Planning 2600 sf Garage

[Ragtop65]

I'm hot and heavy into planning a garage in northern Illinois. My code limits the garage to 2600 sf "gross" which means, for me, 1300 sf first floor and 1300 studio apartment/office above, and 26 foot height at the peak of the roof.

This is my dream, rest of my life, house. Current plans are for either insulated concrete form construction or 2x6 with poly foam insulation for the garage. The roof will be cedar shake hip with dormers on each side for the second floor. First floor is concrete stucco over foam panel. I'm thinking 30 wide hangar door (hydraulic one piece door) on the 32 foot width entry side, and 2 stalls deep plus shop, or 40 deep. I'm a sports car guy, so that should work for two deep. A couple of storage hoists would be placed in stalls 2 and 3, and stall 1 would allow for tow/race trailer full length.

Radiant heat in slab for first floor 1300 sf and second floor studio structural plywood floor with radiant tubing slots. I'm trying to decide where to put the stair, thinking on one side. For AC, I'm thinking the apex attic of the roof would house a system with down vents on the second floor and ducts running down to the ends of the first floor. 200 amp service for welder/full shop power.

I'm looking to the experience of the garage journal board for suggestions, criticisms, ideas, etc. Biggest question, will the 32 foot door and 40 foot long be the optimal orientation of my 1300 sf???

 

[akdiesel]

This sounds like a nice shop you are planning.
One concern is the door opening. If you open that door you will loose a lot of heat quickly and take a while to heat it back up with the radian heat.
I would suggest two 12' wide doors at 12' tall minimum if you can allow for that tall. And you don't have a plane you are parking in there.
The reason for those doors are less open space at one time.
It will allow for the widest trailer or vehicles allowed on the road.
It will allow for space on the side walls and not put items in the way for backing in.
It may also be cheaper than the one large hanger door.
On the radiant heat you may find you wont need to heat the upstairs as much due to the heat rising upstairs.
If you install a forced air system upstairs it also circulate the air that may be bad from the work/vehicle exhaust below.
Make sure you have good detectors for the gasses.

 

[twostory]

The 30 ft door will require a 30 ft header beam. That is a very large span to support the second floor's load on. Two 12 or 14 ft doors would be a much cheaper header/framing and save heating & air cost (what Akdiesel said)

 

[Ragtop65]

Good insights. Actually, I do have an aircraft, and I was kind of planning the ability to do a complete restoration of some aircraft, someday, wings and all, in the shop. That said, another benefit of the hangar door would be summertime use as an awning, and to open up the shop in the summer.

I'm thinking of separating the upstairs and downstairs HVAC by using two zones for the radiant heat, and a mini split system with two evaporators, so the air between the apartment and the shop don't mix.

Big question, is putting the door on the 30' end the better way to go, for 3 sports cars wide, two deep, plus a shop at the end?

 

[akdiesel]

I would say yes to the location of the door for ability to have the length if needed.
As for the door size, I have a 2400sf shop 40'x60'. The original owner had a supercub that he parked in the shop.
I have two 12'wide x 10'tall doors seperated by a removable center post that hoses the two tracks for the doors to travel on when openeing.
When both doors are open it gives me approx 25' of open space with the center post removed. I still have the option of only opening one door at a time to reduce heat loss.
The doors are supported by a 26' glue lamb beam.
Something to think about.