Garage & shop designs - opinions please!

[82cruiser]

Hi all - I am starting to design a garage/shop and am looking for opinions from anyone who has been through the process or has ideas on good design. Know any good sites out there that have quality pics? I have done some google searches for garage plans etc and am familiar with the initial findings.

The garage will serve as a place to park two cars for daily use with enough room to park the cruiser, an M101 trailer, and shop bench/tools. 10' to 12' ceilings. Maybe a loft or storage up high. I realize that the measurements below are small but they will have to do based on our yard. For some reason my wife wants to keep "some" of the lawn and doesn't want the garage to dwarf the house. Go figure.

Size -
25' x 36' or 30' x 40'

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks
Randy

 

[Toyo FJ40]

I'm having a 30 x 40 polebarn put in ( they started today) I went for 2 10x10 garage doors and a 12ft ceiling so I can get a lift. I got a 10' lean to put across the back for additional storage. My township won't allow trusses so I have a raftered roof with a 12/12 pitch and a full second floor. The final hight will be 29ft. I'm installing radiant heat in a 6" slab and boiler room and bathroom (I don't ever have to leave). Pole barn was half the price of regular framing and in one day they have the outside walls up.
I'll post some pictures later.


Kevin

 

[82cruiser]

Thanks for the info and I'm very interested to see pics and hear more. Like the idea of a pole barn. Do you have any links for sources or designs?

Thanks!

 

[JohnnyC]

randy do you not live in the house i remember you in? didn't you have a garage? behind the house? thinking of upgrading

 

[nmbuckaroo]

shop

i built a 30x40 two years ago. it has 12' sidewalls and 15' at roof peak. i just added a loft last week, it is 8'x30'. i reccommend putting the loft during construction of building. i was going to go with a 24x30. my wife talked me into the 30x40. i am sure glad we went 30x40. i keep a 69 camaro, 70 chevelle and my fj40 in there. when i need the work inside i take out the cruiser and have about half the shop to work in. cement slab cost $3000. building kit from muellers was $7200. labor was about $1000. the loft cost $400. i lived here 18 years before i built the shop. now i wonder how i ever made it without it. good luck.

 

[nmbuckaroo]

loft

just added loft

 

[D'Animal]

What state do you live in? In California if you go above 2,500sq ft you have to install a fire supression system.

Also check the upgrades that you can do. I was going to put up a 30x30 but I found that for a few $k more I could go with a 40x60 and go up in height.

My final was a metal 40x60 building with:

2 - 12' overhangs on each of the 60' sides
4 - 14' roll up doors.
3 - 4' walk in doors
1 - 1/2 Bath (No shower)
200 amp electrical
full insulation package
6 sky lights
3 Ridge vents
8 - 8' high output low energy florecent lights
outlets every 12' through out the shop
Air compressor wired in
Welder wired in
The concrete is 8" thick double reinforced through out the shop
14' concrete apron around 3 sides of the shop

Total price $57k

 

[splitshot]

Nice building Animal, when did you build it, before or after concrete went through the roof.

 

[D'Animal]

Nice building Animal, when did you build it, before or after concrete went through the roof.

It was finish Dec 03. This was before concrete went through the roof and the price of steel when up as well. It is an iron building, not a pole barn.

 

[splitshot]

Whats strange, the larger steel buildings are actually less money. We are going to build one here at work and a 40x40 runs about 16k but a 50x50 we can get for about 12k (we are just talking the shell).

 

[D'Animal]

Whats strange, the larger steel buildings are actually less money. We are going to build one here at work and a 40x40 runs about 16k but a 50x50 we can get for about 12k (we are just talking the shell).

I ran into the same thing. That's why I put up the biggest one I could with out having to install a fire suppression system.

 

[splitshot]

I ran into the same thing. That's why I put up the biggest one I could with out having to install a fire suppression system.

That is exactly what we are looking for, something to work on the farm equipment, and a small office space. Who supplied the steel? Website?

 

[82cruiser]

Thanks for the info and pics! It's good to see these size structures with vehicles inside for scale.

Johnny - I moved since you were last here. I now have a two car detached garage that is about 100 years old. I poured a new floor w/ service pit but the structure is too old and not worth restoring.

 

[D'Animal]

That is exactly what we are looking for, something to work on the farm equipment, and a small office space. Who supplied the steel? Website?

Bradford Steel in Woodlake, CA. The building is a Metalica brand.

 

[Toyo FJ40]

Heres the pictures of the pole barn.
They got the second floor framed and plywood on about half of it today along with the lean to rafters.



Kevin

 

[Toyo FJ40]

This is the company building my barn
http://www.conestogabuildings.com/

Their out of Lancaster PA. but they do buildings all over the eastern US
Of all the companys I spoke to they were the only one that would do a raftered roof. I had 2 other pole barn companys tell me to call them.
Kevin

 

[Toyo FJ40]

Here's what they got done today... With Cruiser content for size.

Kevin

 

[JRFJ4-]

Drainage

Here's what they got done today... With Cruiser content for size.

Kevin

Sweet shop.

Might be different than the picture looks, but make sure that you have some kind of ditch to carry water that runs from that bank behind the shop. You don't want water running toward the building.


JR

 

[The Dude]

I just built a new garage. We went 28x30 with two ten foot doors and 10 foot walls. We are planning to park in one and have work/projects in the other. My wife said the same as yours...she now states that we should have gone bigger. Go figure.

Some things I did right:

Going with two smaller doors over one big one. I may have put in a 10' and 14' if I had the room.

Leaving lots of space between the walls and the door jams. Most garages I am in only leave 2'. That's not enough IMO

Installed a 32 place breaker box with 100amp service. I have 28 circuits used up in my garage for plugs/lights/welder/air compressor etc. Running 12.2 wire for everything but the lights.

Things I would have done different:

I would have gone 30x40 if I could have. This would have given me enough space to actual have a functional work area beside the parking spots.

I would have poured a "cubby for my air compressor and have it jut out from the main building. It would have been enclosed and vented to the outside with a door on the inside.

I would have gone with 14' walls if I could have.

Outdoor pad is a must. If I had room I would have it covered with concrete underneath

Here's a bad picture, I would have liked to have the extra ten feet on the right side...

The other thing that I have found very beneficial with a smaller garage is that I wave everything except for one wall of shelves and that damn compressor on wheels. And I mean everything. No permanent bench, the blasting cabinets on wheels, the pipe bender, my spare engines/trannys etc. It is so nice to be able to wheel stuff around.

If you want to see pics let me know.

 

[Toyo FJ40]

Sweet shop.

Might be different than the picture looks, but make sure that you have some kind of ditch to carry water that runs from that bank behind the shop. You don't want water running toward the building.


JR

We did a 10ft over dig past the foot print of the shop and it's a foot lower than the pad. With the stone and concrete it will be 2ft lower than the slab and it pitches around the back to grade. I don't think that water should be a problem.

Kevin