new DIY build, looking for some input/suggestions on my plans

[freedom561]

Hi all,

I am in the planning phase of my shop build out here in Central Florida and wanted to get some input on the design flow to see if y’all see any issues with it from your experience or any comment/suggestions on what you would change. This will be a DIY stick build with the exception of the concrete pour and at this point in the project, I just want to make sure I've covered the basics to avoid any regrets down the road.

Goal:
Mostly automotive hobby work will be performed, as well as other projects such as woodworking and miscellaneous house stuff. I am also trying to keep it as future-proof as possible in case I have a need for RV storage, multiple cars/boats, or just for resale purposes.

- Max size I can realistically place on my lot would be a 32x60x16 but can be adjusted
- I'm thinking of two 12'w x 14'h doors on the 32' side. (north facing the driveway, can’t place any big doors on 60 sides)
- Two post lift (not sure which bay to place it yet at the moment)
- Loft on back 32’ wall, top area for lounge/office area. Still not sure about the depth but most likely will stick to the 32' length, open to suggestions
- Tools/ workbench area / 1/2 bath underneath loft

Questions:

- As this will be a DIY build, should I make any adjustments to the size to help maximize the most “bang for the buck” I.e truss size, ceiling height, etc?

- I know people say that your shop can never be too big, but if I have all my mechanic tools under the loft in the back, is that going to be too far from the lift placed closer to the front bay doors? or should I plan on setting something up on one of the 60' walls?

- Window placement, I figured keeping them high would suffice for the purpose of natural lighting.

- Back door? It would be nice to have a back opening somewhere to help move some air when all the doors are open, not sure if it makes sense to have a door or windows I can open.

-Should I need to factor in the loft area at this point of the build? or am I okay with adding it afterward?

Here are some renderings I put together to visualize the build on the property:







Thanks in advance!

 

[jack stand]

Garages are so personal that advise is hard to give. I'll offer a thought..if it were me!
I'd tuck the lift towards you loft. It'll limit, or at least be a pita to use any of the floor space beyond the lift for vehicles.
The future rv/ boat thing...no way. Just those will almost fill it. Your size is nice, so is the door size, but with only 2 doors that's your handicap.
If you were to turn it 90* so that the long dimension was the door side it would be different. But then (again my feelings) 34'-36' depth would be my minimum.
Good luck with your project.

 

[Wiz02]

How many vehicles do you have or aspire to have? Do you want to keep them all indoors? How many stationary tools do you have or plan on acquiring? Are you going to separate your wood working area, from the auto / mechanical area? How much space do you need for storage of your "stuff"? I compromised on all these issues, but I still love my garage.

 

[jetnow1]

What type of work will you be doing? Any grinding, sanding machining/welding makes a mess and sends dust everywhere, If anyway possible seperate these from
storage/ clean areas.

 

[Tbender78]

I put my windows higher on the walls for lighting and keeping prying eyes out. Same on the garage doors. You can add a loft later, adding a ledger to the wall is pretty standard. I installed my lift close to the planned location of my tool. I didn’t want to keep walking back to my box for something.

 

[Innovate1]

You should think about support locations for the loft. You are going to need some posts or walls for loft support somewhere and may need footings for those. A little thought about the loft now may save some work later - where the stairs might go, attachments to the outer walls and such like.

Might want a smaller door in the back for lawn equipment - no idea if you plan to keep those things there.

Put water heater, HVAC equipment and any of that sort of thing in the loft. Keeps the main floor area open. That would be one reason for building at least some of the loft now.

 

[derek_m]

Based on the renderings, I suggest putting a garage door on the right side facing your backyard. Opens the space up to the yard, even nicer if adding a covered porch/lean-to on the side in the future.

 

[rayra]

Like that the man door is observable from the house.
Seconding the large door facing the yard, but that's a large cost.
What hurricane / tornado concerns do you have in your area and a new build would be an opportunity to incoporate some sort of severe storm shelter. What's the water table like in your area?
Yes, 'tool room' 30' from the work is not optimum. Reconsider your layout or lift position. Or consider putting your primary mechanic's tools in a rolling box that you can position right adjacent during lift work.

 

[freedom561]

Thanks, everyone for the feedback so far! lots of good questions that I need to consider during the design. Based on what has been said I have done some interior rendering to help visualize the setup.

@jack stand you got a point on the RV idea, with that being said does it make sense to have two 12'w x 14'h doors or one big door with a mandoor on the side?

