hydrojim
Well-known member
Hello all,
My name is Jim. I'm a college student and my father is finally in the position to build the shop he has always wanted. Unfortunately, he's not really beyond the point where he knows that he wants a building, he knows how much room he has, and he knows how much he has to spend. I'm here on the forums in order to see if I can help him narrow down some plans.
I'm a mechanical engineering student who is at "amateur" level in most trades. So I can handle all tools and have a good understanding of electrical, plumbing, concrete, etc. My dad is a mechanic by education and now an electrician by career. He knows electrical and plumbing really well. We're capable of doing all finishing work ourselves. Definitely gonna outsource the concrete and not sure if we're gonna assemble the building ourselves or not. Kind of depends on what kit we end up. Speaking of which, we're gonna have to build from a kit because we're not structural engineers and we'd like to start building in 9 weeks.
Here's the knowns:
Budget: $25k for concrete, building, doors, windows, electrical, plumbing, insulation, etc. Basically the completed building ready to move stuff into.
Max Dimensions: 30 x 40
Insulation: It needs to be well insulated for working out there during the
winter.
Detached
The garage doors will be on the 30 foot side. Not sure on size or amount of doors. I was thinking 2 12 x 12 doors would look good and give us the space that we want.
My dad is leaning to steel construction but I'm not so convinced because I'm less familiar with it.
Questions we have:
Steel or Wood? Regular 2x4 construction or those pole barns that people build?
My dad wants steel because it won't burn down. We've never set any building on fires yet grinding metal and welding so I don't see this as a big deal in my opinion. I'm figuring would would be cheaper and more familiar to us which would make it easier for us to build it ourselves.
Radiant Heating? This sounds great but I don't know if it's in our budget or not.
Height? We want at least 12 feet for a 2 post car lift. I was contemplating going up to 18-20 feet and having a second floor area/loft. I was thinking the upstairs area wouldn't go over where the lift is located.
I'm sure there are more questions but I'm hoping the people of this forum can help to guide me in the right direction on what my dad can afford and things like that. He lives in Clarksville, TN so location is probably important to how we build.
We'll be using the building to work on cars and any projects really so gonna be a lot of tools, a lift, and work benches. It would be nice to have area to park 3 cars/trucks plus the lift area.
I'm not asking people to design the layout for me, but I feel like i can't design the layout until I decide on a building design. I'm really not sure what $25k can buy. I've been browsing the forums but I can't come to a conclusion on anything.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks for all your help.
My name is Jim. I'm a college student and my father is finally in the position to build the shop he has always wanted. Unfortunately, he's not really beyond the point where he knows that he wants a building, he knows how much room he has, and he knows how much he has to spend. I'm here on the forums in order to see if I can help him narrow down some plans.
I'm a mechanical engineering student who is at "amateur" level in most trades. So I can handle all tools and have a good understanding of electrical, plumbing, concrete, etc. My dad is a mechanic by education and now an electrician by career. He knows electrical and plumbing really well. We're capable of doing all finishing work ourselves. Definitely gonna outsource the concrete and not sure if we're gonna assemble the building ourselves or not. Kind of depends on what kit we end up. Speaking of which, we're gonna have to build from a kit because we're not structural engineers and we'd like to start building in 9 weeks.
Here's the knowns:
Budget: $25k for concrete, building, doors, windows, electrical, plumbing, insulation, etc. Basically the completed building ready to move stuff into.
Max Dimensions: 30 x 40
Insulation: It needs to be well insulated for working out there during the
winter.
Detached
The garage doors will be on the 30 foot side. Not sure on size or amount of doors. I was thinking 2 12 x 12 doors would look good and give us the space that we want.
My dad is leaning to steel construction but I'm not so convinced because I'm less familiar with it.
Questions we have:
Steel or Wood? Regular 2x4 construction or those pole barns that people build?
My dad wants steel because it won't burn down. We've never set any building on fires yet grinding metal and welding so I don't see this as a big deal in my opinion. I'm figuring would would be cheaper and more familiar to us which would make it easier for us to build it ourselves.
Radiant Heating? This sounds great but I don't know if it's in our budget or not.
Height? We want at least 12 feet for a 2 post car lift. I was contemplating going up to 18-20 feet and having a second floor area/loft. I was thinking the upstairs area wouldn't go over where the lift is located.
I'm sure there are more questions but I'm hoping the people of this forum can help to guide me in the right direction on what my dad can afford and things like that. He lives in Clarksville, TN so location is probably important to how we build.
We'll be using the building to work on cars and any projects really so gonna be a lot of tools, a lift, and work benches. It would be nice to have area to park 3 cars/trucks plus the lift area.
I'm not asking people to design the layout for me, but I feel like i can't design the layout until I decide on a building design. I'm really not sure what $25k can buy. I've been browsing the forums but I can't come to a conclusion on anything.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks for all your help.