Help me avoid design mistakes

[ACDNate]

Love reading here and daydreaming about some of the garages here. About to build a shop/garage building myself so I thought I'd line out the concept here to get any feedback/advice before I get to far into it to make changes.

Steel building on concrete slab
30' x 60' x 16' fully insulated with gutters
Skylight roof panels for added lighting
30' x 20' mezzanine leaving 8' ceiling below and approx 6' storage space above
lower 30' x 20' will be enclosed/finished room for entertaining.
access to mezzanine will be from the remaining 40' side which will be my actual garage/shop space
approx 4 3x5 windows in enclosed area.
2 rollups one 8x8 and one 8x12.
Full electrical 200amp service
Planning on a small full bathroom with standup shower/vanity/toilet in shop area but adjoining finished area. Access from both sides.

What am I not considering that I should be considering?

 

[aka Larry]

8' door is too narrow IMO. I have (2) 9'x9's and one 12'x12' in my shop.

 

[ACDNate]

8' door is too narrow IMO. I have (2) 9'x9's and one 12'x12' in my shop.

Doh! I wrote 8' x but meant 10' x 10' and 10' x 12'. Good catch.

 

[McKay]

Make one door a 14'. Some items 12' is too low.

 

[ACDNate]

Something I've been contemplating but don't see done very often, floor drains in the garage area.

Any input for or against?

 

[bygasper]

I am 18 months into building/using my newly constructed shop. Put in the widest and tallest doors that you can afford and live with (meaning breaking up wall space). However, think long and hard about the number and placement of garage/overhead doors and walk doors. Floor drains are worth their weight in gold.


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[Junkman]

Many jurisdictions don't allow floor drains, so if you are going to do one, you better have a plan of how you are going to do it, without it being seen by the inspector.
I would make sure that the building is at least 12" higher than the surrounding ground, so flooding in the wet weather season isn't going to be a problem. Also a perimeter drain outside the building slab, that will carry water away from the building. This drain should exit far away from the building and be a gravity exit to daylight. This will help to maintain dry fill under the concrete floor. I strongly suggest that you use a foundation, and don't build the walls on the slab.
There is a garage on one of the properties that I own, and that building is about 40 years old. The floor was perfect for 39 of those years, until this year. With the heavy snow load on the roof, and a very short warming cycle, that softened the ground, the slab starting cracking badly. I believe that it was the combination of the extra weight on the roof, and the soft ground that has caused this. I have a feeling that the building will need to be torn down, as a result.

 

[sz0k30]

In my younger years I was a city boy. @ 20 years ago I moved out to "The Country". I had a 32x48x12 pole barn built on a hill. The builder said pole barns are normally built with floating slabs and no rat walls. I figured he knew what he was doing & I didn't know any better so I said OK. BIG MISTAKE. Between ground settling and sliding down the hill and ground hogs, the cement floor is all cracked and uneven.

Definitely get a proper rat wall/foundation.

 

[Ajustable]

Something I've been contemplating but don't see done very often, floor drains in the garage area.

Any input for or against?

I think the shop floor drain is a good idea, I suggest checking with your building department, It is frowned upon in our neck of the woods.

 

[larry_g]

A 20x30 rec room is huge. I have a building below with a Loft area. You say 6' of height in your mez but I think you forgetting the pitch of the roof. If you plan for the pitch of the roof then you can get way more than 6' of ceiling height up there.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Chris705]

On the floor drain issue and code approval, I believe you will not be denied if you plan on putting in an oil/sand separator down from the drains but infront of your bathroom drain lines......schier.com has them and they are lightweight/easy to install. Not the cheapest items but if you really want floor drains that is a way to make sure it meets code.

 

[kbs2244]

That is a pretty big and complex building to be a one man project.
I would look into getting some help.
Maybe a semi-retired carpenter?
Someone who has seen a lot and whose brain you can pick.

 

[ACDNate]

That is a pretty big and complex building to be a one man project.
I would look into getting some help.
Maybe a semi-retired carpenter?
Someone who has seen a lot and whose brain you can pick.

Have a buddy who builds commercial steel buildings for a living. He's going to be the GC on the job.

 

[ACDNate]

Everything will be permitted and done to code, recently adopted IBC2012 to be specific. Not sure what that's going to do to my steel prices since the designed wind speed went up with the new codes.

My utilities are for that building are allowed to be tied to my primary house. Wastewater will be gravity fed approx 25' to the existing pump grinder station I already have. Thankfully they let me tie into it, that saves me around $2200 alone.

 

[ACDNate]

A 20x30 rec room is huge. I have a building below with a Loft area. You say 6' of height in your mez but I think you forgetting the pitch of the roof. If you plan for the pitch of the roof then you can get way more than 6' of ceiling height up there.

lg
no neat sig line

Very true, 6' at the shortest based on roof pitch.

 

[ACDNate]

Got the plans ordered last week. I went ahead and bumped the roll doors to a 14' x 12' and a and a 10' x 12'. Also I added 2 more windows down the rec room side.

 

[ACDNate]

Making progress. Pad and driveway done. Foundation formed, plumbing roughed in, pouring concrete today.

So that being said, I could use some input on planning my lighting.

The end product will leave me with a 30x40 shop space, and a 30x20 storage mezzanine(under will be enclosed and finished later, not worrying about that lighting now).

My initial though is to hang 4 spaced 4 bulb florescent lights in the shop space and two over the mezzanine.

Is that going to be enough?

I have a 16' eave, how far below roof should I hang them?

Am I thinking about lighting all wrong?

Thanks for any input.