New garage design

[mjw930]

Hello, I've been scouring the boards and some most of what I see blows me away.

I'm in the process of designing our new house. The basic design will consist of 2 garages, an attached 2+ car and a detached 28 wide x 22 deep 2 car + work area. I thought about going wider in the detached but with the daily drivers in the front garage I'll have more than enough room. But, to make sure I don't kick myself 5 years down the road I'm going to "raise the roof" on the rear so I can install a storage lift if needed.

For the rear I've spec'd a 10' ceiling with an 18 x 8 door. I'll have the door installed with an extension track to get it as close to the ceiling as possible. After specing the 18x8 door I was playing with some drawing and realized if I used a standard 7' door with the track extension the door would not stick as far back into the garage. An 8' door protrudes 7' back but a 7' door only protrudes 5' back, interesting.....

30 minutes ago the builder calls and says the draftsman asked if I would consider dropping the ceiling height to 9' 4" that it would greatly increase my attic space. I'm not sure why that is, I'm waiting for an explanation. I may go higher but I'm not going down 8".

Anyway, any suggestions? FYI increasing the size of the space is about $50 / sq ft and I'm building a house too so I'm looking for the best "Bang For The Buck" suggestions.

THANKS!

 

[brownbagg]

increase your ceiling to 12 feet, you wont regret it. needed height for a lift.

 

[sirstude]

Increase the height AND use scissor trusses, forget the attic, it just fills up with junk.

Doug

 

[Der Bugmeister]

Yeah, but it fills up with junk that would otherwise clutter up your garage!

 

[mjw930]

Let's see, extra height $$$$$ Scissor trusses $$$$$

By the time I get done I won't have enough money to put anything in the garage

Seriously, I appreciate the replies. I'm not going to go with the scissor trusses and vaulted ceilings because the location of the lift (eventually) is going to be near the right wall. I will be going up to at least 10'8" and probably to 11'4" if I can find the extra money. Here in Florida everything is block construction and once you go over 10' they charge twice as much per course of block. The price jumps from $0.70 psf to $1.30 psf. Those extra 2 courses of block will cost me close to $2000. Then I need to consider the door height, bumping up to an 8' tall door adds another $600. Then there's the extra charges from the door sub to install a lifted track to get the door as close to the ceiling as possible.

Add that to the $325,000 this new house and garage is going to set me back (without the land) and you can see why I'm looking at every little expense.

 

[JMURiz]

Let's see, extra height $$$$$ Scissor trusses $$$$$
By the time I get done I won't have enough money to put anything in the garage

No one ever said it can't be a work in progress. Mine is going to be a work in progress, built the structure, now waiting to save up money for the lift etc. Good luck, sounds like a nice sized space!

 

[Bradley Miller]

Yike ("$325,000 this new house") . . . . and to think I almost bought a home for $50K here in Missouri on a lot that was around 2000 sq. ft. Good luck on your garage project. I'm stuck with my two bay under the bedrooms one right now. At least I can fill it with fun toys:

 

[JMURiz]

Come to a big city, a 1700 square foot lot for $600k, now you see why I have to save up for the lift, haha. I miss the mid-west prices!

 

[sca037]

You can get by with 11' ceilings, and it's worth the extra co$t in the long run.
I have a 10' 11" (unfinished) ceiling in my big bay, and we store the race car on its trailer under a street car (boxy Shelby Omni) on the lift with room to spare.
You can always find ways to store misc. stuff, but you'll never be able to go back and raise the ceiling for a lift if you don't commit to it now.

Life is short, make room for the lift now!
Brian
(any pix of the 930? ;^)

 

[mjw930]

You can get by with 11' ceilings, and it's worth the extra co$t in the long run.
I have a 10' 11" (unfinished) ceiling in my big bay, and we store the race car on its trailer under a street car (boxy Shelby Omni) on the lift with room to spare.
You can always find ways to store misc. stuff, but you'll never be able to go back and raise the ceiling for a lift if you don't commit to it now.

Life is short, make room for the lift now!
Brian
(any pix of the 930? ;^)

I'm still on the fence but it's looking more and more like I'll be sticking with the 10'. Considering that the only thing that would go on the lift will be a race car or a Cobra kit (both quite low and both in the future) AND that I don't even have a lift yet I'm having a hard time spending the extra $2500+ to get 16".

The 930 and I parted company about 2 years ago but in it's place we have a Boxster S and a Cayenne turbo

 

[Cebby]

Is it possible to only go to a kneewall with block and go wood above - that would definitely shave some bucks out of it... You've got to go 12' and/or swcissor trusses now - you'll be kicking yourself later.

 

[JMURiz]

I think in FLA it all needs to be block due to the hurricane code etc. I think a 10' or 10'6" ceiling will be fine for Porsches and a cobra kit. Mine has 9.5' sidewalls up to a 15' peak, more than enough for a 914 on a lift (at least I hope so, still saving up for the lift myself). Great looking cars BTW, I love 930s