One Car Workshop 24' by 24'

[Nuclear Redneck]

Hello, many thanks to all of the posters who have taken the time to post their ideas and pictures. Many of my questions have already been answered by reading through the many excellent builds on this site.

Of course, I have questions that I have not been able to find the answer to.

First, the plan: a 24'X'24' garage with 12' ceiling. That is as big as the city will let me build and it can only be one story. The shop will be used to rebuild, mildly hot rod my 1947 Dodge D 24 sedan. I'm building on a corner lot. I plan on putting in a 10'w by 9't overhead door and the 3' man door on the side of the garage facing the side street. There will be one window on the side of the garage facing the house and one window on the side opposite of the doors.

I plan on putting loft storage on the shop side and having the overhead be 7’ tall in that area. That should give me 4’ of no kidding storage room for body parts, seats and other goodies.

Questions:
1) Cost aside, is it better to have a 12’ high wall of studs or 4’ of block and 8’ of studs?
2) Is 7” overhead in the shop area too low? This is where I expect to rebuild the engine and the rest of the drivetrain.
3) The area where the garage will go is about 2’ lower than the street which is about 20’ away. Should I go ahead and have fill brought in to get the garage up to street level?
4) It does not get extremely cold here, but the summertime humidity blows. Is it worth it to go with 2X6 construction rather than 2X4? The shop will have AC (probably one of those slim line units) and gas heat. Related question: Is it worth insulating the slab? Winter temps are usually mid 20s (F) at night and above freezing most days.

I’ve done a rough sketch in Sketchup. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Tate

 

[Matti]

I don't regret 2x6 walls w/R20 and R40 in the roof. The garage stays surprising cool in the summer. I'd save money and delete the pony wall and spend it on 2x6 walls if I had to make a choice between the two. Your land around your garage should definitely slope away.

 

[Nuclear Redneck]

The pony walls are to make the span of the loft beams a bit less, 18' vs. 24'. And to give a bit of privacy to the toilet. I put the wall by the fridge just to kinda balance the look a bit and to provide a bit more support for the loft.

I was pretty sure that I'd need to add fill and get the garage floor up above street level.

 

[chaingang]

I have three rows of block plus a cap block and then 10 ft studs on that. I wanted the ability to take a hose to the floor if needed and not worry about water getting into the walls. It does however make setting the 2x6 framed walls interesting during construction. I used 2x6's mostly because of the height but I also have an upstairs to support. Go with the block and 2x6's, you won't regret it.