I did some interior renderings of what I envision based on ya'lls feedback, still need to tweak some things and figure out the best place for a large door on the side. The loft below is 15'x32':

 

[NUTTSGT]

If you are going to DIY it, I would everything to get the size you want and dried in.

The interior finishes can wait and complete as $$ allows if the budget gets tight.

 

[Wiz02]

Thanks, everyone for the feedback so far! lots of good questions that I need to consider during the design. Based on what has been said I have done some interior rendering to help visualize the setup.

@jack stand you got a point on the RV idea, with that being said does it make sense to have two 12'w x 14'h doors or one big door with a mandoor on the side?

I did some interior renderings of what I envision based on ya'lls feedback, still need to tweak some things and figure out the best place for a large door on the side. The loft below is 15'x32':

Love that 4th gen, what software are you using for the rendering?

Duh Captain obvious it says sketch up

 

[jack stand]

Thanks, everyone for the feedback so far! lots of good questions that I need to consider during the design. Based on what has been said I have done some interior rendering to help visualize the setup.

@jack stand you got a point on the RV idea, with that being said does it make sense to have two 12'w x 14'h doors or one big door with a mandoor on the side?

Personally I like the one door for one bay. It defines the space for me (if only mentally). If I had a wide door I'd probably have a truck and a project of some sort, along with maybe a lawn tractor and my Gator all stuffed in it side by side.... because I can - with the wide door. Then it just might be a lack of discipline on my part.
I've built 3 shops for myself, no matter the thought and planning (and budget) I've never exactly "nailed it" but never disappointed. I'm confident that you're putting enough thought into this so as not to be disappointed with the overall results.

 

[freedom561]

Love that 4th gen, what software are you using for the rendering?

Duh Captain obvious it says sketch up

Haha yeah, the interior renderings I did in SketchUp, and the outside renderings with the house were done in Realtime Landscaping Pro.

 

[freedom561]

Personally I like the one door for one bay. It defines the space for me (if only mentally). If I had a wide door I'd probably have a truck and a project of some sort, along with maybe a lawn tractor and my Gator all stuffed in it side by side.... because I can - with the wide door. Then it just might be a lack of discipline on my part.
I've built 3 shops for myself, no matter the thought and planning (and budget) I've never exactly "nailed it" but never disappointed. I'm confident that you're putting enough thought into this so as not to be disappointed with the overall results.

Yeah originally I was thinking of having the lift closer to the door, but with it being pushed much more inside it should give me plenty of room to get things in and out with a single door (and should save a few bucks).
You are probably right, I would just hate to overlook something minor that's irreversible when completed

Here is another option I need to sleep on:

 

[m6z]

Do you already have the shed? If not, I'd try to incorporate that space into the garage with a smaller golf cart sized door on the rear of the garage.

 

[freedom561]

Do you already have the shed? If not, I'd try to incorporate that space into the garage with a smaller golf cart sized door on the rear of the garage.

Yeah, the shed is already there. I thought about something similar but my well is right in between the shed and the proposed shop so it would be an obstacle to deal with.

 

[Toolfool]

Looks like a nice set-up. I'd go with 2 garage doors. The bigger the opening, the harder your AC has to work to overcome the rush of heat every time you open it.
If you're stick framing this you'll most likely need to have 4' of wall at each corner of the garage door wall and 4' in the middle for shear. ( I'd think about putting toolboxes smack in the middle of the building). You'd be surprised how quickly the space gets filled up.

Have you checked out the Florida group yet ? https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...he-garage-journal-florida-garage-life.282974/ . ( enter at your own risk )

 

[jack stand]

Me too.^^^ If you stay with your 32' end dimension, 2 doors will split that in half yielding 2 generous 16' bays. Enough room for wall use (benches, shelving, tool boxes, etc) without killing the "bay space".

 

[shortykorte]

You're off to a good start

As this will be a DIY build, should I make any adjustments to the size to help maximize the most “bang for the buck” I.e truss size, ceiling height, etc? Sticking to a 4' grid will give you less waste. Your 32x60 is spot on. For code, I know openings have to be at least 3' from corners unless it is engineered.

