my 30x50 man cave

[ryantowry_81]

I am finally getting to embark down one of my life long dreams of having my own shop. our first house I lost the battle with the wife and she got the new house with the small garage vs the old fixer upper with the big shop. ever since I have wanted a good sized work shop for all my car projects and fabrication needs.

Fast forward 10 years and we made a life change going from California to washington and decided to buy property and build our dream house (dream within budget that is) and part of that was I would finally get my shop. two years later and the house is finally finished. https://i.imgur.com/rbPyDlR.jpg
we went with the farmhouse look and it still needs the concrete for the wrap around porch to back patio but it is done enough for me to start in on the shop.

Yesterday I sent my deposit to Great Western Buildings out of Colorado because they treated me the best and walked me through the buying process and were not pushy like a lot of other companies I called. I settled on a 30x50x16 with two 10' wide doors on the gable end to hopefully do lean to's on both sides in the future:
https://imgur.com/gallery/So7LnAf
It is shown with one 14' tall door and one 10' tall. I have to call around and see if the saved cost for the shorter door is worth it or if I should just go to two full 14' tall doors. I am on a tight budget being a sole income and having three daughters so I will be doing most of the work myself. luckily I work in Hops so there is usually a plethora of cheap beer around!

here is a basic layout of how it will sit on the property and the underground conduit. the man door is shown between the rollup doors but I think I am going to put it on the plan north wall and not between the roll ups to keep them closer together and away from the walls for workbench space.
https://imgur.com/gallery/So7LnAf

 

[Lou's Garage]

I just put up a steel building exactly the same size also with a 14' and a 8' (10' wide) door in the end. I added another 8' x 10' wide door on the side under a 20 lean-to and I'm very thankful I did that. I have a few vehicles moving in and out at the moment, that side door makes the back half of the building much more accessible. It also provides a nice cross breeze. Make sure your rollup doors are good and wide. My 14' is 12' wide and, as I already mentioned, the other two are 10' wide. It makes moving vehicles in and out a lot easier when you can practically drive through the door "sideways."

For reference, current contents include a Mustang, an F-100, a large SUV, a car trailer, and a motorhome.

Lou

 

[ryantowry_81]

Thanks for the insight Lou. Do you have a thread or pictures of your layout? Besides getting concrete quotes layout inside is my next think to figure out. Sounds like I have a similar vehicle base to you with a camaro, fj40, fj80, minitruck, boat, camper, car trailer and truck. Current phase with just the building I don’t think everything’s is going to fit but I just don’t think I can fit the lean to’s I wanted in my budget right now. This week I want to try and draw up some different layouts and see what flows best.

 

[ryantowry_81]

https://imgur.com/a/XnBbVhl

here is my first idea for the layout. the area around the Camaro will be an enclosed room to store the car away from the fabrication working area and double as a paint booth. above that I want to build a deck for a mezzanine for storage/bathroom/hangout area.

I want to put in a 2 post to work on vehicles and I am debating on putting it where it is shown or over around where the fj40 is shown.

 

[ryantowry_81]

most of the time the dodge wont be stored in the shop, just wanted to plan for the lift to be in the right spot to lift it as it is the biggest vehicle I would ever plan to lift.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Glad you finally got your garage. I sure wish I had a garage I just have a basement and a gravel driveway nothing worse than that. The only garage I have is at work and I can’t keep my many project cars there lol. I would love to have a garage my basement is way overfilled with tools and equipment I have everything pretty much.


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[ryantowry_81]

yeah I had a nice garage before moving and have for the last two years have had dirt and gravel to work on projects and am very excited to have a space to work again.

working on finalizing door locations with the builder now.

the wife talked me into splurging and just going with 2 14' tall doors and not cutting the one down to 10' for cost. give me a little more flexibility. I was quoted 2210 for each 10x14 insulated overhead door. local company I work with here at work quoted me 1860 for the same door. he said he could add one panel with windows for another 345 per door. debating if I should pay that extra to have some outdoor light when the doors are closed.

the building supplier wanted 700 per 3x5 window so the door option is still cheaper than that.

they also quoted me 2900 for 3" insulation for walls and roof and 5900 for 4" wall and 8" roof insulation if I need to meet energy code. I am checking with the county but I am not planning on installing heating or cooling with the initial build so I don't think they will make me meet the energy code.

 

[Bolson32]

Love your house! I went white board and batten too. It's a great look, especially with the right fixtures and doors.

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[ryantowry_81]

thanks. the wife did most of the color and appearance picks but we both really wanted the traditional farmhouse look with the big patio and porch. I think the shop will end up being a red color to look somewhat like a typical barn color.

 

[ryantowry_81]

ended up getting both doors 10W x 14H for $3300 and going with the 3" insulation for 2800 from great western. signed the final approval drawings so we can get to final engineering and move toward permitting. stay tuned.