Building a garage - any suggestions?

[pvienneau]

Building a 25 by 20 garage to work on trucks. I plan on beefing up for a engine puller up to 800 lbs. Any other suggestions?

Pat

[mark '87 930]

Build something tall enough to get a lift in there (12ft ceilings..). Skylights are awesome and not too expensive... Radiant floor heating.. or at least put in the pex tubing in the slab (can't do it later..) and you can do radiant heat later on..

I built my garage (24 by 20) 4 years ago and certainly don't regret it. I literally built it from the ground up... I have build pictures if you want to see them. Send me a pm and we'll exchange emails.

[no moa]

No matter the size, it will never be big enough. Mine is 40x60 and i wish it was 60x80. I did the cathedral ceilings and i have 2 lifts in mine.

Radiant floor heat is awesome, but expensive, mine costs me a fortune every year, so i put in a hawt dog heater. Super efficient.

If you got room, 9ft doors, the 8's are just to close. IMHO.

Good luck.

[mark '87 930]

radiant heat is expensive? It costs me barely $20 a month to heat my garage.. and I'm in the great white north. It's more expensive to put it in, no question there.

[no moa]

Yup, cost me $900 a season to heat my 40x60. I did it 2 seasons, and it was the same each time, i burned 300 gallons propane. I installed it myself (did heating work for years) used Radiant tech for the design, had one of my heating guys build the manifold. did foam underlayment, foamed the outsides, seals, you name it we did it. I'm sitting on 20 ft of blasted ledge, we think that was some of the issue, the rock under the foam and sand was pulling the heat out of the floor.
I shut it down, filled it with anti freeze and put in a Hawt Dog 125k furnace. Heats the shop to 60 in 10 minutes. And i only use it when i'm out there, so i burned 60 gallons in the last 2 years.

[mark '87 930]

wow.. yeah, I'd say that's expensive. I insulated my floor as well everything thing else of course. I also put it in myself.. was about $3000 in parts (closed loop system)... but it seriously only costs me about $20 a month in the winter to heat, i keep it at 15degrees Celsius which is perfect for working. So i spend about $80-100 a season to heat... pluss the slab is warm if you're rolling around on a creeper..

Sorry to hijack your thred..

[Chevette]

Radient heat is nice, but forced air gives you good air circulation. Air circulation is handy when you live in rainy climes like I do. If you are out in your "driver" in the rain or you wash it and pull it into the garage, it's nice to have a forced air system to dry it out and help prevent rust. I suppose it depend where you live and what your requirements are.

[pvienneau]

I plan to go with Propane for heating the garage and definitely not Radiant. The current design has the garage door at 16 foot wide 7 foot tall and the ceiling in the first floor 8 foot so I have a loft for storage second floor 8 foot to center. Town restiction is 15 to knee wall.

Pat

[Speedbumpauto]

I don't regret putting two roll up doors in the front of mine. If you increased from 20' to 24' you could put two 9 foot doors. One of mine almost never gets opened but it's sure nice when a long term project needs to be rolled out and you just have to open a door. I also went extra and got 8' doors instead of 7' garage type.

[watahyahknow]

make sure you have enough lighting air- and poweroutlets and maibe a retractible hose and evac to put over the exaust when you work on a running engine with the doors closed to keep the heat in maibe put the compressor in a small outhouse with a big airtank so it doesnt make too mush noise and the moist has a chance to condens inside the storagetank

[pvienneau]

I've been working for an electrician for years and will power it right, add copper all around for compressor air tools. We did it in a buddys bisuness garage when he first opened yrs ago. I plan to elevate the tank so it doesn't take up floor space. I'll put in a vac system too.

[Speedbumpauto]

+10 on the compressor room. It's the first change I had to make. I built a little lean to on the side to isolate the compressor from the shop. HUGE difference. My only regret is not making it slightly bigger so I could have put the rotary phase converter out there. It's noisy too.

[OrrieG]

have you considered an attic truss for the upper storage? That is what I used. Then you could raise the ceiling to at least 9'. 8' makes it hard to get a cab off and over an installed engine. If not you might use a vaulted truss to get ceiling space above, or even hand stack it. Have a couple of the trusses at each end (in 6') designed for lifting. Put in plenty of outlets, design the panel for a couple of 220 (compressor, welder). Same with air so you aren't running hose and extension cords all over the floor.

[mr48chev]

I'd have to agree with Speedbumpauto in that I'd go 24 wide. 20 ft is ok to park two smaller cars in but when you start working in one it may be cramped. Unless of course that is what the lot size or budget allows and then you just work around it.

I'd also have a walk in door on the side so I didn't have to open the garage doors to get in and out along with the concept that you can better secure the overhead doors from the inside that way.

From working in my friends shop and having to listen to the air compressor hammer away all the time and having to listen to my small air compressor run I'd say either build a small building beside the garage for the air compressor or have it sealed off in a closet in the corner that is vented to the outside. That noise can be very tiring when you are spending a lot of time in the garage.