- I know people say that your shop can never be too big, but if I have all my mechanic tools under the loft in the back, is that going to be too far from the lift placed closer to the front bay doors? or should I plan on setting something up on one of the 60' walls? My last (24x32) and current (24x60) shops had the garage door on the short end facing south. I hate it. My next build, doors will be on the long wall. Regardless the orientation, I agree with lift towards the back. Mine is up front by door. if something is on the lift you can't get a vehicle or big items in the shop. Neighbor (same 24x60) has his in the very back and can leave his race car on the lift and move cars easily in and out. At one time he had 4 race cars. Another positive to rotating the 90 degrees, you can add a lean-to for a well cover, air compressor, lawn equipment and/materials like lumber or steel. Another friend has a 60x24 shop with 3 20' wide zones. 1st zone is stationary tools, toolboxes and work bench, 2nd zone is work area with 16' door, 3rd is parking and storage with 16' door. It also has a 60x10 lean-to off the back-first 20' zone is enclosed with door between shop and it. Parts and hardware storage. 2nd and 3rd zone is open, for his air compressor, tractor and other yard equipment. There's a man door between this part and the shop also.

- Window placement, I figured keeping them high would suffice for the purpose of natural lighting. Great idea, I've barely looked out my window but the natural like is great. Next build they will be high.

- Back door? It would be nice to have a back opening somewhere to help move some air when all the doors are open, not sure if it makes sense to have a door or windows I can open. Definitely want some form of cross ventilation, be it door or window. Having a rear door on yard side would be beneficial being the shed is there and as others have said, you can see from house.

-Should I need to factor in the loft area at this point of the build? or am I okay with adding it afterward? If you have the $ to pay the increased permit cost? I would build after the CO but have the post footers and lift footers poured with slab. I highly recommend the loft, I have two, but I have 18-22' wall height. Another thing to think about is getting stuff up into the loft. I have a small crane but would rather have an I-beam and hoist or an elevator platform. I use my crane (100 lbs cap.) constantly.

and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night…or was that last week?

 

[78SC4X4]

How do you plan to use the lift? If you are moving different vehicles in and out of the lift, the space in front will be waisted. If you're going to leave something up there for a while then I guess you can store stuff behind it.

You can add the loft later, but do the design work now so that you can set yourself up for success later if any additional structure or foundations are required.
e
Sounds like your well is in the way, but given no constraints, I would turn the building 90 degrees and put three garage doors on the side.

 

[freedom561]

Hi all,

I am kicking this project back up and have made some changes. The new plan is to build a 30x50x14 metal building (leaning towards using Carolina Carports for this). The plan is to have two 12x12 doors out front, a single 6x6ish door on the back side and a man door. Due to the layout of my properly, I will be forced to put the 12x12 doors on the 30 wall, which is not ideal.

With that being said, I am looking for some feedback/suggestions on the best way to layout the shop. My main concerns will be where the 6x6 side door is placed on the side, and the lift placement in proximity to my tools as I will need to make these decisions first. I am open to any other suggestions you all may have!
Here are some renderings of what I have in mind, more or less the same as my original post. As of now I do have a 22ft boat (27ft total on the trailer), SxS, Harley, and a CTSV I will need to store (as of now).






This would be the approx. placement on my properly:

 

[sjvicker]

If its at all possible I'd try to get one of those doors up to 14'. At 14' it could be used for RV storage and even if you dont plan to ever store an RV, it would be valuable for resale.

From your older drawings you had a shed behind this new shop. If you still have that shed I'd try to put the compressor out there and run the air lines underground as part of the build.

 

[shortykorte]

Ah the great debate, garage doors on end wall or long wall.
With you doing a mezzanine, I think your plan is probably best. My last two shops, the door was on end and swore I wouldn’t do that again. Biggest issue was only having a single door so if you had a vehicle there, you couldn’t get bulky items in or out.
After watching a video recently with a shop built just as you planned and our house plans changing, I wouldn’t mind the double doors on the end because of the size of the mezzanine you can have. Current in town shop has a 20x24 and 8x24 mezzanine.
Unfortunately we don’t have a crystal ball, or the cash to have multiple shops.

 

[freedom561]

Thanks everyone for the feedback so far!

I am about to pull the trigger with Carolina Carports order for a 30x50x14 and had a couple more questions for the community.

- Am I better off sourcing my own rollup door for the build? I attempted to get more info on the doors included but they told me they are proprietary to CCP so I don't really have a way to research for reviews on them.

- For the small rollup door on the side, any suggestions/input on the size of the door I should put there? Anything from 6' to 8' L or W would be fine for me so I suppose it comes down to price or any other factors I'm not thinking of?

- I would like a 4ft man door which CCP doesn't supply. Any suggestions on where I can source one? I don't mind installing it myself post build as I want to ensure the bottom ledge is cut out so there is no unnecessary step.

