New garage build, suggestions

I recently started the process of building a new house, which includes a 40x30 attached garage!

Wanted you guys to have a gander at the first pass layout and see what you think. The "cars" shown are corvette for reference, and the lift is a EE scissor.

I have all of the equipment shown, 'cept the lathe and mill. Will work on that.

note the legend at the top corner. Garage is all 12ft ceiling. Plan to have a lot of additional shelving, but I wanted to get the stuff like wiring, etc, on paper for my builder.

Any input would be appreciated. The black bars are 4ft double tube fluorescent lights. Thinking I am going to hang them on chain and use a standard outlet so that I have an extra plug to add lighting or etc in the future as needed.. thoughts?

I have a "clean side" and a "dirty side" of the shop.

That's a lot light. I would put each row on its own circuit and switch.
As for the ceiling. If you can do it I would prefer a 14' ceiling. I have a 12'6" ceiling with a loft area and it is a bit of a pain having crouch down and walk at the same time to get to storage up there. The loft is approx 25' x 15'.
Drainage is also one that is done but not thought out well. Make sure your contractor slopes it all to the drainage area and get the trot system instead of a single hole.

The first thing that jumps out at me is that you have only 1 foot between door openings and the end of the building at each end.
I find that even 2 feet is too narrow, as you can't even put a shallow shelf on that wall, and storage becomes an issue. I am not even sure it can be built as you show it, due to lack of shear wall for the corners.
If I had to keep the 40' width, I'd go with one 18' door and one 10' door, and shift them away from the end walls so that you have 4' at each end and 4' between them.

I also prefer 8' lighting fixtures, that use 4' tubes, because you eliminate that dark zone where you have a 4' gap between fixtures in each of your rows. By going with 8' fixtures, and having 3 in each row, you end up with them ending 3' from front and back walls. Then you run another row across above the back wall work area, at 2' from the back wall.

Steevo said:

The first thing that jumps out at me is that you have only 1 foot between door openings and the end of the building at each end.
I find that even 2 feet is too narrow, as you can't even put a shallow shelf on that wall, and storage becomes an issue. I am not even sure it can be built as you show it, due to lack of shear wall for the corners.
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Click to expand...

I concur with Steve on the door to close to the wall. It is one of the things that I did wrong in my build below. I also am not a fan of to much OH door on a working shop. To me having a machine shop in the building does not require an OH door to access it and you will soon find enough **** piled in front of it that the door is never opened.

lg
no neat sig line

I can't widen the slab (it is part of the house). I also can't raise the ceilings over 12 (there is a living space above!)

Excellent suggestion on the light fixtures!

never thought about the garage door issue. Most of the time I will only have 2-3 cars max parked in there. But I want the ability to drive 4 straight in if I wanted/needed to. (not stack/etc). This is my only garage, so I will be using it for my daily driver.

My thought behind the wider garage is, at least I HAVE the hole in the wall if I need it. I can still partially block the opening if needed with workbench, etc.

My current garage only has 18 inches on one side, but i ran a 24" work bench down it. Sure, I can't use the full width of the door to drive a car in.. but if I needed to, I could move the bench and gain a wider entry. For this garage, I intend to only use the front area as my workspace, other than when I car is on the lift being worked on.

Maybe a 16ft and 18 ft door? That would get me another ft on each side. I wanted plenty of "open" entry space so I could put a car whereever I wanted based on needs. I mainly just work on my personal cars/race cars. I wouldnt consider myself a machinest, that will not be the primary function of the space.. nor am i qualified to say that

I would move the lighting in from the edges so in the future if you want to add storage shelving along the wall or above the work surfaces the lighting won't be blocked as much. Probably look to maintain at least 2-3' distance for a fixture away from any wall. At the very least I would move the lighting at the front of the garage back into the garage to try to minimize how much they get blocked when the doors are open.

Having two 18' doors and very little side clearance makes sense to me if you want to park 4 vehicles inside and the vehicles are wide or you want to park them as close to the garage doors as possible to maximize space in front of them. It also makes sense if you live in a fair weather climate and want to work with the garage doors open allot for light and ventillation or if you intend to park cars very near to walls to maximize centered free space and minimize the potential for the cars to get damaged by people walking by them or dropping things on them.

Thanks Guys. I will be moving the lights per your suggestions, and going with 8ft fixtures.

debating on the garage door, I an see arguments for both cases....