In the planning stages - questions

[sluggish]

I moved across country a while back and miss my old garage so it's time to start planning for a new one. My plan is to be 30(wide) x 25(deep). That's the maximum I am allowed on my property so that's my intent. I am trying to decide what door configuration to go with. They need to be 9' tall in order to get my H1 in there to work on it, and also for the odd time I need to work on my enclosed trailer. Since my dually has big elephant ears and also if I need to back the trailer in, it would be nice to have some wiggle room, so I am thinking 10-12 feet wide doors as well. I will almost have to jackknife a trailer to back it in, so the extra width would be appreciated when straightening it out within the doorway.

I'm sure to get varied responses here but I gotta ask. Should I go with one 16-18 x 9 door or a pair of 10-12 x 9 doors. Or an option I haven't even thought of yet? I definitely want to keep them(it) centered for aesthetics so putting it to one side is not an option. The man door will be on the side of the garage so it doesn't factor in to the front view.

I don't have everything finalized yet, and will start a build thread when I get to that point but here is a short list.

30 x 25
10' tall walls
scissor trusses to give me 12' ceiling at the peak
garage door(s) to follow the roofline when opened
6" slab, possibly heated if I can get the materials economically(otherwise will be heated with gas stove that I have pulled out of house)
8" curb wall around perimeter
4 skylights.(Undecided now that I have moved to the snowbelt)
4 post lift
small compressor room

I have another garage at our rental property that is 21 x 29 so it is good for future project storage, OR for the parts that get amassed over the years that we will someday need. The new one will be mainly for current projects. We park our daily drivers outside but may consider a carport for them(if the county allows it) just to keep some snow off in winter. Been getting lots of ideas here and there are some amazing garage-mahals. I'm very green with envy but someday I'll have a property that allows me to build one of those. For now, 25 x 30 it is.

 

[larry_g]

Couple of things I gleaned from your post. You value looks over functionality and you are in snow country.

Is the 8" curb going to keep the siding above the snow level?
Are you planning the entry door(s) on the side or gable wall? Your not clear whether the front is gable or sidewall.
I believe that you plan to use this as a workshop and not a parking garage....

With what I gather from your post I would suggest a 16' door on the 25' gable end wall.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[LutzTD]

my buddy rents a hanger at the airport. I am so jealous of his door, it is basically the whole front of the building and folds in half horozontally and is up at the top completely out of the way. maybe it would be a good option for you.

 

[sluggish]

Wifey and neighbourhood are the ones really concerned about aesthetics but I also don't want it to be ugly. I like some kind of symmetry, or at least pleasing to the eye. Resale will be an issue as we will not be here forever.

Should have been clear on layout. As you drive up to the garage, you will be looking at a 30' long wall, and it will be 25' deep. That is the only way to do it on our property and the door(s) will be in the 30' wall. So the front is the side wall and the man door will be on the gable end

 

[jsherid1]

From an aesthetics and functional standpoint you might want to think about two one car doors that are at least 10' wide (in deference to the width of your H1). My thinking is this--given the width of the H1 if you have a single 18' door it will be a squeeze getting a second vehicle in there--with two single doors spaced a bit apart you will not have that issue. The disadvantage is that you will have less space on the sides. I'd suggest getting a program like Chief Architect and playing with it a bit. One other thought is that asymmetry is not necessarily less good looking--but that is a personal preference issue. Welcome to GJ and good luck with your build.

 

[Gentle_Ben]

What about going with a 12' stud height rather than scissor trusses to give you a 12' high ceiling over the entire garage, then use two 10'x10' doors. That's what I did and I pretty happy with the result.

My two 10'x10' doors are not quite perfectly spaced across a 25' wall to make room for the two liftmaster 8500's I have back to back in the center.

I would maybe look into adjusting your length too. After many hours spent playing with different dimensions in a 3D modeling program, the conclusion I came up with is the minimum length garage I would consider building is 26'.

Definitely put the pex lines in for a heated floor, even if you might not go that route. It's a good selling feature to have.

As far as the curb height, 8" is plenty.

