Gargage Analysis Paralysis - What'd you do?

[SprintCC]

First off, A huge THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to the site builder. Your site could not have better timing!!!! If I ever meet you I'm buying the rounds that night!

I have someone who's only business is building Garages coming over on Sat morning to talk to me about building my garage-mahal. His business is building garages. Period. I have the land to build what I want, I'm just not sure how to proceed.

How did you design your garage? I'm not talking minor details, but structural starting points, shape, size, etc. I have alot of the garage-items from my last, attached workshop. What I'm looking for is (dream list):
Detached 3 cars + project car + workshop, radiant floor heat, lift (4 post), loft, easy access to cars, plumbing, bathroom. Fits in with surrounding neighborhood.

How did you decide on:
Shape: traditional bays side by side(4x1), Square (2 cars x2 cars), "L" Shaped, "T" shaped? What works for you, why, and what would you change?

Size: How much did you allow for 1) cars being stored (running, driven, but not actively worked on) 2) Cars being worked on (restoration) 3) workshop (restoration) 4) storage.

Tall order I know. I'm not looking for 1 single answer, but something to help me beat this Analysis Paralysis!!

Thanks!

This site ROCKS!!

 

[DynoDave]

As simple as it sounds, I used Microsoft Excel like a big piece of graph paper. I made the cells "square" in size, and made each cell 1 sq. ft.. I then measured the size of the cars I have, the lift I wanted, the benches, furnace, etc., and outlined them into the spreadsheet. I went through several variations before I got what I wanted, but it's a lot easier to change now than when it's built.

Sounds like you have an awesome situation. Enjoy!

 

[Luckydevil]

I second the excel method. Before I make any changes I play around with it in excel using square foot color coded blocks to determine the layout. When I eventually go through and build a dream garage I will do the same thing to determine how much room I will need.

 

[bmwpower]

Design: I had my friend from high school, who is also an architect, help design my house and then a couple of years later, my detached garage. I specifically wanted something that looked like it was part of the house, so I used similar materials, etc. I knew I wanted a lift, so that had to planned into the design. With a lift, there are space requirements, which I took into account, and planned my garage around it. You really have to decide what you want in the space first (lift, bathroom, sink, fridge, etc) and start researching. Once I had a list of stuff I wanted, with sizes, I drew everything up in Adobe Illustrator. The design I first started with is now in its 30+ iteration, with cabinetry, lift, plumbing, etc. drawn in.

Size: By far, bigger is better in every respect... but there has to be a limit. Well, for me, the size of the garage was something the township limited. Mine was big enough that they made me get a variance (not fun) prior to building. I didn't want to make it too big either, since I didn't think the garage should dwarf the house... I came close though. Depending on how big the garage is allowed to be will determine how many bays you can have. I figured at least 30' minimum depth and 15' wide per bay, which ended up giving me a 30' x 30' structure (2 big bays).

Shape: Shape of the house helped determine the shape of my garage. I recommend something simple since often it is cheaper/quicker to build. A shape with a lot of angled walls can be difficult to fit stuff into.

A couple of tips:

- Know your budget...and plan on blowing it out of the water.
- Know what you want in the space prior to building. It ***** to try to fit something in the space that was not designed to be in the original plan...it can be done, but it will make your life easier.
- Evaluate and re-evaluate, over and over and over. I have spent many nights just staring at the floorplan, looking for something that might not work in the space.
- And the most important...Make sure you make accomodations in the garage for when your wife kicks you out of the house because you spend all your time and brainpower thinking about the garage construction. I haven't had to use them yet, but we've been close to the breakpoint multiple times!

Let me know if you need anything more guidance. BTW, I live in NJ, but work in Blue Bell.

 

[sca037]

Welcome, SprintCC

I designed the house and garage as one integral unit using the 3D Home Artichect software package, and 'BMW Power' really hit the nail on the head when he suggested that simple is better.
We ended up integrating a 1600 sqft (+ 500 additional sqft storage above w/ fixed staircase) attached garage onto a 2400 sqft house (not including full basement). The everyday garage bay is 26'D x 22'W, and the storage & project garage is 45'D x 22'W (and gets wider at the rear).....both of which have 10.5' ceilings and 8'9" x 16' insulated doors.
Like others have said, you need to think carefully about what your future needs will be and incorporate those parameters into the design. Make sure you have some natural light in there, and with security concerns you may have to get a bit creative. There are other threads on this and many other topics elsewhere on this forum so roll up your sleeves and start digging

Brian

 

[Double Venom]

May I suggest you build in an office at least 10x12? Great place to keep books, to plan/order parts, keep records, displays, etc.

A second suggestion is to build a insulated / clean room. Use it for storage of extra equipment such as the ramps for the lift which don't need to be out in the way all the time, welder, oxy. torchs, but mostly for the compressor. A room that is insulated for noise will go a long way toward your mental health after a long day of running your air tools.

