Planning my 24x24

[Anarius]

Hey folks,

I just bought a house (Nov) up here in Michigan, and it came with a 24x24 detached 2 car (1 door) garage! Now, as it sits the garage is in good structural condition, it is 2x4 on 16" centers, built in 1993 (only 8' ceiling, sadly).

Now the bad news - the floor is plain concrete in what I'd judge as "moderate" condition - a few cracks, a couple of slabs slightly out of level with their neighbors, etc. It will need some work.

The other bad news - The garage is completely uninsulated. The walls are bare, and the trusses exposed (insulating wont be too bad, at least). But I am going to need to cover the walls and the trusses for my "shop".

The even worse news - all the garage electrical is run off of 1 buried romex cable that was meant for the door opener, but has been spliced to run the exterior lights, 8 ea 4' fluorescent 2 bulb fixtures, and 3 outlets. Uncool, not real safe, and not at all suitable for my needs.

The plan: In the spring, I'll be digging a 18" deep trench from the house to the garage and putting a sub panel in the garage (also upgrading the house service entrance to 200amp, from 100). I am undecided about putting some black iron pipe for natural gas in the same trench at the same time for future heat.

I have a insulation company that will do the entire garage for $800. The question is should I insulate the roof by putting bats between trusses, or going along the under side of the roof? They are offering it both ways.

What should I use for interior sheathing? Drywall all around? Drywall for the ceiling and wood for the walls?

The garage will be used as my "wood shop", which is strictly a hobby/fun thing...No heavy duty industrial tools. Just a 2hp table saw, and other 120v toys. I would also solicit opinions on air filtration and dust collection.

My budget is not a shoe string, but it isn't vast either. I'm already looking at $1600 for the electrical and $800 for the insulation, not to mention the cost of materials to run the conduit, outlets, and (?) black iron.

Thoughts and suggestions?

 

[kd3pc]

You can save a few $$ by picking some work as DIY... Insulation is one that I would jump on. Do the walls now, cover with OSB, Drywall or metal...your call. Then between now and summer get your soffit baffles and ceiling done. Then the first cold day set up to blow 16-20" of insulation in to the attic space. Wait for a cold day, as you will be hot, dirty and stressed installing the blown in.

While 800 could be a bargain, you really need to see what R-value/depth/type of insulation they will be providing at that price?

If you EVEN think you want gas in the garage down the road, get with the gas company and see what they would suggest for size....they may prefer the yellow line to black iron....here almost anything is yellow line now. But you need to know the right size to make sure it will all play well together. DO that while you are trenching.

My walls and ceiling are all OSB and painted white. It was easily a DIY and I could do the walls myself, then when my son had time from school he came over and we did the ceiling in just a few hours. Make sure your baffles are in, before you close up the ceiling, much tougher to get to the place, After.

 

[RayBob58]

My LP line to my house is 3/4" soft copper. I never liked the idea of burying black pipe.

 

[Flash and Flare]

This is almost exactly that I had when I bought my house 4yrs ago, only diff is that my concrete is not cracked and mine didn't have any electrical at all.

I went with insulation batts in the walls and blew in 18in of insulation in the ceiling. I also upgraded my home service to 200amp and trenched in a 100amp service to the shop. In the same trench I put a 1in PVC pipe for pulling ethernet, coax cable and phone line in the future.

I faced all my walls and ceiling with 7/16 OSB.
As for putting black iron pipe in the ground for NG, that might be overkill because with proper insulation you can heat that space very easily with a 5000w Farenheat 220v 30amp heater.
Keeping it at 68 degrees, mine runs for 6mins and is off for 14mins. At .11 cents per kwh, I estimate it will only costs about 18cents per hour to run. YMMV based on outside temp and wind speed.

F&F

 

[Anarius]

I don't think you can use copper for Natural Gas, correct? I have asked the utility companies that service my area. They both said black iron, although consumers said black iron is fine, but THEY are switching to the yellow hoses for all their new install. I am not a fan of burying black iron, especially with all the couplings it will have between here and there. But that yellow line sure is pricey! Not that black iron is cheap...

For the walls I'm probably going to put 2x8 PT board along the base of the wall and drywall from there up. I'm really just waffling on the ceiling...I could cheap out and use 1/4" Luan plywood, would be easier than breaking my hump with drywall.

The insulation I was quoted was r-13 sides and roof (can't fit thicker in the walls), with another 3" blown in on top (total of r-19 IIRC). I can buy it for about that price - I'm getting a damn sweet deal (free install) since I do all the work on their fleet of trucks.

 

[Anarius]

In the same trench I put a 1in PVC pipe for pulling ethernet, coax cable and phone line in the future.
F&F

I am considering this. The garage is in range of the house WiFi though, so I'm not sure if running a Ethernet cable would be advantageous.

I faced all my walls and ceiling with 7/16 OSB.
F&F

Hmm. That stuff is cheaper than drywall here! I like it for the ceiling. I'm not sure I'd be crazy about the texture on the walls. Did you do something to treat them? Or do you find it doesn't bother you much? As a wood shop, I'd worry that all the rough edges would collect dust and annoy the S&%T out of me.