Ok,
Long time lurker, time for a question.
I'm building a 45 x 65 garage.
Dividing wall at 25 ft.
work bay 25 x 45, storage bay 40 x 45.
Work bay 14 ft ceilings, storage probably 9.
The work bay will be mostly used on weekends but will see a lot of heavy use building/rebuilding/prepping off road race buggies, fixing daily drivers, etc. Tons of grinding, welding, cutting. Regular exposure to oils, trans fluid, brake fluid (and other hydraulic fluids), degreasers, carb cleaner, etc, etc. Heavy things will fairly frequently be dropped on it. Need ability to drag around jacks, tool boxes, lots of other tools I have mounted on wheels to keep them mobile.
Storage bay will be for storing cars, tractors, buggies, all of the parts/oils/etc it takes to keep everything running.
This is in eastern PA, temps range from sub zero to over 100. Floor will have radiant heat, plan to keep things 40-50 most of the time, supplemental heat to bring up the work bay temp when I'm in there working. First year or two, it may not have heat though. (need to decide outdoor woodburner vs coal vs ??)
Builder is coming over Friday to review things, hoping to break ground in the next month or so.
I've been doing lots of reading but my head is starting to spin. Previous garage I epoxied and it did well. I got the epoxy at an industrial coatings supplier in the area. 13 yrs later the floor was starting to wear through in spots in the work bay but it was heavily abused.
I'm considering going epoxy again DIY but the above supplier is now out of business and my wife isn't too thrilled about playing with muriatic acid again. Did etch only then, no grinding on floor. I think I gave it nearly a month to cure if I recall. I'm afraid I won't be able to find a good contractor if I try to hire it out (I live somewhat in the sticks) but my work schedule now is much crazier than when I built the last one though. Less time for extended diy projects.
What you you recommend for the work vs storage bays. Function is more important than looks. Lighter color to reflect light helps. Tough and chemical resistant is important. I know nothing will last forever if I abuse it but prefer something that doesn't need routine touch up/maintenance. I really don't think the garage tiles are what I'm looking for. I know how dirty the last garage got with all of the mud from the race cars. Porcelain would be cool but I think I'd crack them. plus having a flat floor helps with rolling heavy tools/jacks and setting up suspensions.
Sorry for rambling but my head is spinning with the options. I'll shut up now...
Thanks in advance,
Tom
Long time lurker, time for a question.
I'm building a 45 x 65 garage.
Dividing wall at 25 ft.
work bay 25 x 45, storage bay 40 x 45.
Work bay 14 ft ceilings, storage probably 9.
The work bay will be mostly used on weekends but will see a lot of heavy use building/rebuilding/prepping off road race buggies, fixing daily drivers, etc. Tons of grinding, welding, cutting. Regular exposure to oils, trans fluid, brake fluid (and other hydraulic fluids), degreasers, carb cleaner, etc, etc. Heavy things will fairly frequently be dropped on it. Need ability to drag around jacks, tool boxes, lots of other tools I have mounted on wheels to keep them mobile.
Storage bay will be for storing cars, tractors, buggies, all of the parts/oils/etc it takes to keep everything running.
This is in eastern PA, temps range from sub zero to over 100. Floor will have radiant heat, plan to keep things 40-50 most of the time, supplemental heat to bring up the work bay temp when I'm in there working. First year or two, it may not have heat though. (need to decide outdoor woodburner vs coal vs ??)
Builder is coming over Friday to review things, hoping to break ground in the next month or so.
I've been doing lots of reading but my head is starting to spin. Previous garage I epoxied and it did well. I got the epoxy at an industrial coatings supplier in the area. 13 yrs later the floor was starting to wear through in spots in the work bay but it was heavily abused.
I'm considering going epoxy again DIY but the above supplier is now out of business and my wife isn't too thrilled about playing with muriatic acid again. Did etch only then, no grinding on floor. I think I gave it nearly a month to cure if I recall. I'm afraid I won't be able to find a good contractor if I try to hire it out (I live somewhat in the sticks) but my work schedule now is much crazier than when I built the last one though. Less time for extended diy projects.
What you you recommend for the work vs storage bays. Function is more important than looks. Lighter color to reflect light helps. Tough and chemical resistant is important. I know nothing will last forever if I abuse it but prefer something that doesn't need routine touch up/maintenance. I really don't think the garage tiles are what I'm looking for. I know how dirty the last garage got with all of the mud from the race cars. Porcelain would be cool but I think I'd crack them. plus having a flat floor helps with rolling heavy tools/jacks and setting up suspensions.
Sorry for rambling but my head is spinning with the options. I'll shut up now...
Thanks in advance,
Tom
In the interim, I just signed off on a 24 x 40 pole building just to get some things under roof for the winter. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to get concrete done this year. I'm hoping for a warm December in PA. If I do, I probably won't have time to do much of anything with the concrete this season. It's basically just going to be for storage of cars and some parts. If time/budget allows, I wouldn't mind doing something to at least make it resist the oil drips a bit better. It probably won't see much in the way of hard use or traffic. It doesn't have to even look very pretty. Any thoughts?
