Garage placement help please. My first post!

[earthworks]

Hi Everyone. I'm in Northwestern, Ontario, Canada. Three hours east of us had 4" of snow a week ago, and i need to get a garage built (or at lease the pad poured) before the ground freezes.
I'm almost decided upon a 32 x 40 x 10 with side entry.
I'm struggling with a couple decisions. The most time sensitive one is placement on the lot. I've drawn up a sketch of my lot, and some makeshift elevations of the garage. I'll post them tomorrow along with a couple pics of my property and the area where the proposed garage will probably sit.

I also would like advice about attic trusses, wall / ceiling height, and roof pitch versus peak height. These questions came up today when i went to the truss manufacturer and mentioned that i'd like to use attic trusses to locate a storage / office space above. He brought up a 20' max peak height. The drawings i had brought him had a 10 / 12 pitch roof (to match look of house) on 10' walls which totals on a 32' span a height of 23' approx. which ruins those ideas.
My thoughts now are other ways to get upstairs space. The 10' wall height is not really neccessary, just thought people generally seem to prefer it.. maybe i can sacrafice a bit there... but would i regret it?
i'm not a carpenter, but built my own house last year. i'd like to hear about other possible construction methods other than truss roof structure, that could yield a usable upstairs space, without breaking the 20' restriction. joists and stick framed roof? higher walls and mezzanine? with a lower pitched roof would the attic trusses work? just brainstorming.
if you guys could help with the brainstorming that'd be appreciated.
Also i like the idea of eventually installing a lift.

thanks guys,
stay posted for picks tomorrow after i get home from work.

 

[RVDan]

There's way too many variables of personal preferences for me to offer any advice.

Where I live it's not really all that hot in the summer, so I would situate a garage to get the maximum amount of sunlight through the doors and skylights year round

but where I currently live I put the biggest door to the back yard, so I can be in the garage with a door open and traffic doesn't look in.

So it's a question of what kind of land you have, where you want the sun beating down on, whether privacy is a factor, and of course access.

 

[Fyrme]

Welcome to the board earthworks. First let me say, you can go into the garage gallery section of the board and read threads on shops til your sick of it and still not get all the information available. But I recommend it.

To answer a few of your questions right off hand,

Roof height/pitch:
I know you guys get a ton of snow up there but a 10/12,12/12 pitch still seems unnecessarily steep. Mine has 30' wide trusses and my attics are 8' tall in the middle and 16' wide with 4' at the sides. Plenty of room for storage. However, the engineers in your area should be educated in your climate snow loads. With that said, It wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion.

Location:
This comes down to strictly personal preference. I built my shop close to my house for convenience, but not right against it.
Things to consider are, the extra cost of the additional driveway, plumbing, sewer, electrical service, how much you like walking in the rain/snow.
Plan on having extra tools at the house if you decide to build it a ways away from your house, because taking a 100-200 yard trek to the shop to get a hammer at 10pm in January when your wife wants you to hang a picture before bed doesn't sound fun to me.

Your budget for the pad location may also have a huge part in where you put it. Dirt work is not cheap, and just because the ground looks flat, it's probably not as flat as it looks. Take for example my shop location. It looks pretty flat. I didn't have any survey equipment, but I judged this pad to drop about a foot, right to left.
Pole barn site by Fyrme, on Flickr
Well I was WAY off, there is a 29" drop from the right rear corner of my shop to the left front corner as you can see the bottom skirt board
Shop by Fyrme, on Flickr

 

[earthworks]

@RVDan;
I've already begun the long journey of sorting through the garage gallery... and your right, theres ton of info, not easy to find any specific answers though. I had an idea while looking through them, to catagorize them, there should be a special format for naming your thread, such as listing the size and type of construction first. then they could easily be viewed according their listing.
Also, i really like the idea of skylights... natural light is the only type ive ever found that is sufficient in a garage.


@Fryme;
Your right about the distance from the house thing... i'm probably going to end up about fourty feet from the house. not too bad. I'll be parking in it as well. As for flat ground being deceiving.. yep, i do groundwork construction for a living and i'm constantly amazed when i pull out the level how useless it is to assume any elevation or grade.
What pitch is your roof?
Your photos brought up another question i've had. Is there a significant cost savings in building a pole barn even if i insulate? i'd still have to stick frame between posts and that would eat right into the savings wouldn't it? Did you insulate yours? what size is your pole barn?

Thanks,

 

[sberry]

I like the door in the end, with modern trusses you can have a 30x40 or a 40x 30. Putting doors in endwall is easy.

 

[sberry]

If you are parking in it and serious this is the place to stretch for some square footage. A lot of the fixed cost are the same and a 40x40 building is a huge leap in usable space for only a pinch more material cost.
I am a business so I got a big building, my ideal hobby might be a bit smaller, about half as big and a bit more comfy with less walking in the long run.
I got a lot of friends with 30x40. If its full of junk and parking then it doesn't matter but if you are even modestly busy run out of space fast.
Doors in the side help with the layout problems but they are terrible for weather and snow loads.

 

[Fyrme]

@Fryme;
Your right about the distance from the house thing... i'm probably going to end up about fourty feet from the house. not too bad. I'll be parking in it as well. As for flat ground being deceiving.. yep, i do groundwork construction for a living and i'm constantly amazed when i pull out the level how useless it is to assume any elevation or grade.
What pitch is your roof?
Your photos brought up another question i've had. Is there a significant cost savings in building a pole barn even if i insulate? i'd still have to stick frame between posts and that would eat right into the savings wouldn't it? Did you insulate yours? what size is your pole barn?

Thanks,

My pitch is a 6/12, and it's 40Wx30D. Like I said, I can stand in the attic with my arms up and not reach the peak. However, my attic trusses drop a foot below the roof line. Basically I have 10' walls with scissor trusses in the middle bay and attics on the ends with 9' ceilings underneath.
the biggest savings on a pole barn is in concrete and dirt work. You have one of those cost covered. Due to my soil type, as you see the barn in the pic, I have zero concrete at this point. I just buried the post 30-36" deep on a sandstone subterranean ledge and back filled with the low PI soil I dug out. It is currently not skinned yet, but I hope to have it dried in by November.

 

[earthworks]

Doors in the side help with the layout problems but they are terrible for weather and snow loads.

Im finding out about the snow load issues with the truss designer right now. Our local code says that if we built with a truss wider than 32ft. The pad needs to be designed and inspected by an engineer. Then costs start to climb.. overkill rebar, 4" insulation beneath entire pad plus wing insulation (frost protected shallow footing), vapour barrier, 18" club footings... i just want a simple slab on grade. So im staying away from that.

 

[sberry]

That makes sense then.

 

[Falcon67]

For position on the lot I'll tell you what I did - go get a bundle of grade stakes and some 500' rolls of nylon twine. Pick a layout and stake it out, string the perimeter. Stake out your doors, etc. Then walk it, park in it, stake out any big equipment, interior walls, etc. You can really sort out some "that ain't gonna work" items by actually laying out your idea on the ground. I had about 5 good paper ideas and all but one went **** when they hit the ground.

 

[DarrenF]

Hey Earthworks, I'm out Dawson Rd. Where are you building?

 

[earthworks]

Hey Earthworks, I'm out Dawson Rd. Where are you building?

I'm actually just off dawson, on paquette. And for the others who haven't yet found it, here's a link to my build thread:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=270103

 

[DarrenF]

Small world. I just out Dawson on Intola rd. i'm just finishing up a small garage project. I'm ready for shingles and then i will be dried in.