[pvienneau]

all good stuff guys. I'll ask my builder about a section in the 25 foot wide to be able to remove a cab in. I'll also be building elevated closets for the tanks in each corner. keep the recommendations and ideas coming.

[watahyahknow]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqCGGm_OuoM

if you have money to burn you could allso buy a screw compressor , there pretty quet

there build like one of those wippler superchargers ..... makes you think if its possible to build youre own using and old wippler or eaton as the compressor

[63 & 64 Bowties]

Possibly a pit?
A friend of mine has one in his garage. Sure is handy to pull the car over it, go down the steps and sit down to work under the car instead of lay on a creeper. Only draw back is the pit cover is there when you're not using it and you can't use a floor jack over it.

[watahyahknow]

a pit is somewat dangerous , you can drive the wheel of a car intoo it you can fall intoo it if it isnt covered up , poisonous / flamable gasses cant evacuate so they stay in the hole
besides that a lift you can raise and lower to the height you need/want to work at
a pit is cheap when its a dirt floor but build intoo a slab a pit is more expensive than you think

[pvienneau]

No pits, I am always bumping and tripping into stuff. My luck I'll fall into it. I am going to discuss the height in the first floor with the GC and maybe go higher sacrificing storage space height on the second level.

[bondobob]

I agree with all the posts. My compressor is in the basement and the piping runs through a crawl space under my dining area. You can't even hear it in the garage. Don't have a wife (anymore) to complain about the not-too-bad-house noise. I also recommend the side door to keep the heat in and lot's of lighting. I have 14 8' flouresents (24' x 48') and it's just barely enough, especially when painting. Limit windows on the north side and insulate the heck out of the attic. I sloped the front section (24' x 24') 2" to help drain any snow, ice out the door. 24' is not really wide enough but I deal with it. 5/8" sheetrock too. Good luck.

[_Ogre]

scissors trusses so you can put a hoist in it and still have 8 or 9 foot side walls.
one 16 ft door minimum, lot nicer than one 8 footer.
i got lucky, this came with the property, i told my wife; love the barn, can make the house work



of coarse i had to pour the floors and install the doors, but i made it work.

[ryans69chevy]

Have a 20 X 24 detached garage that we just turned into a shop. Wish it was bigger. I'm working on my c10 rebuild and trying to figure out where I'm going to put the bed! Space fills up really quick. Build as big as you can go! I guess if I had a bigger shop I'd still be complaining because I'd fill it up with more of these addicting trucks!

p.s. A lift would be very handy! Good luck!

[spartakus]

1st post here for me but, anyway Im pretty much a certified, mentally deranged, garage freak so I couldn't help myself. So if your looking for suggestions, I might be able to help.

First of all, sounds like everyone has given some great pointers but, this is just like our trucks, and personal preference comes into play & unfortunately money is always the biggest factor. Here are some thoughts from my point of view...

Floor: if you can paint it w/ good product, then do it. Even good product isn't bulletproof from hot stuff or sometimes twisting psi of metal casters but, it sure is nice for clean up. Even if you dont paint it, vulkum the saw joints if you have them. Them saw joints are a pain if the butt for trapping water, debris and whatever. If you can, go w/ a floor drain. Especially great for winter/snow type conditions.

Walls: I would go w/ oriented strand board instead of drywall. Way more durable than drywall and can take the beating of a working garage and makes it easy to change things or move shelving, cabinets or hanging items w/o so much damage. Should cost less to have done this way too. Use semi-gloss/gloss paint in a bright white or light color. This makes a huge difference in perceived lighting inside. If you want another color, at least do the top half in a brighter white to reflect lighting.

Lighting: This is important - especially if your like me and your eyes are getting worse... Dont mess incandescent lighting. Go straight to fluorescent fixtures and more is better. A higher color temperature bulb will be best for working under, so as to see bodywork/paint work better. Makes a big difference. T-8 fixtures will cost more but they cost less to run and use less draw on the breaker.

Heating: This one is based on preference too. I went w/ forced air and now wish I had radiated heat from either the floor or the ceiling now. I get tired of the forced air unit turning on (noisy) and it blows dust around.

Its great to have your hard air lines "inside" the wall and coming out at designated locations for your air tools.

Dont forget to run cable, phone or whatever before closing up.

Go bigger now, if you can. -or have a viable alternative to expand later.

Probably a million other things too, that I cant think of right now.

Lots of other good ideas already mentioned too!

[Wvgearhead]

Mine is 26 x 30 and I wish it were 52 x 60. So what eve size you want, double it. I have a used forced air electric furnace out of a house in my garage. Just a 90 degree bend on top and open. Heats the place up quick. You can usually pick one up in your local traders guide cheap when someone is upgrading or replacing there heat pump. Good luck! My next one will have a lift.
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[zammer]

Gotta say lift again! I just got one and man is it ever nice to have. Best money spent on a hobby like ours besides a truck without rust
Also never mentioned yet, a floor drain if allowed. I put one in mine with the heated slab also wicked and it's nice to wash the floor off and vehicles etc and it's good for having the odd wizz too..
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