into the house.

Another consideration is that the solid wall takes away from the space for car doors. There is plenty of space to open car doors if they are parked 24" apart, but it gets cramped if you lose 4" for the wall.

[Stan Calow]

I wish I had that choice. Just the benefit of dust control by having a wall would be worth it.

[Matthew Hills]

Here are some industrial curtains designed for containment, if you're interested in a fancy option (as opposed to the get'r'done stapled plastic) https://www.curtain-and-divider.com (https://www.curtain-and-divider.com/)


I'm looking at similar options, although trickier as I'm splitting a 2-car garage, so need to deal with containment with the garage door getting in the way. I'm also thinking that it is important to mind gaps in the ceiling that might allow fine dust to spread...

Matt

[Jim Dwight]

I've had 3 houses in the last 30 years (5 total). Three houses ago we had a 28 feet deep 2 car garage and I used the wall furthest from the garage doors for my shop. I could do a little work with the cars inside but I had to move them for bigger projects. My wife was pretty understanding but didn't like me tracking dust into her shop and hated it when I was messier and she had to walk through it. If you are a lot neater than I am, you could make it work.

After that experience, we built a house next when we moved so I could have a dedicated space. It was an oversized 1 car garage, about 400 ft2, in the walk out basement. I was great. Tight sometimes but all mine. In the current house, we added on a 14x24 garage for my shop. There is no link between the house or the car garage and my shop, you have to walk outside to go between. I would like a door sometimes (if it's raining) but I like it.

Long way of saying that you have to be neat to share. If you are not or might not be, you should put up the wall.