-Any suggestions on what material i can use to seal the frame to the concrete pad when the building is being stood up? Just trying to be as proactive as possible with getting the shop sealed up. The pad will be poured the same size to allow the siding to overlap.

-Any thoughts on the siding being horizonal or vertical? I am 50/50 on it, but I suppose the end goal is to make it look as "residential" as possible. I will also be adding 1' eaves as well to help match the house.

 

[shortykorte]

I assume roll up doors would be comparable unless they need to be wind rated. You should be able to find 4’ man door online. Might need to search commercial or industrial door.

I have heard of owners putting a tape like Zip tape or window/door tape on lower frame. Also some have just caulked the join between frame and slab. I brought caulk to do that, just haven’t done it yet.

I went with vertical roof and siding for the “residential” look.
30x50x12’ with 36” self installed man door, 10x10 wind rated/insulated, pricey regular garage doors installed by others.

 

[Youngandfree]

Vertical siding equals stronger frame since they have to use horizontal bracing also.

 

[jonesg]

deep garage, high windows and no rear door = fire trap.

 

[shortykorte]

deep garage, high windows and no rear door = fire trap.

We all have fire extinguishers right?
I believe code is egress can’t be greater than 50’.

 

[bb29510]

What type of work will you be doing? Any grinding, sanding machining/welding makes a mess and sends dust everywhere, If anyway possible seperate these from
storage/ clean areas.

12 feet + at lift. floor drains to wash floor down, put bldg on a curb wall so you can wash the floor down without getting water in the framing/ walls. iwould also put tool boxes on a raise platform, about four inches to keep the trash out from under them. doors i llike one on each end so cross breeze and cool bldg

also some pull points in the slab, in case you need to winch something or pull on something

 

[Firebrick43]

I would not do horizontal siding if you are going to have a shop in it and don't want leaks.

As far as the pad, the only way to make a car port style building leak free at the sill is to design a step in the pad. This allows for proper anchor to edge measurements for the narrow steel sill but also keeps the water from being driven under the sill as its raised. The raised area should be the exact dimension of the outside of the sill member.



The other thing I will comment on is to position the building in relation to the drive so one door is directly inline with the drive. This will make backing long trailers or an RV into that bay much easier in the future.

 

[freedom561]

Thanks everyone for the feedback so far.

I think I have everything just about ironed out and plan to pull the trigger on purchasing this week. My last concern that I have is the placement of the 8x8 door on the side of the shop in relation to the 2 post lift and the mezzanine (30x10x8) in the back of the shop i plan to install. As I only have 14ft wall heights I plan to use the mezzanine mostly for storage, and have the majority workbenches/tools underneath. Another possible idea is to AC just the area under the mezzanine as opposed to the entire shop, so want to leave the option open in case I want to close it in one day.

- Any thoughts/feedback on the dimensions of the mezzanine in relation to the building size?

- Should I reconsider the size of the 8x8 rollup? no specific reason to pick that size other than just having another option in case the 12x12 doors are blocked with vehicles.

- I am trying to keep the lift close to where the tools are but also don't want to have a crowded work area while working on vehicles on the lift.

I know a lot of this is personal preference, just trying to make sure I don't have any regrets when its all said and done!

Here are some renderings as close to scale as I can get them:

 

[shortykorte]

“ have the majority workbenches/tools underneath. Another possible idea is to AC just the area under the mezzanine”

To me the better question is how big of work area do you need for workbenches/tools and want to cool?
My current mezzanine is 20x24 so more of a loft. Since I’m in the process of moving to my new shop, I’m finding that 40-60% of the stuff up there is going to the trash/donate pile. 8-10 yrs is long enough
At the new shop I have a storage mezzanine. It sits on top of a long 6’ wide space. The mezzanine is 8’, two foot of that cantilevers over one wall giving me an 8’x30’ mezzanine with low ceiling. Again I only have 12’ eave height.
Rereading your last post, 10’ deep work area, 8’ ceiling. This gives you around a 9’ mezzanine floor height, approximately 5’ ceiling at low sides. Sounds like plenty of stand up room. The 10’x30’ work area sounds like a good size and that leaves you with four 15’x20’ areas for vehicles or projects.

 

[Sturgeon]

Neat layout program, I went 34' wide, two 12x12 doors and have a good amount of room between rv and trucks. Try not to get in a hurry before sheetrock.