Any regrets?

[Aberdale]

I've seen some beautiful garages and shops on this forum, and some great ideas for everything from storage, to work aids, to kicka$$ appointments that make the space more than a car and tool holder.

For those of you that have invested extra effort, time, and money into making your garage/workshop great, are there any investments that you have found were a waste of time or money after you lived with it awhile? Anything you took a shortcut on, that you wish you had done during the construction phase? Any regrets? Anything you will do different next time?

Dale

 

[moparhunter]

Heated floor, I didn't have the funds at the time but I still should have put in the pipe and capped it for latter use.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I wish I'd gone through the electric before I started on the rest.

 

[BriggsBodied28]

Consider airflow. I put in an exhaust fan in the ceiling (built a box w/motorized lid so no heat loss in winter when off). I didn't think about it's placement being nearby the only window...fan just pulls air from window and up/out instead of pulling fresh air in the window, across the space, and then out.

 

[Wingnut65]

We had our house built for us in 2001. I was anxious to move and wasn't thinking about the garage. I did have CATV dropped in, but I only got three receptacles. I wish I had about 3-4 per wall and one outside.

 

[Aberdale]

I built a 40x60 two bay shop a few years ago. It's really been great, but I built it with 14' ceilings so I could put in a lift. I also put in a mezzanine at one end for parts storage and for a small office. At 14', the area under the mezzanine has 8' ceilings, so the mezzanine only has 6' ceilings. I wish I was shorter, or I had the forethought to make the overall ceiling height 15-16 feet to give me more headroom in the mezzanine.

Dale

 

[Tman]

When you get done with it, you will ALWAYS know where you fucked up! I have a few issues, nothing major. With 13 acres to expand I have room for more errors.

 

[Indy_500]

Yeah, there's something i know my parents regret... NOT BUILDING A BIG ENOUGH GARAGE! we have a 2 car attached and it's 26'x26'. We have room to go 10 feet wider and 6 feet deeper. my dad had all the plans done to add on then my mom wanted a sunroom/family room instead

 

[Gary S]

I should have put the ground rod for the electrical in the slab before pouring the concrete.

 

[Scramblur]

I have a shop I'm close to finishing and I'll start my existing four car garage clean-up and renovation this weekend.

1. The new shop - I 2nd the radiant in floor heating.
2. I could have went a 2 feet wider on my property, should've done it.
3. In other garages, I always went with cheap storage shelves and cabinets. I won't do this again. Have a place for everything, label it and close it up.

 

[manansal]

i wish i went bigger.

 

[Falcon67]

Wish I'd had a property survey done. Would have built larger then. But - can still expand later. Wish I'd gone ahead and made it 30' long instead of 24'.

 

[widerberg]

Ceiling height for me, on my 3-car attached. My wife and the builder talked me into 8ft ceilings. Huge mistake. I wish I'd have gone for 10 or 12. To allow for a proper lift, but also just to get the sense of a bigger space and to have a bit more room for vertical storage. Oh well.

 

[sammerdog]

1) Shoulda went bigger
2) Shoulda went taller with the walls instead of standard 8 footers
3) Shoulda used a floor joist system and "dormer" framing instead of limited use spread-W trusses
4) Shoulda ran more receptacles and 220v before drywalling

 

[woody 73]

I got on my hands and knees and begged the electrician (an old cow farmer),to do it my way and he would not listen,so today I have shop lights in strange configurations,every time my shop garage door opens it scrapes against the light fixture.

I begged him to place more plastic feeding tubes (so you can feed wire into them at a later date) into the wall. Now that I have plaster board put up it is almost impossible to see any thing.

In hindsight I should have listened to those voices in my head telling me to get rid of that guy!

Just my two cents...

 

[twostory]

1) Build as big as possible (I was limited by the county rules)

2) My initial garage was 26 ft wide, my new additon is 30ft wide. The 30ft is so much nicer, go 30ft wide if possible (two car width)

3) I did attic storage trusses, nice 10x30 ft storage room in the attic. I wish the truss floor was more heavy duty. My wife (woodworker)stores a ton or more of wood up there & I have to be careful not to stack everything in one place.

4) My new addition has several fixed windows 8 ft above the ground. They are nice, compared to the orginal "no window" detached garage.

 

[mikeyr]

My big regret is that I did not wire any plugs to the outside, I just figured I would use extension cords when I did yard work, damm I wish I had done that.

I placed my back door in the wrong place, it works but when in the garage if the door is open all I see is the fence 10ft. away, if I had moved the door to the other end of the same wall, I could see the back yard. If I was doing it again, I would stand in the area where the garage will be and pretend to look out the doors/windows if you put any in, that fence is ugly to look at every day.

I went without windows, not for security reasons as I really wanted the light but no windows to increase wall/shelving space, the city forced me to install skylights, oh how I love those skylights now nothing beats natural light and I can open them for extra ventilation.

I agree with the 220v plugs, I went with a bunch and used 6gauge wire so it was expensive running back and forth from the sub-panel but now that I am using the garage, I have used all but one of those plugs and no more extension cords for my welders. I also overkilled with double-gang plugs every 4ft. along every wall but that was cheap to do.

 

[Brad1234]

I installed trench drains & they are just a place to catch dirt, saw dust etc. I should have gone with 8" round ones.

 

[bobadame]

My building is 40' wide by 64' long. I could have made it 2' wider for not much more $. I wound up sawing about a foot off the ends of 100, 2x8 rafters. Also I don't like the color I painted the interior walls. Someone suggested gray, I should have listened.

 

[akdiesel]

I did not build it but I wish it had a better drainage system. The one I have now is a simple 3" hole in the middle of the shop instead of the troft style. Not sure if that is the correct name or not.

 

[lupinsea]

It's tough because we're all on budgets. . . they may be big budgets but at some point we run up against them.

My recommendation would be to spend the money up front on things that are hard to change later. Foundation / wall locations. Over all size of the building. Heated floor tubes. Where the building is sited. Building orientation.

 

[shaune]

Size (14 X 24) but I had to budget and that this was a compromise.
2 x 6 walls, wished i had of done that.....2 x 4 is okay but i would have liked more insulation.
Window placement, I thought i gave placement a lot of thought......I would now like them placed differently.

 

[Aberdale]

It seems the vast majority of comments are "things that I should have done". And most decisions seemed to be based on budget considerations, which is perfectly understandable.

Does anyone have any "Things I wish I hadn't done"? Where you spent time and money that in hindsight was overkill, or things that were a waste of money? Or things you thought you would get more use out of, but just sits collecting dust or taking up space?

Dale

 

[BriggsBodied28]

What's overkill? That's not possible in a shop is it?

 

[mdoolittle]

I wish I had put in soffit lighting.

 

[deeno]

Go wider and deeper if possible. It's amazing how a larger vehicle like a truck or full size SUV will consume garage space. It's nice to have storage or room for equipment when larger vehicles are present.

Plan your lighting and electrical including switches. You need 220v for compressors and/or welders but it's almost never run for it. And don't forget an outlet and room for the beer fridge.

 

[jabberwoki]

add extra conduits under conctere for later cable and or wire intro if adding water drains alway add a backflow valve