Who designed/drew your garage?

[sizzler90]

I was just wondering who designed or drew your garages or shops? Did you do it yourself or did you have a professional do it.

Is it a bad idea to do it yourself?

I did some ruff drawings of what I am thinking about with my garage I plan on building in the next year. I can only afford to do this once and don't want any mistakes. But really how hard could it be to design it myself.

 

[PAToyota]

Had to put my architectural registration to some use!

So, yes, I did it myself. And, yes, I had a professional do it.

 

[GShelton]

Steelbuilding.com did the garage drawings and a local engineer did the foundation drawings.

It really depends on what is required by your local code enforcement. I had to have everything engineered, but we have hurricanes in FL if you didn't know. LOL!

 

[autoist]

Mine has just been evolving as I think about it...each step, though, I went to an engineer for trusses, LVL beams, etc.

 

[Der Bugmeister]

I've got a friend who's a professional architect, so he fired one off for me using his skookum software...same with the house reno plans.

You should check with your building inspector to determine what is acceptable and not acceptable to them (assuming you're getting permits). If you're not getting permits, then you won't need much in the way of formal plans...

 

[red vette mike]

I was just wondering who designed or drew your garages or shops? Did you do it yourself or did you have a professional do it.

Is it a bad idea to do it yourself?

I did some ruff drawings of what I am thinking about with my garage I plan on building in the next year. I can only afford to do this once and don't want any mistakes. But really how hard could it be to design it myself.

I drew out my rough ideas and took them to a firm that does house plans. One of those guys liked cars and got interested in my plan. He drew out the plans much in line with my original ideas (31'x51'x12'). I had to get a building permit and pass a architecual review from the city before I could start. i have worked on it all summer and am about 98% through.
Good luck.

 

[Sundowner]

like PAtoyota, I had to get some personal benefit out of my professional engineer's liscence. I just drew them myself in microstation (which is 62 times better than crappy autocad!)

 

[PAToyota]

I just drew them myself in microstation (which is 62 times better than crappy autocad!)

I've used AutoCAD and Microstation - each has their pluses and minuses. Check out VectorWorks sometime - that blows them both out of the water.

 

[428]

Drew my own, in autocad. Made blocks of all tools, cars, boat, tractor etc... so I could move them around.

Just roughed out the trusses for the truss company to design and build.

 

[JMURiz]

I did it myself, well with the help of my fiancee (she's an interior designer/architect). We drew it up, had her architect friend double check the loads etc to make sure the materials were stout enough.
If you have an architect friend it's a great way to save some money!

 

[DIGGER_DAVE]

I got a friend who's a professional architect, so he fired one off for me using his skookum software...same with the house reno plans.

You should check with your building inspector to determine what is acceptable and not acceptable to them (assuming you're getting permits).

If you're not getting permits, then you won't need much in the way of formal plans...

BUT; if it isn't built properly; (according to CODES for your area) and something FAILS; (e.g. - roof blows off) Don't expect any insurance payout!

 

[twostory]

I started drawing my two story garage to work things out. I bought a few framing books and just figured out what would work. My building is a two story, 26x44 ft building, with no interior walls. Basically a big box.

I have a building permit, but the county was only interested in the foot print of the building, where it sits on my property and the height. The county did not want any drawings of the actual building, so I did not supply them anything. If you give them too much info, they may use it against you later.

As for the final design that I am building right now, it is all in my head. The county inspectors are available for 30 minutes every afternoon to call and ask questions about, so if I can not decide on an issue, I call them and ask.

Also, there is a fancy subdivision being built behind my house. So anytime I have a question, I can go see what they did in the house, and figure the inspector passed them, so he will probably pass me if I do it the same way.

Note: I do research codes as to what is correct. For instance, the stair railing must be 30 to 34 inchs above the steps, etc. It has been a big learning experience, I will be happy when the roof is on, so my cars do not get wet anymore.

 

[sizzler90]

I started drawing my two story garage to work things out. I bought a few framing books and just figured out what would work. My building is a two story, 26x44 ft building, with no interior walls. Basically a big box.

Wow, is that your wife helping you build your garage?
If my wife's car wasn't in ours she would never go in it.

 

[twostory]

Wow, is that your wife helping you build your garage?
If my wife's car wasn't in ours she would never go in it.

