My first garage! Some ideas I'm thinking about

[tenthousandfeet]

Hello everyone!
My wife and I were thinking of buying our first home in the next few years, but the depressed market of the moment made up our minds for us. Our first home closes in ten short days!

I was sure to make a garage a big item on the shopping checklist, and what we ended up with is pretty decent. Our 20x22 double detached garage is a year or two old, is wired with 110 on a 25-amp fuse, and insulated but not drywalled.

I have a couple motorcycles, a Suzuki Samurai project/hobby, a lightweight 4x8 utility trailer, and I'd like to start building a Locost (Lotus 7 replica) in there in the next year or two. The wife's car will be street parked.

Here are my ideas:

First and foremost, I want to open up the ceiling. The current ceiling height is a measly 8 feet, and the opened extra space overhead will add storage possibilities as well as make the space feel much bigger. I'd like to remove the poly and insulation from the joists and turn it into a cathedral-style ceiling (retaining the joists). My only concern with this is that the extra volume will make it more difficult to heat.

The extra space is a practical necessity as the lot is very tightly packed and I need somewhere to put my trailer. I envision a pulley system to hoist the trailer around the joists and into the attic space.

I'd like to pretty much start over with the electrical system. I'm hoping to run a separate panel in the garage fed from the house, and I hope to rewire the existing conduit to accompish this. I'll be doing some welding out there and need at least one 220v outlet. The new wiring would let me add more lights in the form of fluorescent tubes, and a ceiling fan in the peak to help distribute any heat.

I'll finish one or possibly two walls in OSB for easy hanging but I'd like to drywall the rest. I'll put shelves and a workbench on the OSB wall. The workbench will be on wheels to make better use of the space, and unless I can come up with some used cabinets the shelves will be the primary storage. I'll be doing a fair amount of metal grinding in there so I'm a bit concerned about dust accumulating on the shelves.

I'll probably epoxy the floor. I have always loved black & white checkered floors, but after reading a few threads on here on VCT and/or white floors, I don't think it's the way to go.

As for heat, I'm unsure. My current idea is to simply run an insulated duct the eight feet or so from the house into the garage. I'd like to be able to work out there in the winter, but I don't have the money, the space, or the gas line to put in a dedicated heater. I can run an electric supplementary heater if I want it really toasty.

Unfortunately, it might be a little while before I can start this project (which should leave me lots of planning time!) because there are a few higher-priority items to get done on the house before the snow flies.

Expect pics when I'm moved in! This community is exactly the kind of inspiration I was looking for!

 

[Lucky Strike]

I've got two ideas for you: 1) insulate the door, since you are going to be heating it, 2) buy your wife a big bunch or roses for agreeing to park on the street so you can build a toy in the garage!

 

[tenthousandfeet]

The door is already insulated, thankfully.
As for the roses, a fine idea but also unnecessary! I get the garage, and she gets the nice kitchen. She's just as excited about that as I am about the garage.

One additional question:
is it preferable to put up the drywall and mud before the floor epoxy, so as not to make a mess on the new floor, or to do the floor first to make post-drywall cleanup easier?

 

[tenthousandfeet]

I guess I do have a couple of pics. Nothing for the inside, though there really isn't yet much to see.

 

[JohnMcD348]

Another idea to help with the heating of the garage is to get a couple of those electric oil filled radiators and a small fan for each. Growing up in a small wood framed, poorly insulated house, we used those for heat in the winter time. Growing up in Florida, it never got down to freezing most of the time but even on a 35* day, it would heat up the rooms over time. You just place the fans on low/med setting and position them so they are blowing against the fins so they heat the air as it moves past them. It may not make it Tshirt and Shorts warm in the garage but it will keep you comfortable.

 

[vartz04]

that side offset to the right will be a perfect area to stage your work bench, tool box, and compressor, should only come into the door area about a foot or so, unless its actually offset further than the pictures make it appear

 

[tenthousandfeet]

that side offset to the right will be a perfect area to stage your work bench, tool box, and compressor, should only come into the door area about a foot or so, unless its actually offset further than the pictures make it appear

That's precisely what I was thinking. Workbench, shelves/cabinets, and tools on that side. On that note, after seeing some pics of homemade cabinets I've decided to enclose the shelves with some simple sliding doors. I don't want my stuff covered in dust.

