Hello, new from Texas

[matemike]

Hello, I live in Brazoria county, due south of Houston.

Thanks for all the info I've received on here already. I look forward to gaining a whole lot more. I've been a nonmember lurker for about 4 months now. Had to join because the questions are going to multiply now that I'm just about ready to start building my shop now.

We live on 2.5 acres and my property would really compliment a shop.

I had decided on a 24x40x12 size. But once I set up the 24x40 perimeter with garden hoses and parked my truck in a natural parking spot according to my door plan, the invisible shop started shrinking. Should I go with 30x40? Is it still feasible to insulate a 30x40x12 shop with the 3" roll up insulation that comes with pre-fab buildings?

Thank you. glad to be here.

 

[txvwnut]

Welcome to the group from another Texan.

As for size of your shop, just enclose the whole 2.5 acres and try not to fill it up in one week. Really the size just depends on what you want and plan on doing and your budget will allow.

 

[matemike]

Thanks,

The shop will be for general outdoor equipment use; four wheelers and motorcycle maintenance/storage areas, zero-turn lawn mower maintenance and storage area, parking for a 5X8 utility trailer etc.
My driveway goes all the way into the backyard. I plan to put a 40x40 slab and a Mueller 30x40x12 insulated building at the end of the driveway. There'll be an 8' lean-to on the 40' wall yard side. The building will have two 10Hx12W doors offset to make it pull through capable though the left side. I'll have a 8x8 roll up door as well for lawn mower and four wheeler entrance to the yard. Two walk doors, three windows and sky lights will be on the accessory list as well.
Electricity, lights, 2'X12' work bench down one wall and a ductless split A/C unit will be on the first upgrade list. Epoxy coating the floor will be a close second upgrade. I'll get a larger air compressor one day and hard-pipe some air lines. I plan to have a portable table saw set-up that I can roll out onto the covered porch area for large wood working projects. Gotta keep all that saw dust on the outside.
Biggest plan which I know I'll have room for will be a 4 post car lift. My wife and I will be acquiring a family car SUV soon, so our little blue sports car which we plan to keep will be cast out to the shop. That was a large deciding factor to get a shop in the first place. We want to keep the sports car in the garage, and the family car will go in the garage as well. Wife said my truck will just have to go outside….nope. The “date night car” will need a new resting place. Hence getting a shop.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Hi and welcome from Australia, as always, enjoy.

Looking forward to following your build, plans looks great..

 

[rburke65]

Welcome matemike from Ohio! In laws in League City. Oh ya, you can isolate with 3" insulation but the only trouble is 3" enough for what you want to do. It gets hot in Houston! Build as large as you can.....they are never big enough. Good luck!

 

[drivesitfar]

Mike: i love Txvwnut's comment to build a 2.5 acre garage. it looks like he already convinced you to build it a bit bigger. the consensus here is to build as big as you can afford because most of us will fill up the space easily.

I don't have an answer to all of your questions, but if you are planning on putting in a lift i heard that 12.2 foot ceilings is required on some lifts so make sure to check the lifts specs before you decide on a garage height.

there is plenty of threads to read in Garage gallery section so now that you are a member please enjoy reading them and now you can ask questions if you have any. i bet 1/3 or more of my posts are asking questions. if you ask the right person the right questions i bet you could build a rocket ship with the knowledge on this forum.

also one good thing to do is put your location in your profile either city or state or both so when you ask questions you'll get better answers. also if you start a garage gallery thread for your garage which you should then put the link to that thread in your signature.

welcome to our group and i hang mostly in the vise threads and old tools if you might need some of those later after you build your garage.

 

[kingnba6]

Welcome to the forum

 

[matemike]

Thanks for the info guys. I've been checking out the vise thread. I don't have anything quite as fancy as most of the stuff in that thread, but I've grown a fancy for the Wilton bullet style. I'm sure I'll pursue one to restore some day. I did make some mods to my current vises which I think are neat and will get pics in there at some point. I put leather strips that I picked up as scratch from a hobby store. I removed the grip chock and mounted one end of each leather strip between the vice jaw body and chock so they can flop over between the teeth for a protective grip. But if I need to use the metal to metal grip I can always just flip the leather strips up and out of the way. I mounted my smaller Craftsman vise onto a 12"X12"X1" base that I can move around the bench and just clamp it down with c-clamps near any edge I want. Not a source for a super strong hold, but it does what I need. Mostly I just stick my powder trickler in there for reloading bullets and I can take it into my office desk when I want.

Just found out my building will have a 10-12 week delivery time. That build and build thread will begin a little later than expected. But it's nice to still hang around and come up with more ideas for the time being.

 

[hghvoltage]

Welcome from another Southeast Texan.

 

[Lone Star Blaze]

welcome!

 

[YukonXL04]

Welcome from dfw! Definitely build as big as you can / afford.

 

[XxToolAholicxX]

Hello and welcome to the Garage Journal.
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