I've finally got a permit to build a 38x60 garage workshop. I could write a book on this exploit - but I'll keep it short. First - I'm on septic - so I had to have the Environmental Health department approve the location. Next, I had to get approval of my two adjoining neighbors due to the chosen building site on my acreage (3.5 acres) being to the side of the house and not fully behind the back of the house. That took about 3 days for one neighbor to approve, and the other - about 3 weeks! With their signed approvals, I got an Administrative Variance approval within two weeks. The building permit just took a few hours after that approval!
I've worked up a building plan/material list based on my 38x60 footprint and 10 foot walls. I plan to have a single car garage door and a single man-door, and 11 windows around the building. The doors will be located on the front of the 60' wall. Main use of the shop is for woodworking and some metalworking, but also to have a spot for future car or truck projects. I'm planning to use scissor trusses over the car garage end, with "storage" trusses over the rest of the shop. The scissor trusses will allow use of a lift should I purchase one in the future.
Initially the shop will be totally open, but once the car/truck project is chosen, I'll probably want to wall off that area from the rest of the shop. So I'm struggling with deciding what width to plan for the garage door section of the building - which will change my truss needs. If I use the expected 9' wide garage door and place it 3 ft from the left wall and allow another 3 ft on the right, that would give me a 15' wide space. A friend of mine that owns his own car service business built an additional building for more space and a 2 post lift. He allowed for 18' of space for that area - so I think I'm in the ballpark.
For those in the know - would you recommend allowing an 18' width - or do you think 15' is enough? The space is plenty deep - as I'm allowing the full 38' depth for tool chests, work benches, welder, air compressor, etc. Anything greater than 18' will take away floor space from my workshop equipment floorplan, but I want to make the right decision in building for the garage area.
Site prep is planned to start tomorrow - so I'll probably take some pictures and post then in the gallery section.
I've worked up a building plan/material list based on my 38x60 footprint and 10 foot walls. I plan to have a single car garage door and a single man-door, and 11 windows around the building. The doors will be located on the front of the 60' wall. Main use of the shop is for woodworking and some metalworking, but also to have a spot for future car or truck projects. I'm planning to use scissor trusses over the car garage end, with "storage" trusses over the rest of the shop. The scissor trusses will allow use of a lift should I purchase one in the future.
Initially the shop will be totally open, but once the car/truck project is chosen, I'll probably want to wall off that area from the rest of the shop. So I'm struggling with deciding what width to plan for the garage door section of the building - which will change my truss needs. If I use the expected 9' wide garage door and place it 3 ft from the left wall and allow another 3 ft on the right, that would give me a 15' wide space. A friend of mine that owns his own car service business built an additional building for more space and a 2 post lift. He allowed for 18' of space for that area - so I think I'm in the ballpark.
For those in the know - would you recommend allowing an 18' width - or do you think 15' is enough? The space is plenty deep - as I'm allowing the full 38' depth for tool chests, work benches, welder, air compressor, etc. Anything greater than 18' will take away floor space from my workshop equipment floorplan, but I want to make the right decision in building for the garage area.
Site prep is planned to start tomorrow - so I'll probably take some pictures and post then in the gallery section.