Projects Garage orientation due to location

Thought this might be a topic with some opinions.
I've lived most of my life in the Southwest. Worked in and owned garages with east, west and southern main doors.
Since snow wasn't a big concern and in almost every situation the prevailing wind was from roughly the west, I prefer an eastern opening. Sun in the morning for warmth early but shade in the afternoon without stuff blowing in. A northern opening would provide some shade all day and less wind coming in, but would probably be less preferred with snow. Shade for washing in the driveway is nice.
What is your location, preference and why?

 

My shop's doors face East. The why; is because the shop was already built when I bought the house. The other shop I worked in a lot was my parent's garage. The doors faced West, but it was because of access. I don't think I really have a preference.

 

South was good for sun in the wintertime at my old shop....did get wind when it decided to not be from the West, though.

East is pretty good at the new shop, although it's kind of chilly in the afternoons in the wintertime, it makes up for it by being cool in the summer.

North or West facing is awful

 

How long is a string?

 

I would have loved a South facing when I built mine, but alas, city ea*****ts, it's size, and other restrictions
forced me to have it on the West side. Prevailing N & NW winds, Not a good choice for this part of the world.

 

I guess we know who works with the door shut all the time!
Too rainy in OR?

 

With respect to the op & with somewhat similar reasons, as I recall the North American Indians preferred East facing teepees as most storms track West to East, perhaps they knew their mode of transportation would one day be replaced as well. My two structures face South, nice as winter snow melts readily quick on a sunny day.

 

There's so much stuff stacked in front of my door, I'm not sure it'll even open anymore. And no, my stuff don't run... yet.

 

My current garage's door location is a pain in my ***, they face north but the garage faces east !
I'd much rather have 5-6 doors on the east vs. the 2 on the north, but it's land/street locked the way it is.

 

My first garage had the door facing the west. With the afternoon sun beating down on it, the garage was too warm in the summer. I've also had north, south, and east, garages and they have all been better.

 

In central Missouri I would prefer doors on the north and south side. I have worked in shops with east facing doors and they were just stale hot shops in the summer.

 

I just came in from my morning "honey do" and the sky opened up with some chunky H20!

 

Ah, the un-answerable question!
In the Northern tier, north-facing is a definite "No". I have learned this because I have one. It's attached to the house so it's not gonna move anytime soon. Thanks to the low sun angle, any snow/ice packed down in front of the door stays until spring. One thing I might be concerned about when building a free-standing shop: If you like having the overhead doors open when you're doing stuff, I might think about not having them facing a public road. Too many chances for individuals with less-than-honorable intentions to get a good look at what you have within!
@RodStRace - are you planning to build a shop?

 

Mine face East great for all the reasons already named, and the other door faces North, bad idea for the reasons named the north door has an additional insulated door/panel on the inside because winters can ****, remove the inside panel the rest of the year.

 

Heck no! I need to clear stuff out, not create more space!
My property has the street to the west and my garage faces that way. Not ideal facing the wind and the afternoon sun, but like most, it's how it was set up.
Ideally, I'd have a drive thru garage with doors at each end and enough straight thru to park a truck and trailer, with space off to the side for the fleet and work area (dreams). I just figured it would be a good thought exercise for all and maybe help those who are looking to relocate to choose between two similar properties.

 

Mine faces north, and it ****s also due to the orientation of the house (garage is attached to house). The garage/house form an “L” shape, and since it points north, it never sees the sun, and because of the house blocking the sun from the western side, it doesn’t receive any sun either from that direction. So, it’s always damp/cool and the snow in front of the door is always the last spot to melt. My garage door also faces directly to my neighbours deck and even though we are both on 1.5 acre lots, and it’s probably about 100’ from my door to his deck, he has come over several times to complain about the noise I make (typically when I’m using my die grinder). Lol!

 

The north side of my town faced east, and the east was facing south.

Mine faces south, ****s in the summer and is inconsequential in the winter because I shovel the snow and never open the door.

 

Proof of the snow still sticking around. Also, today 15 April (statistically speaking), my lake is normally free from ice. Will be a while still. At least they got the house orientation correct facing west which most folks never think about before purchasing.

 

My main shop door faces east,an windows on north side of front garage< built for 1 car,but is shop,,,
Rear garage for two cars [ holds 2 hotrods,my Son's 23T and my 28A } door faces south,windows face west,,,.
In the 50s,built my first hotrod in the gr***/weeds out back of house,on west side of house,rain,wind didn't care what side anything was on,,It's Miami. Florida,,,
In some places,were weather n sun are known to be,one way more often,there maybe a better side of door or windows,,

My shop that I rent n use for bizz,was a four bay shop,12 miles from house=My hotrod n,Sons rod is not ever at Bizz> or very little would get done,that made $$.
Padio outback of home/was often use temp,as it's open n 20x 35 flat concreat. BBQ can be moved as needed..

 

Oh good, something new

 

Just outside Edmonton, Alberta (Northernmost metropolitan area in North America with greater than 1 million people).

I've had NW and W facing garages. Other than the typical driving wind from the northwest, I do enjoy the west facing as the snow in front melts faster, and it dries up faster in front of the garage after a rain. My current garage also has big windows that face east, so I get nice sun throughout the day. It's amazing how nice it is to have natural light in the garage when you are working during the day. When I replace those windows, they'll be able to open for better cross-flow. I agree with no north-facing garage doors in this type of climate.

That's one reason I always hated living in town. I'd work in my garage and having old cars/cool stuff would always attract people to come try to talk to you in your garage. There was too much theft in the area for me to be friendly.

Now I'm rural enough and far enough from the road that I can work with the door open and the only people that pop in are my car guy neighbours.

 

My house and shop were built when I bought the place. The garage and shop doors face south. Everything blows in the doors. It ****s. The guy that built this place built his current house across the road, and his shop there faces east, and his garages face north. I guess he learned from this place, don't face the doors south.

 

East is best for me, too much adverse weather beating from west and south,
north gets the least sun

 

How deep is a hole?

 

Due to the lot shape I.had.no.option but to put the doors.north. yes the snow stays there longer but during the.winter the only reason to open the doors is.to bring.out the snowBlower. Since it.also.faces the road I normally keep the door closed so the mini split can do its job.

 

My garage doors face towards the street I live on.

 

I have had one shop that face east, the last 3 have faced west. Only due to orientation. I would have preferred to have my doors face east because the sun in Oklahoma in August is brutal. The trick is to not open the doors all day. Just crack them and try to keep the concrete from getting heated.

 

? ? ? can some one please explain this for those of us in the southern hemisphere, where north is north, east is east , west is ……..etc etc
.

 

The problem with what direction to face your shop is how your lot is layed out. I had a pond to the west of my house, and a barn to the south then a road. To the north the land sloped down. So I had to build to the east, between the barn and the next pond to the east. I faced the door west toward the house as that was the only way we could lay out the driveway. So I didn't have much choice on what direction to face my shop. I bet that is the problem most of us face when laying out where to build, and what direction, to face the doors of our shops.

 

I’m on acreage so I probably could have faced my shop in any direction, the house was built first so I did not want the shop to look like an afterthought. I had to remove a few trees and placed the shop just over a hundred feet from the house, it faces East just like the house does. I planned to have a paved driveway as an extension of the house driveway so the hundred foot set back made the concrete cost slightly more reasonable. The house is ranch style so the shape of the shop and hip roof mimic the house. 2,400 sq ft.