Extra Garage?

Ron H said:

I was chatting with a builder that's coming out later this week to talk more on the build. He said metal prices and wood prices now are pert near the same...

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Well I would get quotes from both, but curious what they tell u. And i thing red beam was even more.

A LOT of good tips here - thanks much. I'm one of those guys that can't get rid of enough chit and the more I try to organize the worse it seems to get. Must be a talent some are born with. lol

I didn't want the shop to overwhelm the house so I used 8 foot sides with scissor trusses to give me 16 foot center which will is enough roomfor my lift. Its outside in the rear because I like to work outside. But I put a pass through bay in. Attached are some pix showing the scissor trusses and the pass through bay. I also put a 100 amp service in. Didn't need more th than that.
Its a 46x40. I put a 12x16 shed out back for the mowers and yard tools

Ron H said:

Like that elevated wall foundation...suppose it keeps more critters out..

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It's like any other foundation wall being above grade level so that house timbers are not laying on the ground.

Mine is 64' x 38' with a 12' x 24' patio/carport on the front. Odd sized, but it's built on the slab footprint that was my old house that got destroyed in a 2003 tornado. With a 3/4-bath, four 220 outlets and lots of 110 power with a 30A RV service, 14' sidewalls, one 12' x 12' and two 10' x 12' vehicle doors, two walk-ins, two windows, and a covered patio, it works for me. It's steel construction on angle iron, insulated walls, roll-ups and walk-ins, with brick wainscoting along the front that matches my house.

Below is a good overall exterior shot of the shop, with my Imperial shown.

Richard Cranium said:

My truck has about a foot clearance on each side with 10' wide doors, which is comfortable.. My old house had 9' wide doors and I had to be extra careful pulling in or out.

View attachment 1111692

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Mirrors on my super duty extended measure 8'3". Still doable with a 9 foot door. A 10x8 door would be much better.

Richard Cranium said:

60' X 60' with 12' ceilings is just about right.

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seems they are never big enough

At 1 time...
I had a 48,000 sqft warehouse with 2 floors,
16' foot ceiling bottom floor, 10' ceiling top floor
with parking capability on the roof (just no ramp)
It wasn't open spans, it had a pillar every 24'
I had 2 lifts in it, a 2 post & a 4 post old alignment lift
I could park my Kodiac truck with the 43' Featherlight
the trailer behind it, all under roof, still hooked up

the top floor was used to store file cabinets
for 125 dealerships, that was cycled in & out, reg after 7 years
I had my fab shop, my materials storage, all my facility management supplies
all the construction co. needs, all my racecars & the full operation
a bunch of collector cars (big $$) the dealership owners owned

it was attached to a 3 story office complex another 27,000 sqft
I had my office on the top floor overlooking the
10th tee of Diablo Creek Golf course

I leased out a small portion like 2000 sqft IIRC, as a donation
to the Contra Costa Foodbank on the bottom corner

I had to take care of & maintain the property,
I leased it for $1 a month
that's not a typo, $1 a month
the owners 'leased out the rest' for office space & file storage

I filled it up eventually too...

I miss that shop & especially the lifts, open space to work
stay cool in the summer & dry in the winter
But not the extra work or hassles

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I'm gonna' build this into a shop 'someday'
hopefully before I'm too damn old to care or work on ****
been saying it for 10+ years now,
when dad finally quits R-ing/traveling

28'x42'x14' tall on the tall side, down to 8' on the sort side
to sluff of snow, maybe a couple of windows on either side & lighted doors
my workshop/assembly area, bench etc. will be on the short side,
with its own 10'x8' roll-up door
& the tall side, with a 10'x12' roll-up door & escape door out the back
that tall side will have a lift in the rear
& a drive over 'walk-in pit' with a steel cover, in the front

$10k+ concrete driveway/floor it's road base gravel now
& probably $50k later, when done, electrical, lights, water, air etc.
the exterior carport steel structure with enameled corrugated roof
was like $8400 my cost way back in 2008,
probably be 2 times that today

I've been chomping on the bit
now lumber & materials are 4 times the cost
I thought dad would be done with traveling some 10+ years ago
my f-350 4x4 PS Dually truck & travel trailer are from 2002,
he's used them since 2006-ish, he's 85 now,
it's about that time

Finished my new shop last year about this time, 32W x48L with 14' Ceilings. I have a 16'W x12'H front door and a 11'Wx12'H rear door...having the ability to open the doors and clear the smoke from welding, or just allow the sun and breeze to blow through is amazing, and in my situation this is about the only access to the back yard area as well. ;)

And I insulated the heck out of the shop, R28 for the walls, and R52 for the attic, I heat the shop with an average size wood burning stove, does a pretty good job.

Front...


Back...


Inside..


Make sure to have a central ceiling fan as well to move air around the shop....makes a huge difference when heating. And put in lots of lighting, I have 3 banks of 4 - 8' T8 lights, each group of 4 on it's own switch.