Good luck with your build!

I moved across country a while back and miss my old garage so it's time to start planning for a new one. My plan is to be 30(wide) x 25(deep). That's the maximum I am allowed on my property so that's my intent. I am trying to decide what door configuration to go with. They need to be 9' tall in order to get my H1 in there to work on it, and also for the odd time I need to work on my enclosed trailer. Since my dually has big elephant ears and also if I need to back the trailer in, it would be nice to have some wiggle room, so I am thinking 10-12 feet wide doors as well. I will almost have to jackknife a trailer to back it in, so the extra width would be appreciated when straightening it out within the doorway.

I'm sure to get varied responses here but I gotta ask. Should I go with one 16-18 x 9 door or a pair of 10-12 x 9 doors. Or an option I haven't even thought of yet? I definitely want to keep them(it) centered for aesthetics so putting it to one side is not an option. The man door will be on the side of the garage so it doesn't factor in to the front view.

I don't have everything finalized yet, and will start a build thread when I get to that point but here is a short list.

30 x 25
10' tall walls
scissor trusses to give me 12' ceiling at the peak
garage door(s) to follow the roofline when opened
6" slab, possibly heated if I can get the materials economically(otherwise will be heated with gas stove that I have pulled out of house)
8" curb wall around perimeter
4 skylights.(Undecided now that I have moved to the snowbelt)
4 post lift
small compressor room

I have another garage at our rental property that is 21 x 29 so it is good for future project storage, OR for the parts that get amassed over the years that we will someday need. The new one will be mainly for current projects. We park our daily drivers outside but may consider a carport for them(if the county allows it) just to keep some snow off in winter. Been getting lots of ideas here and there are some amazing garage-mahals. I'm very green with envy but someday I'll have a property that allows me to build one of those. For now, 25 x 30 it is.

 

[sluggish]

I am kind of leaning towards the 2 doors for that exact reason. I'll really just need space along the sides for tools as I have another storage shed on site for parts and what-not, so hopefully that should be okay.

As far as the wall height, I would love to go with 12 foot studs to make the whole ceiling that height but building restrictions in this area will not allow it. 10 feet is the max height for walls, so that's what I'll do. I had a similar set up in my last garage and although it wasn't ideal for trucks, it was okay for cars on the lift. In order to get trucks on a lift, I'm thinking of adding an outdoor hoist underneath a carport in the future. In the meantime, if I need a hoist for trucks, I can go to my buddy's shop. Not ideal but neither is everything else, so I must work with what I have.



If I go 26' deep, I can only go 28.8' wide to stay within limits. My last one was 22 deep and that was too shallow but I'm okay with 25, for now. Next property we buy will not be so stringent and we will build much larger, but for now, it is what it is. The only thing I have that won't fit in there is the boat, and it would need to be about 8' deeper to get that in so it isn't even an option. It stays in the water all summer and a friends barn all winter so it doesn't need to be in there anyway.

Good point about running the pex lines. Cheap enough to do even if I don't end up going with that system. Future buyer will appreciate it for sure.

Like I said, this one is strictly for me to play in. No mowers, gardening stuff, bicycles, toys, etc. Just my tools, my wall art, beer fridge and whatever project I'm working on.

I'll look into that Chief Architect program but I'll have to had that from my wife. She is an architecture professor so she might get a tad insulted. However, getting her motivated to spend time on designing my garage is challenging. Maybe she will come around if I leave a few printouts of nasty hack job designs I tell her I'm considering. heh heh heh

I'm looking forward to getting started, as soon as this wall of snow leaves. I still cannot see out my livingroom window to the street about 100 feet away, though it has melted from almost 8 feet high down to 6 feet so we are making progress. Put 60 lbs of salt on the driveway today to help speed up the process.

 

[The Tate]

I'd reconsider the 25' depth, and swap your dimensions if you can. 25' sounds plenty until you actually get in there with a truck, especially if you have work benches. I guess it depends what you plan to work on in there, but I like to have the option of pulling an engine out of a truck without having to open the bay door to get enough room. It gets cold fast in January.