As for the oil radiator - I know the type, but what exactly is the benefit of these over a conventional electric heater with a fan built in?

 

[Costner]

First and foremost, I want to open up the ceiling. The current ceiling height is a measly 8 feet, and the opened extra space overhead will add storage possibilities [...]

The extra space is a practical necessity as the lot is very tightly packed and I need somewhere to put my trailer. I envision a pulley system to hoist the trailer around the joists and into the attic space.

You are going to have to check your trusses, but 99 times out of 100 they aren't designed to hold a load like that. The trusses are meant to carry the weight of the roofing materials and some snow load depending upon your region, but if you try to hang a 400-600lb trailer from them they might deflect which in turn could sag the roof.

Same goes for storage. Unless you have storage trusses in place (and based upon the pictures I can easily see you do not) they aren't designed to hold a lot of weight, so you have to be careful what you put up there.

Yes people do it, but don't be surprised to see some sagging involved if you try to put any significant amount of weight on them. The best thing to do is keep items towards the edges where the sidewall can carry some of the load rather than the truss itself.

I have always loved black & white checkered floors, but after reading a few threads on here on VCT and/or white floors, I don't think it's the way to go.

If you like the checkered look but don't want to have to deal with keeping white tiles clean, you might want to consider two shades of gray. A dark gray checked with a lighter shade of gray would hide a lot of the scuffs and dirt much better than white or full black, but would still give you the same effect.

As for heat, I'm unsure. My current idea is to simply run an insulated duct the eight feet or so from the house into the garage. I'd like to be able to work out there in the winter, but I don't have the money, the space, or the gas line to put in a dedicated heater. I can run an electric supplementary heater if I want it really toasty.

If you do open up the ceiling you will find it much more difficult to heat. However running a duct from the house isn't probably the best idea unless your shop is very well insulated. I doubt the furnace in your home was sized to heat a garage of that size so it probably would have a hard time keeping up. That would be like adding 440 square feet of living space to the house and expecting the same furnace to heat that space with no changes.... it might work if the furnace is oversized for your home, but generally you will need to find supplemental heating.

Also, code generally limits what you can do here because obviously you don't want a cold air return sucking car exhaust back into the house, so if you only have a supply duct it will be creating a positive pressure in the garage but negative pressure in the house which means it will need to **** in more outside air to compensate. More outside cold air means more energy to heat it versus recycling the warm air that already exists inside.

Just food for thought. I'm sure you'll figure something out and it will be great.

 

[wrigh003]

As for the oil radiator - I know the type, but what exactly is the benefit of these over a conventional electric heater with a fan built in?

An electric element heats the oil, which then stays hot.

Sounds like you have a plan, which is good, but I wonder how that structure is built. I bet if you pull down part of the ceiling and take a look, you'll find that there's a truss of some kind in there, which will probably render your plan for cathedral ceilings cost-prohibitive, as well as make it touch and go on whether you can/should hoist a trailer up in there. I am not sure I'd want to walk/park/work under that trailer...

 

[tenthousandfeet]

Thanks very much for the comments, guys! Some very good advice in there.

The trailer is very lightweight - I'd guess 200-300 lbs. I'll have to have a look at what's up in the attic for trusses and consider some reinforcement if necessary. Looking again at the pictures and the low roof slope there is likely not enough room up there anyway.

Good points about the furnace. What's in the house right now is very much due for replacement, so adding an additional load to it might not be the best of ideas. That said, when I do replace it there might be possibilities of garage ducting.

 

[havi]

Bulldawg heater or similar hung type would help with a 20x22. Any bigger, and you would probably see a cost in heating. Since the drywall isn't up yet, maybe consider redoing the wiring to add in more outlets, a 240v outlet or two, and maybe a 100 amp service panel?