Garage/Workshop building

[kckndrgn]

First off, I know most of the answers to my question will be "it depends" but here we go.
Moved into a new to me house just under 1.5 years ago. One of the downsides to the house was the much smaller 2 car garage compared to the old house. Now, in the almost 15 years I've been married to my wife, I think I can count the number of times we've had ONE vehicle in the two car garage on one hand.

I have stuff, what guy doesn't. In addition to my garage tools I do woodworking (flat and turned). The building will be used to store the tractor (BX), do maintenance, if close enough to the house park the truck (Tundra), do my woodworking (I have a lathe that 6' long and weighs in around 400lbs, along with a contractor table saw, band saw, miter saw, welder and several other tools)

Right now the garage is so packed wit stuff, it's hard to even work on the lathes, let alone build anything of any size.

Well, the wife has decided that we need to get a garage/workshop built that is not attached to the house. Yeah for me. Now for the planning.

I know there is a saying, build it bigger than you think you need, and while I would love to, it's going to come down to money.

At first I was thinking a 24'x36' would suffice. This would be just a tad more than twice the current garage size (approx 20'x19'). But in conversation with my wife she said "that's not big enough".

Now between 24 and 26' wide we can have the garage close enough to the house that we can build a walkway between the two. As far as length, well I have to do some digging to find my pressure tank for my well (yes, it's buried in the yard next to the well). 36' will put the back of the garage near the well and tank, any longer and I think I need to move the entire building so it starts after the well (well is about 25' from the back door).

My plan is to maintain the front half (maybe just under, but at least 18') for a garage/mechanic type area so i can work on vehicles and my tractor inside instead of on the driveway. The back half will be dedicate to wood working.

Of course we all know how the best laid plans go.

What size shop/garage do you have? I'm looking at a 24x36-40.
how is it made, we've looked at metal buildings but I'm not a big fan of them.

Being in the midsouth, at some point I will have an HVAC system installed in the workshop area just to help with the humidity during the summer. Without it, many of my tools develop surface rust .

looking forward to any tips, thoughts or ideas before we begin construction.

 

[85Hokie]

Whatever you decide to do - allow enough thought to move forward without moving backwards when it comes to:

electrical work needed
Air lines needed
Insulation needed - ceiling or walls
Ceiling height.
Structural support for overhead pick point
Entrance door IN the future - or exit door depending on your thought.

In other words - you could build a pole building THEN wall it in with framing,
or you might want the slab on grade before the first wall goes up.

Any attic storage space planned?

You know where I am going with this!

the fact that your wife IS ON BOARD and backing this thought, well , you got 50% of the battle won !!!!

 

[kckndrgn]

Thanks Hokie,
When we (I) started planning this my original intent was to have a 2 story building with the upstairs unfinished and to be used for storage. I just don't see that size of building in the works now. So no attic storage.

Since I have no time to do the construction myself (as much as I would love to say "I built it") we plan on having a contractor build it but leave the interior unfinished. The contractor would do the electrical (at least what was needed for code) and any "extra" I can install as i finish the interior.
I did think about doing a pole building, then slowly enclosing it, the only problem is I know me, it would not get done in my lifetime.

We had a quote done last summer for a two story garage, w/ brick to match the house that came in around $50k (Slab, framing, exterior brick, 9' 1st floor walls, 18x8 garage door, 6 windows, one door and all electrical).

I've thought about trying to get a set a plans for the garage I want and getting quotes from that, but since this is the first time I've had something like this built, I don't really know where to start.

 

[Newlyme]

I've thought about trying to get a set a plans for the garage I want and getting quotes from that, but since this is the first time I've had something like this built, I don't really know where to start.

Around here we used to have a place called 84 Lumber. Before I built my barn I went there and picked up a set of plans for a garage package they sold. I also went to the library and got a book on barns. I ended up deciding to build a barn from one of the styles I saw in the book.

When I ran the water and electricity back to it I threw in a phone line and coaxial cable and a few extra wires in conduit in the trench. It was nice having the satellite tv out back and to be able to turn a light on out back from the house.

Good luck and enjoy your new building.

 

[skeets]

One rule of thumb you might think about,,, Figure what you think your going to need and go 25% bigger,, I went 30x40,, should have gone 40 by 60,, but you have some good guide lines from these guys

 

[Grouse Feathers]

When you considered a second floor did you look at attic trusses? My garage is 28'x50' and the attic trusses give me a 16'x50' room with 8' of head room in the center 8'. Cost is always important, but I would also consider 10' walls. If you are going to have hanging light fixtures, hanging unit heaters, hanging air cleaners, and some hanging storage the extra foot is nice.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Honestly, if footprint and location is a concern, perhaps two story would be the answer. A 7 foot headspace in the second floor area would be plenty of room. Or perhaps an overly tall (14') building with a mezzanine in the rear half. Buddy just put up his pole shed, and across back wall is his mezz. Uses upstairs 1/2 storage,1/2 tv,table ,chairs ,couch and fridge. Real warm in winter with woodstove going.