I had extra concrete and rebar added for the 2 post lift I planned on installing.


And on the electrical put in multiple 20amp circuits, I have 24 outlets around the shop at 48" above the floor, all my outlets are staggered so no two plugs side by side are on the same circuit, and only 4-5 outlets on each circuit.

How do you guys heat your oversized garages?

Mine is a wood burning stove. Does pretty well, will get it up to about 10-15*C in the winter, but if the temps are really cold (-25 to-40*C) I have to add a little extra heat from a propane unit.

Two Modine ceiling hung gas heaters.

Richard Cranium said:

Two Modine ceiling hung gas heaters.

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ceiling fans help some too
for both cold & warm

I used an electric heater to keep the shop at 52F and gramma's parlour stove to bring the place up to working temp for years.. then I got lazy!

dadsbee said:

I used an electric heater to keep the shop at 52F and gramma's parlour stove to bring the place up to working temp for years.. then I got lazy!
View attachment 1111876 View attachment 1111877

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Woah, no joke! Nice setup

I bought a 350,000btu used oil furnace for our main shop. If you gutted it you could use it for a garage for a smartcar. Lol I couldn't shut my tailgate when I brought it home w my 6' bed...takes up a lot of floor space.

Figured I'd chime in...this garage was here when I bought the house.



It's 2 cars deep. The jeep is nose to nose with my 91 Daytona. Stairway is in front of the 500, along the right hand wall.

Above the garage is an unfinished 2 bedroom apartment. Bedroom 1 is over the 500, near wall to centerline. Miscellaneous storage at the moment - the interior from my totaled 05 Magnum, some audio bits and parts, just random stuff. Stairway and a bathroom (to be) are in the rear half over the Charger.

Bedroom 2 is over the jeep, also front-half only. It has a double closet (one side motorcycle parts, the other side smaller auto parts). The room itself is shelves, and bolt bins, and wheels, and engine parts, and motorcycle parts. The bathroom and part of the kitchen area are behind it.

Over the van is the living room / dining room / kitchen area, full-depth to the back wall. Currently its my motorcycle shop - 1200# Handy motorcycle lift, work bench, air compressor lines, drill press, hydraulic press, and bike storage.

Tried to upload a second photo, got a "security error, please reload the page". Did that, still won't work. Put the photo on Drive, went to my computer, tried again...same error.

Any tips? It's not a "photo too big" error, it says it's a "security error".

That is what it does if the pic is too big.. limit's somewhere around 5meg..

Let's try this again...



So, this is the side view (obviously). The double doors go to the motorcycle shop area (er...kitchen/dining/living room). I have the bike lift inside the single window, with the workbench on the wall between that space and the bedroom (there are no actual "walls" inside, just bare studs and bare truss, with plywood subflooring).

The section behind the main building is a 30x30 (I think, been ages since I measured) workshop. You can see the nose of my Ram inside the door (I have to fold one mirror to get it in and out easily...I can get it in without folding, but there's like one inch on each side of the factory style towing mirrors and I'm just not that good!). My Satellite is to the left of the truck, tucked in the corner; I have wheel dollies to roll it sideways to get it in and out. Eventually I want to change that garage door to an 18' double-bay door so both spots can simply drive right out.

To the right of the Ram is my main workbench - stainless top over 3/4 hardwood ply, built to MY height (I'm 6'4"; I think I put it 8" taller than "standard" counter height but would have to go measure). There's also a man-door to the right of that garage door, and two man-doors connect this shop to the 'apartment' - one into the corner by the double doors, and one at the rear of the workshop which opens to the bathroom area (which currently houses my 50 gal compressor). Basically a door at each end of the workbench.

Back wall of the workshop has shelving and a single window where I have a fan for fresh air / smoke clearing; the left end-wall has two windows, one of which has an a/c unit in it (this is the only part of the building - so far - that is insulated and drywalled).

There's a 100A panel in the workshop, and there's a 100A panel down by the van.

Eventually I'll insulate and drywall - after materials prices go down!! Lower level is cinderblock with stone face to match the house; upper level is standard 2x4 truss on top of 2x6 exterior walls, so plenty of space for insulation (and open enough to add an attic stair for some storage, since the truss is relatively open). Once I have climate control, there's a pipe from the house to the corner by the van for waste water, to the house basement where it can be tied into the house drain. The wellhead is in the bush by the upper workshop, so I could either drop a second pump, or use the second pipe from the house to the lower garage, and tap in water from the house.

If I were building a garage now? Heated slab, absolutely. Leave gaps for lift posts. Hot water would be my choice as you can heat it with oil, electric, or wood; electric grid would also work.

I need to drill the slab upstairs to see how thick it is - I'm betting, knowing how this guy (over)built things, it's plenty thick. If it is, I need to open the ceiling and put in some scissor truss in the center to get some height, it's only a 9' ceiling. But that, and putting in the 18' door on the workshop...I'm good.

I lucked into this place.

This is the house and garage I wanted to build !