Yes my wife and I are the two main workers on this garage project. We have done everything except the slab pour. Had a little help with the first floor walls and the footer and stem wall pour.

After the constructing the 2x6 (12.5 ft tall) walls for the first story, the 2x4 8 ft tall walls for the second story are extremely easy to build and raise, almost a one man job.

As for my wife, she is a wood worker, so the deal I made is she gets the entire second floor for a wood shop. I plan on using her shop, but the shop is her's.

So I get the first floor (got a 67 GTO conv to restore), and the attic will have a 30 x 10 ft room in the trusses to store stuff, so we can put lots of stuff up there. The trusses will be an attic room (not light storage), i.e. 40# per square foot rating. It only cost $250 more to do this, pretty cheap really.

 

[BowtieNut]

Drew my own, in autocad. Made blocks of all tools, cars, boat, tractor etc... so I could move them around.
QUOTE]

Same here. I do mechanical drafting/design for a living so I can run the cad, but I have no idea of architectural practices/codes. But the city I live in has a pretty good website, with details and examples of what is expected to be submitted with a permit application. I just followed their examples, & made it look as professional as I could. I also have a buddy who's a contractor, so I picked his brain a few times as to what size headers etc. Between those two, I was able to muddle my way through. My buddy also hooked me up with a good cement guy, and helped me put up the shell.

 

[mjw930]

I had it drawn as part of the entire new home project I'm doing. The engineering stamps and truss engineering are being combined with the overall project.

 

[ersatzs2]

I did several hours of searching online blueprint venders for designs I liked. I ended up finding one that was perfect. Then hired a local architect to make minor changes (eg reduced roof pitch ) to molify the zoning board when I got my construction variances. There are thousands of garage blueprints available for $300 or so, just start googling away...

 

[indyjps]

my dad, he details structural steel as a side business, he's semi retired so he's semi available if anyone is doing a steel building.

 

[REFLEXX]

I used my 3D CAD program (solidworks)and just went by experience, what I've seen others do, what I needed and where.

As far as the structure (box) design and blueprints, that came from www.Miracletruss.com

 

[Der Bugmeister]

BUT; if it isn't built properly; (according to CODES for your area) and something FAILS; (e.g. - roof blows off) Don't expect any insurance payout!

Which is why I've taken out all required permits, and had every step inspected.

Unfortunately, not everybody does that...

 

[ersatzs2]

I did several hours of searching online blueprint venders for designs I liked. I ended up finding one that was perfect. Then hired a local architect to make minor changes (eg reduced roof pitch ) to molify the zoning board when I got my construction variances. There are thousands of garage blueprints available for $300 or so, just start googling away...

I had a couple people ask where I found the plans. I used these guys: https://www.behmdesign.com/garageplans/default.htm

Then the approval process began and I had to reduce footprint and height to get a variance. I live in the middle of town and getting this permitted was timeconsuming.

 

[sca037]

We designed and built (yes, my wife swung a hammer too ) the unattached garage at our previous house, so over about 5 years we designed our next garage-with-attached-house using 3D Home Architect software.
Once we had the plans to our liking, they went to an architect for evaluation and then when we hired a builder he took them to the major subs to spec out the engineered hardware to make it all work.
We used big steel, microlams and trusses for large open spans and high load capacity throughout (only 3 posts each in the basement and the garage).

Brian

 

[MAINIAC]

I came up with the initial concept in my head and went to the local lumber yard and they spec'd out the materials, trusses and rough drawings for free if I purchased the materials thru them. i have a great 28 X 36 two story with 12 foot cielings and no posts inside. The wiring and plumbing I just did as I went and refered to BOCA books as needed . Have a ball and understand that there will always be things that you wish you had done differently. Russ

 

[JohnZ]

I developed mine on 1/4" scale graph paper, made a specs list to go with it, and gave that to the architect, who made the final drawings on CAD; my wife did the same thing with the house, which she designed from scratch, and the architect put the whole package together. I had made a deal with my wife when we decided to build (again) - "You design the house, whatever you want, and I'll design the attached garage, anything I want". We had a lot of fun with it, and each of us has exactly what we wanted.

 

[rworkman98]

I did the rough design, but had an architect make the specs.