 

[Yooper]

Your going to need more than 18' for working on your vehicles. Measure your longest vehicle and add a minimum of 4'. The front half of my shop is 30' and that gets small with my pickup in it.

 

[PHPaul]

I built my own in 1992. Pounded every nail in that sucker except for setting the roof trusses. I had sketched and planned literally for YEARS to build this, starting well before I retired from the Navy.

It's 24 x 48 with 10 foot walls. Having lived with it for nearly 25 years, I've learned a few things:

1. It's too small. If I pull my Tundra in far enough to close the overhead door, I can't walk around the truck.

2. FINISH THE INTERIOR WHEN BUILDING!!! Even if you don't plan to install heat now.
Insulate the walls, put up a ceiling and insulate the ceiling. I've started to retrofit as I want to heat it, but it's a HUGE pain in the butt. Door hardware and lights in the way on the ceiling. All sorts of shelves and and brackets "grew" on the walls over the years which now have to be removed to insulate and panel.

3. Don't cheap out on lighting. I originally put up ceramic incandescent fixtures. 2 in each of the vehicle bays, 6 in the "maintenance" bay and 6 in the woodworking space. That should be plenty, right? Wrong. Retrofitted low temp compatible double 4 foot fluorescents in two bays in the garage section. Better, but still not enough. More fluorescents or even better, LED's are next on the list.

Things I did right:

Outlets. Lots and lots of outlets. Sub panel in the garage fed from the main panel in the house. 220 outlet for compressor and welder. #10 wiring on 20 amp dedicated circuits for the table saw and Shopsmith.

Insulated overhead doors with door openers on all doors. Minor glitch: I went with Genie Screw Drive openers. Not a great idea, they're HORRIBLY noisy, especially when it's cold. Replaced one with a chain drive (don't recall the brand). Much better.

Lots of windows. 2 in each side, one in the back end of each bay. Both for light and ventilation.

We're contemplating selling this place and moving closer to town. IF we can sell for a decent price, the wife gets a brand new house and I get a brand new shop. I will apply the lessons learned, build bigger, insulate, finish and paint the interior and install heat right from the get-go. I'm thinking heated slab but the bank account may veto that.

 

[MadMax31]

Around here we used to have a place called 84 Lumber. Before I built my barn I went there and picked up a set of plans for a garage package they sold. I also went to the library and got a book on barns. I ended up deciding to build a barn from one of the styles I saw in the book.

When I ran the water and electricity back to it I threw in a phone line and coaxial cable and a few extra wires in conduit in the trench. It was nice having the satellite tv out back and to be able to turn a light on out back from the house.

Good luck and enjoy your new building.

We used 84 Lumber as well. Told them dimensions and where to put doors. They emailed prints and price. Ordered it up and built it. Mine is 24x34. 16' overhead door in front with 8' overhead door in back. Walls are 9'6". Hindsight is always 20/20, should have gone 30x40, with 12' walls and 10' high overhead doors.

However, by doing the work myself ( with Father in Law guidance ) it cost me 14,000 including slab. Plus 1000 to rent Lull truck for a week to fly up trusses, ply wood and shingles. Worth every penny not to lift all that with my bad back.

 

[kckndrgn]

Thanks all.

We do have 84 Lumber near my work (actually closer to the wife's work, but we carpool) so I'll stop by one day next week.

I know my father built his house (I was 2 and don't remember much about it), but did help with adding on a garage in my teens. I just know if I planned on doing it myself it would take way too long, which is why I'll contract to have the framing and exterior done, then I can work on the interior at my own pace as money allows.

Lighting - planning on LED. The house is pretty much all LED lighting and I was planning on the 4' LED lights that look like the florescent tubes.
Windows - the more now during building the better.

Planning on having the electric panel supplying more than what I need now, because we all know shops grow!

Thanks again.

 

[kckndrgn]

Did some measuring today and things are looking good. Finding out that code in my area requires 15' from the property line, 5' from another building and 80' from the road.
I measured 6' from the eve on the house, then 25' for the width of the garage, that left me with about 20' to the property line.
Looking at the depth it looks like we can go 48' - 50'.

Looking at 84 Lumber site I found the following plan:
http://garageplans.us.com/behmdesign/garageplans/841152-4.html

May do something based on this, but I will go to the store sometime in the next week.

Thanks again for all the input.

