Thoughts/Advice on my garage plans

[OriginalSterm]

Hi, first post here and I'm sure all this has been covered...

BUT, I'm looking to build what might be my first and only garage. Money IS an object here, but I want to be happy with this garage for the next 30 years or so.

I can fit (and my town will allow) a 32' x 40' garage next to my house. I'm not doing the back yard because that is a fenced in area for dogs/kids to run around and not get lost. I picked that size because it seemed appropriate for 3 bays with plenty of room to work around each car (not all 3 at once I hope). The longer term plan is 2 2-post lifts, but probably a single lift to start with because that's all my budget may allow. I am planning on 2 lifts because I have a racecar that often requires some level of inspection/work and my father is a racer too and will have 24/7 access to this garage. I often do repair work for friends and family as well as coworkers. I plan on using my SnapOn 120V MIG welder occasionally as well as a yet-to-be-purchased air compressor. I also planned on working on my 3/4 ton pickup occasionally, so at least one bay should be pretty deep. I was thinking 3 garage doors and one walk way door. Eventually I would add waste oil heating, but probably won't have the budget for it right away. I'm still on the fence about a pole barn (some sort of metal building "kit") or a stick built (by some Mennonites), either with a nice concrete floor (pitched for drainage, no floor drains).

Feel free to shoot holes in my ideas based on experience or opinions and ask any questions to help guide me in the process.

Thanks!

 

[onthefence777]

First off, you are lucky to have that much room. I wish I had room for a building like that.

I am still onthefence too, as you can see by my screen name. LOL. I was all gung ho about a steel building, but the posters here have made me lean to stick built. Might help if you to read my thread from not long ago to see all the responses I got.

At 32x40, you may save a lot of money by going with a pre-engineered steel building. I was looking at one from gaport.com. But, it seems to me they are much more a PITA to insulate and finish, and you can't really add on to/modify them (easily). I personally wonder if they can ever be as efficient to heat/cool as a stick build.

Because of my small building site, I am leaning towards a stick built with 2x6 studs for deep insulation, mostly because I have experience with it and can do a lot of the work on my own. Also, at smaller sizes like 17x31, which is close to as big as I can go, steel and stick built costs are pretty close - but with steel, after the building is up, I would need to frame in walls - which is already done with a wood building.

Keep us updated.

 

[little d]

Fence, pretty well nailed the differances between the building types. No one can realy help ya with this dision, only you know what you are willing to live with but, if you are going to build it yourself, price it out.
On the heat, have you looked at pex in the floor with a water heater? Something to think about.

 

[Falcon67]

For race car work, I'd recommend no slope - get it flat. It's nice to have the motor/trans out of the car and not have it creeping towards the door. A slight slope close to the overhead, maybe 18~24" in would be OK for clean out.

Do not mention "race car work" or "I often do repair work for friends and family as well as coworkers" or "lift" or any such activities when you go for a permit. It's just a garage barn for storage and hobby work. Period. After your final, add what you like in the lift department. Do not over-chat the project with people - non car people will not "get it".

Get at LEAST a something MIG like an Eastwood or Hobart 175/180 230V welder. Better - 200A dual voltage, Hobart 211 dual, etc. If you do ANY chassis work at all, you will end up wanting more than a 110V unit. I did a roll cage with my Hobart 140, but just barely. It did OK, but it was more work than it should have been to get penetration on .120 mild steel. A Hobart 211 runs $899 at Northern with free shipping and includes a spool gun - you will be tool money ahead to spend that now and not be wishing for more later. My 140 is a great tool but a 175 or 211 would be just that much better. Eastwood's welders are price comparable, made in the USA and get good reviews, so are worth consideration IMHO.

For "door open" type car work, I figure 12' per is a good number. I can fit 3 "intermediates" in my 24' deep by 28' wide work bay but it's tight.

Get a spiral notebook of grid paper at Walmart and a bunch of mechanical pencils and get to sketching. It's old school, but a good cup of coffee at the dining room table (preferably with a view of the location LOL) will get you along on the design cheap and without much effort.

 

[larry_g]

I second the flat floor if this is a workshop. If a daily parking garage in a wet/snowy part of the country then slope the floor in the parking bay. I am of the thinking that to many shops have to much door and not enough work area and if you look at my build you will see how I chose to execute that thought. That is what works for me. One mistake I made is to get the door to close to the end wall. That hinders the storage along that wall as it interferes with the vehicle in the bay. I would do at least 4' from the door edge to the end wall if possible.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[OriginalSterm]

Thanks for the advice about what to mention to the guy giving me the permit. I guess the liability issue could be a problem in their eyes.

I do live in the Northeast, so there will be snow on the cars part of the year. Is sloping the last bit by the door going to be adequate? It does make sense for the rest being flat as you mention.

Too much door and not enough work area wasn't much of a consideration for me, sounds like it should be...

As far as my welder, it's the one I have and the one I will learn on. Bigger jobs are still sent out for now.

Keep the comments/ideas coming, thanks!

 

[The Tate]

My garage is almost identical, dimensionally, to yours. I have a 30x40 under way. Basically the same uses as well. I went with a level floor all the way across. This is going to be a shop for hobby work, not a parking garage, so drainage wasn't a concern. With in-floor heating, I'm hoping that any snow/water that comes off the vehicles should evaporate relatively quickly.

I have two 16' doors on the 40' wall (alley access), and a 10' door on the 30' wall (parking pad access), with a man door on each of the 30' walls. I can tell that storage space is less than ideal at this point. The 10' door eats up that much shelving space. My opposite 30' wall is the utility wall, with the electrical panel, boiler, and space allocated for a vacuflow and air compressor. The doorless 40' wall is going to have two 8' work benches opposite each door, along with various tools (floor mount drill press, pedestal bench grinder,etc). From what I see now, I will likely only have one, maybe two, 8' shelving units in the garage. If I got rid of the 10' door, I could almost double that.

 

[little d]

Tate, if there is room, ya might wanna think about putting a shelf over your doors for out of the way storage.

Oh, ya, plan, plan, plan.