A parking garage is one of the most important things for a place to reduce traffic jams on the road. Because if there is no car parking garage in any place, then people tend to park their vehicle on the roadside. Which is not good.
Let’s find out which is the right height for a parking garage.
How much parking garage clearance height be?
Parking garages clearance height varies. Minimum parking garage clearance height is 8 ft 2 inches for vans and higher vehicles and 7ft for vehicles like sedans. Parking garage clearance height should be adjusted, or vehicles may not get in and may be stuck inside. The parking garage’s height varies.
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Parking garages or spaces are determined by the local authority. The main purpose of car parking is to reduce the number of parked vehicles on the street. The height of the parking garage is also an important thing. Because a parking garage is not made for all sorts of vehicles.
Yet sometimes a parking garage is made just to keep the vehicles safe inside of the building. There are some multistoried buildings made just for parking.
Generally, trucks and long trailers don’t necessarily park in a parking garage. But, vans, cars, SUVs, and wagons are the general vehicles that are usually kept inside a parking garage. Also, you will get these parking garages in urban areas.
Because in rural areas there are spaces for your vehicle to leave outside and no need to worry about the traffic jam.
Generally, a parking space size is determined by various things. State to state the parking area or parking garage height and size may vary. Like as we see, in commercial areas, the parking space is different than in some rural areas.
Urban places get less space to keep vehicles on the other hand rural or less urban areas have more space.
As we said, different variables are used here, vehicles generally need 20 to 24 inches to open a door. Moreover, a vehicle may need 10ft to 12ft of vertical clearance. But the minimum range should be 8 ft 2 inches to 7ft. And this is for the required height of the parking garage.
You can add more height to it and add different designs as well.
Most of the time, you will get markings of the maximum and minimum height requirements of a particular parking garage. See it before you lean your vehicle into it. Or your vehicle will stick on the doorway.
As we said earlier, the need for a parking garage is more in urban areas. So that, people don’t have to park their vehicles on the street. Sometimes parking on the street for a long time is illegal as well. So, to save time and money, people in urban areas choose parking garages.
The height of the parking garage is maintained by the local authority.
How tall are parking garage ceilings?
The height of the parking garage ceilings can reach up to 12ft long. Generally, it is the highest height for a parking garage. But the regular or minimum requirement of the parking garage is 7ft long. On the other hand, you will find a parking garage 8 ft tall.
However, the height of the parking garage ceilings varies from place to place. The minimum requirements of a parking garage are a set rule by the state or local authority. In general, it is required to keep 8ft 2 inches to 7ft tall for parking garages in urban areas.
Though in suburban areas, you will get to have more space to park vehicles, that’s why these parking garages are not quite necessary there. Also, the capacity of a parking garage is an important variable here. Because without proper capacity vehicles may not get in.
Which will eventually end up being vehicles parked outside on the street.
What is the lowest height for a parking garage?
The standard or minimum lowest height for a parking garage is 7ft. If the parking garage cannot maintain this height, the parking garage will not have a clearance pass by the local government. Because most of the vehicles cannot enter inside the parking garage.
You can build your own parking garage with a height of 12ft or more, but you must keep the minimum height to 7ft. As we all know, less than 7 ft will cause an even smaller vehicle to stick with the door. Also, people cannot get through to the gate as well.
Without maintaining the standards, the parking garage will not serve its purpose properly. Bearing all the height issues and all, the parking garage should also maintain the proper space limit for the vehicles as well.
It is recommended to maintain 20 to 24 inches of door space between two vehicles. After maintaining all these things, a proper parking garage can be prepared.
Parking garage height code requirements
The code requirements regarding parking garage height are given below –
Height of Floor to Floor:
The required height for a floor-to-floor is 8ft 2 inches to 7ft. This is the general height requirement.
According to Stanford University’s research on 12 parking garages, they found that the maximum height always remains 8 ft 2 inches and the minimum height is 7 ft to 7 ft 4 inches. However, the height of floor to floor can be 10ft to 11ft long as well.
This varies as the structural framing of the building varies. If the floor-to-floor height is higher than usual, then more or different vehicles can get in easily.
Structure of the Building:
Generally, the structure of the parking garage building is not the same as regular residential buildings. As parking garages have to take vehicles of different weights and heights the building has to take a huge amount of pressure as well.
The vibration caused by moving vehicles and the weight of the vehicle is a crucial thing.
So, that’s why for parking garage buildings, using long-span beams and short-span framing with a flat slab is required.
For the ground floor, a short span and flat slab are good, and for the higher level, a long-span framing is used.
Different Services Required to Maintain the Garage Properly:
Maintaining a parking garage is also very important. If the parking garage is not properly maintained, different disorders will be there, and it will cause a problem in the future.
After constructing the building, the building should have a dedicated machine and electrical team. Along with that, dedicated plumbing services are also required. Without proper ventilation and electrical services, vehicles cannot be managed.
Trash Management System:
Trash management is one of the vital things that must be maintained. So, like mechanical, technical, and other servicing teams, a trash management service team is also required.
Or the parking area will be engulfed with trash and may cause different problems after a year or two.
How to measure parking garage height?
If you are willing to measure the parking garage height, the procedure is given below –
Find an Engineer or a Professional:
Measuring anything is easy, but while you are measuring a building or a particular floor, then you cannot do it yourself without further knowledge. An engineer or a professional knows how to use the equipment to measure the height of the building.
It may seem odd to you, but if you don’t have any sort of practical knowledge, you cannot measure the height.
Gather Equipment:
There is different equipment for you to measure your parking garage height. You can use measuring tape as well. But using a measuring tape will not be worth it or you may not measure it properly as well.
Because measuring the parking garage with measuring tape will not consider the angels of the doorway. You can use a leveling machine, which will be easier to use. Rather than this machine, you can use a clinometer and transit theodolite as well.
Put the Leveling Machine on the Floor:
Here we will discuss only the leveling machine. It is the easiest way to measure the height of a floor. Place the leveling machine in a corner of the room, then level it horizontally. And place a vertical straight stick in front of the machine.
Take three different ratings from the lower part and mark them as point A and take three different ratings from the upper segment and mark them as point B.
Take the Ratings:
After taking the ratings, then you can do some math following the ratings you got from the leveling machine. If you can measure a particular point’s rating, then you can easily find the other point’s height as well.
Add both, and by that, you get the measurement of the parking garage.
Final Thoughts
A parking garage’s height is a crucial thing, because if anyhow the parking garage height becomes lower than required, most of the vehicles may not get in. Or if the height is higher than standard then there is a chance of losing more money building the garage. So, a perfect measurement is required.