Oh, and when we had the tape measure out and marking the corners I thought "man, that seems small!"

 

[Tooljunkie]

That looks like a nice building plan. Only thing is i never really care for is the double wide door.
I have seen a few shop/garages with one 9x7 and one 10x10.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

That's a good point: Think about what type door you will install.

I have two 12 x 12 chain-motor roll-up doors that work reliably and easily in one side of my barn. In the workshop side, I have two 20' x 12' commercial sectional panel roller doors. They are heinously expensive to get worked on and require huge commercial door openers. I recently had a commercial door company come out to fix a problem and it was $600 without touching the springs. That would have added another $500. I priced the farm-style chain-motor doors and a 12 x 12 runs about $1000 uninstalled.

Aircraft hangars use a bi-fold door that usually only has two hinged panels and come with opener motors. They are cheaper that roll-up doors and offer shade outside the opening. If and when I have any more problems with my commercial doors, I plan to replace them with bi-fold doors.

The commercial door is on the left, the farm roll-up to the right...

 

[78Vette]

What fun!
I was contemplating my Garage/Shop 10 years back, figuring out how large will be good and all i need, and ended up building myself a 30x50x10 on a foundation. 2x6 walls, insulated with metal siding out and drywall inside. Ran all the propane line/electric/water/phone/alarm wires underground from the house and installed the shop-heater, and although it is a very nice shop, I goofed up..
Goof # 1.) Not high enough and cant get a hoist in now and Garage door size can only be 8 foot high. Cant get a camper trailer or cargo trailer in.
Goof #2.) Not big enough.
Goof #3.) No washroom

You're 9 foot high ceiling will only let you have a 7 foot high garage door, and that may nipp you in the butt down the road....
My advice is to build as large as you possibly can right at first.

 

[Kubota_Man]

If I read your post correctly that you plan on 8' walls..........
If that is true there may be issues with the ROPS on your BX getting it through your garage door. I personally went with 12' walls with a 10' door never worry about hitting the door with my ROPS on my BX24.

Just my .02 cents worth.

 

[skeets]

Go bigger than you ever think your going to need,, trust me you are going to need it

 

[Tooljunkie]

Guess i should have mentioned the ceiling height thing, my shop is 24x32 with 10-1/2 foot ceiling. 10x16 wing on one side. I cut and collared in a box in my ceiling another 32" to provide room for vehicles while raised on my hoist. Its tight, and getting worse. I cant seem to stop buying tools and equipment. Tire changer and wheel balancer take up a fair amount of space.my shop is way too small.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

Frank,

I have the same problem. But I don't have your excuse of "using" my shop in my livelihood. This week, I went to an estate sale loaded with nice shop equipment but couldn't buy a thing because I have no room.

Right after I bought the new "disaster house," we met a neighbor down the street whose husband had passed away 18 mos prior. He had a shop and a garage full of equipment and tools. She asked me if I was interested and I needed a couple pieces of equipment so I went down to look. Came home with a couple trailers full of equipment. No more. Kain't do it. "Wouldn't be prudent."

I am to the point where I actually appreciate open space more than another tool. Never thought I'd be at this point but... After over three years of slogging around piles of stuff I am finally digging out. Never want to go back to the "rabbit warren motif." My wife watches the hoarder shows and says, "That's what your shop looked like, only with better trails." LOL!!!

 

[redfernclan]

I have a 36x42 shop with 14 ft eves. one 12x12 door and two 10x10 doors. We use it for storage and as a work shop.
Things I have learned;
Should have went with two 12x12 doors. A pickup and camper will not fit with an AC unit in a ten foot door.
Mine has no ceiling, just open trusses. That way I can store more stuff up there BUT, I should have walled in a work shop. Kind of hard to get it up to temp in the Winter when you are trying to heat the whole thing for a couple of hours of working on a project.
Plan on a small water heater and bathroom. I wired my water heater to a switch next to the light switches for the shop. It gets turned off when I walk out for the night.
In stead of putting in duplex outlets, use a four square and two duplex. You will be happy latter, especially next to the work bench. I also ran all of mine in conduit. That way I can add more later if needed.
I don,t know how much extra it cost me, but I went with a 3ft block stem wall. No bug or rot worries.
Depending on use, 6 inches of concrete instead of 4, and have them add the fiber mesh.
When installing the garage doors, run the track up to the rafters before curving over. My installer did not and when the doors are closed, I still have this track hung down two feet lower than the truss.
Depending on how much and what kind of work your doing, big air compressor plumbed around the shop with a retractable hose reel in the main work are and next to the door.
Hose bibs on all four outside walls.
Outlets on outside walls. They come in handy during Christmas!
And of course, a bathroom.
Hope this helps.