Hey, it's only money
DV

 

[Matt Harwood]

Here's my thought process and some plans on how I designed mine:

http://www.harwoodperformance.bizland.com/1941buick/Editorial 27.htm

 

[sberry]

This is endless for sure. If you have snow I like the doors in one end. The main tools and benches in the other end. I drew a workspace and foot traffic flow chart on the floor with soapstone. Something that is nice in addition to the bathrooms is a laundry sink with urinal behind a partition, saves wear and tear on the regular bathrooms, gives a sink for use on the garage floor. Locating the incoming utilities is extremely important, I like to have the entrance panels nearest the hi draw loads as possible and maybe a sub fed on the other side of the building to save running so many branch circuits all the way across the building and makes future wiring additions easy. I ran all the major utility runs under the floors before the pour, including air lines, electric, rolled pipe for phone chases, water lines, saves a ton of work up in the ceilings later. I like the office and bathrooms near the incoming walk doors. Facing the doors according to prevailing winds is a thought. I put the pressure washer between 2 front doors with apron outside, nice to be able to rinse things off before bringing inside and have a drain area inside of one space to let them dry before moving to a work station. Make the overhead doors wide enough, 12 at a minimum for cars. Door location is critical for storing stuff and benches off to the side, I like about 6 ft from a wall to the edge of a door and 10 ft between them. Think about being able to add utilities later, you may think you can plan everything but you cant, things change or needs change them, I like piped wiring, you can add circuits as needed. You wont need as many air drops as you may first think, location is important though and you will find you want electric outlets in different places than you have planned with dedicated circuits.

 

[ultgar]

Port Cochere

Make the overhead doors wide enough, 12 at a minimum for cars.

Here are some other pics from earlier this week as the project starts to come together.... http://www.ultimategarage.com/subterr3.html . With pre-planning when building a new home (assuming you have the property to accomodate the larger footprint), garage activity and vehicles can be hidden from public view. SD

 

[sberry]

Here are a couple other things to consider, ask your builder for advice, often builders agree with everything the customer says to make a sale. Make sure the site elevation is high enough, get the water to drain away. This is a big one, the statement, "I think it will be ok" is one a lot of guys regretted in short order.

 

[kartracer55]

If I were you, Id put a 2 car garage door in, with about 6 ft on each side. I would set the lift off to one side at an angle and kind of set back, so you can either drive towards the right and up onto the lift, straight to park the car, or towards the right to park the car. I would also install a singl car garage door on one of the sides, mainly for ventilation. Towards the back of th shop, I would make it two levels. On the first level, I would make a "room" for storage of tools and equipment when not in use, and also put in the bathroom there. I would also build another "room" and turn it into a "machine shop/work area" You could put a drill press, bench grinder, and workbenches all around the perimeter, so you will have a clean place to work on things. On the level above this, i would build a small little room for your air compressor, so it will be quieter in the shop, and I would put a couch, tv mini fridge, and that sort of thing up there.

Back to the ground level. I would install A continuous work bench along the walls around the lift area, but leaving a space for that big roll around I know your going to want. This way, your box will be out of the way and set back like it belongs there, but you can also roll it to wherever you need to go. Install air drops everywhere, but use 3/8 body couplers on hoses so you can simply take a hose to wherever you need to work, and not have to worry about storring hose reels everywhere. I would probably put a hose real outside your main entrance for filling up tires and that sorta thing.

All in all, it needs to be a comfortable place to work. Dont under kill your power either. I would seriously consider A/C and heat, so you will have no problem working year round at anytime of the day. Think about how much better you work when your not freezing or dieing of heat exhaustion.

Jim

 

[bmwpower]

Maybe you could give us a layout of what you have now and we can give you ideas on what to do? It will all depend on your lot layout and the surroundings.

 

[keperkey]

Ultgar,

Simply outstanding. Can you describe the ceiling construction of the bb court/museum? What will be above these areas?

 

[bmwpower]

Here are some other pics from earlier this week as the project starts to come together.... http://www.ultimategarage.com/subterr3.html . With pre-planning when building a new home (assuming you have the property to accomodate the larger footprint), garage activity and vehicles can be hidden from public view. SD

What role are you playing in the construction?

 

[keperkey]

Check out this link, as well as the rest of his site.

http://www.ultimategarage.com/hmconsult.html

 

[Throttlejockey]

Here are some other pics from earlier this week as the project starts to come together.... http://www.ultimategarage.com/subterr3.html . With pre-planning when building a new home (assuming you have the property to accomodate the larger footprint), garage activity and vehicles can be hidden from public view. SD

OMG!!!! That is incredible!
I can even imagine the cost for that.