Building a garage... need advise

Hey guys... been working at my buddies shop for the past few winters. Been thinking about building a garage in my back yard this summer. Plan on building a 30 x 32 stick built. Right now i only have some stakes in the ground trying to determine where. Still have to go get a loan and a building permit.

Anyone got any advise on building a garage. Any and all info is greatly appericated.

Thanks
matt

 

http://garagejournal.com/forum/

 

make provisions for a lift & slope the floor to a center drain. Coat the floor with epoxy. Heta for the winter A/C for the summer.

 

So many options....Ive been a residential builder for 19 yrs now, you should think of all future options and plans including what u are doing in there, price, size, style, height, power, door sizes, frost wall vs floating slab, ext..ext! PM me if u have any questions. Good luck. Eric

 

Make it as big at the ordinance allows (it will never be big enough) and be sure to lay rigid insulation down before you pour the floor. Makes a world of difference come winter.

 

Build it as LARGE as you can afford.

TRUST ME ... they are NEVER large enough.

If I was going to go 32 feet wide ... I would at least move up to a 30 foot deep/40 foot wide building. There were no affordable 4 post lifts when I built my shop ... I wish I had the height to install one now. IF I ever build another shop ... at least one bay will be tall enough for a " Backyard Buddy " or something similar.

 

Decide how big you want it - - - - - then make it bigger. LOL

Heat in the floor is great and feels good.

Fourdy

 

Some towns here restrict the outbuilding size compared to the house size...

While you are calculating costs, just see if a few extra feet may pay off later.

Min headroom??? Plan for a future lift?? or car storage rack?

sometimes an extra garage door on the side, towards the back? depends on the layout.

some codes don't allow floor drains..

 

I agree...plan out how big you want it and then go 4 feet wider in length and width haha. Good luck!

 

I had a 40 x 40 steel building for a shop, but it wasn't insulated very well and the floor was getting cracked - sort of cold and damp and no good in a Wisconsin winter, so I built a 45 x 25 addition on it - raised the floor 4 inches and put in floor heating. This part is very well insulated, has windows, good lighting, etc. This is enough room for 4 cars - or 3 with one apart in pieces. I should have put a real good epoxy on the floor I suppose - it's only two years old but already has some bad stains. The problem with building a nice shop is then you don't want to mess it up by welding and grinding or spray painting. I try to do most of that stuff in the the old part. It's fun finding stuff to hang on the walls of a nice shop - hubcaps - license plates- posters - etc. It cost me plenty - but what good is money if you don't spend it?
Jim S.

 

hey tankwilson the size your wanting to build would probably need footings not just a floating slab. check your local building codes because footings cost alot more $$ to the build. concrete if very expensive now especially just to bury under ground.
i believe in our town it's 24x30 max before footings hope that helps.
happy building!!
just alittle advice from another iowan.

 

Floor drains are good, but I wish my concrete guy would have listened to me and left me a level spot at the back of the shop for a work area. Having no level floor makes getting reference points a pain in the ass. My garage is 36x45 with 12 foot ceilings and its way too small.

 

Make it twice as big as you think you need. 10' ceilings. 8' overhead door(s). Lotsa 20Amp recepticals with only a few per breaker. Also wire for 220. Seal the concrete cut joints before you move anything in. Buy decent lights, don't settle for cheapies.

 

Check into floor heat and make sure the concrete is thick enough for a Lift. Good luck

 

my township threw out my ist plans .I was told the garage could not be bigger or have a roof line higher than my house .So I have a 3 car garage the same square footage as my house .oh One really big Item to put in when building .A garage bathroom with shower .I slept in there a few times .Im married !

 

Just read the post about footings. If you heat the floor you can get by with a frost protected slab with thickened edges. 16 inches deep with insulation forming the outside, hold the insulation back 12 inches from the edge tile around the outside perimeter or put over clean stone or sand base. The heat loss around the edges and the stone/sand keep it from heaving and with radiant floor heat you dont notice the heat loss at the wall any way.

 

Put a fridge in it !!!!

 

All together now...BIG-GER! BIG-GER! BIG-GER!

As long as you can mow between the shop wall and the fence, you'll never kick yourself for making it TOO big...

 

Also new codes are making you do alot more work with floating slabs as far as using ridgid insulation for frost protection...These codes should apply throughout the country..all slabs are to be insulated under floor then 4' on the outside corners and 3'down the runs and burried..then insulate the exsposed side of concrete slab below ur siding ..check with ur local building code officer. Also center drains can freeze and usually dont get used as much..pitch towards the front doors...and the epoxy coverings are great unless your realy going to work out of it then they will be a mess in no time..use a sealer on the concrete! Go as big as u can afford tho like everyone said..I always recomend stayin in 4' increments to reduce waiste.

 

Put in a restroom,when you get to be my age you spend all of your time trying think off someones name or looking for a place to go pee.

 

Grandpa has a pit in the middle of one of his bays - just like the jiffy lube. has expanded grate over it when not in use. Big-Big-Big they always fill up.

 

good advice justabeater37 but thats how my neighbor built his new large garage and he's always complaining about how expensive it is to heat and he has to heat it all the time.
i would build a pole building with metal roof and siding , thats how i added on to my garage and i love it.
the codes in iowa are more lax on this type of construction and you can build large without footings, and you don't have to paint, heat all the time and it goes up fast.
i'm thinking about goint that route for my new garage,my brother did his and loves it.

 

I put a rest room in mine, and it is a great plan. Of course a deep wash sink, heat, and something I didn't do and I kick myself is to build it high enough for a lift as others have said. I also agreeon building as big as you can afford or have the space for. The cheap lighting I put in sucks now, so spend the extra, you won't be sorry.

 

Build it as big as can can. it does fill up fast. just put up a 40x60 roughed in plumbing for bath room. you can always connect it up later.

 

Cheaper method is big shed .But anyway .Just follow your local ordinances and then change plans later for exhaust fan ,Dont mention torches and have them hid.Exspecially when the inspector is around .Concrete slab would be the most expensive ,I hope you have alot of friends and its good to know a finish concrete guy .Also alot of high output lights and electric .In my township if you get a dumpster you need a permit .Its only 30 but it gives them the access to your property to see if you have building permits.

 

I'm just a few miles south of you. Here's my 2 cents worth.

1. hot water floor heat
2. 2' concrete cheek walls to get the wood sills up off the ground
3. flat floor with only the last 4 or 5 feet sloped towards the doors
4. as tall as your zoning will allow
5. electrical outlet every 4 to 6 foot
6. twice as much light as you think it needs
7. send me a PM and I'll recommend a guy in Ottumwa that just went through all this.

SPark

 

Build in a way that it will double as SAFE paint booth.

 

I just about have mine done but I went with a little bigger all steel structure and I live in a subdivision so I went with shorter sidewalls and a 4:12 pitch so it was vaulted so I could install lifts. It's also got a floor drain and is plumbed for a full bath. Installing a loft right now for overhead parts storage and an office/emergency bedroom when my wife gets ticked at me!!! LOL anyways good luck on yours....

 

Besides the lack of space, the real problem spot my garage has had was a lack of power. The entire garage has been on a single 15 amp breaker inside my house. When I was running a small woodshop in it, turning on a power tool plus my dust collector would trip the breaker. For auto work, just turning on my air compressor would shut me down half the time. Winter work was nearly impossible since I couldn't run the heat and a use anything else that required electricity.

Right now I'm in the process of putting a sub panel (second circuit breaker box) in my garage. No more power outages! Really, you can never have enough electricity.

And once that is all done I'll finish isolating the place for winter work - depending on your climate, it's a must-have in my book.

 

I built my house and garage as one big pole building with the frost protected slab, and it is one of the easiest to heat places I've owned. But I guess my walls are 8 inches thick with r44 in the ceiling. Took less than 1000 gals of lp last year to heat house, shop domestic hot water, stove, and grille. Total heated space 3144 square feet. kept shop 60 and house 72.